Main Scenario Restriction Bloodstorm - Very Very Bad idea.

[Aquaslash]

If they add a skip potion, they need to do the following:

Make it cost the same price as the expansion itself
Have it award you subpar gear
Block you from ever being able to get achievements and titkes from skipped content
Find a new way to revitalize old content.

I would like to emphasize that last point. If they dont do that content dies for good and that hurts us who WANT to play it.

Just as an example. I think Crystal Tower is WAY better than Shadows of Mhach. If they could do something so I don't have to spend hours getting into each one, thatd be awesome

[SpiritMuse]

I don't know. People complaining about having to do MSQ in order to get ahead always feels to me like people complaining that they have to play the rest of the game in order to get to the final boss...

[Reynhart]

I can agree with you here. They definitely could have (should have?) put the new Jobs in Coerthas Central Highlands instead of Ishgard. A bit of changes to the initial quests and the questgivers could have made it work fairly well.

Especially since, IIRC, all quests between 30 and 50 have you go to ARR zones only...

[Sparktacus]

I don't know. People complaining about having to do MSQ in order to get ahead always feels to me like people complaining that they have to play the rest of the game in order to get to the final boss...

That might be true in a single player game, but imagine placing that kind of ideal on a game like WoW. MMO's are generally way too big for this and as the years go on the stories take far far longer to complete then any single player games. If you tried to do that in 11 it would still take hundreds of hours (and still worth it, man some good stories there).

[Phydeaux]

Bloodstorm

Worse than "very, very bad" is not respecting the name they gave. It's really... not hard. At all.

And I'm sorry the game has a strong focus on the main story. Just kidding, not sorry.

While ARR could use a bit of rework on the 2.x quests to make them like Heavensward's, they definitely should not be taken away.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

snip

No, it's still silly. You are comparing junk gear that is almost instantly replaced within a few levels at best to the best crafted gear available in Heavensward. The equivalent would be if a jump potion existed now, it gifted people lore gear. It doesn't in the Chinese version and it wouldn't this side of the ocean either. At least not when lore gear had any relevancy. There is no trend to start because it serves a singular purpose: skip ahead to the current expansion. It may not even do that-- capping off at level 50. A Realm Reborn has the added issue of showcasing some of the game's worst aspects. Classes are a terrible system even the developers have acknowledged due to how dull the leveling process is. Early dungeons are generally considered extremely boring and the story itself doesn't have the best pacing until we join the scions. Basically, when people talk about how fun FFXIV is. They aren't talking about early ARR. There's a good reason people usually claim "it gets so much better at level 50."

You know what game did implement it with runaway success? The most popular and profitable MMO to have ever existed.

A compromise which costs money. I originally suggested this very same alternative, however people pointed out condensing various bits of the MSQ would require script rewrites, new cutscenes and animations all to accommodate those chances since they now have to connect say, the beginning of Titan's questline to fighting him without the whole pointless company of heroes nonsense. Those resources will be pulled from Stormblood's budget, thus all of us may lose out on new content so the devs can tweak scenes we'll never see unless we choose to level an alt.

And? If they do, it's essentially free money for Square. What they find fun, frankly, isn't your concern. Some people only care about the raids, yet will run those same fights weekly. Some do nothing but craft. Others roleplay. The story drives this game for you. Not everyone feels the same. If they're skipping every cutscene, the story drives nothing. It's a chore they click through to get onto the content which interests them. Some of these players are among the most active. They merely do not share your subjective opinion on the story or its impact.

Not at all. Subs did go up at Heavensward's release, but they gradually declined. A primary complaint on various forums/reddit has largely been the sheer quest grind leading up to Heavensward. If it becomes mandatory to complete two full base games and all their associated patches, people will be deterred away. This will only get worse with future expansions. Like I've said previously. How many people would have picked up Legion if they were forced to play through fifteen years of old content? I guarantee it wouldn't be 3+ million. Companies like BioWare even specified cited this as reasons for why all their sequels are standalone stories that new players can jump into at any point. People will also leave if they're bored of content yet forced to slog through it anyway just to unlock "the fun part."

[Lambdafish]

The perfect way to structure the expansion in my opinion:

- Jobs outside the expansion area, must have beaten 2.0 (not 2.55) in order to unlock (people will cry foul, but logistically it makes the most sense as you can't have the job until 30 (if it starts at 30), and locking it behind level 50 allows the story to be structured around you actually being the WoL. People forget that the class quest story has MSQ implications). However you should not have to get all the way into Ala Mhigo before you can get your level 30 job (that you have to level to 60 before you can actually use in the expansion zone)
- Must have beaten 2.x MSQ and 3.0 MSQ (not 3.x, only the initial expansion story) - They cannot do any less than this, the story of 4.x is a continuation of the overarching MSQ and these questlines hold far too much context that will be used in 4.x. People can say that they can make a summary cutscene, and yes they can, of 3.1 onwards, but there is far too much information in two entire expansions to be condensed into a single cutscene.

I understand the arguments to an extent but people forget what the meaning of the word EXPANSION is, it is expanding upon what we have already, an additional node attached to a core, and it is expected that elements of the core (ARR) need to be done before you can access the expansion.

PSA: If you haven't done your MSQ, you have ~8 months to do it

[Anzaman]

There's no need for level or story-skipping, just "fix" 2.X MSQ so it's not that much filler, and let people unlock new jobs earlier.

I had most fun while I still had quests to do, now at level cap it's pretty boring and I'm waiting for them to add new main and side-quests.

[Yuella]

The problem is new players playing this game for the endgame, not for the story. This is Final Fantasy! story is primary, endgame is secondary. Do you play FFVII because you want to fight Ruby and Emerald weapon? or because you want to experience the story? Do you play FFX because you want to do monster's arena? or because you want to experience the story?

it's like you buy FFVII and you want to fight Ruby Weapon immediately without having to progress through the story.

[Asteria_Solstice]

All i am hearing is a bunch of spoiled brats demanding every single thing to be given to them without having to do anything.... Guess what? Work for it!!

I sooooooo can see Yoshi-P saying "NO!" Rant all u want ^^ Sucks being u