this game is NOT friendly for those who return after long absence

[Chihaya]

Also playing catchup. For those of you on a high horse saying "stfu and just enjoy the content," I dare you to make a fresh character and do the main story all in a go.

Well not as bad as a fresh character, but I have a level 50 alt - I rushed her from the story mission that made you go in Qarn all the way to 2.55 in 2 sittings before the expansion hit (while still doing dailies on main). I'll admit I skipped all the cutscenes as I already seen them on my main. With HW out now, I don't have time to even take care of that alt anymore ._. she just sits at 50 now.

[seekified]

The reasons why clearing the 2.55 MSQ is necessary are valid. Other than that, the game is actually very friendly for people who've take a break - every new tomestone and tower has meant that catching up on hear becomes extremely easy. I took a break between 2.2 and 2.4, came back and went from i88 to i125 in a couple of months.

[Sanguisio]

levelling to 50 was done by everyone before reaching HW.

To level your crafts make full use of the leve system and triple trade ins. IMO you could level a craft in 2 days from 0-50.

[Benolan]

Good lord you are whiny. I stopped playing last September.. came back, did all the new story quests, opened the new dungeons and primals... that's the game. If you don't enjoy it, stop playing.

[Noob_Sauce]

Apparently they added a fourth wave to a quest that is currently kicking my teeth in. It's the one where you have to apprehend a spy (pink haired elezen) and it's frustrating to know people got through this quest without having to put up with this fourth wave which is just too big for me to handle.

[Madjames]

Your right op, it isn't friendly

I quit the game 2 months into ARR because Ninja was not added into the game.

I came back mach of this year when I found out ninja was added in a while ago.

So I leveled a brand new toon to 50 and started mining daily to level my miner before the expansion. I found out that the MSQ was needed at the end of may.

Now understand that I am an RN irl and have twin boys. The wife is as well. I didn't get to start fully progressing in the story until the first day of EA. My whole FC was in ishgard getting 48k Exp and getting their chocobos to fly. Meanwhile upon logging in I was on the quest Fireworks and Fish do not mix.

It took 11:00 AM to 7:00 AM to FINISH from that quest. This is with SKIPPING EVERYTHING! Really SQ? 20 IRL HOURS just to get into an expansion I paid for and access the new content? I couldnt even play with my friends, at ALL because of this stupid gating pile of crap. I mean, why not just make this a single player game if your going to FORCE mmo players to SOLO! This is an MMORPG and as such we should have the freedom to level how we want and should be able to play with our friends!

Gating the expac with a level lock as every other mmorpg has been doing since 2004 ill now is ok. Gating raids, and dungeons to small gates like a quest or 2 is again fine. Having to attune to fly is again, ok. Gating a whole expansion INCLUDING the jobs that was one of the main draw for new players is a stupid business model and downright a slap in the face to new players.

In that time I also got 491k exp, TOTAL! I walked into Ishgard with that much exp into level 50. I was getting 4800EXP doing the pile of crap MSQ while my friends who were fresh level 50 were getting 48k......seems like an unfair leveling advantage to me!

The whole thing was NOT worth the effort. I have since went back and watched every part of the story from when I left off till now and the story is lackluster at best. The story needs to be optional. This game is NOT friendly to players coming back nor is it remotely friendly to new players.

Some will argue that SE bumped the EXP you get. That makes NO DIFFERENCE on how fast you level! They could but me into being level 50 automatically and it would make NO difference at all. Why? Because you would still have to slog through the whole MSQ to even get to relevant content with your friends.

Also do not give me this bullcrap of learning to play your class. I have been playing MMORPG's since september 1997 up to today. I have never taken a break, never missed a monthly subscription, Nothing. All MMORPGs play roughly the same with minor changes. A BLM in this game plays like the Warlock in wow.

Mind you, some classes will be a little different but having been playing MMORPG's for so long they after a few hours of killing monsters. The MSQ DOES NOT teach you how to do this! You learn through dungeons and fates.

This whole this is nothing more then a stupid restriction on us players to force us to play a certain way when I would rather grind from 1-60 doing nothing but fates and hunt board monsters.

The MSQ should be optional like it is in the most heavy story oriented MMO SWTOR.

