Low level play needs a bit of attention

[Mixxy]

First off, I'm not here to rag on the game in any way. Quite the opposite, in fact. I was so jaw-droppingly impressed by the new patch that I don't even have words for it, aside from saying I'm delighted that the dev team keeps outdoing themselves.

But this has also brought something to my mind in regards to the newbie experience. Now, most MMOs front-load all of their best content right at the beginning of the game, then half-ass the rest of it. FFXIV is the exact opposite, however. I won't say the early game is half-assed, but it isn't even a shadow of the quality of the late game. So I fear that new players may get the wrong impression about the long-term experience. Maybe SE needs to take a little bit of time revisiting the lowbie content to make sure that new players know what they're really getting in to.

Yoshida once said that while WoW numbers might be unrealistic, it is a goal worth working toward. I think one important aspect of player-retention is getting people hooked from the moment they hit 'Enter World'.

Just my two-cents.

Also, if it sounds like I'm fanboying really hard, it's because I just got out of the Gilgamesh fight about an hour ago and OH MY GOD I'M STILL NOT OVER IT

[Zwipe]

I thought this myself as well.

They should put in an action packed tutorial that can be skipped when you make a new character.

[Mixxy]

I thought this myself as well.

They should put in an action packed tutorial that can be skipped when you make a new character.

That's not a bad idea at all. Maybe have it take place during the battle of Carteneau? TERA did something similar, and while theirs wasn't the best it was a pretty solid idea.

[Ampheni]

Yeah I do agree that the low level play do need a bit of attention, I mean I have brought 2 of my friends into this game, and of course I am helping them to level up and catch up with contents all that stuff. But I find replaying all these contents with my friends feels quite a bit lacking in some ways when compared to me doing the end game dungeons and stuff. I realized how little ways are there to level up a character effectively, sometimes even feel repetitive. I actually think the game would be more enjoyable if there are more interesting way for these new players to immerse themselves into the game without feeling they are doing the same stuff over and over again. Perhaps some FATE boss fights that have some interesting mechanics like boss fights in a dungeon?

[LalaRu]

I think the rate used to introduce things is quite correct, as the newbie already have to deal with a lot of new stuff, and adding more may be overwhelming.
The main story itself is introduced gradually, with more deep as long as you progress.
Throwing it all at start, is typical of f2p, that needs keep immediate attention of player and make him urges to use cash shop. Here is a long term experience, to let you want progress further into story, to see what happens then. It happened sometime I gone sleep later, because I wanted to see what happened after some points of the story. Don't remember other games that had let me do same thing.

[Enkidoh]

Your idea reminds me of the start of 1.0, where the player was literally thrown into pseudo-boss fight within a minute of starting, although it was more a tutorial of how the battle system worked, in that you had npcs to help you who would heal you and buff you up, plus the fight was so ridiculously easy as it is you would have to do something monumentally stupid (as in, deliberately trying to get yourself killed) in order to fail.).

In fact, how ARR starts for a new player/1.0 character who didn't get the Legacy opening, it looked like it was going to be the more or less the same, when the carriage/ferry is attacked by beastmen/pirates I thought the player would be thrown into a tutorial battle like in 1.0. I was sadly disappointed this was not the case, and the ferry/carriage manages to evade the attackers.

[Cons]

I see what youre saying, but this is SE, I think any fan or anyone who has had any experience with an SE game beforehand, knows that there is going to be plenty to look forward to.