Main Scenario Restriction Bloodstorm - Very Very Bad idea.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

They shouldn't even give them that. You want to skip everything go search for TL;DRs on reddit or youtube. Lazy players deserve nothing.

Why is someone who doesn't care about the story lazy? There are people who grind out multiple Anima weapons, clear Savage when it's relevant and have leveled alts just for the purpose of dodging weekly locks yet they skip every single cutscene. None of that denotes someone who is lazy, just someone who cares only for gameplay.

Something to remember, if we do not have a content flux of new players, Square doesn't make as much money. Therefore, they have further incentive to add stuff on the cash shop to make up the difference. Like it or not, those "lazy players" still make up a good portion of people who simply won't play this game if they are forced through hundreds of quests they aren't interested in.

[TarynH]

Why is someone who doesn't care about the story lazy?

Again, this is not the discussion here. The OP clearly wants anyone to be able to skip ALL content, and go directly to current end-game raids/dungeons. That is super lazy, and has nothing to do with whether someone likes the story or not. They just hate waiting in lines.

Why should the devs just hand over end-game content to someone on day one? Without them having to go through any course of action to unlock anything. You might as well just give someone all jobs level 70, unlock all dungeons/raids from day one, and let them "enjoy the game."

Bonuses could include having a supply of readily available resources to craft high end gear. All gathering/crafting books unlocked. Flying chocobo at level 1. All aetherytes unlocked. No gates anywhere, with ability to wander into areas yet unlocked. I mean, as long as we're getting ridiculous right?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Again, this is not the discussion here. The OP clearly wants anyone to be able to skip ALL content, and go directly to current end-game raids/dungeons. That is super lazy, and has nothing to do with whether someone likes the story or not. They just hate waiting in lines.

Why should the devs just hand over end-game content to someone on day one? Without them having to go through any course of action to unlock anything. You might as well just give someone all jobs level 70, unlock all dungeons/raids from day one, and let them "enjoy the game."

Bonuses could include having a supply of readily available resources to craft high end gear. All gathering/crafting books unlocked. Flying chocobo at level 1. All aetherytes unlocked. No gates anywhere, with ability to wander into areas yet unlocked. I mean, as long as we're getting ridiculous right?

The OP cited 60, meaning people would still have to level all throughout Stormblood. The only content unlocked is stuff released beforehand. Essentially, the expansion would be like a new game. You aren't handing them everyone on a silver platter, you're allowing them the option to not have 300+ quests gating them from what they actually want to play. To use myself as an example. I've never been particularly interested in WoW. The art design always through me off and MMOs weren't my thing until recently. Now Legion caught my interest. And if I were to actually pick it up, it's Legion I want to play. All the expansions prior? Yeah. I don't really care about them. Maybe I'd go back on a new character and poke around after I'm done exploring Legion, but it's not what caught my interest. If WoW didn't have a level skip option and required me to play through every piece of content they've released. I wouldn't even consider playing it. Why? Because I'm not interested in all their lore. Maybe I want to play with some friends. I also just don't want to dedicate that kind of time to another MMO. Now I do love story, but WoW would be my side game. So I'd largely be playing it for raids, dungeons and etc.

And let's think ahead. Three years from now a third expansion will be released. Are we now going to expect new players to go through three full numbered cycles? It will not happen. Without new players, Square has only further incentive to add cash shop items since they have to make up that sub money somehow. Way I look at it, if someone wants to skip ahead to Stormblood. It doesn't hurt me. They aren't going to have an advantage going into Savage. In fact, it may even be harder for them. That option though is nice to have.

[silentwindfr]

snips

question: FF14 is a game based on it story first, was always and will be always.... how the new player that did jump directly to 60 will understand why they fight? or for who they fight? who are the scion? who are the ascian? what is a primal? who is the empire? and stuff like this.... if they skip all the story quest that explain this? how they will feel involved into stormblood if they know nothing about the world where it happend?

[Rhaja]

question: FF14 is a game based on it story first, was always and will be always.... how the new player that did jump directly to 60 will understand why they fight? or for who they fight? who are the scion? who are the ascian? what is a primal? who is the empire? and stuff like this.... if they skip all the story quest that explain this? how they will feel involved into stormblood if they know nothing about the world where it happend?

One majestically word.

Cinematics.

Then if they want to actually experience everything later, they can make an alt.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

question: FF14 is a game based on it story first, was always and will be always.... how the new player that did jump directly to 60 will understand why they fight? or for who they fight? who are the scion? who are the ascian? what is a primal? who is the empire? and stuff like this.... if they skip all the story quest that explain this? how they will feel involved into stormblood if they know nothing about the world where it happend?

