Gated Content:

[AmonXF]

Gated Content: content in the game in which you put a series of quests, or requirements before allowing access to said content.

At first pass through this game, I felt that having your quest chain lead into instances was a very cool idea... and it was actually very easy to get groups to complete content. And then the 8 man content hit in my story quest and suddenly I saw incredibly wait times and not being able to work my way through it. I can actually see now what a completely terrible idea this was and suddenly I'm brought back in time to days of old where you had to do painfully long quest chains to get Keys to be able to enter instances... and complete sets of resistance gear just to advance further in the game.

Defiance also ran into an issue with gated content which I saw in week 2 of their release... and then I just closed up the game: not worth it.

I'm also at that stage right now with FF14. I think that if you took an honest poll and asked players if they prefer an "open sandbox" type access to ALL content vs gated content you would find that the majority of your playerbase doesn't want to be stuck endlessly assisting guildies with content that has no meaning other than to become "unlocked" in a quest chain... they get zero benefit running people through that content.

It's a major under sight in your game. And I'm pretty sure I'm not tolerant enough to sit around endlessly waiting on 8man groups to be able to see the end of my story and then "unlock" even more content to play as a level 50.

[Zfz]

To be honest, it is a central design paradigm of Final Fantasy. The existence of a main story line.

Once you get past that, the world is basically open to you.

The wait times are not related to having this design philosophy. It's related to not having enough server resources.

[Shaone]

Is this real?

[AmonXF]

Is this real?

Absolutely real.

I have about 2-3 hours of play time per sitting - last night in prime time I sat in a queue for 1.5 hours for an 8man instance and then decided I didn't have any longer to wait. I can't even start on "end game" dungeon grinding - or relic yet as far as I know until I complete my story mode.

Why mix "raid" content with 4man too... that's just stupid design also. Especially if there's really a low incentive to queue up to help others finish.

[Eightbit]

Honestly I don't feel the gated aspect is the issue, the issue is there are some things that have no point in being rerun after the first time through. Essentially any of the story mode trials (story primals and Westwind) have very few people returning to do them as they offer no reward to the members outside of story progression. This does get alleviated by having an active and helpful FC the first time through, or if you are an in demand class such as healer or tank.

[Tupsi]

Yep, the problem is after the initial population rush, there's no reason to go back, like ever unless you want certain gear pieces - Even XI had content you'd redo for various reasons like Limbus even if you didn't do it for the AF+1 or Omega/Ultima/accessories pieces you could always do it for coins and make money. Here, there's honestly no real reason for me as a 50 SCH to go back into Copperbell or Haukke Manor.

However, Gated Content is a staple of FF games - every single one (maybe not as much as the new ones) had content that was inaccessible to you for a while either till main story completion or certain side activities were done - so the problem is, especially as DPS, DF times are extremely long especially after instead of everyone seeking together, SE broke the servers into groups that SIGNIFICANTLY raised search times.

[Shaone]

Absolutely real.

I have about 2-3 hours of play time per sitting - last night in prime time I sat in a queue for 1.5 hours for an 8man instance and then decided I didn't have any longer to wait. I can't even start on "end game" dungeon grinding - or relic yet as far as I know until I complete my story mode.

Why mix "raid" content with 4man too... that's just stupid design also. Especially if there's really a low incentive to queue up to help others finish.

OK, surprised it's taking that long, but I guess most people prefer going premade into those 8 man dungeons by now, usually with single tank/healer. But people do get a benefit from helping on the later ones, it gives tomes. I've helped people doing story runs 4-5 times on both the later 8 mans, if you can find a fully premade group then you won't be queuing at all. They do exist, other people need the clear the story too. try putting out a shout or two in Mor Dhona while you are queuing.

[Aegis]

Yep, the problem is after the initial population rush, there's no reason to go back, like ever unless you want certain gear pieces - Even XI had content you'd redo for various reasons like Limbus even if you didn't do it for the AF+1 or Omega/Ultima/accessories pieces you could always do it for coins and make money. Here, there's honestly no real reason for me as a 50 SCH to go back into Copperbell mines.

There was no incentive to Farm magicked skulls for others or the 2:3 fight or help them with LBs. People still did it, even though it took longer to complete than the ~30 mins s dungeon takes now.

[Toranja]

playerbase doesn't want to be stuck endlessly assisting guildies with content that has no meaning other than to become "unlocked" in a quest chain... they get zero benefit running people through that content.

We do. You get a gil and a exp bonus. Even if you aid them with your main, you still get some gild. Although, to be honest, the amount should be a bit higher. I'm not sure, but I think the amount is only enough to repair your armour.

[Millerna]

Unfortunately, a good portion of the players seem to refuse to help unless they benefit from it in some form. After the changes to AK and WP (which I think were good changes btw), fewer people run CM/PRAE, and Cape has always been a problem finding people for after the first week or two.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, whoever needs help, especially with story mode stuff, feel free to ask me. I know that doesn't help people who aren't on the server I'm on though :/