7.0 MMO to a Single Player Game

[Jojoya]

YoshiP stated during the Live Letter that included the 10 year roadmap that they don't want FFXIV to continue to be seen as a MMO. They want it to be seen as a game that can be played alone or with friends. He's also said that they want to create a new starting point for new players.

We'll have to wait for the FanFests to find out what changes they're making to accomplish those things.

My guesses:

We will see the new starting point introduced since 7.0 will have an all new story. Likely there will be some solo scenario for new characters to complete that will introduce them to FFXIV history and give them an opportunity to learn their core job abilities before they're moved into the main 7.0 story for 90+.

MSQ will be designed around the solo player using Duty Support, including trials. If dungeons and trials end up dumbed down, it won't be because of the NPCs. Remember how hated Tower of Zot was at EW launch? Yet it was designed to be done with Duty Support. If things are dumbed down, it will be because new players lacking 90 levels of previous experience will need to be able to complete those duties.

This doesn't mean that there won't still be high end duties for those more interested in multi-player content. The raids and EX trials can still fill that role. The concerns about CT being required for MSQ won't matter if there's a new starting point. Hopefully they will be adding in an alternate path for unlocking group duties as others have said is needed for those with no interest in the story or who have already done it on other characters.

But this will put huge pressure on the development team to finally add some midcore content. New players wanting to experience multi-player content after going through MSQ solo will have no group experience. They're going to need the right stepping stones more than ever and Alliance raid zergs is not one of them.

[CStrife912]

YoshiP stated during the Live Letter that included the 10 year roadmap that they don't want FFXIV to continue to be seen as a MMO. They want it to be seen as a game that can be played alone or with friends. He's also said that they want to create a new starting point for new players.

We'll have to wait for the FanFests to find out what changes they're making to accomplish those things.

My guesses:

We will see the new starting point introduced since 7.0 will have an all new story. Likely there will be some solo scenario for new characters to complete that will introduce them to FFXIV history and give them an opportunity to learn their core job abilities before they're moved into the main 7.0 story for 90+.

MSQ will be designed around the solo player using Duty Support, including trials. If dungeons and trials end up dumbed down, it won't be because of the NPCs. Remember how hated Tower of Zot was at EW launch? Yet it was designed to be done with Duty Support. If things are dumbed down, it will be because new players lacking 90 levels of previous experience will need to be able to complete those duties.

This doesn't mean that there won't still be high end duties for those more interested in multi-player content. The raids and EX trials can still fill that role. The concerns about CT being required for MSQ won't matter if there's a new starting point. Hopefully they will be adding in an alternate path for unlocking group duties as others have said is needed for those with no interest in the story or who have already done it on other characters.

But this will put huge pressure on the development team to finally add some midcore content. New players wanting to experience multi-player content after going through MSQ solo will have no group experience. They're going to need the right stepping stones more than ever and Alliance raid zergs is not one of them.

Thats some interesting thought processes there and I didn't think about it like that, this sort of direction wouldn't be good for a new MMO but an 11 year old one it makes a lot of sense to give those options. Im sure they could story wise make it so the echo allows you to relive the past to do anything pre-7.0

Either way its a lot of speculation and I think they've done almost enough work to the old content revamps to sort of say that's good now focus at the endgame or new expansion stuff. I would like them maybe just go back through ARR-SB main scenario and condense it a little more. There is filler in HW and SB as well that could be chopped or put to side quests like they did in the first trim.