New Jobs Gated Behind Completion of 2.0 Story?

[Viridiana]

This might be because... the set of established players is composed of different people? And different people don't always have the same opinions? This is really surprising to you?

I'd wager money that there is non-zero overlap between the group complaining about this and one of the following:

People complaining about Atma dropping from lowbie fates
People complaining about Animus books including lowbie dungeons

[Duuude007]

I would like to see a new player right now (not level 50, and has not completed the Main story) tell us that they are okay with paying for an expansion that they really can not use the day they buy it.

Again, presuming the scenario that ALL content is locked behind Ishgard. THAT presumption is what in truth, makes no sense.

If they let someone that buys the main game and expansion be allowed to choose to play one of the new classes from day one, how will that "hurt" us? It doesn't, not in the least bit. We are not affected either way. The Same could be said for the WoW players with mist of pandaria (monk class there was open to new players day one).

Yes... new race, 'new player classes', new city associated with it. With their own beginner area. These players were not instantly granted access to Naxxramas, they had to develop as characters. Furthermore, we already have the Rogue class which had no huge blowback for not being available to character creation...

If advanced jobs require experienced adventurers, gating is an effective method which should be at the very least considered in an MMO.

When Anarchy Online pushed out two new classes (keeper and shade) they made them available with the purchase of the expansion.

Yes.... with their own beginner area, gated from accessing content just the same. Don't tell me that a beginner shade can access mounts... or the Grid... on day one... without twinking or some serious content-carrying.

[Zplinter]

Depends when you started playing, in the beginning there is no story. Maybe for Wrath of the Lich King and the latest expansions.

WoW had a main story arch for EACH race in the vanilla format, the all lead you to your confrontation with the blackrock and through the history of the land. Aion has a main story line. LotR has story lines that lead you to the end in Morodor.
Stating that FF XIV is the first mmorpg to have an overarching story line is incorrect.

[Catwho]

Something I've been wondering about - with the Au Ra, how are they going to be explained as arriving at the starting cities if they're a "new" race? SE is not adding a level 0 playground for newbies in the Dravonian areas, based on interviews and such. But new players who purchased the expansion will surely have the option of rolling as an Au Ra from day one.

It'll be interesting how they explain it. Are you refugees from another area, like the Domans?

[MirielleLavandre]

Going along with some thoughts on how they handled NIN, the only other new job they have released, I think we can see that they want to make classes accessible to new players who may buy the game just to play the new classes. They could have easily locked NIN behind the main story and require players to complete the main story through meeting and being offered training by Yugiri, but they didn't. Instead, they made the initial class that led to NIN be available pretty much at level 10, allowing those who wanted to play NIN easy access to the job (rogue to NIN). I believe they will do the same, and come back soon with another 'corrected' post stating that people will be able to access the new jobs regardless of finishing the 2.55 questline. That is the only thing that makes financial sense as far as selling the new expansion goes, and no matter what we as gamers think, it all comes down to investor relations and money in the end :P

[Wulfyn]

Lol.. and hardcores are not whiny? Some hardcores are like we're pro! Yet they set standards for runs higher than is what is required. While they're at it hey lets spirit bond stuff while belittling the new players. Let's speed through stuff and not even clear the whole dungeon. We want challenges but hey we will exploit anything we can find to make it easier. High level gear is handed to you. We want vanity we want mounts bla bla bla. I want SE to fix things that need to be fixed. I want to progress through the main story w/o having to deal with egotistical elitist who throw temper tantrums and lack patience and/or abuse other players.

Some of us all know if a small portion of the player base had their way, all the casuals would be gone and they could have all of Eorzea to themselves. Good luck with that. If this game is to fail, it will be because of problems with the game and the attitudes of those who think they are superior (on something that IS just a game). Better have fat bank accounts to keep FFXIV-ARR afloat.

The consensus of some players is the fact stuff tends to seem to be gated behind storyline. Less than 3 months to go should be enough time to catch up if you have the time as a casual. Should be enough time if you didn't have to deal with bratty behaviors in dungeons or DF issues. Will I catch up? Who knows. All I know is that I haven't set foot in a dungeon in months due to the fact I got sick of the poor sport attitudes.

That said, I wouldn't be suprised if access IS gated behind storyline, which means even though you bought the expansion if you are not caught up you are SOL. Storyline will not be the only gate for players catching up, those players with bad attitudes will also be gates.

[Kosmos992k]

Something I've been wondering about - with the Au Ra, how are they going to be explained as arriving at the starting cities if they're a "new" race? SE is not adding a level 0 playground for newbies in the Dravonian areas, based on interviews and such. But new players who purchased the expansion will surely have the option of rolling as an Au Ra from day one.

It'll be interesting how they explain it. Are you refugees from another area, like the Domans?

Um, well, how would this be a problem since we know Yuguri is of the Au Ra race, and so clearly the Au Ra are not limited to the confines of Ishgard.

[JonBigwood]

I would like to see a new player right now (not level 50, and has not completed the Main story) tell us that they are okay with paying for an expansion that they really can not use the day they buy it. That would make zero economic sense. Nor would frankly be a smart way to grow your player base to produce new content that a person that might be interested in trying to game thanks to the press, that they can not access.

Well, you do not have to buy the expansion and the ARR game, you may buy just the ARR game, but it will be cheaper to buy them together.

If you have to play all the main story of ARR before playing content included in the expansion, or not, is just a developer's decision. In my case, if I discovered ARR now, with an expansion already for sale, I would probably buy both, if the price is attractive, or just the main game first and later decide if I buy the expansion, if it is about the same price buying them separately or together. I don't think people would buy the game with the expansion, only because they want to play some content that belongs to the expansion, and would be so unhappy to have to play the main story of the game before playing some content that comes with the expansion.

What attracts new players, from my point of view, is that a game has been succesful enough to make possible the developing of an expansion, and that it is selling well. A new player would want to be able to catch up in a reasonable time, but also to have a good time and enjoy while he is catching up (and he learns his job/s in the meantime.) Things will not be as they were when the content he plays was new (neither so difficult nor so time consuming), but he has the experience, and anyway he can catch up in a reasonable time.

[Catwho]

Um, well, how would this be a problem since we know Yuguri is of the Au Ra race, and so clearly the Au Ra are not limited to the confines of Ishgard.

But if you've rolled as an Au Ra and you're playing through the MSQ, when Yugiri is introduced she says she wears her mask because people are scared of the unknown. Welllll you're now an Au Ra and people are not freaking out when they see you, so her story wouldn't make sense any more.

[Ayrie]

I... Uh... Have to say that I do like some content gated behind main story. I think 2.0-2.55 overall has been good, especially 2.0 main line. Also, it does kinda force new and returning players to experience the story in a story-driven game. Maybe the classes are a bit excessive... But honestly, you're not starting as a drk in any scenario. You may have to get a job to 50 before any of the news ones are accessible (devs preference). You can't start moving into heavensward content without main story completion (lv51+).

So if it has to be done for that... Why is it such a big deal? It is stuff you honestly should have done, or should experience, before writing it all off and just going with the presumption that Ishgard was always our buddies.

Expansions never gated each other in WoW. I kinda like this change since it makes the story more... Essential.