Unlocking Content

[SirDiscoFrog]

MMOs have and will forever be about the gameplay itself not about the story..

However that's the thing, FFXIV is different from many MMOs in that aspect, hence Ashkendor's comment. They are playing off of their main fans being players of their FF games and catering to that trying to make a story that is at least somewhat appealing and hiding in extras revealing more lore in the harder raid content. Yes gameplay of course will be important to them, but its not like the story is put on the backburner either.

In terms of the burning at the stake, you only have your sweeping generalizations to blame for that lol

EDIT:

Yes they might but considering how future patches will continue to add more content to clear that ladder of previous content you have to clear is just going to get higher and higher.

In Heavensward the only thing required from 2.## is finishing all of the Main Scenario, everything else you can access right off the bat once you enter in Ishgard. Alexander will be out weeks after the release so that's more time to complete older content, and now with their being an option to do duties un-level synced or with lesser people there more options to finish older content. However at that point the 2.## gear will only be helpful for leveling/glamor. 3.0 will have their own BiS gear which you can get without the previous trials. It doesn't need to be completed to stay up to date, gear wise or content wise besides having all the dungeons unlocked for Tomes.