What other MMO has done this, and why does SE think it's a good idea?

[Bluevann]

Can I go to Ishgard right after purchasing Heavensward?

In order to access Ishgard, you will first need to complete the main scenario quest "Before the Dawn," which will be implemented in FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Patch 2.55.

I have been receiving personal attacks in-game for expressing my opinion here, so I am going to delete the body of this post. I apologize to anyone who was geuinely curious or interested to have a civil discussion.

[AskaRay]

I don't know, it seems fine to me. Especially with how heavy the story is, imagine just starting up and going straight to Ishgard.
"Oh, yeah, dragon war, but you wouldn't know about it, haha." Making you playthrough the story gets you to the point where you understand what's going on.

And no I don't play MMOs. The only other mmo i could ever do was Ragnarok.

[AskaRay]

True, I mean if every single sidequest is going to be affected by the main story, then is a lot of gated content...
Though I guess the issue is access into Ishgard at all. Who knows what they're planning to do for us to actually get inside. Hmm.

[Inflorescence]

To me it sounds like just the city itself will be off limits, which makes sense due to Ishgard's reclusiveness.

Dravania, The Churning Mists, Alexander, The Floating Continent...none of this was mentioned, and we don't super duper know how they all fit in with Ishgard or the story.

The new jobs are level gated, but you only need one job high enough. Considering the MSQ continues past 50, it doesn't seem that they'll be locked in Ishgard.

[Dyvid]

edit: On second thought it's just not worth it.

[EdwinLi]

I actually saw this happening since the game does shove the lore that Ishgard will be strong on their Isolationism policy though 2.X era until your character reach 3.0 and convince them to open their gates to your character.

[MomomiMomi]

Why would people even buy an expansion they cannot play right away, such as with the all-in-one-bundle pack? It seems.. off.

Is it normal to buy a bundled series (e.g. FFX + FFX-2) and skip to starting with part 2?

Because that's pretty much what they're doing here.

[Fenral]

Pretty sure he said before that you'd be able to get into Ishgard and the new areas, in some form, without completing the MS, but that the Heavensward scenario itself is locked behind 2.55, as it is a direct continuation.