Possible level/story jumps....really?

[bass9020]

That's a major reason why most players won't bother with the game to begin with: why bother with the expansion, if you need to play the entirety of the previous game JUST to unlock it? Other games don't do it, even SWTOR which is story driven. I do like campaigns and story modes in mmorpg, but not when they lock gameplay stuff. Keep the story, don't remove it, because I do like having an objective even if I don't care about it, but don't lock everything behind it: you won't incite new players to join if this is how things go.
And that's why I'm concerned about the potion, because we're only one expansion in and they're already going for a story skip potion: that's not a good sign, but it shows that there are people who want to play, but are discouraged by the story lock. That's what I mean by making the story optional: don't remove it, make it important, but don't lock content or basic things behind it and you'll get people who want to play. I don't think this is hard stuff to do, but considering they want to do a potion instead, it proves one of two things: 1) They're lazy 2)They want to take profit from it.

I think having the idea what I mentioned before with how NPCs would act differently depending if you've done the story or not would be a great idea. This will allow full access to areas and classes/jobs and other features that would normally be locked behind the MSQs.

I feel like I'm understanding what you mean now compared to before and I'm sorry if I came/come across harsh or stubborn I just get passionate about games I really enjoy (like most people).

[Voltyblast]

I feel like I'm understanding what you mean now compared to before and I'm sorry if I came/come across harsh or stubborn I just get passionate about games I really enjoy (like most people).

Just like I am, although not on the same way as you do, but I'm passionate about the game as well. If I didn't care about the game, you wouldn't be seeing me here to begin with. The fact that I'm not a fan of this series gives me also somewhat of a better judgement, because I'm not clouded by its name. Heck I love the persona games, much more than Final Fantasy, but even I can see issues when there are (infact persona 4 is my least favourite of the persona games because of some design choices)

And I suppose that would work, as long as content can be accessed without the mandatory requirement of a story to do it. I mean, the 3 new jobs didn't need a lock to begin with: almost all of their class stories are basically in old ARR zones.
But at this point I have doubts that the potion will be scrapped: it's like the retainers at this point, lots of cash for basic stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if one day they'll sell a relic potion (someone else made a joke about that) or more stuff like this.

[RiceisNice]

That's a major reason why most players won't bother with the game to begin with: why bother with the expansion, if you need to play the entirety of the previous game JUST to unlock it? Other games don't do it, even SWTOR which is story driven. I do like campaigns and story modes in mmorpg, but not when they lock gameplay stuff. Keep the story, don't remove it, because I do like having an objective even if I don't care about it, but don't lock everything behind it: you won't incite new players to join if this is how things go.

To be fair, even WoW before WoD expansion required you to go through the leveling process of 1-80 before you could get to the new content. FFXIV is the same, except that leveling process is through the MSQ. It's atrociously longer (and much more tedious if story isn't your cup to tea to begin with) when the MSQ process mostly devolves to fetch quests, and double that with post 2.0 MSQ being a requirement as well, so it's not just the leveling but the story progression as well (which...includes the aforementioned fetch quests).

[Voltyblast]

To be fair, even WoW before WoD expansion required you to go through the leveling process of 1-80 before you could get to the new content. FFXIV is the same, except that leveling process is through the MSQ. It's atrociously longer (and much more tedious if story isn't your cup to tea to begin with) when the MSQ process mostly devolves to fetch quests, and double that with post 2.0 MSQ being a requirement as well, so it's not just the leveling but the story progression as well (which...includes the aforementioned fetch quests).

Levels are fine, that's quite a normal lock to have: it's like when they introduced death knights in WoW back then and you were required to have at least a 55 class before making one, but that's a reasonable requirement.

But for entering HW you're still required to complete dozens upon dozens of quests, and only a few of them are really necessary or any interesting, and this is quite an old arguement too, even before the expansion came out (heck, my friend even got harassed for this while in-game). If the MSQ was shorter and more streamlined (like, it takes only a few hours to complete), then it would be "better" than what we have now. A friend of mine recently finished her MSQ a couple of months ago and she really got bored of doing it (she got more fun checking the plotholes and the inconsistencies of the story).