Sorry to say SE but countless friends and family refuse to come to this game because you are restricting them on how they want to play. One is a hardcore crafter, that is ALL he does. Will he be able to craft in the new area and run his MMORPG business with customers and stuff WITHOUT going through the stupid MSQ? No, and that right there is the reason why you have lost roughly 15 subscriptions from my pool of friends and family alone. Take note SE because you are losing people coming to this game because of this.

Lastly, those who say they do not want players like that. I personally DO want as many players as this game can get and reach its full potential. I want it todo this to keep the great updates and expansion coming. Without players means less money, which means less content which in turn hurts US the Players in the end.

[Delorean]

the expansion is tied to the main story, so it makes sense that a person cannot access it until they are caught up with the story. Take your time and enjoy all the content you missed, than you can enjoy the new content in Heavensward..

"take your time and enjoy watching all 48 hours of the collecting bear asses and cutscenes you missed"

i dont mean to knock the team because i really like the game a lot, but watching these scenes with these voice actors that are so terribly constructed most of the time is so painfully tedious to watch.

They told people this ages ago you had a long time to start playing and get to the end of the story quests.

and that is irrelevant; you play a game to be entertained, not to be frustrated and disappointed.

it is a huge turn off. it's enough to turn people away who haven't been playing FFXIV for the past couple of years.

[Madjames]

"take your time and enjoy watching all 48 hours of the collecting bear asses and cutscenes you missed"

i dont mean to knock the team because i really like the game a lot, but watching these scenes with these voice actors that are so terribly constructed most of the time is so painfully tedious to watch.



and that is irrelevant; you play a game to be entertained, not to be frustrated and disappointed.

it is a huge turn off. it's enough to turn people away who haven't been playing FFXIV for the past couple of years.

Exactly!!

I play this game to play with friends and to fight monsters and write my own story IRL about my character. He already has a 10 page backstory to him that I wrote when I first created him.

Anyway, your point is a good one. Weather or not they "told" people is not the issue. The problem lies with them telingl us "This is how you MUST play, this is how you MUST level, this is what you HAVE to do. If you have not done your MSQ up to the expansion, FORGET about your friends until you complete all 50+ HOURS of story BY YOURSELF with a few dungeons and primal battles thrown it. We are throwing out the MMO part of the game until you complete a SOLO story quest that is lackluster and boring at BEST. If you cant do that and you are coming into this game from the start, your screwed, we don't want your money for future development to keep the game afloat, we will just let you leave end of story" This is a BAD business model as every other mmorpg (Including the most story driven MMORPG on the market which is more so then this game SWTOR) does NOT lock our entire expansion behind a story.

It may not SEEM like a problem right now but over 15 people from my IRL friends, family, and Facebook downright REFUSE to play this game because of this requirement. Why would they play a game that forces a certain story hugger play-style on them when they would rather grind fates to level 50 and then go into ishgard because they have the required level cap like many other mmorpgs on the market do? Why would they play an MMORPG when the MMO part is completely left out and your on your own until you complete the MSQ?

I have mine completed. It took 20 HOURS total to complete Fireworks and Fish do not mix, to the start of the coming to ishgard quest. The time is horrible, FORCING us to do it 90% SOLO is beyond stupid. This is an MMORPG and should be played at ALL levels to have fun with friends as that is what an MMORPG is all about, Online gaming with friends to have fun!

SWTOR allows people to go through each others story as they are different. My wife and I saw TWO storys as we leveled together and did our storys together as that game allows it. The story's were great and fun and entertaining unlike this game. SE needs to consider making it optional is all I can say. It would be nice to give us the players the freedom to choose how we level and what we do with our $15 a month.

[Delorean]

yeah my friend is not happy with warlords of draenor and is thinking about playing ffxiv

i want him to play but i really don't know how to tell him he's going to have to sit through all of the MSQs because i know he's going to explode when he realizes just how much of it there is.... I mean, I told him because I had to do the last leg of it to prep for heavensward, but before that I had to do hours of MSQs just to open Leviathan and Ramuh.

and he probably thinks it will take like an hour tops lol

hes the type of guy who will be like "i dont work 80 hours a week to spend 90% of my free time skipping story scenes, teleporting all over a game and collecting bear asses" then quit

[Sessurea]

mmos generally aren't.