Why do I have to complete *all* vanilla story quests to get to HW content?

[Vaer]

Fair enough. I played FFXI back in the day and jumped on FFXIV day 1, was sorely disappointed (There was 1 quest every 5 levels) and came back after HW was released. And, as I've said, many story-focused games (WoW is just as story focused as FFXIV) don't have this requirement. I'll get through it because I like the game and want to play it, but its disappointing and frustrating.

Let's not pretend that FFXI back in the day didn't have Dynamis locked behind story missions, Sky/Tu'Lia locked behind story missions (to start RoZ missions you had to do core missions up to 5-2), and Sea/Al'Taieu locked behind story missions. Those were the big ones and entire areas... so this isn't exactly a new thing with SE really.

[Lexia]

Let's not pretend that FFXI back in the day didn't have Dynamis locked behind story missions, Sky/Tu'Lia locked behind story missions (to start RoZ missions you had to do core missions up to 5-2), and Sea/Al'Taieu locked behind story missions. Those were the big ones and entire areas... so this isn't exactly a new thing with SE really.

Yes but as another person in the thread pointed out they most likely a wow or another run of the mill MMO player and expecting XIV to act the same and finding out it not. See it quite a lot.

[Nestama]

Because this is, by and large, how video games work.

FFXI and other MMO's would like to have a word with you (CoP, ToAU, WotG and SoA don't require you to finish MSQ and Zilart to gain access to their zones/cities/Jobs).

[Belhi]

I agree with the OP. My wife and I returned recently to the game after a long break and we wanted to try out the new jobs. And, of course, it seems they are completely gated behind main story quests. I have been playing FF since the original Nintendo days so I don't mind a great story but why not change it so you can at least play the new jobs without those requirements? I don't think that is too much to ask.

I actually agree with you. Having the new Jobs gated is pretty frustrating to new players and while lvling extra Jobs is a normal part of the game, having to level a job you don't want to play all the way through the patches so you can play a Job your interested in, and then having to level that up to 50 to continue the story, isn't great.

The actual gating on the HW story content however makes a lot of sense in context and that story content is the fastest way to progress anyway.

[MistakeNot]

I've recently found out that once I hit 50 and finish the base game's story quests, I still have ~100 story quests to do before I can get to heavensward content. This seems a little ridiculous, very annoying, and quite frankly punishing to new players. What is the reasoning behind this? That I need those quests to understand the story? Why not just write the story so I didn't need all that extraneous info and questing.

It's fine for players who played through the content when it was current, but is a huge barrier to entry for players either just joining or rejoining and will hurt the long-term health of the player base.

Are there plans to get rid of this requirement in the future? Or do I just have 100+ quests to go?

What is so special about the Heavensward content that you need to reach it quickly? All parts of the MSQ require that you do all the previous story quests - you needed to do lots of quests before you could do Castrum Meridanium. This is no different.


Those quests are not a barrier - they are content to be played and enjoyed in its own right. Is the problem just that they are all level 50 quests?

[Vidu]

Just a reminder, I'm OP. I've played many MMO's (FFXI included) and none of them require you to finish all story quests to get at the new stuff.


It's just poor game design.

Nope, still not getting it. Why didnt you start complaning that you've play through all the story up to 50? I consider most of the 2.xx actually better than the ARR-story - granted, there are fillers, but you get those everywhere.
I'm actually glad that the devs are basically saying "Hey, we've got this story here, that we would like to tell!"

And you STILL didnt answered my questition: Why is this such a big deal for you? What do you wanna do in this game? Just grind two dungeons and thats it? Why is it poor game design when the devs be like "yeah, we actually want people to see the content we put so much effort and thought into!" Are you going to complain about every new story-patch-content aswell?

[revonine]

What is so special about the Heavensward content that you need to reach it quickly? All parts of the MSQ require that you do all the previous story quests - you needed to do lots of quests before you could do Castrum Meridanium. This is no different.


Those quests are not a barrier - they are content to be played and enjoyed in its own right. Is the problem just that they are all level 50 quests?

As the above poster pointed out AST and DRK are locked behind arriving at Ishgard. As much as I love this game I can't really defend that decision.

[AngeloFlick]

Just a reminder, I'm OP. I've played many MMO's (FFXI included) and none of them require you to finish all story quests to get at the new stuff. Imagine having to finish base-game FFXI to get to Rise of the Zilart and Dragoon etc...
I understand people talking about 'how are you going to know about XYZ happening in Ishgard etc... and that's fair, but its minimal work for a writer to edit it to make it more new-user friendly and to not require huge amounts of play experience. Every game series does it, Dragon Age I doesn't require DA:O or DA2, FFXI: CoP didn't require RoZ, WoW Legion doesn't require you to go through every single expansion to get to the game, it dumps you in the action and assumes you'll catch up to the story on your own. It would be forgivable if the story were amazing and gripping but ... :s

It's just poor game design.

Gonna paste in my post from the other thread, because this is my biggest pet peeve about the current MMO player base, everyone wants all the games to be alike. If I wanted a game that played like that I would be playing.... WoW. Or any of the dozens of other MMOs that aren't story driven.

How about this novel concept-
FFXIV does not and should not cater to the entire MMO market because no other game does what FFXIV does. People who want to experience a story driven Final Fantasy game in a MMO setting with other players are the target audience. Not WoW players killing time before the next expansion. I've been playing MMOs since 2001 and burned out on EQ, EQ2, Guildwars, WoW and etc 5 years ago. If FFXIV was like all the others I wouldn't be playing it, or WoW (or any other of the dozens of shitty WoW clones) or any other MMO. I'd be off playing single player or co-op games with my spouse.

If someone doesn't like FFXIV because of the MSQ requirements that's not a slur on them or on the game. It just means this isn't the MMO for them and that's ok. Different games for different people. But don't come in here and demand that this game change one of the core mechanics that makes it unique just because it's outside your comfort zone.

[Xlantaa]

I do not want neither change the game to boost the access to the end game. They alredy nerfed a lot of stuff, boosted experiecne in dungeons, and put high level gear in the post 2.0 quests to help enter Heavensward with good gear without efford. I think that's more than enough. Also ,this game doesn't focus too much on high level end game, Alexander Savage and some Ex primals that's all. Is not that kind of game.

[Maero]

Well getting to Ishgard is all story based. All the main story leading up to traveling to Ishgard and the reasoning. It's just how it is and would make Zero sense to remove the requirement
All of us have done every single main story quest to get there, why should it be different?