Gating the whole expansion

[Maero]

honestly it is posts like this that make the new player base look like priviledged players which i know many are not.
All of us had to do the main story, it is part of the game and getting into ishgard is part of it so just do it.
Like others have said SE made it very clear months in advance that you needed the main storyline complete. Pretty sure it may of been on lodestone at some point as well as the screen were you see when first logging in?
It is like buying a car, do you research it or just say i will just buy it?

[ArcheDragon]

There's a main story here? All I've been doing is completing MORE menial tasks... I'm in the same boat and I'm not a fan. Not only is this story less than stellar, but all of the padding in it is mind numbingly bad.

[DreameR7g]

There's a main story here? All I've been doing is completing MORE menial tasks... I'm in the same boat and I'm not a fan. Not only is this story less than stellar, but all of the padding in it is mind numbingly bad.

If you aren't a fan, that's fair enough. I'd never tell people they had to *LIKE* the story. They merely have to complete it to gain access to the areas. This isn't anything new to the MMO genre. It is only new to you if you're used to WoW, which to be frank, went completely down hill after Wrath of the Lich King because the story simply wasn't as strong as before. It also was only catered to those who rushed to the end without enjoying anything in between.

Eventually, everybody learns the same lesson: "It is all about the journey, not the destination."

[Banono]

This game has always gated content behind the story and the expansion being gated was not a secret in fact sites have been reporting on it for months.

[Saerydoth]

I'm in favor of them keeping it the way it is. If story doesn't matter to you, and you just want to skip it, go play WOW (where the story doesn't matter/doesn't make sense anyway). The story is VERY important to this game and I hope they never change it.

[Alekxander]

The practical problem that I've encountered is with getting friends to play the game. They see Heavensward is coming out. We talk about the main game, they get excited. We talk about HW, they get excited. Then I tell them that they can't really use most of HW until they've finished the MSQ from the base game and the major patches. They say *meh*.

I've had two friends seriously interested in picking up ARR and HW. Now, they might pick up ARR.

I think that the devs should have added a new area that was available to those who haven't finished the MSQ. A reclaimed area of Thanalan sort of thing. Rough and unsettled.

Because as it stands, that's two copies of HW that won't be sold because of the story ladder.

[DreameR7g]

Snip

Purely because they see progression as work, and not as something to have fun with as it should be. If it was an entirely seperate game and/or storyline, I'd be worried about the copies that aren't sold. However, considering its merely a continuation, the main focus is getting people into XIV as a whole, as it should be.

For example: The Wheel of Time book series, in my opinion, picked up rapidly at book 6. However, I wouldn't skip 1 through 5 just because I was more interested in book 6 and beyond. You rob yourself of the entire experience.

[Alekxander]

It's not that they are adverse to devoting time to the game. It's busy work that they are worried about. Having to do all the MSQ to open up any new areas or any new jobs. I like the storyline, it's one of the points that I emphasize when talking to my friends about the game. But I can't blame them or dismiss their concerns at coming into a mature game and having to climb that ladder. Hopefully, they'll enjoy it enough to continue on and buy HW eventually. But they aren't buying it now and they would have if they could have access to anything from HW.

[DreameR7g]

Snip

Well, I wouldn't advise new players to buy Heavensward straight away unless it came bundled w/ ARR in any case, purely because of how the expansion expands the end-game mainly.
You're right in that you shouldn't dismiss their concerns hastily but then, since Heavensward was advertised as an end-game extender, they shouldn't logically have those concerns anyway considering theres much more content in their way before they can even sniff Heavensward.

[Alexia89]

These people saying SqEnix has screwed newer players with this expac....
Meanwhile there's more new players posting in here saying they're fine with it and OP is just lazy, yet they're getting completely ignored.

"Nope it screws new players."
Pull your head out, the 2.0 contents queue times will balance out once people get to 60 and start running roulettes again. Quit acting like newer players will never see those of us who have been playing for month/years again.