The new jobs / Ishgard city access - yes, again.

[Losian]

If you are tired of "this" again, then please move on. Your snide and smug remarks aren't productive or useful. People play the game differently than you and have differing opinions. Classes are not "content," they are how you experience content. Some people enjoy things different than you do; okay? Then move on, thanks.

For everyone else.. Unfortunately, XIV's post limit is incredibly small and I'd have to spam like a dozen posts. As a result, you can see the full version here:

http://pastebin.com/T8MdNb7Z

tl;dr version

We need a simple and concise dev post telling us exactly what is required to unlock the new jobs.

If it *does* require that ALL of 2.0-2.55 be done, then I have the following thoughts:

[Losian]

1) Misleading to new players and old, very disappointing to buy it and have no warning
2) Heavensward/store pages should make it obvious
3) Not everyone plays the way you do, they may only want to play for one of the new jobs
4) Prevents re-experiencing existing story again as new jobs
5) Other games have done similar and changed/regretted it; learn from their mistakes
6) Once unlocked you're left with just FATE/Dungeon grind for your shiny new job; very boring
7) It adds to the already present lack of consistency with current discipline/job system (all jobs vs ARC vs ROG, etc.)
8) Lore makes no sense as is - level 50s are taught new abilities then told to shove off and come back after re-training? Why not get adventurers as they grow and can first grasp the new abilities? Easy to justify sneaking them in for training, lore-wise, around 2.55 story.

There's still time - if it really is going to take ALL existing main content to be finished, please reconsider.

[Enkidoh]

Firstly, as you probably just discovered you can easily get around the post limit by editing your post.

It's not all 'existing content', but just the main storyline quest that will be required to unlock the three new jobs. This is because lore-wise they are specific to Ishgard which has long been closed off to outsiders, which completing the main storyline will explain why the player will suddenly be allowed to enter Ishgard.

As for your other points:

1) It's not misleading to 'new players and old'. These new Jobs are specifically part of the expansion pack - if you read the main FFXIV page where are the new Jobs listed? Not in the main Armoury section, but specifically in the Heavensward page. Therefore it should be obvious those Jobs are only available if you purchase the new expansion and are not just 'added' like ROG and NIN were.

2) It is obvious, for the point I raised above.

3) What do you mean, 'no one plays the way you do'? As I stated above, the expansion involves Ishgard which has long closed itself off from the outside world, and the new Jobs are taught within that city. Because the main storyline ultimately will lead the player and be allowed to enter it (for reasons I won't mention here as they're spoilers), it's only natural those new Jobs require the storyline to be completed before you can access them. For pretty much the entire game content has been locked behind storyline completion way back to the very start of the game so really this is nothing particularly surprising.

4) So? You'll still be able to access all the previous dungeons/raids/content in the game, including main story dungeons and trials, nothing is stopping you going back and doing that content as it will still be available after Heavensward is released. Main story quests and cutscenes are different, but even then, just view it through the Unending Journey.

5) I'm not sure what you mean about 'other games have done this and regretted it', as I admit I haven't played many MMOs. But it should be noted SE's previous MMO, FFXI, did this too with new Jobs being introduced with expansions, as they required you to complete story content in order to unlock the new areas where the Job npcs were located. Although admittedly you weren't required to actually get far in the expansion storylines, you were still required to at least do some of it.

6) Uh, you can do the Challenge Log, your Hunting Log (although there's no info if the new Jobs will be getting Hunting Logs, it's likely they will), levequests, the beastmen dailies, and of course the new storyline quests and sidequests that the expansion will inevitably bring.

