Making the case for a new starting point in 7.0

[Atelier-Bagur]

Some interesting ideas, but unfortunately probably not very feasible due to how this game is designed. For one, having new players start at 7.0 will depend on how much of "soft reboot" it would be with the game's narrative for it to warrant new players to skip everything before it. Quests, Stories and NPCs will have to be entirely reworked to cater to 2 different branching paths to make 7.0's story have cohesion, which is just not a feasible thing to do honestly. The other thing that I believe I see people getting confused with 7.0 is that they believe it'll be like what I said a "soft reboot" which I dont think thats the case at all. The devs stated that everything right now is just one giant arc for the narrative, not the overall end with a new beginning (I mean sorta but stuff that happened before will probably still apply to the narrative going forward).

Also, somebody already stated that yeah FFXIV isnt like WoW or Lost Ark where the focus is on the Endgame but on the journey itself. Its not designed to have retention systems that "force" players to constantly log on to the game, which I find it amusing due to some of the recent threads made here about FFXIV's endgame being not enough when they keep forgetting that's intentional. If people are looking into having all sorts of different endgame content thats current then they'll be disappointed because this MMO doesnt go for that, which is were ultimately new players will wind up leaving due to not getting as invested as they should be.

Still, this game's narrative content is indeed very lengthy but the game strives itself in it as you can tell how almost every piece of it is tied to a story of sorts because FFXIV isnt an MMORPG, its an RPGMMO.

[JudgeRAW]

Still, this game's narrative content is indeed very lengthy but the game strives itself in it as you can tell how almost every piece of it is tied to a story of sorts because FFXIV isnt an MMORPG, its an RPGMMO.

People are kinda making up their own narratives with this sort of thing, the distinction between FFXIV and other MMOs. The endgame of FFXIV is 2-2.5 years (In the case of Shadowbringers.) That's a long time. People say the design of the game is intentional and that players are allowed to come and go as they please, but the game forces players with houses to log in at least every 45 days just to keep their house. So you at least have to retain a sub 5-6 months out of a year. And here's the final thing. Maybe the game currently isn't focused on keeping players subbed and coming back, but unless the devs see a demand for more content that keeps players engaged over longer periods of time that won't change so IMO its perfect ok for players to want AND ask for more of a priority placed on this.

I know the game seems very focused on casual players, but casual content is also low investment from both a player perspective and a development perspective. If the game is really as successful as it seems to be and SE is pumping the money in the game it needs than I'd definitely like to see some of that money being used to addressed the early game issues and in making the late game more robust and diverse, especially when it comes to the most engaging content in the game which is raids and other types of battle content. FFXIV IS an MMORPG. The devs call it that, YoshiP calls it, thats what it is.