100+ old quests to access expansion content...?

[KeluBehemoth]

You should have looked into it before purchasing? SE has announced for months before release that the MSQ of 2.X would need to be completed to gain access to HW, which if you would follow the end of 2.X leads up to the beginning of Heavansward, it's all part of the storyline really. All of us have had to do it, granted some players do not like to read, that's why they added skip option...
@ Kelu, you could actually edit your post instead of making 3 or 4 in a row, lol
Casual.... Just kidding :P

I would. It eats up my post count and is annoying but there's no edit option on the mobile site

[h0tNstilettos]

If this were a single player RPG, you would be right. Since this is an MMO, it's really more preference. I would not opt to skip the story of FF7 or FF8 if I was given a choice. Those are different types of games.

I'm not going to bash you for not watching the cutscenes and reading the dialogue of the story as you seem to be in a minority of players that have no interest in story, but what I will say is that FFXIV's story is on par with stories from other FF games. It's not like your typical MMORPG game that has a weak story compared to single player RPGs. You missed out on a great story skipping everything, though you can still view cutscenes from an inn room. The story to me was fairly boring until around endgame in 2.0 and got real good in the last bits of 2.X story leading into Heavensward. Then Heavensward's portion of the story has been even better than 2.X.

[Niwashi]

Everyone here saying lore reasons has already been proven wrong by the devs themselves.

4.0 will not require the completion of HW to enter, you will be given a brief summary of HW and you are on your way to new content.

This exact thing could have been done for ARR<HW. This was an unintentional oversight by devs, not something they did for lore reasons and the fact that they have adressed this and stated it will not be the case anymore for future expansions only proves this

No it doesn't. That bit of the story isn't needed for 4.0 because it wasn't written for 4.0. It was written as a lead-in to 3.0 so of course 3.0 is the one that needs it. The fact that down the road they'll have another story that doesn't is completely beside the point. This specific story needs it for lore reasons.

For later expansions, SE won't have the luxury of knowing for a fact that everyone who gets the expansion also has the previous one. Here, since the previous piece of the story comes from the base game that's required in order to register the expansion, they do. So this is the only place that SE could put so much lead-in heading towards an expansion's story. All other expansions will have to provide their own lead-in.

Perhaps it helps to consider later few 2.x patches to be in essence 3.0 content. It just doesn't require purchase of the rest of 3.0 to do those prologue chapters. So, by that measure, there really aren't 100+ patch quests before accessing the expansion, because you're essentially already on the expansion when doing them. All later expansions will still need their own lead-in prologue quests that have to be done to set the stage for their later quests. The only difference being that you won't be able to do that lead-in part in advance like you can here, as it will have to come within the expansions themselves.

[Sylens_Mnemonic]

I literally started FF14 a month ago and I was initially frustrated with the number of quests I needed to do to get to Ishgard. That said, I'm SO glad it was a requirement. The story was so good, and I got so attached to the characters that it is what made me really love the game. I sincerely hope that there is some kind of story requirement going forward, the story is genuinely great and one of the big things that separates this game from other MMOs. If I had had the option to skip it I can guarantee that I would have succumbed to the temptation of impatience and missed out on the best MMO experience I've had since I can remember, and I've been in the genre since UO came out.

A side benefit is that some of the story missions you need to do to access Ishgard are not especially easy for a newbie (not hard granted, but definitely not a "push buttons till it dies" kind of experience) - kind of provides an artificial floor to player skill that I think helps the community greatly.

[Vexander]

I recently decided to make a new character, and I have to say, one of the things I'm looking forward to most is enjoying the story again. Granted a story isn't everyone's cup of tea, and there are plenty of people who play just to enjoy the game. At best the only compromise I could think of would be opening Ishgard at level 30 for players, but even then, a lot of dungeons are gated behind MSQ content. Maybe allowing players to enter dungeons they haven't unlocked so long as they're queuing with friends might be a way around that, since a lot of new players want to play with their friends without doing catch up?

[zbtiqua]

More people legitimately love Justin bieber than any other musical artist in history. Again more garbage that caters to a dumbed down society that accepts and actually wants to be stupid and spoon fed.

Art is dead.

I'm glad you enjoy the art and story of this game, and I wouldn't want to diminish that experience for you or others. That being said, forcing people to go through the old quests (as basically a pause to the game's progression) to access the expansion is simply a bad idea. It doesn't mean the art or story needs to be removed from the game. But, there are plenty of better ways to do it, i.e. incorporate this storyline into the leveling process, either in the ARR portions or in the HW portions.

In any case, it is clear that the dev's agree, as exemplified by their intention to remove these quests from requirements to enter future expansions. It's not about lore, it's about design and choices.

[Dualblade]

Just want to point out that 18% of people in the poll linked by OP want to visit Sharlayan in the next expansion after heavensward ... I guess that's what happens when you skip all the cutscenes >.>

While I doubt you are paying attention to this thread anymore: TO be fair to those players, they might want to visit the actual Sharlayan area, which would be rather interesting.

[Legion88]

So to see the basic problem with lore and story is, the Heavensward story begins with 2.3 when we begin to look at Ishgard and try to help them with the heretics. So basicly you are in the expansion story or just the prolouge since mid endgame of 2.x. All other expansions can start their prolouge from 2.0 endgame, lorewise. So there will be a prolouge wich has to level you from 50 to 60 to get in line of all the HW players and than start the new story from 60 to the new level cap. There will be tons of quest for all HW players they have to do and getting no reward for it. It's always dangerous to balance new versus old players in terms of addons and progresion.

[Aniond]

The point is. If you don't like it then quit. Stop complaining about how the game was written, and the focus the developers are going towards.

[Nhadaly]

4.0 wont require the 3.x content to be complete?

The story will still be tied together right? I have no idea thats why im asking.

I love the story and i want it to continue being awesome.