Possible level/story jumps....really?

[Jandor]

Star Wars the old republic, Guild wars 2, world of warcraft (as you mentioned) all offer a lvl boost. They are also the three main MMO's that come to my mind when thinking "Popular MMO"

A F2P game, a F2P/B2P hybrid, a game over a decade old.

I see no reason why copying another game is a problem. Especially when its a feature that could draw in more players to the relevant content.

Are we getting rid of subs? If we're copying that idea as well then sure, I withdraw my objection..

[Enur]

A F2P game, a F2P/B2P hybrid, a game over a decade old.



Are getting rid of subs? If we're copying that idea as well then sure, I withdraw my objection..

Right now thers only two, yes two, MMO's that are on a subscription model and are somewhat succesful. These two are WoW and FFXIV. One of these is very succesful and has a "jump potion" for newcomers. The other has 300+ required quests before the endgame.

Can you guess whos who? and can you guess which of the two will continue to draw in new players?

I can. And my answer is World of warcraft. Not allowing people to play the part of the game that was advertized to them is simply unfeasable in this day and age.

[Jandor]

Right now theirs only two, yes two, MMO's that are on a subscription model and are somewhat succesful. These two are WoW and FFXIV.

You forgot EVE.

One of these is very successful and has a "jump potion" for newcomers. The other has 300+ required quests before the endgame.

When WoW was at its most successful it didn't need to offer jump potions.

Can you guess whos who? and can you guess which of the two will continue to draw in new players?

WoW doesn't draw in new players, it had over 12m subs at its peak, the well of people prepared to give WoW a go was run dry a long time ago.
I'd guess that the amount of people playing WoWs latest expansion that have never played WoW before is absolutely minuscule.

I can. And my answer is World of warcraft. Not allowing people to play the part of the game that was advertized to them is simply unfeasable in this day and age.

I haven't argued against letting players skip chunks of the story, I haven't argued that players should be denied access to all expansion content. I was one of those who argued that Ishgard and the 3.0 jobs should have ways of accessing them before completing the 2.X MSQ over a year ago.

I'm just saying that SE shouldn't be selling fixes to these problems, they should just be fixing them.

(Honestly, the 3.0 jobs... DRK would have fit Ul'dah perfectly, being dicks to refugees is like Ul'dahs thing, Astrologian could have started at the Observatory in Coerthas Central and there is a guild of gun users in Limsa ready and waiting for Machinist.)

You asked for examples. You can't then say "well, those examples aren't good enough!" FFXIV is currently the only MMO still clinging to the archaic quests unlock everything system, thus you won't get a direct comparison.

I didn't say the examples were not good enough, I was showing they all have somewhat exonerating reasons/excuses. The F2P games don't have the same steady revenue streams and the ancient MMO behemoth has literally millions and millions of nostalgic ex-customers to try and lure back.

As I said, if we're going F2P or B2P consider my objections to this withdrawn.

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I feel like we're all just repeating ourselves at this point. I'll make my decisions regarding my money when the time comes, as will others, that's all any of us can really do I suppose. Not like anyone important is actually reading this shit anyway .

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I miss the 2.0 to 2.4 period, when a big MMO from a major publisher existed without microtransactions .
Hell, forget MMO's, a major game from a major publisher was novel enough.

[Kosmos992k]

(Honestly, the 3.0 jobs... DRK would have fit Ul'dah perfectly, being dicks to refugees is like Ul'dahs thing, Astrologian could have started at the Observatory in Coerthas Central and there is a guild of gun users in Limsa ready and waiting for Machinist.)

Honestly, there is a way to fix this, because Ishgard is accessible directly from central Coerthas. But, it's a bit of a cheat since Steps of Faith theoretically opens the gateway to Ishgard. Since Ishgardians can obviously come and go without problem, actually entering Ishgard isn't an issue. Entering Ishgard with any hope of the locals talking to you or helping you in any way on the other hand should be a problem unless you complete the Steps of Faith.

So, it could have been possible to allow players to access the new jobs in Ishgard, while at the same time locking players out of any other Ishgard content until Steps of Faith is completed. Basically no doors except those associated with the new Jobs will open for you (assuming you have at least one other DoW/DoM job/class at level 30), and none of the quest givers, or non-trivial NPCs will speak more than two words to you. Because without completing Steps of Faith, you are essentially a nobody to Ishgard. The same goes for vendors, anything other than job specific gear for the 3 new jobs would be unavailable until Steps of Faith is completed.

I'm not sure about the level cap, I would probably have left the level cap at 50 until you complete the Steps of Faith as well. In that way, you can get to 50, obtain the new jobs and complete any raid content available in 2.X with your friends, but you have to compelte Steps of Faith to unlock other areas in Heavensward beyond Ishgard itself, and to unlock the new story elements, story related content and level cap.

It's a kind of halfway accommodation, that still requires players to complete Steps of Faith before experiencing the HW story content, but it also allows new players to quickly obtain the new jobs without having to slog through the entire 2.x story line to get them. By quickly obtain, I mean as soon as they can get one job/class to 30 and survive wandering through Coerthas to the gates of Ishgard.

The down side is that to play HW content and the new raid content, you have to work through the 2.X MSQ, but if you are already leveled to 50, nothing involved in that should be time consuming or difficult. Plus you can practice your new job while doing it.

StormBlood could do something similar, depending on how the new zones and 'city' are structured of course.

[Jandor]

snip.

Even failing that, a short quest slotted in near the beginning of the MSQ that has you visit Ishgard for some reason or another would work. Doesn't even have to be a particularly good reason, just visiting for some excuse on behalf of your chosen City state or something.

Re: Stormblood, I believe it has been mentioned once or twice that they're trying to avoid locking you out of everything for this expansion.