Main Scenario Restriction Bloodstorm - Very Very Bad idea.

[Welsper59]

I was talking about the minimum a player only caring for story has to do to be able to actually enjoy the story. I'm not talking about specific player-related preferences, like how much time they want to let pass between 2 main scenario quests.

The claim was: FF is a story driven game, the story is the main focus. My claim therefore is: There should be a big crowd of people who actually only want to do the story and reduce the rest as much as possible, which is actually a thing SE caters to (able to catch up to required ilvl for MSQ within 2 weeks max). Where is this crowd?

As I said, beast tribes are a thing... squadrons, well you only need 1 month to get to the last "story" mission. And really if you want to count Squadrons to FF14 "story" then we might have to talk about the quality of FF14 "story", because that's sure not a flagship in that regards.

You do realize that it doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing, right? Like, they can still make aspects of the game be story focused without removing the grind. That's the beauty of creativity. You don't have to say that everything needs to be only one way. If they want FFXIV to be story driven for access (which it is), then that's that. Think about all the dungeons or areas you can only unlock through MSQ, your job abilities, job access, etc. That's quite a significant amount of content and functionality that is locked behind story, even if you may not spend long doing it.

[TaranTatsuuchi]

...
Excuse me? You have to run over the dye quest giver several times to get to the Waking Sands, if someone is unwilling to talk to an NPC, buy some OJ in the Uldah Market and hand it in, then they don't deserve to be able to dye their gear. Glamours come at level 50, and that's fine IMHO, since it requires things that are supposed to be more difficult to obtain. Armory slots open up as you open more classes/jobs, not sure if that's what you mean by save slots, but it's all I can imagine you mean. Challenge logs and other things, aesthetitcian need like one quest to unlock, and it's usually something to introduce the feature, I see no issues with this.
...

Actually, the vendor in vesper bay sells orange juice now...
Don't recall when that changed, but I recall it was.

So they don't even need to go back to Ul'dah for it.

[Jetstream_Fox]

ARR content would not disappear, it just wouldn't be required. Meaning you'd have all the dungeons available if you want, each with a first time bonus, obviously.

Again, even if ARR content wasn't required to start in those areas you'd still need them to level up, I'll reiterate for the 4th time. If BS starts out at level 30 with all areas scaled to level 60, new players have no way of attempting that content for 30 levels, making ARR content their only accessible content until 60. Now if you start BS at 60, you can start all BS content, but you're missing cross class abilities, which yes are optional, but they still play a role in certain content, which the community seems to dictate requirements. So you'd have to visit ARR to obtain those skills. Which still makes ARR a vital part of the leveling process.

So even in the smallest form ARR is still required for players to go through at least until they get certain cross class abilities.

[SendohJin]

So even in the smallest form ARR is still required for players to go through at least until they get certain cross class abilities.

They are revamping cross class stuff so who knows how they will be acquired.

[Naunet]

All I want is to be able to do dungeons, access zones, and unlock classes regardless of story quest completion. This character is level 55 and still can't touch any of the HW content. It's absurd. My main was 56 before she got to Ishgard, and because what I really wanted was to play as an AST, I was forced to waste all of that XP on WHM and now have to grind dungeons/fates from 30-50 and will have to deal with XP graveyards in HW content.

That is poor design.

[Talraen]

I was talking about the minimum a player only caring for story has to do to be able to actually enjoy the story. I'm not talking about specific player-related preferences, like how much time they want to let pass between 2 main scenario quests.

The claim was: FF is a story driven game, the story is the main focus. My claim therefore is: There should be a big crowd of people who actually only want to do the story and reduce the rest as much as possible, which is actually a thing SE caters to (able to catch up to required ilvl for MSQ within 2 weeks max). Where is this crowd?

Again, I think you're applying a mindset that doesn't apply to many story-driven gamers. Who says if you care about story you want to "reduce the rest" of the game? It's about the journey, not the destination.

[Reynhart]

If FF14 was a story-centered game, shouldn't most players stop after finishing the current story and then come again for the next patch for about 2 days?

There's a thing called item level requirement and sidestories access.
Like needing i175 to access Void Ark, where doing only the 3.0 MSQ would leave you below 160, i180 to access Antitower, i200 to Sohr Khai, i210 to Xelphatol, i220 to Sophia...

There is no need to sub more than 1 month per patch, if you consider the plot as the main point of this game

Hmm, this is strange because it's close to what people complain about, and on par with Yoshi-P encouraging player to play something else and coming back from the next patch.
So maybe this is closer to his view of the game than you think.

And of course, no one complained about the story behind Alexander since this game is not to be story-centered, right ?

The claim was: FF is a story driven game, the story is the main focus. My claim therefore is: There should be a big crowd of people who actually only want to do the story and reduce the rest as much as possible, which is actually a thing SE caters to (able to catch up to required ilvl for MSQ within 2 weeks max). Where is this crowd?

This crowd gave us Alex normal mode, in case you forgot...

Again, even if ARR content wasn't required to start in those areas you'd still need them to level up, I'll reiterate for the 4th time. If BS starts out at level 30 with all areas scaled to level 60, new players have no way of attempting that content for 30 levels, making ARR content their only accessible content until 60.

First, we're talking about ARR content not being required but still fully available, second, please stop calling the next expansion BS, since it's StormBlood, and third, it would still take you only a few days to gain access to HW with the optional ARR content to rush from level 30 to 50, then, at best, 2 weeks to clear 3.0. So, without ARR story being mandatory, you could have started HW and burned every relevant content in a mere month.
Great way to keep someone interested after advertising a game and its expansion.

[AlexionSkylark]

Hmm, this is strange because it's close to what people complain about, and on par with Yoshi-P encouraging player to play something else and coming back from the next patch. So maybe this is closer to his view of the game than you think.

I've been saying this for like 20 pages now. If you don't wanna do the story, then you don't like FFXIV, period.

[Vaeria]

Love it...if any of this is true..that Yoshi FINALLY releases content that doesn't cater 100% to the needs and demands of the casual beginner/dropin-dropout...and its suddenly a gross mistake according to the OP. For the millions that have been here for a while..I would argue its quite refreshing to have access to a deeper storyline/content than just shallow stuff anyone can pickup. Quality > quantity.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

All I want is to be able to do dungeons, access zones, and unlock classes regardless of story quest completion. This character is level 55 and still can't touch any of the HW content. It's absurd. My main was 56 before she got to Ishgard, and because what I really wanted was to play as an AST, I was forced to waste all of that XP on WHM and now have to grind dungeons/fates from 30-50 and will have to deal with XP graveyards in HW content.

That is poor design.

Opinions are a wonderful thing aren't they? I still don't see anything wrong with them gating jobs behind MSQ. If a player wants something, they'll typically do whatever it takes to get.