Island Sanctuaries - End Game Only

[Deveryn]

Yeah, like male Viera being "rare" until they made the model for players, and suddenly Sharlayan of all places is filled with them. The "lore" more often than not is just an excuse to do things with the least effort, and since it's all 100% mutable on the writers whim, it means less than nothing.

You know there's only one Warrior of Light on Eitherys, right? Everyone else is just an adventurer to the respective player. No one else really exists beyond those encounters. They go over this point regularly throughout the story.

[Momo_Kozuki]

Why end-game only?
1) Edition and sub-time purchase, cuz they are not going to let you have everything with a sub-lv50 character. They don't want more mahjong players who access contents for free the moment they get to Gold Saucer and just stay in that amusement park for the rest of their character's life. Even Gold Saucer now have rewards that require you to play contents beyond free-trial to access.


2) Drive players' attachment to the game. You gotta play through all major expansion to get there, so you will likely have more things to do more than just Harvest Moon. Dailies, weelies... same formula of a mobile game that make you keep return to the game, thus sub-paying and potential cash-shop purchase, thus making you continue to play the game even if you are bored of your mind out. The same happens even if you just play Harvest Moon content, cuz you still have to pay sub. Mind you that FF14 business model is still a lot lenient compared to any other cash-grab MMO game, but it still manages to cause unhealthy attachment.


3) Push the sales of boosters for impatient players. Of course it sounds counter-productive, but some players prefer their WoL be the Harverst Moon character instead of just playing real Harvest moon characters



In short, it is about money and players' retention. Like any other MMO.

[hagare]

Yeah, like male Viera being "rare" until they made the model for players, and suddenly Sharlayan of all places is filled with them. The "lore" more often than not is just an excuse to do things with the least effort, and since it's all 100% mutable on the writers whim, it means less than nothing.

lemme introduce a new term to your vocabulary.
Story and gameplay segregation

[ADarklore]

So... basically a push for people to buy MSQ skips to reach EW faster?!?

[Jojoya]

Why end-game only?
1) Edition and sub-time purchase, cuz they are not going to let you have everything with a sub-lv50 character. They don't want more mahjong players who access contents for free the moment they get to Gold Saucer and just stay in that amusement park for the rest of their character's life. Even Gold Saucer now have rewards that require you to play contents beyond free-trial to access.


2) Drive players' attachment to the game. You gotta play through all major expansion to get there, so you will likely have more things to do more than just Harvest Moon. Dailies, weelies... same formula of a mobile game that make you keep return to the game, thus sub-paying and potential cash-shop purchase, thus making you continue to play the game even if you are bored of your mind out. The same happens even if you just play Harvest Moon content, cuz you still have to pay sub. Mind you that FF14 business model is still a lot lenient compared to any other cash-grab MMO game, but it still manages to cause unhealthy attachment.


3) Push the sales of boosters for impatient players. Of course it sounds counter-productive, but some players prefer their WoL be the Harverst Moon character instead of just playing real Harvest moon characters



In short, it is about money and players' retention. Like any other MMO.

1) You can make content accessible at level 1 and still require game/expansion purchase plus subscription for that access.

2) Pushing desirable content behind large barriers doesn't tend to drive attachment. It tends to drive dissatisfaction. The game already drives attachment by offering a variety of content to appeal to different tastes. It may matter to some players what another player's character level is. All that matters to SE is whether the player is willing to keep their sub active. Easier to do that by giving the player relatively easy access to content. If you're worried about time retention, you gate how quickly the rewards from content can be received, not how quickly the player can start the content.

3) I doubt gating Island Sanctuary behind level 90 is going to lead to an increase in the sale of boost potions. The type of players who buy boost potions probably won't even be thinking about it.

[Midareyukki]

You know there's only one Warrior of Light on Eitherys, right? Everyone else is just an adventurer to the respective player. No one else really exists beyond those encounters. They go over this point regularly throughout the story.

Alright, but the issue still remains. Sharlayan really just feels like it used a cop-out on half the races there for the sake of diversity. "Let's include a member of every single race to show how your mortal realm is too busy fighting wars while we coexist here". They ignore established strict cultural and ethnic aspects for the sake of gratuitous representation. Because sure, I can get behind how Sharlayan is made up of a people from ARR races because historically it was Eorzeans who made the nation. Hrothgar I can get behind too because they probably travelled around before they got Garlemald'ed. Only Eorzeans react poorly, and they're not the only race to suffer from it, Au Ra do too. But Viera? If wandering females are already a big deal, even before Garlemald, finding males would be an even bigger surprise, yet we just happen to find a bunch there.

It's Planet of Hats. That's all it is.

[Nanne]

So... basically a push for people to buy MSQ skips to reach EW faster?!?

I bet the number of people who would just buy this game for Island Sanctuary is very very small Also there is million things free trial cannot do so why suddenly everyone is going crazy about the new feature in the newest expansion?

[Gemina]

So... basically a push for people to buy MSQ skips to reach EW faster?!?

They don't need Island Sanctuary for that. Player desire for instant gratification takes care of those sales.

[Anura]

I bet the number of people who would just buy this game for Island Sanctuary is very very small Also there is million things free trial cannot do so why suddenly everyone is going crazy about the new feature in the newest expansion?

Who the hell is asking for Island Sanctuary to be accessible to free trials? I'll tell you: NO ONE. Samurai only requirements are having a lv50 class and having done the lv10 base class quest. Now answer me this: do free trial players have access to samurai? Do free free trial players have access to gunbreaker?

[Tlamila]

Who the hell is asking for Island Sanctuary to be accessible to free trials? I'll tell you: NO ONE.

Maybe go back and read the full thread before answering, because people have been asking for it.