Main Scenario Restriction Bloodstorm - Very Very Bad idea.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

FFXIV is going into its second expansion. As it is now, if you do your daily roulettes and MSQ, it's very easy to get to 60 before hitting Heavensward. I did that with an alt I made post-HW. And you get enough gil that you can buy the white colored gear closest to 60 easily. I struggled through Heavensward at release. My alt finished quite quickly.

Right now is honestly way too early to add a way to skip.

Now, let's switch to another topic: the cash shop.

When FFXIV added this, there was a huge uproar in the community. People considered the initial mount and minions as P2W. You still see dissidents of that addition today.

People who dislike the grind to Heavensward or Bloodstorm aren't concerned over leveling. Plenty of these types would have that done within a few days. It's the MSQ itself they find tedious because you can't veer away from it. You must progress through the entirety to unlock the expansion(s). Your example of WoW isn't accounting that is precisely why they went ahead with a skip option. If FFXIV were open ended right from say, level 20 or even level 50, people wouldn't complain. In fact, you'll notice very little complaints regarding glamour being only unlocked at 50. Why? It's annoying, but you just have to grind then talk to an NPC and bam, glamour away to your hearts content.

Now is it too early to consider a skip option like this? I'd say that is certainly up for debate. Seeing I don't play WoW, I cannot directly compare where their content bloat became enough of an issue. The concern on FFXIV's side is just how much story there is to access content. You really cannot do anything except story, lest you be gated off. For those thrilled at the possibility of playing Red Mage. The frustration of having to play through two full games just to then level the job they actually want may burn them out.

Another reason to consider is how frequent do we see or even tell people "the game gets so much better at 50?" Unfortunately, classes are not well designed. Impulse Drive and Stone I spam come to mind. FFXIV, at least in my opinion, shows off arguably its worst qualities at the early portions of the game. Some are more than happy to deal with it or even enjoy it. I, personally, didn't mind the baby leveling. Others aren't. Frankly, I think you could make just ARR skippable but still require Heavensward and plenty would be okay with it because of the aforementioned reason. If there were a way to skip the patch cycles, that too would help alleviate the grind.

As for the cash shop. You admitted yourself, people still vehemently complain yet grudgingly accept its existence. A potion skip would be similar. The few who did quit as a result of its inclusion would be replaced by those who purchased said potion. Most would just continue playing regardless though.

Should I also note that this opens up a new avenue for RMT? They're not afraid to invest some money already. Now you've given them a pass to new places so they can screw the prices of new stuff like newer mats. Until SE puts in an effective method of eliminating illegal RMT, I'm against the idea. WoW at least added a method to legalize it.

Actually, a skip potion would be a direct hit to their profit margin. RMTs typically charge upwards of $200 to level you from 1 to 60. Square introducing a skip potion for $35-50 means its more cost efficient to buy from Square than RMTs. Plus, you aren't risking your account. RMTs also aren't going to spent $50 for a hundred bots to reach Stormblood because that works out to being thousands of dollars without a guarantee they'll make back that profit.

And none of this accounts for what restrictions a skip potion would have. WoW implemented a "Proving Grounds" that forces players to do certain amount of content in the same sense we have Hall of Novice. Except in their case, you had to dungeons and whatnot. Bots have a much harder time getting through decent leveled content because, for one, said content will murder you if you don't play properly. People are also more likely to notice their antics and kick them.

Can the story use some trimming? Yes. Why do I have to help a paranoid ex-Garlean kill bugs and tigers? Why not lower the amount of items needed collecting and merge quests? Have him make you kill two swarms to lower the buzzing, and gather two tiger hides to help him make up for lost time? Why do we have to keep pointlessly going back to the Waking Sands when we're wearing a perfectly good linkpearl? Why is melding part of the storyline?

