Please Allow 50's to Enter Ishgard w/o having completed MSQ

[sirDarts]

I am your source. I am a new player "less than 2 months" I didnt give a flying F about the story. I liked the artstyle and the characters. The story was tedious and just something i needed to get done in order to play the astro like i originally wanted to.

You most likely chose the wrong game then. Though no idea why you are complaining, since you are already eligible for the new content.
And if you want to use pseudo-arguments based on your personal believes - I have played a TON of MMO games, I have left most of them because they had little to no story, and required mindless grind of mobs because the Quests gave next to no EXP.

You are one kind of player, I am your complete opposite, this game caters to "my kind" more than "your kind", you either deal with it, or pick another game.

Also the story is not THAT hard or tedious, and considering it WILL be the (by far) fastest way to level to 50(most likely 51-52) once the expansion hits, and considering that you can skip the VAST majority of dialogues and cut-scenes. I really see no reason to complain.
You want to play DRK/AST/MCH? Good for you, but you will have to take the same route everyone before you did.

[XxSliphxX]

but you will have to take the same route everyone before you did.

It's this line of thinking that ruins games. I'm sorry but your view of how it should be is backward and the way they are releasing this content is asinine. Yes i finished the content which is why I know just how tedious it is to get to the point i'm at. And thank god I've been playing a healer because had i been playing dps? forget it. I'd probably still be trying to finish the story with 30min+ Q's IF you're lucky. New casual players are NOT going to want to do this and they shouldn't have to. I did it because I am far from a casual player and knew i had to do it in order to play the expansion. New players are coming into this blind are not going to be happy about it mark my words. Player retention is what square should be concerned with not "well they need to EARN it like it did" mentality. That's just an excuse for poor design. People are waaay too concerned about how other people play. You should be happy about your accomplishments because you did it yourself, you should not be happy about it because "new players should suffer too" that's a terrible way to think about this. It's pretty much the definition of elitism and elitism ruins games. Never cater to the 1%.

[Balipu]

It's this line of thinking that ruins games. I'm sorry but your view of how it should be is backward and the way they are releasing this content is asinine. Yes i finished the content which is why I know just how tedious it is to get to the point i'm at. New casual players are NOT going to want to do this. I did it because I am far from a casual player and knew i had to do it in order to play the expansion. New players are coming into this blind and are not going to be happy about it mark my words. Player retention is what square should be considered with not "well they need to EARN it like it did" mentality.

Well good luck clearing Dusk Vigil with level 50 players who haven't finished the original class quest lines yet(not job, class)

[sirDarts]

*if the 1000 character limit would die in a fire, that would be nice*

New CASUAL players won't be rushing to get to max level and unlock all the content.
CASUAL players play mainly for the story.

People who have a problem with this are self-proclaimed Hardcore players who want to have access to the "real" content ASAP! Ignoring the fact that it's not all about end-game, this is not WoW.

[XxSliphxX]

Ignoring the fact that it's not all about end-game, this is not WoW.

For some people IT IS all about end-game. Why should that bother you? Story isn't end all be all for EVERYONE. There is no "right way" to play an mmo it's personal choice. There are people that do nothing but crafting in this game and have put in massive amounts of time doing it. Is it fair that they are also locked out of new content?They have been playing just as long as you and definitely longer than me. Do they not deserve to see new content because they chose an off beat path but I do because i slogged through the story? Agian people are projecting how THEY think the game should be played and this is wrong. Obviously my views on this are not popular which is too be expected here but I'm just saying not everyone is going to be happy about this nor think its fair and I hope square is prepared for the backlash because believe me it's coming.

[Felis]

For some people IT IS all about end-game. Why should that bother you? Story isn't end all be all for EVERYONE. There is no "right way" to play an mmo it's personal choice. Agian people are projecting how THEY think the game should be played and this is wrong.

Name 1 2.x endgame that was not locked behind the 2.0 storyline (defeating Ultima Weapon).
People who play it for endgame should already know that they have to do the story to unlock it.

[sirDarts]

For some people IT IS all about end-game.

