Is anyone in these threads even a new player who is struggling to complete 2.X storyline? Or are we all just being hypothetical? I've been done and waiting since the day after 2.55 came out, and I kind of suspect everyone on the forums is in a similar boat.

Now sure, if you have alts for the sake of raiding, you might not want to run each of them through the same story. The devs have never given much thought to players with alts, though, so this is hardly a new problem. Maybe they could allow players to directly access Ishgard if they have previously unlocked it with a different character on their account, but I doubt that will happen.

What about 2.X is difficult? 6 primal HMs, a few guildhests that you probably did while leveling, Moogle King, two dungeons, and two scenarios in 2.5x. It's probably the same length as the story from level 40-50. Is that really a big deal for new players who haven't seen any of it before?