Please Allow 50's to Enter Ishgard w/o having completed MSQ

[Noshpan]

While I personally have no qualms doing all the MSQ to have a character access the expansion stuff (in a way, it's kind of already like that in other MMOs, except that the only gate is the character's level), I have seen others refer to the 2.55 MSQ requirement as the "MSQ Cockblock". And I've seen others whom recently started playing and have canceled their subscriptions because they won't be able to access the expansion if they do not complete the MSQ.

[Catwho]

While I personally have no qualms doing all the MSQ to have a character access the expansion stuff (in a way, it's kind of already like that in other MMOs, except that the only gate is the character's level), I have seen others refer to the 2.55 MSQ requirement as the "MSQ Cockblock". And I've seen others whom recently started playing and have canceled their subscriptions because they won't be able to access the expansion if they do not complete the MSQ.

Hate to say it, but then a Final Fantasy game was not the correct game for them.

[Felis]

Okay so if that is the case and others.. and perhaps more mundane people are let in there. Was there some story limitation for someone going there who haven't done the story. As I see it, story wise that person would be considered just a another person going there helping with however he or she can.. just not with the story parts.. or did I misunderstand that now?

You misunderstand everything
Chronologically the "Step of Faith" event haven't happened yet in that characters story.
It is like if you say "Millions of players have already defeated Ifrit (storymode), why can't my lv1 character join a Grand Company to get his Chocobo?"

First visit in Coerthas -> everyone see in you a stranger, a trouble on 2 legs. Some even want to kill you

[Reynhart]

Well here and XI it's the opposite: they're implied to be "merged" with you for story cutscenes!

Except you see them during specific cutscene. At the end of Praetorium, or in the Coil, for example.

[odintius]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n08YJ1-sD0

[Dzian]

I've very much enjoyed the story, and I don't really get why other people don't enjoy it. But, hey, different strokes etc.

Mixed. Story had some great moments and all but on the whole it felt kind of lacking. but to me this is a difficulty thing. struggling turmoils and primal threats and all that stuff but you don't ever feel the supposed threat when you can pretty much blast through it all with no real sense of danger.

I get they made it easy for casual gamers but in making it easy they really dampened the emotional aspect. in a way you don't really "connect" to the story cos the major threat to the lands is laughably easy to overcome.

as for ishgard it should be locked off I think. but given that the main story was designed in such a way that its there to level new players up. it's really not a problem that they have to do it.

[kyuven]

Except you see them during specific cutscene. At the end of Praetorium, or in the Coil, for example.

Each of THOSE people has a few thousand within them :3

[Eidolon]

Don't meen to sound like a jerk but..No..just..no..seems to be a excuse to get to hw without the work put in..or to take new jobs that are not earned. Most online games I have played you needed to reach a certain lvl to complete a quest/part of a storyline to get access to do new things or get to new area's.

Do not take this the wrong way, however: What work?

Simply put, the jobs are level 30 each. Thus, the requirement to unlocking them, likewise, should be a level 30 of Any job. The only "Work" people should be required to do in order to get access to the jobs is buying the expansion, clearing any pre-leveling required (Like we did for our base jobs), and completing a quest. At that point, it should be unlocked to them.

The things that should be locked behind MSQ:
- Story.
- MAYBE special areas, but not an entire expansion. Even FFXI knew this - you could get access to special high-level areas, but you were never gated from the other zones. Quite the contrary, many a time the game introduced areas specifically for lower-levels.
- Quests, due to level (I.E. DRK being a level 30 quest is accessible, but you can'd to the first quest in the zone because it's level 50 - out of your range)

By doing things this way, SE only succeeds in dividing the playerbase, and making people play the game on jobs they're not truly interested in. I genuinly hope there aren't people who have cancelled their preorder until such a time that they will actually be able to -play- the content they're paying for, because that means we're losing sales for it.

Baiting with a level 30 job just seems cruel in its own way.

Allowing access to Ishgard without MSQ would make no sense at all. The Ishgardians have absolutely no reason to open the gates other than MSQ.
Tying the new jobs to MSQ does make some sense, but it could be done without, but they would have to put the guilds somewhere, and all the cities are pretty full.

You know what, I respect you. You kinda feel both ends of the sword with your post and I like it a lot in that regard. You're right - cities are very much so "Full" right now... for classes. But these are jobs we're talking about, and there's a whole world out there that coudl be filled with the new jobs.

