New Player Experience Sucks! - Impending Expansion Problems

[Shougun]

I don't think it's fair to view having to invest time on the game as an accessibility issue. Endgame is not the whole game, it's just the part of the game at the end. If you want to play the game, then it's accessible for you to play it, or pay for a skip.

Keep in mind I see after a certain amount of content as a new game, this is why I keep bringing up games in a series. So I do think it is fair to see having to do 100+ hours of content you dont want to do to get to the expansion you did as a fair vision of an accessibility issue. Like Rokke said he came to this game to do the dragon content and had to trudge through ARR to get it.

The longer we go the bigger the time requirement of course. Also I'm not thinking of an accelerated start to drop people at end game but to put them at the gates of fairly new stuff that they were getting into the game for like Rokke's story (so they avoid say 100 hours of msq but still have some more related to their interest hours to go till end game). Again to me I shouldn't have to play warcraft 2 to get into warcraft 3, and I see at a certain point FFXIV should be seen in units like that because it's too freaking big otherwise lol. If you want wc3 then you should have to invest in wc3, that doesn't require investing wc2 though.

[SieyaM]

I have not read all of the thread but I have the strong feeling that any new player that uses skip potions or anything like it now would be very disappointed. Right now there aren't any groups that are really going to be doing learning parties for endgame raiding and without any real MSQ to do they will be stuck doing side content or something like Eureka which at this point is also past the point where players are learning and enjoying it. At this stage in an expansion my experience has been that everything that is being done in regards to endgame by players is just trying to grind out any content they haven't finished up. New players may not be able to make it to Shadowbringers on its release but they would make it well before the expansion ends, and maybe even before the first patch that adds more MSQ.

[NanaWiloh]

Keep in mind I see after a certain amount of content as a new game, this is why I keep bringing up games in a series. So I do think it is fair to see having to do 100+ hours of content you dont want to do to get to the expansion you did as a fair vision of an accessibility issue. Like Rokke said he came to this game to do the dragon content and had to trudge through ARR to get it.

The longer we go the bigger the time requirement of course. Also I'm not thinking of an accelerated start to drop people at end game but to put them at the gates of fairly new stuff that they were getting into the game for like Rokke's story (so they avoid say 100 hours of msq but still have some more related to their interest hours to go till end game). Again to me I shouldn't have to play warcraft 2 to get into warcraft 3, and I see at a certain point FFXIV should be seen in units like that because it's too freaking big otherwise lol. If you want wc3 then you should have to invest in wc3, that doesn't require investing wc2 though.

At some point they are going to have to deal with content they may not enjoy what then???

[van_arn]

At some point they are going to have to deal with content they may not enjoy what then???

Unenjoyable required content is Square's failure, and I'll never defend it.

[Skivvy]

Just tossing out ideas here, but what if they made all of the "advanced" jobs available around level 30 (or is 50 the lowest they start at?) or so from the main cities? They could add in an NPC who has learned 'some new fighting style' from <insert whatever zone> and is willing to teach it to us.

I do realize this doesn't address the issue of the questing in any way, but it may help relieve some of the annoyance with not being able to play your preferred job until you've cleared all the story up to that point.

[NanaWiloh]

Unenjoyable required content is Square's failure, and I'll never defend it.

And silly to go around thinking you will enjoy every piece of content. I dont enjoy certain required aspects of this game but I toughen up and work through it, Sooner or later you are going run into content you dont like but have to complete. When that happens its complete it and move on or leave game and come back when you can skip it.

[Melorie]

I've seen quite some people give up in the 2.X slog. I'm also always weary of suggesting the game for friends because I know what expects them, and I know that I can't help them nor play with them like you would expect out of a MMO. The max I can do is queue with them for the new story dungeons and maybe do some palace of the dead (that in the end of the day doesn't really matter because it won't help them progress to unlock new things) but even so, the huge chunky of the game they're going to do on their own and that's not... fun. Everytime I invite someone to play FFXIV I have to give them a lot of warnings about these problems and people just lose their interest.

I hope that Square Enix has some solution in mind or is working on one besides jump potions because as the years go and you get new expacs, quests and content in general, this problem will just be worse.

[Jaywalker]

I actually have a solution for you, I think.

First, pick the job you want to play. Purchase the leveling bit, it will get your character to IIRC a level sixty, some nice gear, and 300,000 gil. Make sure your gear is ridiculously amazing and high level and do that tutorial bit that the game suggests to make sure you know the moveset.

Go through MSQ. You will have your level synced at points yeah, but when your gear is that insane you can generally blaze through stuff really fast.

That way you do get to play through the whole story, but it takes significantly less time. And you can use an alt to go through at normal pace if that's so desired.

Costs money yeah but I mean if the time is such a massive concern that should address it.

[guardin]

Playing with a friend of mine, returner from ARR content, I can already feel how demoralized he is trying to catch up in time. To actually reach relevant content he has to go through a backlog of slog, and I have a feeling he never will actually reach the content that he has paid for, and I have a feeling a lot of new players have the same point of view, and will also never likely reach content in time (without paying for a skip) to actually play the new expansion. I do not think a skip is a good thing, not only for the intimidating price, but because these players cannot go back and do the story any longer, I would assume (I have never actually used one).

They feel like they are just wasting time. I think there needs to be something in place, to alleviate this feeling. In WoW a new player has a boost, but can reach the relevant (expansion) content, and can go back and do older content at their own leisure. Granted, FF is very story based, and centered around your character (WoL). I think a way to go back and do the old story content (expansions) to catch up and do later, would be a good way to get players to relevant content, and keep them playing the game, while being able to go back and do the story content when they want to, so they don't miss out, and can get the full context of the latest story arch.

The more expansions and story content, added just make this worse, and worse.

thats the problem--you are playing with a friend. 2nd you are "trying to catch up" mmos are about playing at your own pace. dont just play a game because your "friend" is playing. sounds like this game--an rpg -- isnt for you.

[Shougun]

At some point they are going to have to deal with content they may not enjoy what then???

A few hours is quite different than a hundred though. But that's really simplifying my thoughts down lol. Since like Rokke might skip 100 he disliked to get 20 he loved, and future forward he could do the other new stuff before it turned to a mountain even if he didn't love it per say. But that's really simplifying everything down, which loses some of the nuance to the solutions I was trying to push and reasons why they're valuable to people.