The Aurum Vale requires the Darkhold quest is a bad idea.

[AndrewN]

Most people are not recruiting its very hard to get in a linkshell in this game.

I find it hard to believe there is no one recruiting on your server, but if that is the case then wait until the 27th and you can apply to my LS, we are recruiting and we do Darkhold as well as Ifrit and Moogle and we have no worries about taking inexperienced players through any of these.

[Tibian]

One of the main issues I had in XI was that older players never went back to do earlier things like rank missions, CoP, Zilart, etc. You literally had break points where you could not progress in the game.

World of Warcraft also had pre-requisite dungeon entrance issues during Burning Crusade. They were removed after hoards of casual players wanted to get into Serpentshrine Cavern and Black Temple (Raids) but could not because they couldn't get through the heroic dungeon attunement quest.

From my MMO experiences, attunement quests have done the following things.

• Create a barrier for vertical advancement.
• Create a scarcity of players at the upper level.
• Encourage newer players to ignore existing content.
• Encourage newer players to quit the game due to the problems with finding a group/passing the quest.
• Create a sense of accomplishment and progression.
• Causes irritation to some.

Realistically there is room for both attunement quests and the lack there-of. At the current time, FFXIV has population problems, infrastructure problems, severe game changing balance issues, etc, etc, and most of all -- no cross server content finder. The use of an attunement quest spanning over a dungeon (which has a certain difficulty inherently built into it due to server infrastructure issues,) probably isn't the best idea until 2.0 hits. With that being said; the changes being made and implemented now are causal agents of 2.0's change -- meaning that the realization and fruition of all of this work will not come until 2.0 cozies into full swing.

Furthermore, will there be an explanation or a continuation of a story arc that encourages the player to care about clearing Darkhold and progressing to the next dungeon? If so, then there is a valid reason for accepting the attunement. If not, then the barrier is a meaningless block that will just cause mass annoyance and severe problems later in the game's lifespan.

Realistically, the attunement quests involving instances or quests within instances should not come until after 2.0: when there is a cross-server content finder to support someone who says "I want to get attuned -- I am going to go do it."

The barriers should exist on a personal and self motivational level -- not on an infrastructure level. This was one of the huge mistakes of XI -- currently it hasn't been that big of an issue in XIV. The biggest barrier for anything in XIV has really been finding people to do anything: be it dungeon/exp party/craft/repair.

[Griss]

/happy in my pants because of this. The story is continuing from where we left it in the dark hold.

[wolfsspirit]

I am not complaining , i am happy playing solo , it's just something i have always noticed in this game

"Not trying to insult you, but considering your ranks, and you saying you played since beta only shows you haven't actually had real time to get to know people..."

yes i quit for long long time , i do not wish to join a LS at all.. but i guess thats the only way to advance.
I am too proud to beg for help or ask at all.. thats something i dont do in game and never do in real life either .
Golden rule always have been if you cant make it alone.. then forget it.. raised with the stupid idea to never rely on others , in games thats a problem i know.. << may be a lil too old fashioned here lol
I played (and still play other) tons of mmo's and sometimes people just want you in their guild for whatever reason
Besides i am a quiet person in both game and real life.. maybe shy? who knows. just cant do it eh haha... serious i feel bad about asking anyone for help at all and wont do it

[TirionCrey]

I am not complaining , i am happy playing solo , it's just something i have always noticed in this game

"Not trying to insult you, but considering your ranks, and you saying you played since beta only shows you haven't actually had real time to get to know people..."

yes i quit for long long time , i do not wish to join a LS at all.. but i guess thats the only way to advance.
I am too proud to beg for help or ask at all.. thats something i dont do in game and never do in real life either .
Golden rule always have been if you cant make it alone.. then forget it.. raised with the stupid idea to never rely on others , in games thats a problem i know.. << may be a lil too old fashioned here lol
I played (and still play other) tons of mmo's and sometimes people just want you in their guild for whatever reason
Besides i am a quiet person in both game and real life.. maybe shy? who knows. just cant do it eh haha... serious i feel bad about asking anyone for help at all and wont do it

Then I don't get your reasoning...this is an MMORPG, if you prefer playing solo/advancing solo don't be surprised if you can't, cause this game is supposed to be played by groups and it's designed for that purpose. If you don't wanna ask other people to do anything, or apply to an LS or w/e, you're better of playing an Offline RPG, cause that's what you're looking for.

MMOs are not meant to be played by solo players.

[Jinko]

Golden rule always have been if you cant make it alone.. then forget it.. raised with the stupid idea to never rely on others , in games thats a problem i know.. << may be a lil too old fashioned here lol

MMO is not for you then.

[Scytale]

Zumi see me in game I'll sqaure you away...

[MicahZerrshia]

From my MMO experiences, attunement quests have done the following things.
[LIST][*]Create a barrier for vertical advancement.

Barriers are fun to break! Creates more excitement and feeling that you are actually doing something other than spamming silly quests all day.

[*]Create a scarcity of players at the upper level.

How would pre-reqs create a scarcity of upper lvl players? This confuses me.

[*]Encourage newer players to ignore existing content.

Actually it does not. Using xi as an example how many ppl would have completely ignored all the pre-reqs CoP or ToAU had to get access to areas, rewards and what not. There would have been tons of content that would have fallen into oblivion if you could just walk into sea or sky. It actually makes it so new players do not ignore content.

[*]Encourage newer players to quit the game due to the problems with finding a group/passing the quest.

If you dont wanna spend time to find ppl to play an mmo just play a standard console game. Very few players quit due to lack of groups and if they do they simply didnt want to put effort into it and if they werent even up for putting effort into finding a group they wouldnt be any help to a group since they have very little initiative. Again this goes back to play a single person game if you cant take the time to meet ppl

[*]Create a sense of accomplishment and progression.

Exactly. How much more thrilling was it to enter sea simply cause you had to work for it. Did you feel the same way when you first entered the dunes? And in xiv how much more thrilling is it to wield an ifrit/moogle weapon over something like Elmlord's Tusk which is a drop from an easily soloable nm. Frankly I would be BORED AS HELL if I didnt have to work for something and getting groups for content can make the game alot more pleasurable and give you insight to the game you never before had

[*]Causes irritation to some.

Yes some, a few, those need to go offline to play. They simply dont understand what MMO means I guess, even a solo-friendly game like WoW had group required content

[Tadacho]

This is basically just a quest line... Does this mean you also have an issue with having to first complete the quest to unlock PLD before you can do the 5th quest in the PLD quest line? This is just another quest in the line of GC quests. Deal.

[Fated]

ITT: "bad idea" = "what doesn't work for me"