People who opt to skip ahead generally don't give a damn about the story. They're playing because they like raiding, crafting, roleplaying or some other reason. So who the scions are will isn't going to matter to them. I have a linkshell where a few people will farm Sophia for hours and want to poke at Savage because it looks fun. Story? Yeah, they skipped every cutscene. Others will watch them all like a movie in the Unending Journal or level an alt for the sole purpose of experiencing the story without feeling like they're missing out.

Worse. Much worse. WoW is a prime example - quite a few people are completely new to the game, purchase a level boost to reach end game immediately and then have very little clue as to what, exactly, they're meant to be doing.

Wanna know how I leveled Dragoon-- my current main? Ten hours one day grinding nothing but fates. I literally went from 34 to 52 in a single day. I looked up guides on the rotation because I certainly didn't learn it by playing the actual game that way. I'm leveling Dark Knight right now and unless I do big pulls, there are very few reasons I'll ever need to pop a cooldown. You generally learn the jobs through third party guides not playing through the MSQ. Dark Knight's questline actually handles it better than Warrior's has by at least making you need some mitigation to survive. I haven't finished Warrior's yet though, so maybe that changes. Dragoon? Monk? Either ever tell you what your rotation will be. I watched Dervy and MrHappy's rotation videos. So if I ever did want to just level skip, I'd basically be in the exact same position I was back then because I fate grinded.

Now I wouldn't want to skip ahead because I like story. But I think you're overestimating the impact this would happen on duty finder.

[TarynH]

Snip.

Yes, the OP cited 60. But look at their other post(s). They mentioned people watching their streams, and wanting to be able to join them in end-game content immediately. This implies skipping even the HW story. They even mentioned side quests being boring. So why not skip those? Where does it end? They'll obviously want to skip 4.0 story as well.

Skipping the story is only one side of it. They in essence want to skip the entirety of the gating process. In other words, they feel entitled to the "end" of the game from day one, though they have done nothing to earn it. They think buying an "expansion" entitles them to all previous content as well.

Three years from now, this system would be abused. You give someone an inch, they will want a mile. And that's not even mentioning RMT. You think they won't pay-to-win?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Yes, the OP cited 60. But look at their other post(s). They mentioned people watching their streams, and wanting to be able to join them in end-game content immediately. This implies skipping even the HW story. They even mentioned side quests being boring. So why not skip those? Where does it end? They'll obviously want to skip 4.0 story as well.

Skipping the story is only one side of it. They in essence want to skip the entirety of the gating process. In other words, they feel entitled to the "end" of the game from day one, though they have done nothing to earn it. They think buying an "expansion" entitles them to all previous content as well.

Three years from now, this system would be abused. You give someone an inch, they will want a mile. And that's not even mentioning RMT. You think they won't pay-to-win?

And? If they want to skip all the way to Stormblood, and probably pay an extra $40-50 doing so. I don't care. It doesn't effect me. Those types of players either won't stay subbed regardless or won't even play the game without a MSQ skip option. They're essentially free money for Square. Now skipping Stormblood? No. That is the new game. They have to do that like the rest of us since it's currently relevant. A Realm Reborn and Heavenward? If they want to skip one or both and just jump right into Stormblood. Go right ahead.

They don't necessarily feel entitled. They just don't care about the story or old content. I'll cite my friend again. She's never touched an extreme primal fight. Not one of them. She hasn't even unlocked all the dungeons yet she logs in every day to roleplay. That's what she finds fun. She skips all the story and only does stuff if she absolutely has to. She'll finish Heavensward just to access Stormblood then go back to ignoring all the dungeons and crap again.

You're jumping to conclusions here. Even in your scenario, none of it would be P2W because you actually have to learn fights to beat them. Leveling is just busy work. I could go into The Creator right now in only ilvl 240 gear and beat it if I were good enough. Jumping levels wouldn't make me good though. I'd need to practice the fight and/or watch guides. Nonetheless, there is nothing to abuse since it would only jump people to Stormblood. If they want to go further than that, too bad. Wanting to skip old content doesn't mean most want to skip everything. They just don't want to have to run around doing 300+ quests-- many of which will be four years old as of Stormblood's release.

[TarynH]

And? If they want to skip all the way to Stormblood, and probably pay an extra $40-50 doing so. I don't care. It doesn't effect me. Those types of players either won't stay subbed regardless or won't even play the game without a MSQ skip option

You're jumping to conclusions here. Even in your scenario, none of it would be P2W because you actually have to learn fights to beat them. Leveling is just busy work.

