No one logged in today because of Lost Ark

[aveyond-dreams]

Thats not a good option. You're literally wanting for new players to skip all the buildup with their WoL to get to 7.0. Im sure 7.0 will be a somewhat "soft reboot" with new stories to tell but you're crazy if you think the devs will just ignore the huge amount story and character growth that wont be explored further coming to the next expansion. Its a bit jaded viewpoint to see how people find that just because every expansion has been consistently improving on the previous doesnt mean it automatically invalidate those previous expansions (yes even Stormblood has value). FFXIV is at most a story driven MMO where every single quest and side content builds upon its own narrative. So no, I wouldnt like for them to give new players to skip to 7.0. It makes no sense and it'll also overwhelm newbies with the amount of catch up content for them to do later.

Yeah, you bet I am. There is no way I would subject anyone over the age of 16 to the horrifically boring experience that is modern day ARR. When I press "New Game" or create a character on any video game I expect and demand better than what the current state of FFXIV's intro experience is nowadays. You can watch a 10 minute video and get caught up with lore basics. The only thing you need to know to start Heavensward is dragons don't get along with Ishgard. Everything else you can be filled in on later.

The story and gameplay from that point on get progressively stronger, though Heavensward gameplay nowadays does still feel like an extended tutorial level with how easy those dungeons and trials have become. Even so, it's leagues better than ARR. As for Stormblood? When I played it at launch I mentally tuned out of the story until Yotsuyu stepped on Gosetsu's throat because at the time Alisae had far from proven herself and Lyse remains one of the most insufferable characters in the entire history of the game. The eastern segment was strong, the Ala Mhigan segment was atrocious. Thank goodness the Exarch spirited us away from Stormblood, a colorless expansion whose few good moments were once again too spaced out to be worth it.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Yeah, you bet I am. There is no way I would subject anyone over the age of 16 to the horrifically boring experience that is modern day ARR. When I press "New Game" or create a character on any video game I expect and demand better than what the current state of FFXIV's intro experience is nowadays. You can watch a 10 minute video and get caught up with lore basics. The only thing you need to know to start Heavensward is dragons don't get along with Ishgard. Everything else you can be filled in on later.

The story and gameplay from that point on get progressively stronger, though Heavensward gameplay nowadays does still feel like an extended tutorial level with how easy those dungeons and trials have become. Even so, it's leagues better than ARR. As for Stormblood? When I played it at launch I mentally tuned out of the story until Yotsuyu stepped on Gosetsu's throat because at the time Alisae had far from proven herself and Lyse remains one of the most insufferable characters in the entire history of the game. The eastern segment was strong, the Ala Mhigan segment was atrocious. Thank goodness the Exarch spirited us away from Stormblood, a colorless expansion whose few good moments were once again too spaced out to be worth it.

And thus the curtain unveils itself lol

But on a serious note that's like... your opinion man. I personally didnt find ARR boring and I know a good number of people who enjoyed the experience of ARR knowing that it just gets better and better. Listen if it werent for ARR, then Heavensward wouldnt have hit the mark as good as it did, nor would any of the future expansions. The whole point of FFXIV's content is the journey of getting there, because thats literally 70% of its content. Just trimming that linear progression kinda would kill the fun out of the game, at least imo. Of course there's people who just dont care and would like to get to end game (which I would response that to being you wasting both your time and money if thats your way of thinking when it comes to gaming) but the game isnt designed for it to be fully skipped to end game.

