What most turns new players off from FFXIV?

[Freyyy]

I think that the very slow gameplay turns a lot of potential players off too. I remember when I started playing FFXIV I had a hard time getting used to this super slow and boring battle-system, which only gets slightly better at level 40+, and starts to be really interesting only at level 50 (which was the max level when I started playing almost 3 years ago, so it's quite late). I remember re-entering telegraphs I dodged too soon like a retard because I anticipated it disappearing faster than it did, or spamming my buttons like crazy even tho the GCD is 2.5s long, which is an eternity. And no, MNK and NIN aren't fast-paced classes because they have a reduced GCD. 2 sec GCD is still an eternity (and I've played quite a lot of MNK since it's my fav DPS job). The only things that make the combat feel fast-paced in this game are oGCDs and good mechanics, which only appear very very late in the game. Most of the classes have a low number of oGCDs until level 45-50 and some even get most of them only between 50 and 60. Players who are used to more fast-paced gameplay or even action-based gameplay WILL be turned off from FFXIV because of the battle system. Myself coming from Tera back when I started FFXIV have been turned off at first but I stayed because of the story and the atmosphere and because, let's be honest here, Tera was starting to become shit. And Tera isn't even THAT fast-paced as an action-based game since most of the classes have long-ass animations which you can only cancel with dodging moves on most of their skills (and I mained Warrior there, for those who know what it is).

I think that this issue could be alleviated if they changed the levels at which you learn skills. Put more skills in between the level 1 to 15, including oGCD moves. Make some early fights and dungeons more interesting by adding at least one or two mechanics in each boss fight while increasing the casting speed of most AoEs which are really too slow, telegraphs on the ground for 4+ seconds is just plain silly when the AoE isn't really really big. Increase the damage dealt by mobs and bosses in early dungeons too.

A game shouldn't wait until end-game to have its battle system starting to become interesting and fun. It's the most important thing in an MMO and it should start to be fun during the first few hours of the game.

[OmegaStrongtan]

MSQ: Oh hi aren't you the guy who defeated Ifrit and saved our asses? Cool, go go get me some of these random items or I wont let you progress. Oh and my brother and his pony have some things for you to do as well. You are no hery you are our slave!

Story is fine but there are a million of needless steps needed to progress. why not increase MSQ EXP and make all non needed speed bumps into optional side quests?

[Kitfox]

The biggest detriment of the game is definitely the slow pick up. The game is far too easy and simple in the beginning.

Besides that, the two big selling points of the game are also things that turn people away: massive amount of story and the turn-based combat system. Some people will like the story, others will not. In the same vein people who expected an action RPG will be disappointed by the combat, but some people will absolutely love the turn-based combat we have.

[Warlyx]

MSQ: Oh hi aren't you the guy who defeated Ifrit and saved our asses? Cool, go go get me some of these random items or I wont let you progress. Oh and my brother and his pony have some things for you to do as well. You are no hery you are our slave!

Story is fine but there are a million of needless steps needed to progress. why not increase MSQ EXP and make all non needed speed bumps into optional side quests?

because FFXIV is a mmorpg not a single player...if we could level with MSQ alone we would be done in 2 days ....HOWEVER i think MSQ pre-HW should be boosted a bit so new players can level faster the main job and use the side quests for alts.

oh i will add crafting and gathering , new players usually ask what crafting is better for my whm ? war? .... the answer is always ALL , they get shocked , and we explain, u need this and this and this craft at 50, and the rest 15 at least..... btw in order to even think crafting....and u need XXX craftmanship , XXX control , XXX CP ....or u arent going anywhere...so u need to farm gear , materias , and then u will start crafting....using this MACRO1 , Macro 2.... they usually dont ever ask more questions , the system really push new players out.

[Freyyy]

HOWEVER i think MSQ pre-HW should be boosted a bit so new players can level faster the main job and use the side quests for alts

It has already been done at least once if not twice

[Khalithar]

It has already been done at least once if not twice

Actually his idea isn't a bad one. Give players the ability to hit 1-50 from solely the MSQ alone. That's definitely an idea I can get behind even after completing everything.

[Shurrikhan]

Actually his idea isn't a bad one. Give players the ability to hit 1-50 from solely the MSQ alone. That's definitely an idea I can get behind even after completing everything.