Again, we're talking about far more than skipping cutscenes or quests here. There are actually dungeons, and fights that are linked to the main story, and the player is required to pass these to proceed. Primals, The Chrysalis, Steps of Faith, various dungeons (including Sastasha mentioned by OP). There is a ton of content that the player would be skipping to get through the MSQ. How else could the MSQ be registered as completed? It is a linear system.

So my scenario of pay-to-win is pretty accurate. You wouldn't need to learn anything to skip all of that content, other than where to enter your CC number. It's a very slippery slope. If they skip all the way to Stormblood, why would they not want to skip that too? It also effects game balance as far as unlocking gated gathering nodes, and crafting materials along the way. (Again, think RMT.)

Very dangerous and bad idea we're talking about here.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Again, we're talking about far more than skipping cutscenes or quests here. There are actually dungeons, and fights that are linked to the main story, and the player is required to pass these to proceed. Primals, The Chrysalis, Steps of Faith, various dungeons (including Sastasha mentioned by OP). There is a ton of content that the player would be skipping to get through the MSQ. How else could the MSQ be registered as completed? It is a linear system.

So my scenario of pay-to-win is pretty accurate. You wouldn't need to learn anything to skip all of that content, other than where to enter your CC number. It's a very slippery slope. If they skip all the way to Stormblood, why would they not want to skip that too? It also effects game balance as far as unlocking gated gathering nodes, and crafting materials along the way. (Again, think RMT.)

Very dangerous and bad idea we're talking about here.

You mean content I could literally solo them all through? Is it pay to win if I run them through Stone Vigil unsynced and murder everything with one button while they follow after me? It's old content. Who cares? If they want to skip the many stages of Ifrit, go right ahead. You can already obtain gear that vastly overgears you for all those fights.

None of that is pay to win. You aren't allotting them an unfair advantage other players do not have. An example of pay to win is what Black Desert does, wherein you lose EXP if you die and are transported back to the closest city. As loot drops on world bosses are based on DPS uptime, all this can really set you back. But! If you buy an item from their cash shop, you'll be revived instantly exactly in the spot you died with no EXP loss.

Wanting to skip old content and Stormblood are not the same thing. The former simply aren't interested in having to slog through hundreds of hours of content that lost its relevancy years ago. Maybe they find the class system fundamentally boring (I don't blame them. I leveled Lancer after all ). Or they want to play with their friends. Whatever their reason is, it's old content. It doesn't matter anymore. Letting them skip hard mode primals isn't pay to win. You can and will be carried through them even if you have no idea what you're doing. I've done it. And no it doesn't. A level potion would be battle jobs, seeing those gate content. Regardless, even if you could jump craft/gather classes. It wouldn't change anything except maybe some markets will have a larger supply. Once again, leveling is easy, albeit boring. It's the MSQ people want to skip because they want to experience the expansion when it launches not a month(s) later because they're stuck all the way back on 2.3.

There's nothing dangerous about it because it does nothing. What will happen longterm is new players simply won't pick up FFXIV because of the sheer grind it entails to reach the current expansion. How many people do you think would have picked up Legion if they had to go through fifteen years through of content? Even just five? I guarantee it wouldn't be nearly to the extent they currently sold.

wait wait.... role player that don't give a damn of the story? you don't feel like you are kinda saying something.... kinda.... weird.
it's them choice to not like this, but it's the main focus of this game, when they come here, they know it. and honestly... i did help friend do them dungeon in unsync, it take almost no time to do it in solo. and like said, doing the msq allows to get tons of exp for the first jobs...

anyway, i did see a lot of this sort of player ingame, they don't give a damn to the story and are often the first to complain about the content given by the patch.... because well they don't care about the msq or the secondary quest. then do i care for them? no... why they will have the right to pass stuff when other will do it? a free pass? no way! no pain no gain.

Roleplayers typically create their own story around the game's lore and their character simply lives in Eorzea. Essentially, you're an everyday person, an adventurer or whatever. Your character isn't the WoL nor do they know the scions. So the main story doesn't impact them. Some love it, others don't pay attention and do their own thing.

Some will probably do precisely that. But making them go through the story isn't going to abruptly have them care about something they weren't interested in to begin with. They'll still say they have nothing to do since they're likely skipping cutscenes anyway. As for why they have the right? I, frankly, don't care how other people choose to play the game, provided it doesn't impact me. I wanted to level normally and experience the story. If they don't. I am not going to feel sour over them wanting to skip ahead. I wouldn't buy a jump potion even to level an alt now. So... it just doesn't matter to me.