Main Scenario Restriction Bloodstorm - Very Very Bad idea.

[Reynhart]

At later levels, yes. Pre-30, I barely bother stance dancing because the tank just isn't going to take much damage. Perhaps we heal differently, but I'll generally let the tank's HP fall low before I heal.

I usually have the tank on focus and turn off Cleric stance around the 50% mark...which can happen fast depending on stuff and size of packs...

In that time, most packs will have died and I don't even need to heal them. Now if they start pulling more, you'll have to dance, but newer tanks usually won't.

You don't run only on newer tanks at low level. And even if you do, pulling only one or two mobs at once is just not using this level range to learn properly.

You learn how Esuna works by reading its description. I know a lot of us don't hold much optimism for DF, but I'd like to think they can figure that out on their on.

Learning how and when to use a skill by reading the toolkit ? If only that was a real thing...

Medica just isn't a thing. I leveled WHM on my alt almost to Praetorium and I honestly can't recall ever using Medica-- certainly not before Stone Vigil. Nonetheless, this isn't difficult to pick up just by reading.

Then you could have done better. Again, that's the purpose of a learning curve. If you wait for Medica to be mandatory to accustom yourself to use it, it's a bit late.

And that audience isn't going to be effected. I'm similar, actually. I basically quit the MMO genre for years because the stories bored me. FFXIV's made things interesting and I love it for that. But, if someone else only wants to play for raids. I, frankly, couldn't care less. They'll skip the story regardless. Might as well let Square make money off them.

Perhaps, but that's not the kind of game FFXIV is. The audience wants a lore and story focused MMO, so FFXIV a lore and story focused MMO. If it throws that away, it loses part of its identity. What will it lose after that ?

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Then you could have done better. Again, that's the purpose of a learning curve. If you wait for Medica to be mandatory to accustom yourself to use it, it's a bit late.

I didn't use it because I never needed it. I couldn't "do better" if no one else is taking damage. That said, I still know how Medica works and when to use it. It just didn't come up.

Perhaps, but that's not the kind of game FFXIV is. The audience wants a lore and story focused MMO, so FFXIV a lore and story focused MMO. If it throws that away, it loses part of its identity. What will it lose after that ?

And adding a skip option isn't going to take lore or story away. In fact, you could argue gating less behind story or allowing some form of skipping means they can focus more on the story. Why? Because the devs don't have to account for people who want to speed through everything. But for argument's sake, say I brought a friend over to FF and she skipped the MSQ either by spamming numpad 0 or using a skip item, all because her goal was to play with me. How does that affect you or your enjoyment?

[Reynhart]

I didn't use it because I never needed it. I couldn't "do better" if no one else is taking damage. That said, I still know how Medica works and when to use it. It just didn't come up.

Yes, you could. Even at low levels, some bosses still do AoE better healed my one medica than several Cure. The fact that you know is not proving anything. Maybe you're a quick learner, and could have been thrown in the game with a lvl 50 character right from the start. I personally didn't have any issue with PLD or WAR, despite having them max level before ARR. Yet, SE deemed important to create something like the Novic Hall, which had probably helped lots of new players.

And adding a skip option isn't going to take lore or story away. In fact, you could argue gating less behind story or allowing some form of skipping means they can focus more on the story. Why? Because the devs don't have to account for people who want to speed through everything. But for argument's sake, say I brought a friend over to FF and she skipped the MSQ either by spamming numpad 0 or using a skip item, all because her goal was to play with me. How does that effect you or your enjoyment?

I'd enjoy the game less, because it wouldn't stay true to itself. Here's an example. You play WoW as a Human Paladin. You read/played just about everyhting in the Warcraft universe, and then they release Wrath Of The Lich King, with the Nightelf Death Knight...in theory, you should be like "WTF, Nightelves can't be Death Knight, they're protected from the scourge !". After that, you have Cataclysm with the Nightelf Mage..."That's bullshit, Nightelves can't be mages ! The Elves mages are the High elves, thus the Blood Elves !"...in all that, you still play a Human Paladin, so it doesn't change the game for your character. You wouldn't be (haven't been if you played WoW) bothered by that ?

Or else, if they decide "Fuck the lore, let's bring this character back from the dead without any explanation !" wouldn't it bother you ?

[Zojha]

Here's an example.

And here's a few differences:
- The story and lore remains the same, it does not get changed nor does established lore/story get contradicted - it's just skipped. I personally don't think the Harry Potter series loses its identity or doesn't remain true to itself simply because you can read the second or third book before the first.
- You can't tell without questioning the person whether they skipped with an extra option, skipped the cutscenes or watched them all.

[Reynhart]

- The story and lore remains the same, it does not get changed nor does established lore/story get contradicted - it's just skipped

Not really. When people ask for a skip potion, they just want to to skip the restriction to be able to play endgame quicker. The quests will still remain, and people will be able to do them, just later. Meaning that they'd have entered Ishgard, and, after several weeks (or months), would have done Steps Of Faith to gain the right to enter Ishgard. They would have rejoin with the Scions, and then, after several weeks (or months) see them prosecuted for murder and gone missing.

If you join a full team on party finder in Idyllshire for a hard mode primal fight and you see a first time bonus, it will be clear that one of them skipped something...

[Zojha]

The quests will still remain, and people will be able to do them, just later.

