ARR needs two simple fixes until an actual revamp

[wereotter]

Advise him, if he's at all open to the idea, to try the JP voice overs, it'll vastly improve the voiced experience at the very least in ARR.

I mean that's a pretty subjective matter... to me a lot of Japanese voice acting, even without being able to understand the actual words said, sounds terrible. Over-acted and some with high nasally pitches that actually are physically painful to listen to.

[Shurrikhan]

"The voices are great if you don't understand what they're saying" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, you realize.

I understand both just fine (I play on the JPN client as often as not, and finish the MSQ once each in either version across this char and my main alt), and it's still a mixed bag. With some exceptions across ARR specifically, overall, some VAs seem to fit their alleged characters a bit more than others, or just have more attractive (or, less grating) voices outright, in either direction -- some better on the ENG version, some on the JPN version. For instance, I prefer JPN Cid (not as cocky-sounding as his words sometimes imply) and ENG Tataru (JPN being grating, for me). Most, though, they're just different, more so than one being "better" than the other.

(Though Shadowbringers ENG Gaius, Ardbert, and maybe even Ranjit, for instance... it amazes me how well they fit while also seeming to uniquely fit. Whereas many of the JPN voices felt like they could have been reslotted/recast any which way, something about the ENG voices there felt right and right for that character only.)

Tbh, one of the huge marks of quality for me is that the lines themselves are often so well adjusted to those different voices. At that point it just becomes a matter of which personality you prefer (e.g. ENG Alisae vs. JPN Alisae) and, honestly, even while different they tend to be equally good, imo.

[Penthea]

Look put a dumb mount on the shop and tell the players this money will be used to add voice acting to ARR. I promise you it will sell at a stupid pace.

So you're saying SE should start some sort of kickstarter campaign through their store to get voice acting sorted out? Seriously? I would only purchase a thing I don't want if it would be for a good cause like a charity. Not because SE won't give extra money to FFXIV they can easily afford to hire some voice actors.

I would like ARR improved but not like this. I'm sorry but your ideas for fixes just don't match up with how a big company like SE does and should work.

[PeekayTom]

The only further adjustments I think that ARR needs after very recently pushing four players through it is:

Adjust the 1-15 stories to be a bit more compelling. Not sure how, but the path to those dungeons just isn't quite enticing enough.

...

and that's it. The only other problem my players ran into? Toxic players who want to rush through everything and yell at new players for not having good enough gear/tanking to the wall in their first time/whatever excuse. It's to the point that they almost want to refuse to do content because of these players. The game isn't really the problem. The players are.

[Lanadra]

The only further adjustments I think that ARR needs after very recently pushing four players through it is:

Adjust the 1-15 stories to be a bit more compelling. Not sure how, but the path to those dungeons just isn't quite enticing enough.

...

and that's it. The only other problem my players ran into? Toxic players who want to rush through everything and yell at new players for not having good enough gear/tanking to the wall in their first time/whatever excuse. It's to the point that they almost want to refuse to do content because of these players. The game isn't really the problem. The players are.

The storytelling with those first few dungeons is a bit more environmental, your literal reason for going there aside anyway. Specifically about a bit of a rivalry between you, a party of adventurers including Avere and Edda(!!), Alianne and her grandpa and another party of adventurers led by Dolorous Bear.

In Sastasha you're able to accomplish what the others couldn't, in fact I'm pretty sure you blaze through it before the others can even attempt it, to the point where Dolorous Bear's party was still in Limsa to pick up the job. In Tam-Tara you learn that Alianne and her grandpa only just managed to get back out with their heads still attached, as well as learning after you're done and back in Gridania that Avere got decapitated in Tam-Tara, resulting in the break up of their party and Edda being left standing in the Adventurers Guild with Avere's decapitated head. Finally in Copperbell you learn that Dolorous Bear's party, determined not to be beaten by you again rushed in and got themselves killed at the hands of the giants in the mines.

The story is there, it just takes a bit more of an attentive approach as you actually have to take note of all of them outside of the dungeon as well as talk to them all. Alianne and her grandpa also appear again later, with Alianne joining the Crystal Braves in the post 2.0 story. The matter of Edda in turn becomes relevant again in Tam-Tara Hard and finally the Palace of the Dead.

Also fun fact, outside of Sastasha (Hard) is a party who is composed almost exactly the same as Edda's party (they even look the same), Hyur Gladiator and Conjurer, Lalafell THM and Elezen Archer, only in this party the Conjurer has a personality the opposite of Edda, standing her ground and not allowing herself to be blamed for the Gladiator's mistakes.

[Raikai]

So something I am noticing is not only WoW players who come here but long time veteran salty FF14 telling LITERALLY everyone to boost passed ARR. I find this to be incredibly stupid as you skip some of the most important story aspect in the game and the actual introduction to the MMO but it has happened. As we know they trimmed roughly 30% of the ARR grind but we need further changes until we can get an actual full revamp of it.

1. Voice acting. It is seriously lacking. Some of your FF14 players are actual voice actors and will probably do this for free. Just add it already.

2. Reduce the amount of teleporting. Do this by deleting quest that are effectively fetch quest. This makes the world seem small and it is pretty obvious to notice.

These two fixes would help a lot.

As much as I'd love voice acting, I highly doubt that they would spend resources to add it to ARR content as opposed to direct that budget to even more voice acted cutscenes in the current expansion.

It would be great if the Raid and Alliance Raid stories had more voice acting... I think the only time where we hear Gaia's voice is during fights.

[AnnRam]

IMO the combat during the ARR portion is the biggest turnoff. Some job's combat system really suffer from not having any oGCD till past ARR making the job feel clunky and stunted.

Of particular note is MNK who only gets Perfect Balance at level 50 and outside of that window you are just constantly cycling through your GCDs over and over, and worst of them all, WHM who only gets Benediction at 50, causing new healers to get it hard coded in their brains that Cure and Cure II are their main heals and continue using them all the way up to level 80 barely touching Assize, Afflatus and Tetra.

This is why jobs like DRG (Jump, Spineshatter, Dragonfire) and MCH (Gauss Round, Ricotchet, Wildfire) end up being a lot more attractive for newer players because the combat feels more fluid

Just add earlier weaker versions of some oGCDs that later get upgraded via trait to the current versions and you fix the combat problem.

FFXIV have a serious problem with skill syncs also, seriously pre70 -dungeons are so easy even if you get paired with newbies there is 0% chances that you will wipe, unless your tank/healer disconnects.

[Caurcas]

Big brain, just delete ARR. Give a summary and start players at 60 in HW.

[Wyssahtyn]

Big brain, just delete ARR. Give a summary and start players at 60 in HW.

galaxy brain: remove msq

[Alxyzntlct]

To add a quick note as a new player that just played through ARR and is in Heavensward right now:

I thoroughly enjoyed playing through ARR!
- The Story was great, I loved every bit of it, including exploring the world
- The pacing really allowed me to learn the Job I'm playing right now well
- The one hiccup to the entire process was doing group content; most of the time it was fun because after noting I was new, a lot of players were really helpful and patient! It only was an issue a couple of times where folks were apparently solely focused on speed running and didn't want to communicate at all, or larger group content where some folks just delved into straight-up harassment of others for "not playing perfectly"

I'm not new to MMOs though so that last one wasn't really a surprise, lol. If anything, I've appreciated how the majority of the time folks were really nice and supportive. Definitely a difference from the majority of games I've played in the past.