Possible level/story jumps....really?

[Naunet]

How? For everyone who already completed the MSQ. What QoL improvements do they get? I already have alts leveled. All this would do is take away from the new content I'll actually get to play.

Because the game doesn't revolve solely around people who have all of their alts capped as of right now? The ARR MSQ lock has been brought up often enough as a complaint that I think it's well worth investing a little time in removing.

[Lambdafish]

In ffxiv you have to follow the tedious train tracks untill lvl 60

Which is fine for now. I would much rather have 2.x be a constant requirement for expansion, but never any more. The devs can then work on thinning the 2.x process over time without having to touch expansion areas. And there is your story bloat fixed without any need for a jump potion.

Something of note: did we enter any expansion areas during the 3.4 MSQ? I can't remember us doing so. This might be an indication that come SB, it is possible that people without the HW will be able to do 3.4/3.5 in order to access SB.

[Jatoi]

Here's the logic I approach this with:

The 2.3 quest grind is horrific. It chased off some folks I know. People who are against surpassing them quickly or making them concise because "We had to do it to reach Heavensward!" ought to do what our ancestors did.

Go out into the wilds, make a campfire and have a blast like our ancestors had to. Because hey, although our ancestors did that stuff and it was much harder to do the same thing ( eat, have shelter, ect. ) - the people who have conveniences such as electricity should go without them... right?

[lulunami]

Level jump potion is good. The 2.x Main Story Quests had too much filler fetch quests and just dragged on too much. You turn away new players with mundane game play.

In regards to players not knowing how to play: lots of players still do not know how to play even at max level. You do not really learn how to play your job until you are max level anyway (i.e. Lv.60 Black Mage and Enochian/Fire IV). The game does a poor job at teaching players how to play the game.

If you want to know how to really play, you have to rely on fan/community-made guides for each job. You have to build relationships with other players and learn from others.

[Lexia]

Honestly I don't really think modifying the msq going to do much cause those same people trying to attract by doing that are mostly the ones that going to get to the "endgame" play for couple months then quit and move onto something else.

[Lambdafish]

Level jump potion is good. The 2.x Main Story Quests had too much filler fetch quests and just dragged on too much. You turn away new players with mundane game play.

The reason for this is that the MSQ needs to be padded out to provide sufficient XP for levelling. This is something that was addressed in 3.1 onwards when dealing with patch content and will be addressed in SB with MSQ structure.

[Enur]

The reason for this is that the MSQ needs to be padded out to provide sufficient XP for levelling. This is something that was addressed in 3.1 onwards when dealing with patch content and will be addressed in SB with MSQ structure.

But the 2.1-2.55 was made for level capped characters at the time. The filler is not for experience points, those were added later. They are just there to take up time and make the msq feel longer.

[Voltres]

I went through the main story 3 times, first at release of ARR(2.0), then at Ninja job release and then now at 3.4. The first two were fine, I skipped every single text and cutscene, watched a 30 minute youtube video to understand the story and it saved me hours of something I do not enjoy doing. Now with Heavensward and patch 3.4, even skipping EVERYTHING, it takes a fucking huge amount of time to do it and this will surely make people quit the game since they have to spend so much time doing what they don't want first.

[Nominous]

Yeah, but on the flip side of that, who the hell is buying RPGs and not expecting to have to start at level 1?

Nobody. It's not about the level they expect to start at, but the content they want access to. It just so happens that those two things are tied together, meaning you need a level jump in order to access the new content.

It's really simple- Nobody wants to buy a new game to play old content. No matter how you want to explain the concept and break it down, that remains the core. Similarly, no matter how you break it down, the only group that benefits from the lack of Jump Potions, is going to be the current subscribers. We should be considered, sure. But I'd rather everyone's friends (new and returning players) be included in the expansion fun than protect my own interests, pride, and such.

There should certainly be some requirements for using the jump potion, in the form of tutorials. But I think that's enough.

[Greedalox]

Nobody. It's not about the level they expect to start at, but the content they want access to. It just so happens that those two things are tied together, meaning you need a level jump in order to access the new content.

It's really simple- Nobody wants to buy a new game to play old content. No matter how you want to explain the concept and break it down, that remains the core. Similarly, no matter how you break it down, the only group that benefits from the lack of Jump Potions, is going to be the current subscribers. We should be considered, sure. But I'd rather everyone's friends (new and returning players) be included in the expansion fun than protect my own interests, pride, and such.

There should certainly be some requirements for using the jump potion, in the form of tutorials. But I think that's enough.

I whole heartedly disagree, at least speaking for myself the initial leveling process in an MMO is a lot of the allure. Watching my growth into a character capable of max level content is exciting.