Quote Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato View Post
I think this is a very good issue to bring up, because it brings us to the logical conclusion of requiring FFXIV be played from 1 to 100 sequentially. The only people who can play Dawntrail endgame are those who have beaten the entire 400-hour MSQ and "got gud", or those who "cheated" by buying a boost. It's a great thing for us to showcase, because we're finally becoming like World of Warcraft, a game that you all claim to hate. Meanwhile, World of Warcraft is actually more friendly to newer players because you can start at the second-newest expansion and reach endgame content within only around 20 hours of playtime. A lot of you HATED the "elitist" nature of your former game, and you came to Final Fantasy XIV because it was "the friendly MMO". But now you all are more hostile to new players than the game you want to replace. Your attitude resulted in the world's former top MMO losing its spot to FFXIV. And what happens when your attitude takes over this game too?
Imo, playing FF14 sequentially should be the expectation for new players. Don't feel like it's a matter of toxicity towards new players, ARR is where FF14's tutorials are. Even during low points of difficulty, the quantity and complexity of mechanics has increased with expansion count. FF14's storytelling follows the same structure as well, with the world/characters/lore building from start to finish. A new player jumping into the deep end of a MMO story and game spanning over a decade... is senseless at minimum?

Regardless, I feel like your post is misplaced in this thread. From what I can tell, the debate on difficulty is purely between long time players with multiple day 1 expansion experiences under their belt. It's not a matter of new players flopping on mechanics they don't understand.