[Atelier-Bagur]

And thus the curtain unveils itself lol

But on a serious note that's like... your opinion man. I personally didnt find ARR boring and I know a good number of people who enjoyed the experience of ARR knowing that it just gets better and better. Listen if it werent for ARR, then Heavensward wouldnt have hit the mark as good as it did, nor would any of the future expansions. The whole point of FFXIV's content is the journey of getting there, because thats literally 70% of its content. Just trimming that linear progression kinda would kill the fun out of the game, at least imo. Of course there's people who just dont care and would like to get to end game (which I would response that to being you wasting both your time and money if thats your way of thinking when it comes to gaming) but the game isnt designed for it to be fully skipped to end game.

inb4 people point out story skips in Mogstation. Which I'll also respond with, the game doesnt push you to use story skips or job skips because

1. Mogstation is an out of game element that thankfully doesnt intrude itself on its UI like most other MMO cash shops
2. Game isnt designed with grind systems for you to progress. Literally only main progression system is just going through MSQ to unlock content which is a big part of FFXIV.
3. You can do everything with one character, which again applies to the design of the player getting attached to their WoL through both gradually getting introduced to the main story and content

But in truth everyone is different, people may or may not care with what I say and thats fine.

[KizuyaKatogami]

And thus the curtain unveils itself lol

But on a serious note that's like... your opinion man. I personally didnt find ARR boring and I know a good number of people who enjoyed the experience of ARR knowing that it just gets better and better. Listen if it werent for ARR, then Heavensward wouldnt have hit the mark as good as it did, nor would any of the future expansions. The whole point of FFXIV's content is the journey of getting there, because thats literally 70% of its content. Just trimming that linear progression kinda would kill the fun out of the game, at least imo. Of course there's people who just dont care and would like to get to end game (which I would response that to being you wasting both your time and money if thats your way of thinking when it comes to gaming) but the game isnt designed for it to be fully skipped to end game.

I dont think its just about getting to endgame, but theres many people who play an mmo for an mmo. !4 is different in that it puts its story considerably first and being an mmo second. I think its pretty prevalent though when so many people expressed grievances for arr that the devs had to cut some of the quests because its so long and a slog. I say this as someone who enjoyed arr, it is a major slog.The combat is actually kind of detrimental as the jobs change so much from 50 to 90 people can get the wrong mindset.Most content in 14 is unfortunately in endgame, which unfortunately, requires you to play through 4 expansions just to get there.

[aveyond-dreams]

And thus the curtain unveils itself lol

But on a serious note that's like... your opinion man. I personally didnt find ARR boring and I know a good number of people who enjoyed the experience of ARR knowing that it just gets better and better. Listen if it werent for ARR, then Heavensward wouldnt have hit the mark as good as it did, nor would any of the future expansions. The whole point of FFXIV's content is the journey of getting there, because thats literally 70% of its content. Just trimming that linear progression kinda would kill the fun out of the game, at least imo. Of course there's people who just dont care and would like to get to end game (which I would response that to being you wasting both your time and money if thats your way of thinking when it comes to gaming) but the game isnt designed for it to be fully skipped to end game.

Nah, I'll take a 10 minute lore video instead of 10+ hours of being the scion's sidekick thank you very much. Heavensward, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker are the expansions where the player character gets to be themselves the most-in ARR we're a means to an end and in Stormblood we're second banana to none other than Lyse. The journey is definitely the point in FFXIV-just not the ones in ARR and SB, not with ARR's nonexistent battle difficulty and SB being split into an interesting arc and a boring one.

I'm not even remotely thinking of endgame when it comes to this discussion. My playthrough of both Shadowbringers and Endwalker took several weeks because I actually enjoyed the the adventure I was going on instead of being mentally tuned out everytime Lyse and Minfilia opened their mouths. Granted, nowadays I stop paying attention whenever Thancred comes on screen since its my opinion he shouldn't have made it out of the First but that's another story.

You cannot have an MMORPG whose significant first portions are nothing but a visual novel, that is what ARR feels like its reduced to now that you can clear any fight by just spamming one button or having more experienced players handle all the mechanics for the new one. The stat squish was a massive failure in terms of making old content any more challenging for newer players.

Better at this point to let them choose a class that starts at level 90 so they can begin their playthrough at the start of season 2, while still retaining the option to start as a default season 1 character if they want to play from the very beginning.

[Tlamila]

Thanks to this thread I finally decided to try out Lost Ark btw, despite my reserves (gender lock, gender-stereotypical bodies and outfits, region locks, fantasy setting).

