New Player Experience Sucks! - Impending Expansion Problems

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

If sync weren't so garbage at overboosting players, I might agree. As it is, the old content simply doesn't exist anymore due to being nerfed into irrelevance already.

It might say you're running praetorium, but that's not praetorium. That's a waste of time masquerading as praetorium, and your friend would be just fine on their own. Your presence won't help in any way.

The change they made didn't overboost characters. All it did was sync you to HQ gear values instead of NQ gear values. NQ gear is garbage, so of course after that adjustment it seems like it was heavily nerfed.

Man, you really hate the game it seems like. Why are you still here? "Dont play with your friends, they are fine without you"

Also, I guess what you are asking for is to nerf the fairy. I hope you get what you wish for

[van_arn]

The change they made didn't overboost characters. All it did was sync you to HQ gear values instead of NQ gear values. NQ gear is garbage, so of course after that adjustment it seems like it was heavily nerfed.

Man, you really hate the game it seems like. Why are you still here? "Dont play with your friends, they are fine without you"

I do what I want; you can't stop me.

I just call the garbage gameplay as I see it, especially when I've seen Square do better. Sorry if you're so starry eyed you can't see just how garbage the road can be for a new player.

Not to mention content that isn't worth anyone's time (such as a boss gauntlet that can now be main healed as a fairy) goes well beyond merely having HQ gear and into the realm of content irrelevance.

While we're at it, let's throw the first three or four dungeons in the trash for the exact same reason. If it only takes the fairy, then that's a good baseline for irrelevant.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I do what I want; you can't stop me.

I just call the garbage gameplay as I see it, especially when I've seen Square do better. Sorry if you're so starry eyed you can't see just how garbage the road can be for a new player.

Not to mention content that isn't worth anyone's time (such as a boss gauntlet that can now be main healed as a fairy) goes well beyond merely having HQ gear and into the realm of irrelevance.

While we're at it, let's throw the first four dungeons in the trash for the exact same reason. If it only takes the fairy, then that's a good baseline for irrelevant.

Garbage gameplay is equalizing players doing the content at level with HQ gear, and players synced down. Ok thanks for that. The 100 quests between 2.0 and 3.0 is terrible, no one is contesting this. I've done it twice. That doesn't mean you should just throw away all of 2.0.

Got it, nerf the fairy. Can't wait for that to start a whole bunch of complaint threads from SCH mains complaining they can't afk dungeons anymore. "But we didn't want to have to actually WORK at it, we just think the game is too easy since fairy is OP" It definitely seems what you want is a nerfed fairy. Or how about play a different healer in those dungeons, where you know, you have to do stuff. Or maybe just don't summon the fairy. Content is only irrelevant to YOU because of a certain job that is super OP at low levels. You know what, it was super OP at low levels when 2.0 came out. My SCH friends afk'd back then too. Has nothing to do with content being nerfed and everything to do with SCH not being nerfed.

[MistakeNot]

The 100 quests between 2.0 and 3.0 is terrible, no one is contesting this.

Wrong. Those quests are not terrible. They are no worse than the quests before or the quests after.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Wrong. Those quests are not terrible. They are no worse than the quests before or the quests after.

I personally never had an issue with the quests, or their quality, or their quantity. But as a new player trying to catch up, the quantity of quests can definitely be seen as an issue, especially when they try to grind through them. I wouldn't be against adjusting the quests so that the content of the quests is the same, but the number of quests is reduced. A lot of that can be streamlined without completely ruining the information given in them.

[MistakeNot]

I personally never had an issue with the quests, or their quality, or their quantity. But as a new player trying to catch up, the quantity of quests can definitely be seen as an issue, especially when they try to grind through them.

Perhaps, but that is easily solved by not worrying about catching up or try to grind through the quests. Just playing the game make for a much better experience.

[van_arn]

Perhaps, but that is easily solved by not worrying about catching up or try to grind through the quests. Just playing the game make for a much better experience.

The issue is not everyone agrees with what you feel "the game" is. If a player is just blindly teleporting and skipping cutscenes and texts, only to watch them later in the inn, that is "the game" to them and the story that might be your little darling gets in the way for that player.

Like I said before, I'm not of the mind that everyone should be able to skip everything-- just that there's no need to start every player five years in the past. The MSQ plainly doesn't do its supposed job of teaching people how to play, a MSQ of this length can easily cause fatigue, and NG+ provides an avenue for new players to experience things they might have missed years ago, whenever they please.

A few sprouts or newer players that enjoy the MSQ as it is could still experience the MSQ anyway with a new starting point/NG+, but I'm not really concerned about the people that simply "just take their time" and aren't worried about what they're missing.

