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

[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.

[GenJoe]

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.

But nooooooooooo! That damn lore c-blocking me every part of the way!

It does take away from the RPG element though, for an MMO this game has some very strict restrictions arising from lore one of my alt has the concept of a traveling merchant, even named after one from another game. She doesn't fight.. she just crafts and gathers stuff and plays the market board.. SE COULD clarify if the end-game crafting recipes will be available in Mor Dhona, then I won't have to worry about getting MSQ done on her.. At this point I'm just waiting and seeing.. But if that was my main character, I would be way more uneasy about the waiting in the dark.

[Nanaho]

Snip

the Roleplayers in this game are a very very small minority in this game, if SE had to cater to only them nothing would happen. This is a video game first and foremost, play the game, don't just sit there and ponder why you're "Wandering merchant" cant get into other areas. Go out of Character, do what you need to do, then go back into character.