Unlocking Content

[Ilitsa]

Also as a side note I think the whole let's do a quest to unlock every single dungeon/trial/new feature is really annoying, it should just become unlocked via reaching a certain level.

WoW sounds more like what you're looking for, No pesky story to accompany your leveling, instantly unlocked dungeons with no rhyme or reason to them, enjoy~

(note, I DO play WoW as well and rather enjoy it, this post was more tongue-in-cheek than seriously bashing on anything, so don't bite my head off)

[kyuven]

WoW sounds more like what you're looking for, No pesky story to accompany your leveling, instantly unlocked dungeons with no rhyme or reason to them, enjoy~

(note, I DO play WoW as well and rather enjoy it, this post was more tongue-in-cheek than seriously bashing on anything, so don't bite my head off)

I could've sworn WoW had a bunch of story elements to it though...
They just explained most of it in novels you had to pay up to $24 for...
Ah well, as one of my favorite reviewers put it: "I shouldn't have to do homework to make sense of your story."
Not that it matters in WoW of course >_>

[Balipu]

I could've sworn WoW had a bunch of story elements to it though...

Yeah it had. Now it degenerated into a facebook game that requires the purchase of 6 video games and a monthly subscription.

[SirDiscoFrog]

Yes I would have, because 99% of the time people skip the cutscenes and could care less about the lore of a dungeon they just want to run it for the tomes or drops.

That is typically after one has beaten it already. Plus not a lot of endgame dungeons or trials have lore related CSes for a handful of Main Scenario dungeons and Coils. Most who are farming for tomes or gear are doing content they have done already before. No one would want to see Shiva gracefully spin into action for the 77th time, no matter how fabulous she is.

You guys are really focusing on the wrong part here its not about the story.

However you want content to be unlocked by leveling, some of which follows a linear narrative hence the below comment.

that would be boring. It would remove the stories behind those dungeons and trials.
Would you really want the Gilgamesh fight without the Hildibrand story?
Tam Tara hard without the story around Edda?
Shiva without meeting Iceheart?

Also in an attempt to validate your point you continue insulting the quality of FFXIV's story to which for many is what grabbed their attention in the first place. (And considering Edda, a minor character who shows up in the Main Scenario Quest only a couple times, was liked so much that SE expanded her story and made a dungeon that revolved around her to show what happens to her afterwards, I think theres a bit more than just 1% whose interested in the story)

For example one of the things you want unlocked is T5 and T9, which skipping over those skips over vital story that leads into the next coil. You'll be in T13 wondering "How the hell did I even get here? Didn't something happen to Bahamut during the Calamity....but if he is alive why didnt he just blow us up again....wait how am I even fighting him GAH." While yes many raiders skip over it for farming, there are plenty who do actually watch the cutscenes for their first time to see what is happening. One of the appealing things about the Coils is that the story does reveal tid bits of extra information on Bahamut, the Calamity, as well as how exactly everyone was saved. Plus Coil cut-scenes are not complained over, its mainly CT/ST/WoD and the last 2 2.0 Main Scenario 8 man dungeons that have people complaining about watching cut-scenes.

In terms of EXs and other trials that do not have much story attached to them, that reasoning is simple. Its more so a difficulty reasoning. If you cant handle mechanics in Garuda EX, you wont be able to handle Titan EX. If you cant handle Titan EX you wont be able to handle Ifirt EX. Once you beat the primary trio, you should be able to handle Levi EX and Moggle Mog EX, then Rahmu EX, etc. Without gates there would be less reason for doing content. Why even try 1st of 2nd Coils if you can skip to the Final one? Some do it for competition sake but it gives more reason. At least Coil wise its only T5 and T9 vs having to do them all one at a time to unlock the others.

[Vespar]

Yes I would have, because 99% of the time people skip the cutscenes and could care less about the lore of a dungeon they just want to run it for the tomes or drops. The Main scenario is mediocre at best anyways its nothing compared tot he stories of FF7, FF9, or FF10.

I would say its more like 99.9% of the time folks have seen the cutscene atleast once, and are skipping it because of this.