7) I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. 'Lack of consistency'? Unless you mean how Jobs aren't all implemented or executed in the same way, this is because SE are trying to break away from the original 1.0 Armoury System and find new ways of implementing new classes and Jobs without scrapping the Armoury System itself (because when ARR was still in development player polls overwhelmingly voted for the existing system to stay). SE first tried having two Jobs come of a single class (with SMN and SCH off ACN), naturally, this didn't work as well as they'd hoped. ROG and NIN being not available from the start is for lore reasons, (given they're ultimately connected with a patch storyline). It may seem haphazardly implemented but SE are trying to satisfy player requests for new Jobs which don't just copy an existing class or Job and actually bring something new or unique to the game.

8) This just sounds like you want an automatic system of learning all abilities instead of using Guilds or class trainer NPCs. Well it's clear they've made their choice in this regard so I do not see them changing this at all.

I'm sorry if I sound nasty with that, but the fact is, SE have decided on a specific design for the expansion and like any developer will tweak and refine that basic design as time goes by, but if you're hoping for them to change their minds and allow the new Jobs to be accessible freely from the start without storyline completion then you will be sadly disappointed I'm afraid. The fact is, the new Jobs will require the existing storyline to be completed as it leads into accessing Ishgard where the new Jobs are learned. SE will not change that. It's best to accept it and move on.

[Shuon]

So far the dev has been known to adapt the game to suit the current needs.

Atm 2.55 is easy to get to, is good and meaningful content - barring the jobs behind it is really not an issue because people would still enjoy game eitherway.

I'm very sure in future where content blocking the jobs become a real issue they would open it up to new players - even lore-wise it is easy to achieve I.e. add a secret emissary quest that brings you to Ishgard.

Relax bro

[AzraelX]

So far the dev has been known to adapt the game to suit the current needs.

Atm 2.55 is easy to get to, is good and meaningful content - barring the jobs behind it is really not an issue because people would still enjoy game eitherway.

I'm very sure in future where content blocking the jobs become a real issue they would open it up to new players - even lore-wise it is easy to achieve I.e. add a secret emissary quest that brings you to Ishgard.

Relax bro

I hope you're right not so much for my MAIN but for my alt who is at lv 35 would love to be MACH, AST on her due to those jobs dont fit the theme of my main.

[papichulo123]

i guess it does suck if someone is brand new to ff14 and wants to play any of the new jobs.

[papichulo123]

well hopefully they will fall in love with the game beat the story and try out the new jobs

[Mikedizzy]

you are only ever going to have story content for one job anyway...you have got to get use to leveling other jobs the "normal" way...LOL
IF you only want to play the one job then you are out of luck...just the way the lore makes it work and it is by design...cannot change the whole thing for newcomers...not fair to everyone that has played the game since it started or in beta or 1.0 even. I like that they did it this way...cannot play the new job until you earn your striped...LOL.

[BlueThunder]

This game pretty much encourages to have multiple class/jobs. Having only 1 would just gimp your versatility when the situation arises.

That said, the devs didn't misslead anything. They said for quite the time now that the new jobs are gated behind the 2.55 story since they are located in Ishgard, and storywise the PC is not allowed inside until the complition of the ARR story.

I'm sorry to say this but you're kinda making a scene here when things were clarified quite some months ago.

[DarkmoonVael]

So it really isnt misleading in the slightest, it has been said many many many times that heavensward, and the heavensward jobs, will require you to have one class at lvl 50 as well as all 2.x storylines completed.

Lvl 30 is not the requirement, its the level the new jobs start at.

You ask for changes to be made "whilst there is still time". I highly doubt 3.5 weeks before launch is time enough to make these changes.

Also you claim the jobs can not be played remotely soon after getting the expansion. This again is not true. The jobs are accessed in the expansion, the requirements needed are those to gain access to the expansion areas, which has been stated above.

After you have levelled your first job, all subsequent classes/jobs have to be levelled the same way. I am perplexed why you seem to think this is different only for the new jobs. You level these jobs the same way as you levelled the old ones. Also, unless you created an alt for each job, you never could re-experience the storyline as another job as you put it.

In all honesty, i can not fathom these non-issues you seem to have with the expansion.