I don't especially see any reason for that not to be the case, but at the same time, I have to wonder if you'd end up with that over-leveling feeling that's notorious in WoW, where you never get to really flush out the feeling of a zone or complete its story. Granted, in WoW's case, it's the zone-specific equivalent of MSQ that's being cut short to move on to a more lucrative place, whereas it'd merely be side-quests here. I guess the real question is whether the sidequests do enough to flesh out the world or add positive impression to the world or questing in general to be missed if mostly skipped on one's first character? I can't actually remember them well enough at this point to say one way or the other. In most cases, I didn't mind doing side-quests for exp in zones I liked the aesthetics of, but aside from that I couldn't care less about them; they were just a bit more exp efficient that any other uses of my time if a FATE train wasn't running full steam or I couldn't assemble a dungeon grind team.

As for whether it's the most comprehensive solution to the scarcity of quests or the time it takes to reach your first 50, I don't know. I have my own (probably overly complicated) ideas for such, so I'm certainly biased.

But I believe it's already the case, no ? I haven't levelled a whole new character since the latest changes but they already increased the exp from MSQ a lot, it has been at least doubled if not trippled compared to what it was in 2.0.

I leveled an alt character alongside a friend of mine who joined just after Heavensward came out. The overall process was certainly accelerated, but we still had to do most side-quests, do each dungeon a couple times or more, and grind some FATEs to hit 50. If anything, it felt like everything but the MSQ had been buffed, dungeons the most, then FATEs, and maybe leves slightly. For the last, especially I can't say for certain, as I didn't originally do the MSQ all on the same alt — I alternated between GLD, LNC, and THM, 25, 30, and 43 respectively at the time ARR was released). I remembered the MSQ being a significant injection of exp my first time through, but it didn't feel like as big a jump the second time. I very well may be misremembering though.

>> Warlyx (on crafting)

oh i will add crafting and gathering , new players usually ask what crafting is better for my whm ? war? .... the answer is always ALL , they get shocked , and we explain, u need this and this and this craft at 50, and the rest 15 at least..... btw in order to even think crafting....and u need XXX craftmanship , XXX control , XXX CP ....or u arent going anywhere...so u need to farm gear , materias , and then u will start crafting....using this MACRO1 , Macro 2.... they usually dont ever ask more questions , the system really push new players out.

I just remember being turned off to gathering because of three major things, all of which wouldn't apply to truly new players: I missed the old environments, I missed the old gathering mini-games, and I missed having nodes scattered about the whole zones, rather than just in 0-2 tiny loops per zone. Actually, a fourth as well: I felt pressured to get to myth tomes as fast as I could (and with college over the summer, I still wasn't fast enough to cap until week 3, and the loss was made known to me by anyone who considered themselves prepared or preparing for serious progression).

For crafting it was simply an issue of feeling almost impossible to keep up with my combat classes exp-wise, that I could do relatively little to customize either my crafts or the crafting rotations except by slogging through that lack of either (which still only partially fixed the rotations, and didn't help customization at all), the amount of gear space that would be needed unless I leveled them all equally — which I didn't have the patience for — and that I potentially needed the combat leves instead for exp if FATEs weren't running and dungeon groups weren't forming. Not only was it a hassle to keep track of everything you would need, forcing you to resort to online databases to find out what a halfway reasonable material acquisition and exp crafting path would be, it just didn't seem a realistic goal unless you were to give up on other, more time constrained parts of the game.

[Freyyy]

Actually his idea isn't a bad one. Give players the ability to hit 1-50 from solely the MSQ alone. That's definitely an idea I can get behind even after completing everything.

But I believe it's already the case, no ? I haven't levelled a whole new character since the latest changes but they already increased the exp from MSQ a lot, it has been at least doubled if not trippled compared to what it was in 2.0.

[Pomelo]

I think the more important question is what turns old players away?
And the answer to that is the simplifying of stuff in the game, and the catering towards new players, trying to hook new subs rather than uphold the current subbers.

[Reinha]

For me it was the slow combat. Not how slowly things die, but the slowly you press buttons. If it wasn't for someone else telling me it's going to get better I probably would have quit. It didn't actually get better on the side of the game. Instead I got somewhat used to the slow pace of combat. I would guess this is the number one reason why people who are used to faster games would quit straight away. It is the very first impression you get of how the game will feel to play months down the line.

The story was entertaining for me since the beginning. It wasn't filled with action or major plot lines but it gave a sense that I was welcome and needed in the game world and progressing in a more meaningful way than just filling my xp bar. Anytime I had to do leves, fates or pointless side quests to fill up that bar before level 15 I felt bored. They, if anything, felt like a chore. I don't mind repeating dungeons that much because they actually build up experience in the game and group play, instead of just building up make-believe experience in a bar. IMO the MSQ and the required dungeons should give all the necessary xp for the first leveling experience. Unlocking things as I continue my quest feels natural; stopping my quest to fight some random mobs in a different area feels immersion-breaking.