The big spoiler in the Heavensward opening/trailer was a huge mistake. (spoilers obv)

[Remus]

If your friends are new to the game show them the opening movie. If they don't understand what is going on but it looks interesting they will want to find out why that has happened. Also if you don't want to show the spoiler parts you can show them the teaser trailer for heavensward or the tour of the north video.

[Tiggy]

This is what so many of you fail to understand.

SpookyGhost is the only one who "gets it" so far.

On the contrary. It's quite obvious what you're getting at. About as obvious as an 8 second warning at the opening of the video warning people about spoilers. We "get" what you're saying just fine. We just completely disagree. You are not by default "right" here and those of us who disagree with you are not by default "wrong" either. Try to remember that this is your opinion and that our disagreement is not a sign of us failing to understand. Don't start painting people with the "your wrong" brush with little offhand statements like these. All that does is create a divisive and argumentative conversation.

[Zaft]

I'm glad that the official forums continues to prove that it will cry about literally anything. Here I was worried there might be SOMETHING that would be universally enjoyed.

[Fumijj_Gah]

I wasn't spoiled by it, but now I can't share it with my non-playing friends to get them interested in the game. It's a disaster from a marketing perspective.

Since when do players need to care about marketing perspective?
All I want from an Heavensward's opening movie is a good CG cinematic with Uematsu's music. I expected something more classic by the way, totally loved FFXI and FFXIV 1.0 opening.

[Arcsol93]

A lot of people are reiterating the same thing. What I think the OP is trying to say is its a poor way to draw in new players by showing the ending of the story from the get go.

The thing is, the opening video isn't for new players. If you want to get your friends into the game show them the trailers for 2.0 or gameplay, they can't access 3.0 content to begin with without beating 2.0 so there is absolutely no point in them getting all hyped up for content they can't even play yet.

[Tiggy]

A lot of people are reiterating the same thing. What I think the OP is trying to say is its a poor way to draw in new players by showing the ending of the story from the get go.

As opposed to what? Ignoring entirely the actual context of the new content entirely? It's being billed as a 50 hour storyline. You can't have a trailer for that that completely ignores the current story context. That's how you get trailers that don't show you anything tangible. Secondly, it's not a trailer. It's the opening to the game. An explicit storyline sequence completely synonymous with the opening of 2.0 showing the final events of 1.0 when Bahamut appeared. It completely spoiled the 1.0 story in every way yet, no one complained like they are in this thread. It's hypocritical to have expected anything less than the exact same treatment the second time around.

[Chewy2nd]

The thing is, other MMOs have done this, WoW's Warlord's cinematic had Garrosh Hellscream, an old faction leader stopping the orc's from drinking the fel stuff. A guy who just one expansion before was the head of the horde.

[Wildsprite]

to the OP, you do realize IF they install heavensward and run the game without choosing start that video is exactly what will play right? if you are so concerned you might want to warn to click/hit start so as not to let the video play because that video will take the place of the End of an Era/A Realm Reborn video we have in the game now.

and I agree with others who posted, if this concerns you so much show them the teaser. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68CNzwinqlg and warn them about the opening cinimatic.

[kyuven]

The thing is, the opening video isn't for new players. If you want to get your friends into the game show them the trailers for 2.0 or gameplay, they can't access 3.0 content to begin with without beating 2.0 so there is absolutely no point in them getting all hyped up for content they can't even play yet.

This. Expansion information isn't meant to advertise to new players, it's meant to advertise to existing players.
As an example, since I'm familiar with the game and know where to look, I'm going to bring up a plug for another game's expansion:

The story of the Darkened Sea finds Firiona Vie traveling to the Buried Sea on a mission from Tunare to restore balance to Norrath. Firiona meets with the Combine in the domed city of Katta Castrum with hopes to heal their emperor, Tsaph Katta. The city is attacked while Firiona is attempting to heal the emperor. In the chaos, Lanys, aided by a corrupt splinter faction of the Combine, kidnaps the emperor. Norrath's heroes must track Lanys and her allies down in order to thwart Lanys's plans and rescue the emperor.

This blurb means absolutely nothing to players who don't play this game, and without cursory knowledge (or a google search) of the game, a new player would have no idea what this means either. However, to a current player of this game, it's exciting! A conflict with one of the most prolific villains in the setting!
Thus, my point. Expansion content is meant to appeal to people already playing the game, not to people just looking to get into the game.
Hell, a new player wouldn't even understand the context behind the spoiler scenes.
The 2.0 trailer, meanwhile, is meant to appeal to new players. After showing the Calamity, it shows the world of Eorzea without context, just as a large world filled with adventure.
HW, meanwhile, requires context to understand. While you don't need much to show the dragon fighting, the whole part with the Dragoons and approaching the gates of Ishgard doesn't make a lot of sense without context.

to the OP, you do realize IF they install heavensward and run the game without choosing start that video is exactly what will play right? if you are so concerned you might want to warn to click/hit start so as not to let the video play because that video will take the place of the End of an Era/A Realm Reborn video we have in the game now.

We actually don't know this. Even 13 years after launch, FFXI still only plays the base game's opening video when the game launches. Even though cinematics for nearly every expansion exist, none of them are played at that time. There's good reason for XIV to follow suit with this practice, especially since YouTube is a thing.

[Wildsprite]

We actually don't know this. Even 13 years after launch, FFXI still only plays the base game's opening video when the game launches. Even though cinematics for nearly every expansion exist, none of them are played at that time. There's good reason for XIV to follow suit with this practice, especially since YouTube is a thing.

you're right we don't actually know it, however the info from the live letter gave the impression it would. I guess we will have to wait and see.