1) Those are not CASUAL players you so want to protect.
2) Those people need a Sandbox MMO, not a Themepark MMO, FFXIV is a story-focused themepark MMO.

Why should that bother you?

PLOT HOLES!


As for people who just want to craft, once again, wrong choice of game.
It's made blatantly clear in the very beginning, that this game is story-focused and that you need to be a fighter class for a rather big part of the story.
Even getting to DoH/DoL requires you to do MSQ...

[KisaiTenshi]

1) Those are not CASUAL players you so want to protect.
2) Those people need a Sandbox MMO, not a Themepark MMO, FFXIV is a story-focused themepark MMO.

I hate these labels because there's no actual definition.

A Sandbox MMO, no such animal exists. The definition most people are using for sandbox MMO's are just open-ended games with little to no storyline. A true sandbox game would literately allow you to stomp over everything and everyone if that is what the player wants. As it is, it's mostly a marketing buzzword for "you can put your house anywhere" and "lots of stuff to craft." It would be more fair to call these "crafting-oriented RPG" rather than a sandbox.

A themepark MMO, is what most MMORPG's are when there is a storyline involved. You can "hop off" the storyline ride and do other stuff, and pick up where you left off. There is no inherent risk in delaying storyline completion. That princess that was abducted 3 months ago? It will be like it was no less than 5 minutes ago. These are better defined as "story-driven RPG"

Story-driven games crafting elements are often a waste of time and completely optional because equivalent gear is obtainable from just playing the combat content. Meanwhile crafting-oriented games only you to progress by crafting certain things yourself, and the RPG elements of these games are often limited by resource scarcity.

If there was nothing but a story, then as soon as the player completes the story, they unsubscribe and go play something else. What keeps people playing is the quest to be prepared for the next content patch.

[sirDarts]

*snip*

Oh lovely circlejerking about definitions. OK lets change this to comparisons.

Take TES games for example. You can do anything you want, you can completely ignore the story, you can level and do stuff without touching the story. That's the kind of game these players want. That's what I call a sandbox game. That's what for example WoW is.

On the other hand take Final Fantasy games, you HAVE TO do the story, in most cases you can't even leave the first area without doing the story, you don't get new jobs/classes, you don't get new weapons, you don't get new characters. That's the kind of game FFXIV is (baffling, ey?). That's what I call a story-focused themepark game.

The story is not the only goal, it isn't the only thing you can do, but it's the MAIN thing. And people who don't like this have CLEARLY chosen the wrong game.

[kyuven]

snip

Sandbox MMOs do exist. Minecraft and its imitators completely count. SWG was also leaning further on the sandbox element than most of its contemporaries. Second life is yet another example, probably the crowning big cheese of sandboxes really. EVE online is a fairly restrictive example (in that when you started out, you could do anything you could afford to do). A more contemporary example would be Landmark, where players are literally shaping the world.
Being able to "stomp around and do whatever you want" is what you do in these games, you just have limitations. Even real sandboxes don't work like that. You need tools and things from outside to make cool things in the sandbox, and the sandbox will always be limited in its size and shape.

Before the -craft games (World of WarCRAFT and MineCRAFT) MMOs were mostly theme park-sandbox hybrids. Upon logging in, you could do and go wherever you wanted, within the limits allotted to you. The story was almost non-existent and you had very little lasting influence on the world.

Oh lovely circlejerking about definitions. OK lets change this to comparisons.

Take TES games for example. You can do anything you want, you can completely ignore the story, you can level and do stuff without touching the story. That's the kind of game these players want. That's what I call a sandbox game. That's what for example WoW is.

I'd call WoW a theme park, actually, for one important reason: They have no form of personal housing system. The hallmark of sandbox games is the ability to affect the world somehow, even if it's just having your own house to show off.
WoW, instead, is kind of like "Disneyland" in that it has a whole bunch of "lands" with their own themes and stories.
FFXIV meanwhile is like Six Flags. There's usually no larger grouping theme to the rides, aside from a few little off-shoot lands, and the focus is instead the rides that are all mostly the same type of ride.