New Player Experience Sucks! - Impending Expansion Problems

[VirusOnline]

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).

There's plenty of time to catch up between now and the expansion, coming from someone who worked and went to school full time I was able to clear all the of the MSQ just shy of two weeks.
The idea of the skip is under the understood condition that you cannot go back because one has 'experienced' the story via the skip potion for the purposes of not having to bother with it/getting to end game content quicker. You can however, skip or not, view the cutscenes of any story mission when you want. Anyone who skips or wants to be 'at the end game content right now' usually has very little desire to go back to do story missions.

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.

WoW is nothing like FFXIV in terms of story. Its story is literally non-existant. Quests exist merely on the basis of level for the most part. It's what makes WoW disgustingly lacking and stale as a new player. A new player can easily become lost and disoriented and find themselves merely spamming dungeons all day long for the sake of leveling. The 'relevant story content in WoW is a joke, it's near nonexistant. Relevant story content in WoW is the equivalent of a transition scene between expansions. This lack of storytelling/general quest direction in WoW was even more prevalent back when I started playing it back in The Burning Crusade.

For a new player in FFXIV, they are given what WoW lacks - quest direction and storytelling. Never is a new player lost for there is a quest always waiting to guide them along the main timeline of events.

In all honesty, it sounds as if your friend simply should take a skip potion since they have no desire for the story (at the current moment) or paying for it. He wants to be at the end, now, with you rather than taking his character through its own journey because you are able to do things that he cannot and thus feels they're paying for nothing. And this sentiment is ok, there's nothing wrong with it. This is just how I view you and your friend's situation. A skip potion costs money for this reason, because if every new player could skip to the end it would be catastrophic for the game's experience. Rather, there would be no story experience at all and that is exactly what WoW is even without the skip potion.