Yes. Like you can do PotD to floor 50 before doing Tam-Tara hard. Or like you can still do your 30-50 dragoon quests during the climax of the dragonsong war. Or how you can still cook for the Sultana while she's presumed dead. Does that change the story or lore? Not one bit - just as they aren't doing it right now. It's a time bubble - these things happened during the patches they were introduced in, they don't happen when you actually do them. Tam-Tara (Hard) happens before PotD, whether you do that dungeon or not. The dragoon questline happens before Heavensward, whether you do it or not.
As I said, it's like reading a later book in a series before the prior ones - reading the second before the first does not change the first, nor does it contradict it.

And my apologies, but if you have to artificially construct edge cases in which you might notice skipping, that pretty much proves the point that you really won't notice it at all.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Yes, you could. Even at low levels, some bosses still do AoE better healed my one medica than several Cure. The fact that you know is not proving anything. Maybe you're a quick learner, and could have been thrown in the game with a lvl 50 character right from the start. I personally didn't have any issue with PLD or WAR, despite having them max level before ARR. Yet, SE deemed important to create something like the Novic Hall, which had probably helped lots of new players.

They do, but it's wasted MP to heal below a certain threshold. Granted, you learn that later on. Anywho, the whole point is the game isn't teaching you any of this. One of my friends even complained about how few Conjurer/White Mage quests actually required her to heal. A person who jumped to 50 wouldn't necessarily be clueless because there are outside tools they can utilize. And what about people who grind PotD or Fates? They aren't going to learn anything leveling through those methods yet its the most optimal. Hall of Novice is a good addition, but it also highlights people aren't learning their jobs through MSQ or job quests otherwise why would you need it?

I'd enjoy the game less, because it wouldn't stay true to itself. Here's an example. You play WoW as a Human Paladin. You read/played just about everyhting in the Warcraft universe, and then they release Wrath Of The Lich King, with the Nightelf Death Knight...in theory, you should be like "WTF, Nightelves can't be Death Knight, they're protected from the scourge !". After that, you have Cataclysm with the Nightelf Mage..."That's bullshit, Nightelves can't be mages ! The Elves mages are the High elves, thus the Blood Elves !"...in all that, you still play a Human Paladin, so it doesn't change the game for your character. You wouldn't be (haven't been if you played WoW) bothered by that ?

Or else, if they decide "Fuck the lore, let's bring this character back from the dead without any explanation !" wouldn't it bother you ?

Really? You would enjoy the game less because a person you don't even know skipped the story? To each their own, I suppose. As for your example, all of that only applies to people who care about the lore. If our hypothetical level skipper just likes WoW for its raids and gameplay. She's not going to have any reaction to it beyond "how does this effect my class and what new abilities do I have to get used to?" Gameplay is what she's concerned about. A skip option would literally just be skipping the story. Think of it like playing Mass Effect or Dragon Age out of order. You'll be a little lost but that's on you for choosing to skip ahead because you didn't like whichever one came before it. For those who want to know everything, they can and will play all three games.

[Reynhart]

Really? You would enjoy the game less because a person you don't even know skipped the story?

No, I'd enjoy the game less because the dev-team would actually acknowledge that consistency is not important.

Would it bother you if the game received a cash shop where you could buy a whole set of Savage gear ?

Yes. Like you can do PotD to floor 50 before doing Tam-Tara hard. Or like you can still do your 30-50 dragoon quests during the climax of the dragonsong war. Or how you can still cook for the Sultana while she's presumed dead. Does that change the story or lore? Not one bit - just as they aren't doing it right now.

"The game already allows some exceptions for the sake of progression, so it should allow more of them, and especially the need for progression". Not twisted at all...

[ADVSS]

I guess it depends on how they do story this time around, I personally dont get why levelling is such a huge deal for people, in an mmoRPG, i mean we have mobas and fps for people who want all theyre gonna get forever at the beginning of the game. The gear hamster wheel isnt really all that engaging, would just see more of the crowd that pops in for 3 weeks after every even numbered patch just to quit again cause gimme gimmie dat fat carrot. I sort of enjoy starting off in new games at first. I could see the potions for people who already achieved max level, but to compare this games gameplay with 11? Is it even that similar, thought 11 was heavilly menu and list based, at least from the videos ive seen.

Heres an ides you might be missing and this comes up alot whenever they shorten a relic step or whatnot, but how many veterans would just go "yeah thats fine, ive only been subbing for 3 years and this guys got higher level characters on his first day"

[Zojha]

"The game already allows some exceptions for the sake of progression, so it should allow more of them, and especially the need for progression"

These aren't exceptions - these are the rule. Every single quest chronologically belongs to the period they were introduced in and if it weren't for this time bubble, you'd have to remove them when you chronologically pass them OR make every little sidequest mandatory to proceed in the timeline. So if you progress to Heavensward, all quests from ARR would have to be gone entirely - the people in need either died or got their stuff sorted themselves, Bahamut returns to life from the coil and the unattended cloud of darkness devours this world. Yep, everyone dies - please start a new character and try again.

If you tell a story, you can jump in anytime and go in any direction - that does not change the story that is being told. Whether you read the last chapter first and then go through to the beginning or start at the beginning and go through to the end, the story is one and the same. Go ahead, try to bring the same argument in the discussion of any book series, go ahead and claim the first part of lord of the rings contradicts the third because people who were dead in the third are alive in the first - I doubt you will be taken seriously. I know I'm having a hard time. But go ahead anyway, I'd honestly love to know how people respond to that.

And fun fact: Even if you absolutely insist on the argument despite all odds, you can still just crack it all up to the Echo showing you visions of the past in those quests.