7.0 speculation, but not about the story

[Thalesnm]

So far, basically every discussion online about 7.0 has been about the story. Understandable, of course, but this game is much more than that.

I would like to have a conversation about other aspects of the game, such as the overall structure and gameplay loop. Because, just like with the story, 7.0 will be a great opportunity to innovate in these aspects.

Personally, I don't have a clue about what I would do if I were a dev. I just feel like the game needs to significantly shake the formula. It's been great so far, Shadowbringers and Endwalker were amazing, but we can't expect that formula to work forever and I'd hate to leave the game for lack of innovation.

Do you have any ideas?

[myahele]

Open world PvP will shake things up I think. Either limit it to 7.0 areas or have it be part of the Eureka/Bozja-like content.

[NegativeS]

I don't know what to expect with the Island Sanctuary, and I don't think anyone else does either.

But based on what I've heard and read about it, I honestly believe that whatever it is, we're going to see a lot more of it in the future.

Hell, there's a whole un-touched-upon "New World" to the west of Aldenard, it sounds like a perfect sandbox for that type of content...

[Ifrinne]

Open world PvP will shake things up I think. Either limit it to 7.0 areas or have it be part of the Eureka/Bozja-like content.

Lets hope they will not do that, i dont want to run around in a potential MSQ zone fearing i may be randomly attacked by another player

[ryouma17]

Lets hope they will not do that, i dont want to run around in a potential MSQ zone fearing i may be randomly attacked by another player

unlike blizz, square has no intentions of killing their MMO

[Lunalepsy]

Prediction: It's going to be another carrot-on-a-stick kind of expansion.

[van_arn]

I’m still reeling over the freedom Endwalker has given us to do anything and go anywhere. I’m actually paralyzed by choice.

[sharknado]

Open world PvP will shake things up I think.

There is very little interest in PvP and even PvP MMOs. New World tried to be open world hardcore PvP MMO and during alpha/beta people just clearly told they don't want an open world PvP game so they made it really optional and opt-in. WoW Classic open world PvP quickly degraded and both it and retail quickly saw monofaction PvP realms... You can have a free for all coliseum type places or more variety of PvP instances but open world PvP is just asking for problems.

[sharknado]

I would like to have a conversation about other aspects of the game, such as the overall structure and gameplay loop. Because, just like with the story, 7.0 will be a great opportunity to innovate in these aspects.

If you are telling a story then I doubt it will try to reinvent the wheel. Either way they did hinted all over the place that after closing the story ark they will be preparing the game for the next one as well as doing some cleaning/changes of what's already there so that is a good window for innovation or just quality.

I would say they could think how to break the verticality of the game. If you want to join to play 7.0 that's from level 1 to 100 on your main job, DoH/DoL or alt jobs. But how do you break it down for a story driven game? 6.0 already highlighted word "Adventurer" quite hard, and they deescalated the power level of events super quickly (which they should anyway) so I could see they giving an option for new players to join but not level through MSQ but through like a side story developed either as a part of 6.X or 7.0 patch. So you aren't WoL, you are just an adventurer that wants to make a name for yourself (with original MSQ still available - either for the story on main job or to use it for alt jobs)... but DoH/DoL would be a problem (or just buffed ishgard )

[Thalesnm]

If you are telling a story then I doubt it will try to reinvent the wheel. Either way they did hinted all over the place that after closing the story ark they will be preparing the game for the next one as well as doing some cleaning/changes of what's already there so that is a good window for innovation or just quality.

I would say they could think how to break the verticality of the game. If you want to join to play 7.0 that's from level 1 to 100 on your main job, DoH/DoL or alt jobs. But how do you break it down for a story driven game? 6.0 already highlighted word "Adventurer" quite hard, and they deescalated the power level of events super quickly (which they should anyway) so I could see they giving an option for new players to join but not level through MSQ but through like a side story developed either as a part of 6.X or 7.0 patch. So you aren't WoL, you are just an adventurer that wants to make a name for yourself (with original MSQ still available - either for the story on main job or to use it for alt jobs)... but DoH/DoL would be a problem (or just buffed ishgard )

Yeah, I definitely agree that the new player experience should be a top priority for 7.0. I'm not too worried about this, though, because the new player experience (right now) is such an obvious issue. And these devs aren't dumb, I'm sure they know that 7.0 will be a great opportunity to fix that. Whether they will be able to do so remains to be seen, but being aware of the issue is half the battle.