being new and @ level 50 is killing my interest

[Akuryu]

This strategy of requiring story completion to play new expansions cannot continue on past this one. If the next expansion (4.0) requires you to complete all of 2.x and all of 3.x, then they might as well slap a "new players need not apply" sticker on the box. That's too steep a mountain to climb just so a new player can enjoy "current" content.

What about 5 years from now, when we have several expansions? "FINALLY convinced my wife to play the game with me! I'm hoping to have her caught up by next February..."

And that whole "it's a Final Fantasy game, you should expect it" argument is such BS. You didn't have to clear Chains of Promathia to visit Whitegate. You didn't have to finish Aht Urhgan to unlock scholar. Final Fantasy XIII-2 doesn't require a completed save file from the first game just to play.

[Niwashi]

This strategy of requiring story completion to play new expansions cannot continue on past this one. If the next expansion (4.0) requires you to complete all of 2.x and all of 3.x, then they might as well slap a "new players need not apply" sticker on the box. That's too steep a mountain to climb just so a new player can enjoy "current" content.

That is a problem, but not due to the amount of time it takes to go through the content.

The issue is that each expansion needs to be purchased and expansion purchases require the base game, not the whole string of previous expansions. There will be people buying the 4.0 expansion who never bought Heavensward so don't have access to its content. Makes it pretty hard to require completion of that content. Requiring completion of the base game is different, since everyone getting the expansion needs to have the base game.

What about 5 years from now, when we have several expansions? "FINALLY convinced my wife to play the game with me! I'm hoping to have her caught up by next February..."

That part would be fantastic. Who wouldn't want a game that has a ton of content that can keep you productively advancing your character for such a long time before getting stuck at the end where all that's left is just grinding the same old thing over and over.

[DacienSanderon]

That part would be fantastic. Who wouldn't want a game that has a ton of content that can keep you productively advancing your character for such a long time before getting stuck at the end where all that's left is just grinding the same old thing over and over.

Uh, that's like saying that no one should ever play the latest game because gosh, there's all those old games for super cheap or even free that they can play! How awesome!

People don't play MMO's to run old content. Ever. This isn't a single player game. This is a genre where people like to progress in the latest content along with all the other players and face new challenges that the developers create.