So while they are theorically the same, the additional MSQ after 50 is the real culprit here as it gives an additional lock alongside your level, without mentioning that you're also unable to obtain those new jobs that the HW trailers made sure to look forward to. Quite the bait if I have to say so myself. And no, I have the retail copy with me right beside me, nothing is mentioned about a story lock. A new player buying this would have an unexpected surprise when reaching 50 for the first time.

And again, since they're "planning" a potion to skip this specific part of the game, there is some concern about it: if they saw no issues with it, we wouldn't be here talking about it and probably even got a story lock for 3.0.

[Fumbi]

You literally have to beat Realm Reborn to touch HW, even then, you have a bunch of potatoe quest afterwards you have to do before once again you can touch HW. Mind you I'm a big Final fantasy fan and the story is great but I feel like they gave too much "filler" in the end before the actual start of the quest.

[bass9020]

You literally have to beat Realm Reborn to touch HW, even then, you have a bunch of potatoe quest afterwards you have to do before once again you can touch HW. Mind you I'm a big Final fantasy fan and the story is great but I feel like they gave too much "filler" in the end before the actual start of the quest.

3.1-3.3 is nothing like 2.1-2.5 so they learned to keep fetch quests mostly out. And I'm sure 4.0 will be no different.

[ADVSS]

3.1-3.3 is nothing like 2.1-2.5 so they learned to keep fetch quests mostly out. And I'm sure 4.0 will be no different.

ugh if new main story becomes like how job quests are now there really wont be much msq "welp im locked for 2 levels in story better go grind some FATES"

[Yasuhiro]

I am a strong believer of "if you try please everyone you please no one" I'm not good at business nor will I pretend to be but it's not like Square Enix is a poor company sure FFXIV has tons of asset recycling from past titles but it's an MMO more important stuff should take priority over redesigning new enemies to fit Eorzea's world but I digress. Final Fantasy fans will continue supporting the game for as long as they wish where as the people complaining about FF tropes probably only play because they're waiting for legion to come out and I hear it all the time in Limsa as well on my server really annoying ><

Maybe for the next expansion they should leave the level cap is to help with catch up. Keep going about not adding filler stuff that has no place in a FF game. (fluff is fine here and there, like the stuff with Tataru just don't drag it out to extreme levels of tedium, other FF games usually have their fluffy filler moments over and done with in 10 minutes to keep the pacing going) I'm being selfish I know but I'd rather this game continue being story driven because this is our adventure as a Warrior of Light in Eorzea who is impacting the world we live in. If this game has a drastic change to appease a small vocal minority I'll admit FFXIV was never for me and I'll move on.

I wont be moving to WoW either and asking it to be like FFXIV. I hate World of Warcraft and western RPG's in general and admit those games aren't for me but I wouldn't go on Blizzards forums to demand change.

[Blackbird1]

well i could kinda understand if it's an alt on your account and you meet requirements current story finished on at least one character but giving new players a free pass at the cost of say 60 to 90$ to reach current content is bullshit we all had to do the story if we wanted to get access to content so they should too if they are just starting out. The last thing we need is more people with their head up their ass like the elitists/perfectionists who think their top shit just cuzz they paid money to get to level 60 content only to run content and fail cause they don't know their class/job then try to blame others for the wipes. If they are just starting out then they can learn their job and do the story like the rest of us did. Devteam we know your reading this please do not turn this into another world of warcraft it defeats the purpose if a person is new to the game

[LalafellDown]

I read that the new people who level skip in WOW to 80 didn't know how to play and made the dungeons runs worse, the community got more toxic with bad player not knowing their role. FF14 already has this problem and assuming they will release the lvl potion with the next expansion as a bonus (just like other MMO's) duty finder will fill with people not knowing their rotations. Clear parties in party finder will be 100% wipe parties for EX raids because the new guys who paid their way to the top will be far worse than a person learning a fight with a class they now how to play. Most likely the lvl 60 potion people will be DPS to hide the fact that they suck because spotting a new lvl 60 tank or healer is easy.