The new player experience and how FFXIV fails as an MMO.

[Raraka]

I had a 7000+ characters response typed but I cant send it (or edit) from phone

The short version is, dont force people to play the story if they dont want to, WoW does this well

Proposed solution: If you are in a party with a friend, the person further in the game can bring their buddy to the duties they dont have unlocked, and add a <Mercenary> tag next to their name. Also, let them teleport with you to areas that are further ahead as well (assuming they have the Expac bought) with some exceptions like the first or out-of Etheris areas. Warframe does this and it works wonders for friends that just want to hang around and play together

The sad reality is that they probably would say that it costs too much to implement, but yeah, letting new players PLAY the game would work wonders for new player retention

[YovelaLindswood]

I had a 7000+ characters response typed but I cant send it (or edit) from phone

The short version is, dont force people to play the story if they dont want to, WoW does this well

Proposed solution: If you are in a party with a friend, the person further in the game can bring their buddy to the duties they dont have unlocked, and add a <Mercenary> tag next to their name. Also, let them teleport with you to areas that are further ahead as well (assuming they have the Expac bought) with some exceptions like the first or out-of Etheris areas. Warframe does this and it works wonders for friends that just want to hang around and play together

The sad reality is that they probably would say that it costs too much to implement, but yeah, letting new players PLAY the game would work wonders for new player retention

Nah the solution is even easier. They have NG+ in the game already. Just let people select the story they want to start at.