Is 2.0 a new game? a rebranding attempt? an update? an expansion? a fix? What Is It?

[Dawiichan]

I would argue:
new world
new battle mechanics
new graphics
new stats
new story
and the inability to do any old content

would make it a new game, as opposed to just a redesign or an expansion.
But redesign would be much better suited.

Wrong. Same world, and same story. They already announced that they were continuing the old story in 2.0. Also, we don't know at all if it's new stats or not. All we know is that stacking stat materia won't be as potent in 2.0.

[Felis]

Wrong. Same world, and same story. They already announced that they were continuing the old story in 2.0. Also, we don't know at all if it's new stats or not. All we know is that stacking stat materia won't be as potent in 2.0.

Not exactly the same story. It is a continuation while you can't replay the old story. Calling it the same story would be like calling the story in Harry Potter volume 2 the same as in Harry Potter volume 1. There is no chamber of secret in volume 1 and no philosopher's stone in volume 2.

We could say Final Fantasy XIV realm reborn is like a volume 2.

Everything isn't even being changed. It's getting new zones, new quests, a new ui, some battle tweaks, new graphics engine, and the rest of the stuff is staying the same except for primal fights and gc/ main story quests. What new content will actually be there at release besides crystal tower as far as we know?

Hmm, let see

Chocobo raise
Chocobo fight
DoH revamp
PvP
DoL revamp
Mail system
recipe book
beastopedia
summonable primals
free company
mentor system
housing (with or after 2.0)
new client
new engine

The last 2 are not content, but the most important. And it only that what SE told us so far. I'm sure they have still some stuff they didn't told us.

[Hycinthus]

^
what is beastopedia?

[Dawiichan]

Not exactly the same story. It is a continuation while you can't replay the old story. Calling it the same story would be like calling the story in Harry Potter volume 2 the same as in Harry Potter volume 1. There is no chamber of secret in volume 1 and no philosopher's stone in volume 2.

We could say Final Fantasy XIV realm reborn is like a volume 2.

No, I don't think you understand. There's a difference between the 7th UE story that we have right now, and the old story. You know, the one that you got every few levels and gave a lot of quest exp? That story is supposedly being continued, and not being taken away from the game. However the 7th UE is the story which is the story which is not going to be replayable.

So it's more like Part 2 of FFXIV.