The people who expect too much from a monthly subscription kill this game

[Miscreant]

Also, leveling to 60 doesn't take long, even if you don't play much at all.

Lets face it as far as most games go, the grind from 1-60 is long, I imagine with a 9-5 or school it would take about 2-4 weeks, you can clear the story most rpgs in less than 3 days. But I don't think its the grind thats the problem, there is a lot of fluff in-between the end of the 2.0 story and 3.0, pointless fetch quests etc that new players must struggle with. I mean I struggled with them on patch days, spread out over two years.

[Aethaeryn]

Lets face it as far as most games go, the grind from 1-60 is long, I imagine with a 9-5 or school it would take about 2-4 weeks

I just recently rushed a new character from 1-60 as quickly as I could manage... partially out of curiosity. Skipping all cutscenes (since it's my 4th character and I practically have everything memorized) and leveling lancer to 34 for cross-class bfb, it took me 114 hours (/playtime - I didn't play 114 hours straight). That means it'd take a month if you played 4 hours every day and didn't read anything at all.

It didn't help that I leveled a dps and had queues in excess of 30 minutes for some required 2.x dungeons and trials, so a tank could shave some time off... But yeah, it's a pretty significant time investment for a new player to do 1-60 and join their friends. And most new players are probably gonna want to explore and experience some of the side options like crafting/gathering/gold saucer.

[Risvertasashi]

Nahh, he's just too smart for us.

Lol jking. I think he's trying to say players are being too easily discouraged from this games massive slope to funner content.

That's fair enough. Combined with...:

it took me 114 hours ... But yeah, it's a pretty significant time investment for a new player to do 1-60 and join their friends.And most new players are probably gonna want to explore and experience some of the side options like crafting/gathering/gold saucer.

I think this is why a lot of MMOs these days, as they mature, offer to let new players start at max level (and often with other goodies). I wouldn't be surprised to see FFXIV go this route in time.

OTOH:

I just recently rushed a new character from 1-60 as quickly as I could manage... partially out of curiosity. Skipping all cutscenes (since it's my 4th character and I practically have everything memorized) and leveling lancer to 34 for cross-class bfb, it took me 114 hours (/playtime - I didn't play 114 hours straight). That means it'd take a month if you played 4 hours every day and didn't read anything at all.

For some of us it's more of a "about the journey, not the destination" kind of thing. If a player doesn't care about story and just wants to rush to endgame and raid with friends, they won't like this, but me... If I were just starting now, I'd like having a story that I could log into and work on a bit each day (or however often my schedule allowed). I mean, you don't buy a 60+ hour CRPG expecting to finish it in a sitting or two; just a longer version of that.

Over 114 hours... if you view it as a gate, it's horrible. If you view it as 114+ hours of adventure, on the other hand...

[Aethaeryn]

Over 114 hours... if you view it as a gate, it's horrible. If you view it as 114+ hours of adventure, on the other hand...

I agree completely. I took my time leveling the first time around. I was just saying if you were rushing to catch up with your friends, it's a bit daunting unless you have tons of free time. Some people don't care about the journey and just want to jump into the endgame with friends. I was just agreeing with Miscreant where she said that the 1-60 grind is long compared to other games.

[Kosmos992k]

For some of us it's more of a "about the journey, not the destination" kind of thing.

Indeed and agreed...

LOL, "It is about the journey, not just the destination." that's my FC motto...and has been since forever.

If a player doesn't care about story and just wants to rush to endgame and raid with friends, they won't like this, but me... If I were just starting now, I'd like having a story that I could log into and work on a bit each day (or however often my schedule allowed). I mean, you don't buy a 60+ hour CRPG expecting to finish it in a sitting or two; just a longer version of that.

Over 114 hours... if you view it as a gate, it's horrible. If you view it as 114+ hours of adventure, on the other hand...

Time was when a game that featured 114+ hours of leveling to hit the end-game was seen as a superb investment and great value for money. Some of us still think that way.

