7.0: Maybe I'm Alone in This

[IkaraGreydancer]

Typical response from someone who apparently is so insecure about themselves they have to attempt to paint others poorly in an attempt to make themselves look better. Interacting with bottom of the barrel players isn't the issue. Having a majority of the multiplayer aspect of the game held back simply to appease the noisy and obnoxious portion of that minority is however an issue the game has continued to suffer for in increasing quantities over the years. Trusts are NEVER going to be better than COMPETENT players without a substantial investment in AI programming which SE doesn't appear to have any interest in doing with this title given how pets have been essentially phased out. I only mention this because you seem to think the existence of them somehow in that delusional mind of yours validates your opinion and blatant inability to see the actual point I made.

What I want is multiplayer content going forward to actually be designed as multiplayer content rather than having everything that isn't EX, 24 player, or Savage essentially designed as solo content that you can choose add other people to.

Insecure? That's a good joke. I know for a fact I'm pretty good at the game. Far from the best but I'm skilled. I earned my crown and do my best to help others. No insecurity here whatsoever. If that ain't a reach idk what is.

Next. Sorry but what exactly is being "held back". Extremes, Savage, Unreal and Ultimate have been coming steadily. They're going nowhere. Maybe you missed it but they (the devs) even said the goal of trusts isn't to be better than actual players. And most of said players are indeed casuals which in turn means they arent made to be better than casual players. Say what you want but the "bottom of the barrel" player you dislike so much is still better than a trust npc. But yeah I'm delusional here lmao. Again your distain is CLEAR as day. Lower the sodium level bud it ain't that serious

Lastly the only things designed as solo are story instances and the BLU Carnival (that i can think of offhand). Everything else is designed for a mutiplayer experience. Just because you can CHOOSE to forgo that in story dungeons and trials only doesn't mean that's negated. The best choice is more often than not to run with real people as per the original design.

[GTK0HLK]

I only see them having loose stories all be interconnected into some, no higher than nation level conflict between neighbors in a new land, or civilians.

if it didn't go in order, they'd be messing with the structure of the story, and veer off into variability, that would mirror the disposability of other Game Stories.
[though, I feel like Gearing will change, once and if, we reach a level cap]

Numbers wise, I would accept a level cap if it was a round number.[as much as I like starting levels being 0, and round cap levels. even if they did 99 historically. whilst other games do randomly higher.] that's all I ask.

[Hurlstone]

I would be OK if we skip having new jobs for an Expansion to do more reworks on the ones we have, though I doubt that will happen given how the appeal of new jobs is one of the big promotional/selling points of any expansion (AND I WANT MY PUPPETMASTER!). It will be interesting to see how they deal with the levels when we reach 99+.

The thing I am most interesting in regarding all that however is the story. The game lives by its story. The fact it puts alot more emphasis on lore, characters and plot then most MMOs is one of the reasons I play. We will however eventually get to the point, maybe not for a few more expansions, where it becomes a little too intimidating for new players to jump in, especially given how ARR is still a bit of a slog. I am curious how they will handle that more then anything. My first thought is that, depending on if 7.0 is heavily connected still to the people we know/story elements seen in the previous expansions, this may be the ideal time to add a ‘jump into new content’ feature. Like in Elder Scrolls Online, where once you have started your character and done the prologue you can jump into any of the expansion stories. In FFXIVs case, say the expansion is set in Meracydia, you can choose to start in Eorzea and do the ARR+ story until you get to the new expansion, or play start the expansion as perhaps a local of the land or shipwrecked hero. The problem here of course is that ESO can do this because content scales to level, which is not a thing in FFXIV and would mean instead a drastic redo of how levelling works… which may not be a bad thing.

[Striker44]

What would you have the job design trio doing in the meantime?

and no, it would absolutely not be acceptable given the terrible state 2 roles and several jobs in the third are in and have been for years.

Personal opinion != magical fact. For instance, I'm having a blast playing all 3 roles, and have been for years...

[MisterNublet]

Personal opinion != magical fact. For instance, I'm having a blast playing all 3 roles, and have been for years...

Melee, physical ranged, and magical ranged dps?

[Iscah]

I don't understand why people keep suggesting we must get a level squish. Unless the numbers are actually breaking the game, as led to the 6.0 stat squish, I don't see what it achieves besides confusing everyone who has played the game up until now.

[RyuDragnier]

I don't understand why people keep suggesting we must get a level squish. Unless the numbers are actually breaking the game, as led to the 6.0 stat squish, I don't see what it achieves besides confusing everyone who has played the game up until now.

Especially when a lot of our stats are attached to gear. They could simply halt all level progression so we're at level 100 or *Master* level, and only have gear raise stats and nothing will have really changed. Actions/traits however...I could see them using something akin to the Rank system from Bozja to where we unlock the stuff when our rank gets high enough in whatever expansion we're in.

[Rufalus]

The game could use a new paradigm to remain relevant across its second decade but levels aren't a major issue. The MSQ is a potential issue because not everyone wants to play every expansion back to back, including thousands of single-player quests, in order to unlock multiplayer content. They need an alternative starting point which unlocks a variety of new content, not locked behind the MSQ wall and maybe with its own independent leveling system. It's quite common to see couples try out the game but they don't feel like they are really playing together through all the quests and cutscenes, especially when many instanced story battles require them to enter solo.

[Iscah]

They need an alternative starting point which unlocks a variety of new content

All it needs is a "free MSQ skip to 7.0" voucher included in the purchase of future expansions. No second alternate narrative.

[BRVV]

All it needs is a "free MSQ skip to 7.0" voucher included in the purchase of future expansions. No second alternate narrative.

Then new players will not use it because they might like 2.0-6.x and heard that the story is so good. I think many argue for the alternative starting point because we are being told that EW is the end of the story so far and 7.0 will be a new beginning. So if it isn't connected to anything previous it will make sense to give players the option to start the 7.0 MSQ even if they haven't finished the previous MSQ.