this game is NOT friendly for those who return after long absence

[Galen_Malchome]

A returning player as well. I don't mind the long tedious questing to get up to the point needed to go Heavensward. However if they want to gate it, they should find a problem with quests that require you go through some dungeon/primal fights. I have been queuing 5 hours max for one dungeon due to very little people queing at this point. I can tell you this will put off a lot of people from playing the game. Not to talk about new jobs being gated by a lvl 50 character and long tedious of jobs. Even a new player coming in enjoying lore who wants to play a specific role, have to lvl another role to 50 do all the quest and go back to 30 to play the class they want. IMO this is just bad design and no think through planning.

So fucking true, it will kick them in the ass if they try that BS with 4.0.

[Zordrage]

I can tell you this will put off a lot of people from playing the game. Not to talk about new jobs being gated by a lvl 50 character and long tedious of jobs. Even a new player coming in enjoying lore who wants to play a specific role, have to lvl another role to 50 do all the quest and go back to 30 to play the class they want. IMO this is just bad design and no think through planning.

thats Exactly whats hapenning with me playing the lame Class that i dont enjoy through ALL the msq and dungeons etc that takes days just to be able to play the class i want and it will be nerfed to lvl30 where i can grind fates til 50 like i progressed for nothing with a job i dont liike...

[Isondre]

Also playing catchup. For those of you on a high horse saying "stfu and just enjoy the content," I dare you to make a fresh character and do the main story all in a go. See how fun it is. (Hint: it is not fun.) I'm sure that if you were around and had the play time to do the main story as it was introduced, a chunk at a time over months with nothing else to do, you have fond memories. But laid out end to end in one endless, linear track, it is tedious and grueling.

It is insane that I cannot even see Ishgard or play a level 30 job without doing literal DAYS of main story quest. Either the endless fetch/find kids/make tea for minfilia//teleport/wait in DF queue/rinse/repeat storyline needs to be streamlined, or parts of it need to be made optional.

[Blanchimont]

Also playing catchup. For those of you on a high horse saying "stfu and just enjoy the content," I dare you to make a fresh character and do the main story all in a go. See how fun it is. (Hint: it is not fun.) I'm sure that if you were around and had the play time to do the main story as it was introduced, a chunk at a time over months with nothing else to do, you have fond memories. But laid out end to end in one endless, linear track, it is tedious and grueling.

It is insane that I cannot even see Ishgard or play a level 30 job without doing literal DAYS of main story quest. Either the endless fetch/find kids/make tea for minfilia//teleport/wait in DF queue/rinse/repeat storyline needs to be streamlined, or parts of it need to be made optional.

If you can actually do the main story in one go, it is not too bad. I started the game about 4 weeks ago and my first month is not even done for another two days or so. The story has odd break points where it turns into random fetch quests and at this point, these fetch quests should really be abandoned altogether. What really kills it for me is the queues because you cannot enjoy it when the story suddenly slams a door in your face until you can kill the primal.

However, the problem is that you cannot do it all in one go. There are stupid dungeons and trials that instantly kill the pace for me. I completed the main story in about 2 weeks fresh as a DPS, but I spent nearly one third of the time just in dungeon queues. This is what almost killed the game for me. I had to join a random Free Company and just started asking people to help. This same problem arises once again in Heavensward. You have to do the story quest far enough in order to unlock side quests and open up the map before you are able to fly in a given region. Literally everything in the expansion is gated behind story mode except the new jobs which you can access immediately arriving at Ishgard. I actually kept track of how much time I spent in queue and it was much better this time with only 1/3 of the time in queue instead of almost 1/2.

Total time wasted in queue in original - 6 days totaling about 25 or so hours (Cape Westwind, Howling Eye accounted for about 3/4 of that)
Total days in original to finish story - 14 days
Total time wasted in queue in Heavensward - 2 days totaling about 7 or so hours (Aetherochemical accounted for about 1/3 of that time and The Vault accounted for about 1/2 of that time)
Total days in Heavensward to finish story - 6 days

The only good thing I have to say is that at least NPCs sell fairly good gear. It is almost enough to let you access the post game dungeons immediately after clearing the final boss of Heavensward. You just need a few more poetics of law to hit that magical ilvl 145 and start the post game farming.

[JaderauntOnJenova]

Also playing catchup. For those of you on a high horse saying "stfu and just enjoy the content," I dare you to make a fresh character and do the main story all in a go. See how fun it is. (Hint: it is not fun.) I'm sure that if you were around and had the play time to do the main story as it was introduced, a chunk at a time over months with nothing else to do, you have fond memories. But laid out end to end in one endless, linear track, it is tedious and grueling.

I just started a couple months ago as a new player and had a lot of fun. Made it to the end of 2.5.5 with a couple weeks to spare.

[MXMoondoggie]

Also playing catchup. For those of you on a high horse saying "stfu and just enjoy the content," I dare you to make a fresh character and do the main story all in a go. See how fun it is. (Hint: it is not fun.) I'm sure that if you were around and had the play time to do the main story as it was introduced, a chunk at a time over months with nothing else to do, you have fond memories. But laid out end to end in one endless, linear track, it is tedious and grueling.

But we DID do it. We all leveled to 50 and did it again with other classes. We all ground out levels and FATE spam and some of us did it before all the roulettes and EXP boosts they put in the game now so people can rush to 50. Everyone suffered at some point levelling through tedious boredom. The only reason people are now complaining is because they feel entitled as an MMO tourist to only play new things and then leave again when they get bored of it. Post level 50 isn't even that bad if you take out all the optional content like HM's, Crystal Tower storyline etc all you need to do is the main story quest.

And again they told everyone a long time ago that they would need to do the main story to progress into the expansion and people had plenty of time to get ARR, do the main story,level to 50 and do the endgame main story up to Steps of Faith. Nobody forced you to do it all in one go just to play a new class because it's new and you only care about new things.

[Chihaya]

Also playing catchup. For those of you on a high horse saying "stfu and just enjoy the content," I dare you to make a fresh character and do the main story all in a go.

Well not as bad as a fresh character, but I have a level 50 alt - I rushed her from the story mission that made you go in Qarn all the way to 2.55 in 2 sittings before the expansion hit (while still doing dailies on main). I'll admit I skipped all the cutscenes as I already seen them on my main. With HW out now, I don't have time to even take care of that alt anymore ._. she just sits at 50 now.

[SanjuroXI]

I don't understand yalls logic even if you half to do 2.0 story to get to HW it's still all new content to you since you never did it. Whine less play the game and enjoy it or move elsewhere.

[Zordrage]

I don't understand yalls logic even if you half to do 2.0 story to get to HW it's still all new content to you since you never did it. Whine less play the game and enjoy it or move elsewhere.

hard to enjoy it when you cant play the class you want because its locked behind msq and your stuck with a job you don't realy like. for me 50% of the fun is coming from the immersion of my char if thats not there yeah.....

[Shuon]

I put it to you that... if you have been absent for a year, then the past year of content you are trying to catch up are also new content to you from the story perspective.

Unless of course you do not care about the story, in which case I can only say 'welcome to final fantasy'.