Final Fantasy games are all about the journey. If your biggest concern is with getting to 60 as fast as possible, you're missing most of the game and some of the best content available in any MMO. The folks behind these games are story tellers, and they throw in some action to keep us interested. Pay attention to the story, and there should be more than enough to keep you interested on the journey to level 60.

Indeed and agreed...

If you buy a FF game, is it not by default an expectation that there will be a long story being told? To me the 'end-game' is more like bonus content that you can access once you have played the rest of the game and max'd out your gear. It's that greater challenge mode that lies beyond the story in the realm of "New Game+".

[Elvin]

But come on. Most of the Main Story Quest are just a pain in the ass.


A good amount of them are just

A "Go to speak with B"
B "Ok, go and tell A that I agree"
A "Ok. So tell B that I appreciate his help"
B "Very good. Now do what I was going to do. By the way, speak with A before doing it, ok?"

Sometimes I even think that the devs laught at us, like when Minphilia gave us our linkpearl .... And the first contact that he does is to say "Well done. Now I want to speak with you, so come here."


People keep saying that is a final fantasy and it's also about enjoy the story, but actually FF XIV Main Story Quest is sooo full of fillers that's it's not enjoyable anymore.

I like Final Fantasy series, a lot. And of course I play them for the story. But FF XIV can't compare at all with the single player games...

[Risvertasashi]

A "Go to speak with B"
B "Ok, go and tell A that I agree"
A "Ok. So tell B that I appreciate his help"
B "Very good. Now do what I was going to do. By the way, speak with A before doing it, ok?"

Well... you can simplify plots of any story telling medium this way (although gaming is the interactive one). But here we delve purely into the realm of opinion... The devil is in the details on whether it's well executed or not.

Personally, I not only liked the MSQ but a number of the plots in sidequests as well. Some will not, and that's OK. SE already said 4.0 will not be gated by 3.0 completion, even for 3.x they are moving stuff like primals out of the MSQ, and over time I would not be surprised if they add more measures to accommodate the don't-care-about-the-story crowd. For example, perhaps some time SE will let characters start at max level with low tier token gear, as some other MMOs do.

[NovaLevossida]

Well... you can simplify plots of any story telling medium this way (although gaming is the interactive one). But here we delve purely into the realm of opinion... The devil is in the details on whether it's well executed or not.

That's not even a simplification of the story quest in some cases. That's literally the quest chain leading up to Titan. There's a lot of quests put in here not to be interesting but rather to take up time and fulfill a content quota.

[Seryl199]

But come on. Most of the Main Story Quest are just a pain in the ass.


A good amount of them are just

A "Go to speak with B"
B "Ok, go and tell A that I agree"
A "Ok. So tell B that I appreciate his help"
B "Very good. Now do what I was going to do. By the way, speak with A before doing it, ok?"

It's story exposition backed by a fetch quest. Is it the most stellar of storytelling techniques? No, it is not. However, there's a lot of information that is told in those quests. They build the world of Eorzea. Many quests are further backed by journal entries that have additional exposition and subtexts you may not have picked up on during the quest's dialogue. If the story is such a chore for you, skip it. Just don't be surprised when events hit critical turning points and you don't find yourself invested in any of the characters or the story.

[Stanelis]

To get your first job from 50 to 60 (assuming you're actually playing the job, reading the text and not rushing to endgame) will legitimately take you roughly 50 to 60 hours if you're clearing the sidequests along the way.

How many hours of uninteresting sidequests (such as finding moogles and the like of them) which are of no value both gameplay wise and storyline wise ?

How many hours spent repeating the same dungeons to grind for 2 different types of tomestones over 5 months ?

How many hours spent running around the areas zerging hunt mobs which are only sightly buffed version of regular monsters ?

How many hours spent wiping on poorly designed and overtuned raiding encounters ?

The quantity isn't what matter, what matter is the quality of the time you spend on the game. Currently the ratio of time spent on FFXIV versus gameplay quality is near 0 on FFXIV.