Yes, however not without cost. Any trimming of old content requires script rewrites and new animations to keep the story cohesive. Imagine if 2.1 to 2.3 were merged into 20 quests. Despite the multitude of filler, there is still lore tidbits and three Primal fights they now have to rework into a third of the quest requirements. All of this extra cost would be subtracted from Stormblood's budget. In essence, the devs are tweaking content none of us will ever see unless we level an alt. If that cost is minimal, then perhaps it's worth exploring. If it isn't. Well, I don't want them spending money on stuff I won't even see.

[Alberel]

People who dislike the grind to Heavensward or Bloodstorm aren't concerned over leveling. Plenty of these types would have that done within a few days. It's the MSQ itself they find tedious because you can't veer away from it. You must progress through the entirety to unlock the expansion(s).

Here's what I don't get though. The MSQs are an extremely fast and painless way to level your first job. The people wanting to rush to endgame would do so very effectively by simply rushing through the MSQs and skipping cutscenes if they wish to. Whether you like the story or simply want to rush to endgame the MSQ is still the best route for your first job with no armoury bonus. Having the option to skip the MSQ would result in these players taking much longer to reach endgame and thus defeating the entire reason they wanted to skip the MSQ. It makes no sense.

[Talraen]

Other way around. Roughly 3/4 of this game hinges on you doing something with other people to progress.

Just pointing out that if this were true, this thread wouldn't exist.

[SenorPatty]

snip.

The problem with msq is that, combined with other things in the game that help you level (like fates and dailies), new people will inadvertently cap before completing all of it. Which means instead of enjoying the msq at their leisure while doing cap content like other games would usually provide, they now have to treat msq as an absolute necessity before doing end game stuff.

And as I said before, no one--new or alt--wants and/or likes being in that position.

[Androir]

It is a good idea. Because of you have to complete the lore which was before it before even entering. You cant seriously expect to be instant 70..

[Bourne_Endeavor]

-snip-

You'll easily outpace the story in terms of leveling nowadays. I had multiple crafts at 60 and Monk at 55 before I even unlocked Heavensward. And I didn't have the benefits of Hall of Novice or PotD to boost those EXP gains. While painless in a sense, it's still faster to spam PotD and fates than the MSQ because you can stay in one area and just grind. A skip potion would probably put someone at the lowest level that expansion allows too. The Chinese version put you at 50 since Heavensward quests require it.

[Lewtskie]

Just pointing out that if this were true, this thread wouldn't exist.

Again, you have it backwards. It's because it's true that this thread and others like it exist. The game's main point is playing together with other people. Being bogged down too long from a backlog of quests only serves as a hindrance to players who want to pow around with their buddies in relevant content.

[Reynhart]

relevant content.

When you're a new player, everything is relevant content. Again...
When you're doing content for the first time, it is always relevant.

It's not as if the MSQ would ask you to grind this content over and over everyday, that would be stupid and boring...which is exactly what "doing your roulettes at max level every day to gain tomestones" is !

[Androir]

Again, you have it backwards. It's because it's true that this thread and others like it exist. The game's main point is playing together with other people. Being bogged down too long from a backlog of quests only serves as a hindrance to players who want to pow around with their buddies in relevant content.

Then dont make another twink. Twinks are to start over with the full storryline.
You dmt want to go to ilvl 270+ areas as ilvl 90er, or?

[bswpayton]

....WHY? Why place newer players on different servers? Especially since you think they're won't be a wave of players coming in, why make it that much worse to place them in a different server if it wont be populated as much? Expansion trailers are not only for existing players, but also to attract newer ones, giving them something to look forward to (normally), but with games like XIV which is heavily story based,
)

Im a new player and i even created alts I have no issue with doing msq cause im not lookin to finish it in a months time. The only prob I had was not being able to play drk, which I agree with most people on here that say dont lock the jobs, or some dugeons. But to skip the whole story makes no sense , like who is really gona play a game for years to just do a few dungeons a month. What is exactly wrong with letting players that want to play the game a certain way play with others that think like them