Quality of Life Improvements and MSQ Gating for New Players

[Penthea]

How many times must I repeat the point that just because the game is story-driven doesn't mean that content such as areas/maps and NPCs should be locked behind story?

I don't think you could call a game story driven if unlocking content had little connection to it. Something that is story driven means the story is central to the game. Not something on the side you encounter sometimes.

FFXI has managed to be story driven and still provide a relative amount of 'freedom' when it comes to such content.

Newsflash: XIV is a different game made by a different development team lead by different people. XIV isn't a sequel to XI. If you want to play XI then go play XI. Don't go to a forum of a different game and complain about how it isn't the same.

A social MMORPG has to appeal to a large audience to gain new subscriptions. The investment for a newbie either through time or jump potions to get the newest content is not attractive compared to the competition.

No/few new players= increase monetization efforts especially through non-sub based revenue streams.

You seem to have this idea that just because something doesn't appeal to you as a new player then it won't appeal to anyone else. If that were the case the game wouldn't have seen its first expansion, never mind the second. Do you know the history of this game? It literally rose from the ashes of an incredibly bad game and has become a success story that is otherwise unheard of in the gaming industry. Most players aren't 1.0 veterans, they're players who dealt with the msq gating just fine. Many players have alts and have experienced the gating two or even three times. I don't think they would have worked through it on their alts if they found it to be a massive turn-off like you do.

The gating would be an issue if lvl sync didn't exist as it would make instance queues crazy long. But there is lvl sync and daily relevant roulettes tied to old content so doing old msq content isn't a problem. Many players love reliving the old content while watching their friends seeing it for the first time.

If you don't like something, fine. Nothing you can do about your preference, you can't force yourself to enjoy something. But harping on about how casual players are somehow at a disadvantage because of the story is plainly incorrect. The majority of XIV players are casual and have been since before ARR. If they felt disadvantaged well...I don't think this forum would exist.