New Player Experience Sucks! - Impending Expansion Problems

[van_arn]

Unpopular opinion; Everyone should run through ARR quests at least once as a new player. Yes, it's a grind, yes it's a slog to get through. SE are aware of it and they've hinted at consolidation during a live letter some months ago (I don't recall which one exactly, but I remember distinctly that it was an issue they're aware of and are looking to work on it).

XIV is, as someone else pointed out, a story/character driven game. It's not like WoW where you rush to the finish line and spam the highest level content and forget that a story even exists.

By that logic, everyone should start with 1.0 (be it through youtube, etc) so they have a full understanding of how the story and game developed into 2.0. Perhaps open the game with a three hour cutscene gallery detailing essential things, like escorting Sisipu across a featureless copy-pasted terrain to a random point on the map. It would make players *appreciate* ARR more. The story of Louisoix Leveilleur can only be understood with proper context from 1.0, after all -- and as FFXIV is a story-based game it is essential to enjoy 2.0 fully.

We can't expect players to get everything they need to know from 1.0 from the opening trailer and by actually playing the game. Playing 1.0 should be a required rite of passage, and obviously anyone that wants to skip it and its magnificent not-story is a filthy wow refugee.