[Kolsykol]

Gender locking, Sexism, bad writing, Pay2Win, Slot machine mechanics, predatory cash shop mechanics. If you want an MMO to cost $2000 a month, and want your characters to look like something from a X-rated magazine than sure it's a game for you, if you don't want to spend 2k a month, and don't want to live the playboy fantasy it's not for you.

Oh cmon I am so sick and tired of this.
Holy hell if you dislike this stuff you've already got like every single Western game in existence to play.
Some of us actually enjoy it and we want games to play as well ( FFXIV to me is more of a middle ground, but it's not the same ).

This entire '' sexism hurr durr '' discussion is so freaking tiresome, there's nothing sexist about it...
If you look at it and think sexism it has a lot more to do with your own views than the views of the devs or people who enjoy it.
So damn tired of this cringe moralization about it constantly, if you don't like it then don't play it it's that simple sitting around being a jerk about it is totally unnecessary.

I personally really love the Bayonetta femme fatale styled female characters, just because you dislike it doesn't make it sexist or wrong.
The game industry is massive and there is a space for all kinds of games and characters, and it's pretty damn hypocritical and annoying how you can experiment with all kinds of hyper masculinity and crazy shenanigans with male characters.
But if you do it with hyper femininity and female characters in the other direction then suddenly people start screeching about sexism.
Clearly a lot of people enjoy it too considering that it's the second most played game on Steam now.

It's so extremely frustrating how y'all who have a problem with it can't just let it go and let people have fun, I dunno why you've gotta complain about it constantly every single time these games exist.
Just let people have fun and leave it alone.
You've already got 99% of games catered to what you want.

[aveyond-dreams]

If you're telling me that only women can be magic users and only men can be warriors in a video game, I agree that it is not sexist. It's just ridiculous gatekeeping and an instant turn off because guess what: I don't play video games to tell me what I can and cannot be, or what I can or cannot do. Add on the clickbait outfits on top of it and its got all the makings of a vapid cashgrab game that I will not dedicate any time of day to.

[Conundrum]

If you're telling me that only women can be magic users and only men can be warriors in a video game, I agree that it is not sexist. It's just ridiculous gatekeeping and an instant turn off because guess what: I don't play video games to tell me what I can and cannot be, or what I can or cannot do. Add on the clickbait outfits on top of it and its got all the makings of a vapid cashgrab game that I will not dedicate any time of day to.

Made me have a flashback to this...

[iheartlove42]

The only reason Twitch streamers are playing it right now is because Amazon is paying them to, since Amazon is the publisher in North America and Amazon owns Twitch. They'll all be playing Elden Ring in a few weeks or be back to whatever game they were streaming before.

On the plus side this will get all the WoWfugees who wanted FFXIV's endgame to become as abusive as WoW's to finally leave us alone.

People aren't playing FFXIV, because anything else is more alluring than FFXIV endgame.

Such as this. Lemme guess you joined after quitting WoW and only do Savage Pandamoneum raids (before did Savage Eden) and never do roulette (which includes all 83 dungeons, 12 allied raids, like 70ishish trials, like 48ish raid bosses), don't do Manderville, never do any of the side jobs, don't do hunts, have never visited housing, have never done maps, don't do FATEs, never did Alliance Raids more than once. And then you complain that there's "nothing to do at endgame" because the devs don't timegate everything ever and don't make the game a second job to cater to your elitist tastes. Have fun in Lost Ark. Enjoy the entire endgame of farming mats on your main + 6 alts just to hope you the RNG items (which are daily capped how many you can get) give you the right stats to upgrade your main all while spamming an ad for the cash shop to just skip the RNG. Enjoy getting kicked from groups for making minor mistakes and groups disbanding after one wipe. Seriously dude. XIV is not made for elitist raiders who just want the devs to make WoW type raids for them.

Literally the only people I ever meet in game who complain about FFXIV not having endgame are people who brag about being in one of the top raiding guilds on their WoW server or whatever other MMO they fled because it's actually bad.