The big spoiler in the Heavensward opening/trailer was a huge mistake. (spoilers obv)

[Saseal]

On the upside, they don't really get into who, what, where, when, why. All we saw was a few snippets of the story end. I think us knowing what happened fills in the blanks for us, so it feels more spoilerish. Some shit happened, the WoL (us as a whole) ends up in catacombs (lol thats what it looks liek if you remove what, when, why and where they are), Lalafels coming across evil (we kinda knew this about the syndicate from ages ago - but fully new people wouldn't know who that was and why he has a creepy-ass smirk) and an old man in a cell (Sorry, Raubhan!.... but dayum you need a haircut).
Take out the whos, the wheres and the whats and you have just 'some midget lady with wine, conflict, snow and dragons'.
Those that's never played FFXIV, like you mentioned won't know one from another. THey don't know the Coerthas conflict, the don't know MIdgardsormer's reasonings behind the dragons, they don't know about the Holy See and the power grabs.

If I just randomly watched an episode of some anime or show in the middle of no where with no context, I wouldn't know the whole story.
Even if they showed a huge chunk of the main story end, thats nowhere near the complete story from 2.0-2.55

If you were to take the pieces of the trailer and show it to someone who knew nothing of the story (as you mentioned the non-player friends), it's easy to come up with their own conclusions based on looks alone. For ex, Raubahn could look like some terribly strong criminal that was locked up for ages after going on a killing spree - and then eluding to his breaking loose. It could be the farthest from the truth, but I'm trying to use an example of what I mean from my paragraph above.
For us and the current players, it's a spoiler. We know whats going on.
For new players, it can only offer intrigue. Why are dragons attacking? Who are those Dragoons? What is this snowy place, is it a temple? What is that giant castle place? Who is that strong looking fella, is he a criminal (ref to the banquet scene + prison scene... and Rauhbahn just looks intimidating)? Will he break loose? Why are they being chased? What did the lalafel do? Is he evil (okay, that one's true, but they don't know that)? WHo are all these people??

(and other examplery concepts, but I'd have to watch it again. I'd only been half paying attention the first time I saw it over the weekend).



I think the only thing that would be a turn off for new players in seeing this trailer is the singer lady NOT hitting that high note -.- *Covers ears at the high pitch*

[Rgbg]

OP's problem is that he's too smart. If he was dumb like me, he'd be happier. When I first started playing FF14 2.0 back in 2013 with beta and all and having watched the opening cinematics, it wasn't until someone's signature on the forums that I understood that "the old dude" in the video had actually died (The signature read something like "Louisoix died so you could play 2.0!"). I thought it was some fellow just grinning happily into the white light he had created. And then later when you learn about the story I understood that obviously he had been hit by a meteor or something. So I was blessedly ignorant of anything rofl. I saw they released the Heavensward OP but I won't watch it until the expansion is out. I've completed the current main story but chances are I wouldn't understand anything anyway

[Divine_Intervention]

Reading ONLY the first few words of your OP, and speaking as someone who HASN'T went through the latest story content yet, I have absolutely no problems with them posting that video, because that the beginning was a huge warning saying that there were spoilers of the end of ARR story. It gave me time to go "NOOOOOOOO" and click the video off ^^

[ichirin]

imo the problem is the opening is going to play in the title screen for Heavensward expansion. So if a new player who bought both ARR and Heavensward in a go (AKA has Heavensward expansion installed but is on ARR story) come and play game, they would undoubtedly be spoiled if they stuck around and watched the opening.

[AdamFyi]

imo the problem is the opening is going to play in the title screen for Heavensward expansion. So if a new player who bought both ARR and Heavensward in a go (AKA has Heavensward expansion installed but is on ARR story) come and play game, they would undoubtedly be spoiled if they stuck around and watched the opening.

Like I said previously, there is a good chance that SE would pull a Bravely Default on the title screen where what you are shown depends on how far you are in the story. So, if you had at least one character that has completed the 2.55 storyline, the Heavensward cinematic plays at the start. Else, the End of Era 2.0 cinematic gets shown.

[polyphonica]

Honestly, while I do get the OP's point, I don't think this is quite as poorly played as it seems at first. Having a giant spoiler warning at the beginning of an MMO expansion trailer says "wait, this MMO has a story worth spoiling?", and then the short clips they show demonstrate that things get serious. If anything, it will probably help generate some interest so people can catch up on the story between now and when the game releases.

I think S-E is treating the expansion like a movie sequel, so the trailer is both to build hype for the sequel, but also to prompt people to catch up before it airs. And for people who definitely don't want the spoilers, there'll be plenty of other promo clips showing up in time, I'm sure.

[Saseal]

Honestly, while I do get the OP's point, I don't think this is quite as poorly played as it seems at first. Having a giant spoiler warning at the beginning of an MMO expansion trailer says "wait, this MMO has a story worth spoiling?", and then the short clips they show demonstrate that things get serious. If anything, it will probably help generate some interest so people can catch up on the story between now and when the game releases.

I think S-E is treating the expansion like a movie sequel, so the trailer is both to build hype for the sequel, but also to prompt people to catch up before it airs. And for people who definitely don't want the spoilers, there'll be plenty of other promo clips showing up in time, I'm sure.

^ This. xD I really believe it could serve as a draw, rather than a story giveaway (for new players)

[Thanotos]

No you are just being ignorant, or trolling. It's an expansion, of the story, a sequel, part dos. It's no different than watching a trailer of a sequel to any movie (or new seasons to tv series), then blaming them for spoilers from shit that happened in the first movie. Are you from the past? Not to mention, the giant ass warning at the start. Sometimes you just can't standby and let stupid run amok.

[Chubu]

In my eyes, it was a **** move on SE's side. I haven't played the game in over a year and just recently bought the expansion. So I've been working my way through the story steadily, currently around the Shiva arc. I start up the game today and get up to get a drink while the game loads in. When I settle back down, I just so happen to see the part in the cinematic with the huge spoiler.

Wtf was all I could think, and now I'm sad...

[TheGrimace]

Wow, that's a necro.