A thought on solving the content gating issue. Long read, pls bare with me.

[Hypie]

I think the OP's idea is decent though not new.

Phantasy Star Online 2 uses a similar thing.
It currently have Episode I, II, and III.
Episode II is gated behind I, you have to finish I before you can advance to II.
But for Episode III, they added in a video digest of Episode I and II that you can watch (or hit the skip button) and go straight into Episode III. You can still go back and do the Episode I and II stuff later.

But Heavensward is EP 2. So no skipping,why dont ppl get that in their thick head?

[Mhikail]

How about you just play the God's dang game?
People are so worried about 3.0 but why not finish 2.0 to see if you even care for 3.0?
I think the majority of people who complain are mad because the new jobs.
I honestly think that's what most tears are coming from because people can't play
Unfortunate RNG MP Hog, AST.
Shxting bullets that suck butt as a DPS, MCH.
Everytime they have a mait, something gets broken, DRK...oh and they are squishy like crap.

Just play and stop worrying about 3.0, dang.

[CrystalRainbow]

More gates please!

[Luvbunny]

I'm actually wanting people to have to work through the 2.0 half before getting to Heavensward. A ot of these people are going to start in ishgard (i90 is probably way too low for the average player to just be heading in and fighting the new mobs in western coerthas) and a bunch of old mechanics and parts of the game that taught them how to play would be passed and ignored. You're basically giving someone a free level 50, they've never learned any of the skills they now have from the start, and they'll be in the dungeons before long making the runs incredibly miserable. I know you want all that stuff right away, but you're going to be hurting everyone else by letting this happen. I'd hate to be in this new content trying to teach a 50^ what their role is and how to play it so that we can get through content.

I could not agree with you more. There are so many beautiful dungeons, each with their own mechanic that will be essential later on since 3.0 endgame starts to throw everything and the kitchen sinks at you with bazillion gazillion AOE everywhere and bunch of adds that needs to be burn down FAST by your DPS (assume they are not too tunnel vision auto random button mashings at the boss). This is already beyond casual and easy game for newbies and extremely friendly with handholding players, showing you areas, and starting mechanics.

Tanking as dark is another beast, it helps when you have already level paladin or warrior to at least 40-50. It makes the dungeons run so much smoother and enjoyable. There is absolutely zero reasons to aggravate your random party members by making dungeon runs longer than needed because "I am too new to read wiki and watch youtube - and frankly I have no clue what I am suppose to do, and oh I don't read any of my abilities tool tip, because you know, who has time to read when I just want to random buttons mashing."

They will probably do a condensed version of 2.0-3.0 later on when they launch the next expansion on 4.0, but for now, as new player, you have so much content to go through, you really do get your most bang for your bucks. Why not enjoy this, take your time and experience the games as is intended by the creator.

[Borascythe]

I am fine with removing pointless fetch quest and whatnot and speeding up the overall levelling process, but the content still needs to be gated to an extent. The new stuff is simply too complicated for someone to just hop right into after grinding fates from 1-50. As it is now, people have to complete a number of dungeons and trials before they can enter HW. Remove that and you'll have a disaster to deal with.

It also makes zero sense to have access to the new jobs without completing the storyline. For one, you can't enter Ishgard until a number of events occur. Even worse, if you actually go through the DRK storyline (can't speak for the others), there's a ton of references to your accomplishments in the 2.0 storyline.

[Luvbunny]

I think the majority of people who complain are mad because the new jobs. I honestly think that's what most tears are coming from because people can't play.

LMAO, yeah indeed, all the three new jobs are brand new, and they don't call these EXTRA just for random purpose. It means you better have A CLUE on how to play these three new classes. People complaint so much about bard because they cannot move and shoot, even as the damage from bard is boosted quite nicely, but you can no longer running around like idiots and must play like BLM.

[Higashikata]

This is an absolutely horrible idea.

Letting characters start at level 50 with all their skills and no idea how to use them? We would then have people doing HW content with 100% no idea how to play their class.

[Chihaya]

This is an absolutely horrible idea.

Letting characters start at level 50 with all their skills and no idea how to use them? We would then have people doing HW content with 100% no idea how to play their class.

>_> Oh, during my first read I thought the OP said to start Heavensward at i90 (since the MSQ gave you all the gear anyways...), but going back and reading it again it wasn't the case... yes this is a horrible idea. Starting people at 30 is already horrible running with people that doesn't know MCH skills when their DPS is already not that high.

[OccamX]

The new stuff is simply too complicated for someone to just hop right into after grinding fates from 1-50. As it is now, people have to complete a number of dungeons and trials before they can enter HW. Remove that and you'll have a disaster to deal with.

Grinding FATEs? What's that? I vaguely remember doing that once or twice while levelling to 50. Mostly all I remember doing is teleporting back and forth between places and press numpad 0 to advance the dialog. I get to do a dungeon every few hours. Is that preparing me for HW?

[ThanMazus]

Grinding FATEs? What's that? I vaguely remember doing that once or twice while levelling to 50. Mostly all I remember doing is teleporting back and forth between places and press numpad 0 to advance the dialog. I get to do a dungeon every few hours. Is that preparing me for HW?

Skipping cutscenes and dialogue is exactly what my leveling experience in Heavensward was, so maybe? I feel that the experience I got skipping every cutscene from 2.1 through 2.55 really prepared my escape key skills for a whole new land of fetch quests :V