Warrior: Costa Del Sol [East Side]
Paladin: Ul'dah
White Mage: South Shroud [South]
Scholar: Limsa
Black Mage: Ul'dah/Eastern Thanalan
Summoner: Gridania
Bard: South Shroud [North]
Monk: Ul'dah I think? I dunno. Chakra.
Ninja: Easter La Noscea [West Side]
Dragoon: Coerthas

Unused:
Central Shroud, East Shroud, North Shroud, Western Thanalan, Central Thanalan, Southern Thanalan, Northern Thanalan, Middle La Noscea, Lower La Noscea, Western La Noscea, Upper La Noscea, Outer La Noscea

The world's very much so got a ton of space available, as you can see. There's 3-4 zones open per region, and when it comes to jobs, most jobs aren't in major cities. There's plenty of ways to tackle that, but I will admit - adding it to the new zones will be interesting and fun, and allows for more freedome in the characters.

As for "Making Sense", I'll tackle that with the next guy:

No, opening Ishgard is a major plot point of the game, and it even started in 1.0. I don't want the whole world to lose its consistency just because people only want to play the new jobs...
Cause, basically, this is the only problem...if you haven't done MSQ yet, you have plenty of things to do with your already level 50 job before whining about how you can't access Ishgard. ven moreso if you aren't lvl 50.
As for other adventurers, no you're not the "only one". It's mentionned frequently that the cities will seek adventurerS to help (And even Free Company), and you even have some adventurers NPC.

The "you're the only one" part refers to the "Warrior Of Light" status (And even that is not really unique, per se), but you can't actually ever "see" another adventurer with such a blessing while playing.

The good thing of this topic, it's that we'll maybe get rid of all the players who want to throw the lore out of the window just to unlock the new "fancy" content, in a franchise famous for its lore. Good riddance.

You say "Lose its consistency", I say "Constantly evolving world"... Both are their own respective avenues, and both have pro's / cons to them. As we're seeing with this topic. I won't deny that you're right - having a straight story path is nice. I enjoyed the story myself, but my issue comes in the form of if I ever choose to make an alt, I'd have to go through it all AGAIN (And btw, I've already done it once for one of my alts... it's a mindnumbing process and so boring at that point.)

Plenty of things to do for a leveling player who is new to the game, going from 50-> Heavensward? The only thing the players will have to do is the MSQ. They might opt to stop and do all the level 50 dungouns, but I don't see why they would do that. Most players will be persuing what they want, and neither you nor I can speak for them in what they want.

It's mentionned frequently that the cities will seek adventurerS to help - So why can't a level 30 adventurer be of any help? Let's face it - this could easily be a sidequest. A "Temporary Access to Ishgard" permit of sorts. A pass to allow you in pre-heavensward... or perhaps even a quest to smuggle yourself in. Only being given clean access to Heavensward once it was "Earned." There are ways to write it while maintaining the integrity of the story.

Or perhaps... The trainers can send an NPC out to the world, seeking able-bodied (level 30) adventurers... And when you speak to them, they warp you to the NPC in Ishgard for your training, then send you back out. They're training you. Making you indebted to them. It could even be a cool flag in the story.

The simple fact of the matter is, this gating is rather foolish because it only negatively affects new players. New players are the life's blood of FFXIV. Trust me, there's plenty of thigns I dislike that a new player would h ate me for saying I dislike - and that's the way it works. But trying to say "Good riddance" to new players is just being stubborn.

Honestly, If they had made the classes level 50 to start, I'd be more receptive to the idea of them being locked in heavensward. But for some reason, SE makes you hit level 50, complete MSQ, only to take 20 steps backwards in levels to unlock the new jobs... Doesn't that seem a bit silly? The jobs are clearly designed with some degree of fostering some better low-level environments and getting us veteran/all 50's to go back to them. So why not help those who also want to play them sooner by getting them hooked/interested sooner?

[Allyrion]

Each of THOSE people has a few thousand within them :3

Yea, the amount of people involved is much less important than the chronology of events within the MSQ's internal lore.


What I do empathize with is the classes though.
You shouldn't have to get to 50 and then finish all post 50 MSQ, just to get go back to 30 as a new class and deal with ARR all over again (even if leveling isn't so bad).

I think the new classes should've started at 50 so you can move forward in Ishgard with the new Ishgard level Jobs.
It even makes more sense for the Job quests to take place in Ishgard (though I guess we'll see).

I feel like they're only 30 so that there'll be people doing the older content while the new one is released.
That's fine, but that's only likely an issue for launch.

I'd be fine with it too if they planned to up it to 50 later, but that's unlikely due to how Job quests are designed.

[zx10r]

Number 1 reason people buy expansion? To try out the new classes and level in new zones. Neither of those are possible with this expansion so no matter what anyone says this is the single most idiotic business decision a company can make. I am sure your precious "lore" will do you good when the number on purchases are abysmally low and they start decreasing development effort.