I'm concerned about the number of sprouts I've seen burn out from the fatigue that comes from 2.0-2.x, along with the lackluster options for interacting with players with very few or poorly-made content. They just quit the game, and rarely end up on the forums.

I do not consider paid options to make the game palatable acceptable. That's as bad as sending someone to the mog station for an equally asinine "story pack."

[Melichoir]

Wrong. Those quests are not terrible. They are no worse than the quests before or the quests after.

Whether theyre good or bad is subjective. What is noteable is that when players are discussing the MSQ, this section seems to be a problem area players arent exactly happy with. Personally, I believe it to be an issue with pacing, where things felt drawn out because Dev's were busy trying to get HW up and running and needed to buy time.

Furthermore, what will be apparent is that if the pace keeps up, by another 2 or so xpacs, it will take a enw player a long time to actually catch up to the current content, possibly to long to be feasible for player retention. You do not want there to be so much stuff that you play through that you wont get to see the newest stuff that you probably got shown (if youre a new player). Doubly so since a lot of players start playing MMOs cause their friends do. So it is inevitable that streamlining older content will be required. I dont think anyone can realistically say this wont happen.

That being said, the question is how the streamlining occurs. Proposals to flat out scrap 2.0-3.0 is, IMO, absurd. So are proposals to disconnect the MSQ from content, where all you ened to do is be high enough level to participate. That model, IMO, will lead FFXIV down the same path of shenanigans that befell WoW. You want elitism, toxicity, and snobbery, make the primary focus of the game be about end game raids and gear, rather than something everyone can participate in (which is the MSQ and good story). My suggestion is simply take some of the quest lines in the MSQ which arent exactly moving hte overall story forward out of hte MSQ, but as content side quests. Meaning, you can progress the MSQ without actually doing some of that, and if players want that Lore content, it's there still to play. Its a happy comprimise, IMO, between cutting the MSQ out and making everyone play it.

[van_arn]

Garbage gameplay is equalizing players doing the content at level with HQ gear, and players synced down. Ok thanks for that. The 100 quests between 2.0 and 3.0 is terrible, no one is contesting this. I've done it twice. That doesn't mean you should just throw away all of 2.0.

Got it, nerf the fairy. Can't wait for that to start a whole bunch of complaint threads from SCH mains complaining they can't afk dungeons anymore. "But we didn't want to have to actually WORK at it, we just think the game is too easy since fairy is OP" It definitely seems what you want is a nerfed fairy. Or how about play a different healer in those dungeons, where you know, you have to do stuff. Or maybe just don't summon the fairy. Content is only irrelevant to YOU because of a certain job that is super OP at low levels. You know what, it was super OP at low levels when 2.0 came out. My SCH friends afk'd back then too. Has nothing to do with content being nerfed and everything to do with SCH not being nerfed.

I'm perfectly fine with the above nerfs and erasures, as they would take away the option of afk healing.

I already have all healers leveled, and scholar really suits me the best in content that matters. Especially since it can fill in as a dungeon tank or dps -- both of which have a high chance of potato with randoms.

Even if it was OP in 2.0, crappy content then is still crappy content years later. Square doesn't get a pass to keep crappy content, no matter what era or level range.

Since Square is unwilling or unable to fix crappy content, they should retire said content instead. Especially since they've sat on their butts for five years.

[RokkuEkkusu]

The change they made didn't overboost characters. All it did was sync you to HQ gear values instead of NQ gear values. NQ gear is garbage, so of course after that adjustment it seems like it was heavily nerfed.

Man, you really hate the game it seems like. Why are you still here? "Dont play with your friends, they are fine without you"

Also, I guess what you are asking for is to nerf the fairy. I hope you get what you wish for

Indeed. Keep in mind that the healing potency of the Fairy has been nerfed before.

If sync weren't so garbage at overboosting players, I might agree. As it is, the old content simply doesn't exist anymore due to being nerfed into irrelevance already.

It might say you're running praetorium, but that's not praetorium. That's a waste of time masquerading as praetorium, and your friend would be just fine on their own. Your presence won't help in any way.

Perhaps if I couldn't main heal as my fairy sync would be a viable alternative, but we're at the point where square should throw in the towel and retire irrelevant non-progression entirely.

I wouldn't go that far. Everytime I run Praetorium in the MSQ roulette, I'm helping others complete the story, get some extra tomes, and I get some neat stuff too. I am the type that does not take rewards and experiences for granted.

If there are opportunities to help and gain something in a reasonable fashion that can benefit me, I'll seize those opportunities without delay.