[Ilitsa]

I could've sworn WoW had a bunch of story elements to it though...
They just explained most of it in novels you had to pay up to $24 for...
Ah well, as one of my favorite reviewers put it: "I shouldn't have to do homework to make sense of your story."
Not that it matters in WoW of course >_>

Warlords started rather story intensive at the very start, but once you got out of the intro it was basically very dry bits and pieces, most of the big "fat" of any lore or story was put into the raids, leaving the outside quests incredibly insignificant, leveling happens so fast that most people I know just farmed the "rares" that spawn near constantly for free loot+exp (they spawn every 5-10 mins but only count as a "rare" spawn until you kill it once) and then just kill random monsters/gather herbs/mining nodes until a dungeon unlocked, and then just spammed the dungeon until another popped up etc etc, they only did the bare minimum of quests needed. I'm personally glad FF isn't quite like this, myself.... yet. and yes, it's very true. What story on WoW that isn't in raids, is in the books they publish. It's just....sad haha

[Dicejss]

Alright let me explain why I think the story is mediocre. Firstly the story itself is filled with quests that have nothing to do with the main plot kind of like filler just to beef up the number of story quests you have to complete. THis is because as I understand it that they want players to be able to get more experience from doing the main story. However if you don't remember the story doesn't even really begin to get into primals and your "hidden" power until like halfway when you fight Ifrit for the first time. Then when the story does get interesting they throw in stupid things like hey let grab ingredients for this party that has nothing to do with the main plot once again. I'd say more than half of the story quests you do have nothing to do with the primals, saving Eorzea, or the Scions for that matter. I DO agree though that yes as far as mmorpgs go the story is much better than others out there that doesn't make it great. Just one more thing someone pointed out if I don't like the story I should go back to WoW, which is quite funny because you know first I never played WoW, second whoever plays an mmorpg for the story is seriously playing the wrong game, and thirdly mmorpgs are about gearing and gameplay not about watching a CS everytime you do a dungeon or fight a boss.

[Kit-Kat]

I hit 50 on this character like 3 or 4 days ago and I'm still unlocking things lol. Queues aren't even a problem as I got friends to queue with (I'm healer, they usually go tank), but it just takes too long doing hundred of quests teleporting, running everywhere, then running dungeons/trials and sidequests plus gearing yourself to meet itlvl for said unlocking runs. It's the downside of having so much content in the same level because we get bored between patches, newbies have so much stuff to do to catch up it's overwhelming sometimes. I hope someone posts on forums where did they get to with lv50 quests experience post-3.0, that'd be fun to know xD.

About lore behind content, I don't mind it. Final Fantasy series is famous because of its story on every game, FFXIV is no different than the rest, even if it's an online game. If you get rid of lore, you would have another grinding and boring, frustrating game like korean ones.

^ With this beign said, I don't think they should keep sidequests lore have influence on 'endgame'. By 'endgame' I meant trial roulette for example (if we could call it endgame 'farming'). Not everyone enjoy Hildibrand quests, but they're forced to do a sidequest to unlock trials so they can farm tomes on roulette for their endgame. This is just an example of unlocking things.

[Ashkendor]

As a raider? Yes.

Most end gamers only care about the dungeons and loot. Story comes last.

Maybe for you. I thoroughly enjoyed the story behind the Coils, as did the people in my raid static.

You guys are really focusing on the wrong part here its not about the story .I'm talking about how they lock content based on if you cleared previous content. Which older stuff such as T5, Levi Ex, or Ramuh Ex it's harder to get groups for because people are already on T13 or Shiva Ex. So moving forward in HW are they really planning to keep all that locked cus it's only going to make it even harder to get some of that older stuff done just so you can unlock the others. Then you have to settle for using the Duty Finder. Just as a side note if you think the story they've got going in FF14 is good you just don't know good story telling.

It's actually already been eased once; you used to have to clear Garuda/Titan/Ifrit in order to access Levi/Mog/Ramuh/Shiva. I can't see them locking the Heavensward primals behind these any more than they'd lock Alexander behind Coil (which they've already said that they aren't going to do). In any case, it's not hard to get through the old content at all. It just requires effort that a lot of people seem loath to put in for whatever reason. EX primals are probably going to be easier to get through than the Coil content because all of the fights are still pertinent to an extent thanks to the ponies. Even so, I see learning and clear parties for T5 and T9 in PF pretty frequently, which are really the only turns you need to do in order to progress to FCoB. Occasionally I'll see one for T6/7/8 or even one for T1/2/4 offering basically 100 soldiery per clear for your warm body in the party. If you don't see a learning party for the content you want to clear, put up one of your own. Network. Get to know some people and ask if they can help you with it. If they don't know it already, watch a guide then help each other with it. The bottom line is that it's not going to clear itself. You're going to have to work at getting through it just like anyone else that's cleared it.

thirdly mmorpgs are about gearing and gameplay not about watching a CS everytime you do a dungeon or fight a boss.

If this was true at all then game companies wouldn't waste time and money designing the raids, making the cutscenes, or writing the lore. They'd just put a dungeon that consists of a couple of of plain gray corridors out there and tell you to have at it. The bosses could be generic gray cubes or something. It'd save a ton of time on development, that's for sure!

MMORPG's are about entertainment. If your product isn't entertaining, people aren't going to play it or subscribe to it.

[MeeDeggiThePunisher]

That you consider FF9 a good one is hilarious to me, for example.

You, sir, are an oxygen thief!