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

[Dererk]

Here's what's going on sadly that people keep complaining about.

Hey guys.

What?

I just got a new game.

Which one?

Pokemon Y.

Dude that thing has been out for ever...

Well its new to me since IV never played it.

That's the reality people if you never done it its new.

[Pulsahr]

Before I left, I was enjoying everything in the game, crafting, gathering, exping, even grinding some dungeons (to a certain point, I'm not hardcore gamer).

So, when HW came, I looked for the new craft and gathering points. Not surprised, it is in the new zones. Ok, I get it, I'll catch up the story to gain access to Ishgard.
Which I did. Ok now I'm in Ishgard, how d I get outside ?

MOAR story !

Ok ok, let's push it a little forward. Great, I now have acces to new zones and I can start to gather and craft. But it's a pain in the *** to travel in these zones without flying mount. Some parts are even impossible to access without flying mount, and some areas are impossible to access without flying mount ! Ok I get it.

MOAR story !
(1/3)

[Pulsahr]

Great, I have my flying mount, dammit I'm already half way through main story. Now, how do I fly ? Ok, current thing, ok. I need to get all of them in an area to fly ? Ok ok ok, let's keep walking on earth for a while then. WAT ? I need to progress through main story AGAIN ?

That's enough, I quit.



Main story is the part I enjoy the most since the beginning. I liked to craft my gear, in order to be able to progress in main story, not the contrary !

(2/3)

[Pulsahr]

This design "everything is locked behind main story" is good for hardcore players who wants to "get rid of the cutscene BS" to go grind uber stuff (that's exagarated I know, but you get the idea).

I'm not this kind of guy ! I'm not here to play a grind game, I don't want to rush story to be able to do everything else !
I'm here to enjoy a great story, and gather, and craft, and prepare myself at my own pace.
But I can't. I need to rush the MS to access everything else.

That's not cool. That's not entertaing for me when I'm forced to do what I love the most to be able to do other things.
It's like being forced to eat my favorite dessert before I even start the full dinner.

You lost a player SE, goodbye.

(3/3)

[Tamlin]

This design "everything is locked behind main story" is good for hardcore players who wants to "get rid of the cutscene BS" to go grind uber stuff (that's exagarated I know, but you get the idea).

I'm not this kind of guy ! I'm not here to play a grind game, I don't want to rush story to be able to do everything else !
I'm here to enjoy a great story, and gather, and craft, and prepare myself at my own pace.
But I can't. I need to rush the MS to access everything else.

That's not cool. That's not entertaing for me when I'm forced to do what I love the most to be able to do other things.
It's like being forced to eat my favorite dessert before I even start the full dinner.

You lost a player SE, goodbye.

(3/3)

You say you don't want to play a grind game? IMO, the oposite of that would be a story-driven game, which is what FFXIV is.
Not wanting to grind, but complain that you have to go through the MSQ to be able to grind the new gathering points...

I can understand that people don't like the gates that MSQ is. On the other hand: If I entered HW areas without having the prior MSQ completed, or came to a new area within HW-areas without the pre-req's, I would have felt somewhat confused I think, as the story then wouldn't have made sense at all.

When it comes to be able to craft gear to be able to process through the story: The materials needed for crafting up to lvl 52-53 is from the first area you get to in HW, which only requires you to get out of Ishgard in the first place. After that, you can gather the lvl 50 nodes for mats needed for 50-52 gear. As soon as you get 51 BTN and MIN, you unlock the 55 nodes which gives you mats to craft even more. Then when you unlock churning mists and get flying there, you get the last remainig mats to craft gear up to lvl 56-57 (iirc). So basically you can get your crafts and gathering classes up to lvl 55+ (heck, even up to 60 if you don't mind grinding exp on mats that gives less exp when you advance). And if you only keep to the MSQ, you will have unlocked the areas for the mats needed for higher crafts as you're reaching that lvl in the first place.

So there's a reason behind it, and I think all the gates are perfectly placed, but it still gives you decent enough freedom without turning the game into a sandbox-game.

[Pulsahr]

You forgot that I don't want to rush the story.
And "flying there" means being forced to progress in story, which I wanted to save for later because it's my favorite part and keeps me playing the game.
I don't mind grind a little, as I said in my first three-part-post, but I like more to be self sufficient considering leveling gear. And for that, I have to gather (and grind a few ingredients, that's ok, that's a few). But western coerthas is terrible to travel through without flying : very annoying, lots of detour, can't acess some spots without going back half the map to climp up there.
That was meant for flying mounts. I'm okay with that. I'm not okay that I it is locked by main story.

I wanted to take my time to enjoy the story, like let's do a quest once in a while, let's save them for when I want to have an awesome moment. But that's impossible.
I already cleared half the story just to have my ether compass, and it's useless unless I go further. That's a problem for me.

[Dement]

I wanted to take my time to enjoy the story, like let's do a quest once in a while, let's save them for when I want to have an awesome moment. But that's impossible.
I already cleared half the story just to have my ether compass, and it's useless unless I go further. That's a problem for me.

I think you are grossly underestimating how big the main story is, getting the Aether compass is the very tippy-top of the iceberg. You also don't have to clear the main story in order to fly in an area but you do have to clear that area. Assuming that the gathering classes progress through the same zones at the same speed as the battle classes (I just started working on gathering for about 15 minutes last night). You could then do the main story at your own pace to get through the Western Coerthas portion, unlock flying and then begin to gather from that zone. When you feel ready, proceed to the next zone.

[Pulsahr]

Thank you for this information, but the next area is still locked by the story, which is still a problem to me, because it wasn't the case in ARR : I was able to go anywhere to gather whatever I need. And I did.

And still, flying mount is locked by the story, and I don't think that's fair.
Imagine a new player, excited to get his flying chocobo. Imagine when he realizes he has to go through all the story from 2.0, and progress even in HW to get it.


Now, if I look at the mission list in Gamerscape (SPOILERS if you click), without reading because I don't want to be spoiled, and looking just at the tiny icons on the right parts showing rewards, I see you unlock ether currents even in the latest mission. And the ether compass is roughly at the half of the page (looking at the scrollbar).

It doesn't bother you ?
It does to me.

[The_Last_Dragoon]

It doesn't bother you ?
It does to me.

To be honest, it would actually bother me a hell of a lot more if a brand new player was able to get their flying mount and fly around in Heavensward without touching the 2.X storyline. Yes, you have to earn the right to use the flying mount through side quests and MSQ, but the reasoning is because the flying mount trivializes most of the quests in the area. I also don't know of any MMO where you can just fly right off the bat in an area, and honestly FFXIV makes the unlock interesting since the aether current scavenger hunt is a pretty fun mini-game.

[Nico_Of_Awesome]

I came back for one job, none of the 2.0 jobs held any interest to me (and ultimately why I quit, yes aesthetics are that important to me.. shut up..). I wanted my FF11 job back. The Dark Knight, now I have to finish the damn story then go backwards to play the job I want. The jobs should not have been tied to completing the full first story. Not happy about this.