Thoughts on Level Squishes

[MsQi]

Like new players?

Deep leveling grinds are a significant barrier to entry especially when a game does not offer a reasonable catch-up mechanic. XIV has the double whammy of layering a mandatory story grind on top of a leveling grind that's getting too close to triple digits. Just the story requirement alone garners a "lol, nope" when trying to convince friends to join, having to tell them they'll need to burn through 80+ levels is a deal killer.

And in before the inevitable "journey" whine: If we wanted a that we'd play single-player games.

Unless Square is planning an XI style maintenance mode for XIV and a follow-on MMO up their sleeve they'll need a far more comprehensive story compression than the recent effort along with any level squish. Or at the very least make story optional.

Way to cherry pick. But if a new player finds 99 levels intimidating they are not really interested in an RPG. You start at level 1, you advance to higher levels, that is the entire point. As I said "lateral expansion". They could start a different storyline that would be a choice at the beginning that would take players from 1 to 99 but maybe in a different location or world with new zones. Current players could pick it up in a slightly altered version. Maybe it would all be from the perspective of someone in the Empire.

There would be a whole new series of dungeons, raids, quests, beast tribes, etc., at 50, 60, 70 etc. This would give people multiple storyline to level multiple jobs through and lead to a bigger more expansive world.

[Morningstar1337]

Way to cherry pick. But if a new player finds 99 levels intimidating they are not really interested in an RPG. You start at level 1, you advance to higher levels, that is the entire point. As I said "lateral expansion". They could start a different storyline that would be a choice at the beginning that would take players from 1 to 99 but maybe in a different location or world with new zones. Current players could pick it up in a slightly altered version. Maybe it would all be from the perspective of someone in the Empire.

There would be a whole new series of dungeons, raids, quests, beast tribes, etc., at 50, 60, 70 etc. This would give people multiple storyline to level multiple jobs through and lead to a bigger more expansive world.

I'd be all for that, but I think that's gonna require several dev teams and a lot of coordination to get that out in a single xpac, and doing that over multiple expansion would need to have something closer to XI's system to pan out and would likely entail that there be level capped version of the raids for those that are already capped.

[MsQi]

I'd be all for that, but I think that's gonna require several dev teams and a lot of coordination to get that out in a single xpac, and doing that over multiple expansion would need to have something closer to XI's system to pan out and would likely entail that there be level capped version of the raids for those that are already capped.

Doesn't have to be in one expac, especially is they start soon. One expac could be a new 1-30 or 1-50 experience with slightly sped up leveling. At some point they gain access to the old world. May have to make the world more open where you don't have to advance a storyline to enter zones. For existing players the new story could be on the premise that you are a spy infiltrating the Empire. New players might experience the original MSQ as an echo.