Game needs to be more newcomer friendly, but NOT with level-boosts

[Kallera]

Weird question but did Fray even acknowledge where he was? Like in Foundation in particular? If not, no harm moving him elsewhere I guess he doesn't even have his own guilde room. Later parts with the Au Ra and the girl shouldn't be a problem either I guess if they shorten MSQ you'll be in foundation in no time if so.

fray mentions events that happened in the msq, there's a reference to Leviathan, as well as the Uldahn luncheon. Fray's issues do not make sense outside of the context of what the main character goes through by 3.0.

there's also the matter that fray's quests start at lvl 30. this is a smaller matter however, as it could make way for earlier quests by tuning fray's to 50 only. there's some changes to do to make drk available before hw.

[seekified]

It'd be better if they just removed all the tedious bullshit quests from the MSQ to make it more focused on the actually important stuff, and far less time consuming. I mean, even the game's NPCs comment on the ridiculousness of the Scions' delegation of duties to the Warrior of Light.

[Laerune]

Square Enix needs to do two things for the next expansion:

* Remove the fetch quests during the 2.0-2.5 Patches and add those experience point somewhere else.
* New jobs and location should only require that the player has bought the expansion. An example. BoB is new and bought the base game + both expansions. He has just finished the level 50 quest and wants to visit the new city. Since Bob has bought the expansion pack, he can travel to Ala Mhigo and check new location. Since BoB is level 50, new Jobs will only require the player to be level 30 and Bob has bought the expansion, this means BoB can unlock the Blue Mage. BoB can not do the MSQ there, since you need to be level 60 and he can also not do the other sidequests that require you to be level 60-70.

This will fix two things:

1. The player will not do the boring fetch quests and the game will focus more on the MSQ, this will help the newcomer reach Ishgard faster.
2. Players that want to play a new class should not spend 120 hoiurs to reach Ala Mhigo and unlock one of the new classes. Instead they can go there and unlock the classes. With this MSQ is locked behind MSQ, but the classes are locked behind the level of the player.

We do not need a Level Boost Potion and lets not kid ourselves, SE wants this feature so they can make more money off the players that want to reach somewhere fast. To be honest, the fact that they have mentioned this is already a sign that its comming. I would not be suprised if after the Expansion has been released, we will get a announcement that they will release this item so newcomers can also enjoy the new expansion. They will not respond to this matter untill they have sold their expansion.

[Terin]

fray mentions events that happened in the msq, there's a reference to Leviathan, as well as the Uldahn luncheon. Fray's issues do not make sense outside of the context of what the main character goes through

Well, the dialogue itself is fairly irrelevant, as they could change it, having him refer to other events, and you would still have the same "vibe" for his story. A few minor tweaks here and there, but nothing massive. Also, once you unlock the job crystals, there's really no reason the rest of the associated job quests would need to be available outside of Ishgard. Just have Fray comment on how much time has elapsed when you get to Ishgard. They could even play with the timeline, and have you meeting him "before that stuff happens".

[RyuSaarva]

Well, the dialogue itself is fairly irrelevant, as they could change it, having him refer to other events, and you would still have the same "vibe" for his story. A few minor tweaks here and there, but nothing massive. Also, once you unlock the job crystals, there's really no reason the rest of the associated job quests would need to be available outside of Ishgard. Just have Fray comment on how much time has elapsed when you get to Ishgard. They could even play with the timeline, and have you meeting him "before that stuff happens".

or just not let people play dark knight if they don't even wan't to do the main story.

[Fumbi]

or just not let people play dark knight if they don't even wan't to do the main story.

Thing called Effort.

[Terin]

If someone wants to play a Dark Knight (or any of the new jobs) wants to play one, do you SERIOUSLY think they're going to spend 60+ hours playing a character they're not interested in, just to "test the waters" once they unlock it?

FFXIV is a wonderful game, but new Races and Classes/Jobs are a major selling point for new players. It's actually a psychological tick, that gets them to say "This game looks interesting, and with this new class, it's the perfect time for me to jump in".

[Yasuhiro]

fray mentions events that happened in the msq, there's a reference to Leviathan, as well as the Uldahn luncheon. Fray's issues do not make sense outside of the context of what the main character goes through by 3.0.

there's also the matter that fray's quests start at lvl 30. this is a smaller matter however, as it could make way for earlier quests by tuning fray's to 50 only. there's some changes to do to make drk available before hw.

I meant the present location he's currently in. Not the timeline.
Edit: wait bad reading comprehension on my part, the events that transpire all build up to entering Ishgard so your post is a good answer.
Thank you

[Ersilon]

If someone wants to play a Dark Knight (or any of the new jobs) wants to play one, do you SERIOUSLY think they're going to spend 60+ hours playing a character they're not interested in, just to "test the waters" once they unlock it?

FFXIV is a wonderful game, but new Races and Classes/Jobs are a major selling point for new players. It's actually a psychological tick, that gets them to say "This game looks interesting, and with this new class, it's the perfect time for me to jump in".

If they're serious about playing this game, then yes, they are. It took my wife and myself four months playing together to get through the MSQ to the point where we could unlock DRK and AST. It took us quite a bit of time to discover the ideal way for us to level, given our situation where we have small children who often demand our attention and make running dungeons with strangers nerve wracking. That only slowed us down, not stopped us. Yes, it was annoying to have to grind through all of the 2.x patch MSQ's, but that's the story, and Final Fantasy has always been about telling a story.

When Wrath of the Lich King was the current expansion for WoW, you had to actually level a character to 55 just to be able to roll a death knight.I'm not sure if it's still required, but I certainly hope so. It's just a requirement to have spent some time and effort for a reward. Here, you have to just get to 50 and do the MSQ to get to Ishgard. It isn't hard. It just requires time and effort.

If someone's picking up the game solely because of an expansion job with no interest in anything else this game happens to offer, then yes, they're going to quit as a natural result of buying the game for the wrong reasons.

[ToasterMan]

I'm going to address the elephant in the room here and ask, maybe the MSQ and the mechanic to lock everything behind it was a poor design choice to begin with? Maybe the MSQ itself was designed poorly from the get go? Maybe SE just didn't think ahead?