Why does NG+ not award experience?

[Nadda]

But that is what NG+ gives you now. The Unending Journey is a poor substitute – it's all the inbetween walking around, conversations between objectives and non-cutscene dialogue that fill out the quests and give you that experience similar to starting a new character.

And talking about the bare mechanics of what we do for a quest is not the same thing as why we are doing it, what conversations we have while we are doing it. You can't say "it's not story rich" because we can be getting a lot of deep lore or major character moments while doing those actions. "Pick up three items and deliver them to the destination" can be as mundane as picking flowers or as solemn as the aftermath of the raid on the Waking Sands.

Sure, not every quest is deep and insightful, but that's still "the way you would experience the story on an alt".

Either you want to play the story, in which case experiencing the story is itself the reward for carrying out the go-here-do-this motions, or you think viewing the cutscenes is a sufficient substitute and can stick to doing that.

Respectfully if you could please stop trying to frame me as someone who cannot enjoy the story on its own merits.

I've tried being accommodating and reasonable but it's getting a bit out of hand with a false presumption I'd like to squash before proceeding.

We both have a mutual assumption of the reason Experience is not a reward in the NG+ because of bots? Is this actually the case? Who knows?

We cannot even discern this intent from Square because of this distracting false dichotomy you've constructed around my original inquiry. "You either want to play the story" or "Think viewing the cutscenes is sufficient"

It's neither A or B. At least in my case.

The story is indeed its own reward but is that truly an incentive that makes sense for such a game mode? I'd disagree with the notion that experience gain at the very least not be conducive to a NG+ experience you're playing. Most games that use the term for features similar have had many variants, such as increased difficulty or alternate endings. However in all cases to my knowledge are a continuance in the progression of one's character. So why not here? There lies the question.

Now if we were to create a third option, option C - The way you'd experience the story on an alt (character in this case) is how I would like to experience the story on an alt (job) where at the very least I can gain experience with which to progress my character and enjoy the story.

I cannot understand as it remains unanswered the reason why such a method would be denied when so many other access points for experience gain already exist. I believe that if I can discover the legitimate reason for its removal, I can be satisfied. However, our combined speculations do not satisfy.

I hope that is respectful enough to say.

[Frizze]

I believe that if I can discover the legitimate reason for its removal, I can be satisfied. However, our combined speculations do not satisfy.

Perhaps considering the history of this game mode will help. New Game + was added to the game during the Shadowbringers expansion(the earliest version went live with the 5.1 patch). Players had long asked for a way to replay the MSQ(short of an alt) so they could re-experience the solo duties along the way as well as the non-cutscene dialogue that couldnt be re-viewed via the Unending Journey. Originally it ONLY featured the MSQ but over time theyve added important side stories, class and job quests, and a bit more. Considering that this was an added system 3 expansions into the games lifespan, the devs clearly didnt just forget exp. No, they considered it and purposefully left it out. I dont remember any interviews/live letters where this was covered, but knowing it was a Shadowbringers feature added in the 5.1 patch would give someone a decent starting point if they wanted to look for one.

With that said, this must be mentioned. If our speculations dont satisfy, then you will likely never be satisfied. Unless someone finds an interview i have forgotten(not impossible - im certainly too lazy to google-fu this so it might exist), then our speculations are all you are ever likely to see. The devs post on the english forums with the frequency of bigfoot sightings, and thus your question will almost certainly not get an official answer here.