Making the case for a new starting point in 7.0

[Tsumdere]

People have always had the option to buy a story skip. This game is designed as a mmo single player game. That is the core game is designed to be enjoyed at your pace solo, with the option of doing it with friends (eventually this will also include dungeon content that currently forces groups).

Its fair to allow for skipping straight to 7.0, and it’s fair to ask for it, but the thing is, this option already exists if people want it.

I’m not against further story pruning to shorten/cut the less important parts of the MSQ (turn into sidequests?), but just because 5 years have past doesn’t make Heavansward any better or worse than it was at launch. A player coming in in 2022 can still enjoy 3.0 in all its glory.

I want to preface this by saying I am not a cutscene skipper. I've watched the story in its entirety on 5 different alts. I firmly believe that not watching the story lessens your FFXIV experience. I read every single bit of side quest dialogue. I still believe that eventually they will have to open up a new starting point free of charge to new players.

The answer to a glaring issue that is actively discouraging people from playing is not "lol go to the cash shop".

[kaynide]

I want to preface this by saying I am not a cutscene skipper. I've watched the story in its entirety on 5 different alts. I firmly believe that not watching the story lessens your FFXIV experience. I read every single bit of side quest dialogue. I still believe that eventually they will have to open up a new starting point free of charge to new players.

The answer to a glaring issue that is actively discouraging people from playing is not "lol go to the cash shop".

That’s the thing tho, the point of this game (in the devs view) is to play through a story. The original game didn’t even have endgame and it was largely assumed people would just level other jobs as the endgame. Obviously they have changed their stance and embraced endgame, but I firmly believe the devs will never encourage letting people just start at the end. This should be obvious by their having story skip potions- even when they added them they said they don’t like it, but they accept other people having different play styles.

I’m sure they might write future expansions in a way where a story skipper won’t get lost without lore, but especially in a game where they want to encourage you to play long term…why would they ever do this.