New Player Experience Sucks! - Impending Expansion Problems

[SturmChurro]

For one, people play games for different reasons, and one of the main draws of an mmorpg is to do actual endgame content, rather than running back and forth for 50 hours, and doing downgraded dungeons and trials. You may like doing that, but not everyone will, and having the option to skip this for players who want to play the mmo side of the mmorpg should be allowed, especially when the expansions keep stacking up. New game+ is nice , however.

No and they shouldn't. I'm not a big fan of AAR myself, I feel it's padded out, poorly paced and kinda weak in terms of dungeon design, but it does at least serve as a tutorial to new players, introducing them to all types of content, core basics of their jobs and various mechanics reused throughout harder and better thought-out content in later expansions. A player who comes into the game and immediately pops a skip potion is doing themselves and everyone around them a disservice. By missing out on that tutorial and getting thrown into content they're completely unprepared for, they inconvenience other players they get matched with.

I believe I run into enough of such players as is. If I have to explain what a stack mechanic is in the final raid of the current expansion despite the fact that the mechanic has existed and been reused in one form of another since at least Syrcus Tower... a part of me feels like skip potions shouldn't be available to brand new accounts in the first place. Those tools by themselves do have a purpose and are entirely justifiable if one is trying to make an alt, but a new player who has no pre-existing experience with the game doing it kinda rubs me the wrong way.

That said, yes early content does have issues. However, no problem is ever solved by pretending it doesn't exist and skipping past it. What could be done is some part of AAR being streamlined the way that Crystal Tower's introductory questline was in a recent patch, adding shortcuts and alternative paths that allow players the option to skip all the no longer necessary padding without missing out on the necessary learning experience and major plot points.

Not necessarily.

[Kalise]

For one, people play games for different reasons, and one of the main draws of an mmorpg is to do actual endgame content

Then they'll not particularly like FFXIV.

Since end-game content for it is not particularly great. Which is why many people get to max level, spam out raids until fully geared and then unsub until the next bit of MSQ gets released...

You may like doing that, but not everyone will, and having the option to skip this for players who want to play the mmo side of the mmorpg should be allowed, especially when the expansions keep stacking up. New game+ is nice , however.

The option is there. For a price.

If players really want to play the "MMO" side of things (Whatever that means in this context... I played with plenty of people doing the duties necessary for MSQ...) they can pay to skip all the stuff that makes FFXIV an actually good game and what gives it the edge over its competitors - Many of which do things better than it (ESO does far better open world content, BDO does far better combat, WoW does far better end-game Dungeon/Raid/PvP grinds).

FFXIV has its spot in having THE best story in an MMO. I'd even argue that it beats out Star Wars the Old Republic (Which is another story driven game... I hesitate to call it an MMO because 99.99% of the game and literally the entirety of the game that's worth a damn, is solo content. I.e. Doing your personal stories for each class and then the main story for each expansion. Dungeons and group content was/is trash in that game)

If people feel the need to skip that to get to the end-game grinds... Then they really do need to consider why they're playing this game as opposed to one of the other ones that caters to that gameplay better.

It's sort of like buying a book, then just reading the last chapter and saying "Well, I can read the rest of it later" but then you've only got the Epilogue left to actually read, which can be decent, but will always pale in comparison to you know, actually reading the story proper throughout the entire book.

[SturmChurro]

Then they'll not particularly like FFXIV.

Since end-game content for it is not particularly great. Which is why many people get to max level, spam out raids until fully geared and then unsub until the next bit of MSQ gets released...



The option is there. For a price.

If players really want to play the "MMO" side of things (Whatever that means in this context... I played with plenty of people doing the duties necessary for MSQ...) they can pay to skip all the stuff that makes FFXIV an actually good game and what gives it the edge over its competitors - Many of which do things better than it (ESO does far better open world content, BDO does far better combat, WoW does far better end-game Dungeon/Raid/PvP grinds).

FFXIV has its spot in having THE best story in an MMO. I'd even argue that it beats out Star Wars the Old Republic (Which is another story driven game... I hesitate to call it an MMO because 99.99% of the game and literally the entirety of the game that's worth a damn, is solo content. I.e. Doing your personal stories for each class and then the main story for each expansion. Dungeons and group content was/is trash in that game)

If people feel the need to skip that to get to the end-game grinds... Then they really do need to consider why they're playing this game as opposed to one of the other ones that caters to that gameplay better.

Where exactly are you getting your "facts" that people are only playing this to do the single-player story?

Just because you like one major aspect of this game, doesn't mean other aspects of this game aren't valid preferences for other players. You are stating your opinion as fact here.

[Kalise]

Where exactly are you getting your "facts" that people are only playing this to do the single-player story?

Where exactly did I state it was "Fact" that people are only playing to do single-player story?

All I referenced, was the fact that a fair number of people, unsub after finishing the actual multiplayer content - Since it's quite short lived in this game and people would rather be economical with their sub fees.

Just because you like one major aspect of this game, doesn't mean other aspects of this game aren't valid preferences for other players. You are stating your opinion as fact here.

Yes, other aspects are valid preferences.

Though, I'd argue that many other preferences would be better satiated via other games, which do those aspects better than in FFXIV. Heck, ESO and BDO are FREE to play and offer some better experiences than are attained in FFXIV for certain pieces of content (ESO blows most MMO's out of the water with its open world content. While BDO, despite its flaws has great combat systems and a really fun Trading activity and is basically a better Eureka for combat)

The FACT is, that FFXIV, is heavily based around its solo (Mostly, since you have to do Dungeons and Trials with other people... At least, until Shadowbringers and the Trusts system...) story content. It's what it does best and it is what the game is focused around.

If people don't like that and wish to skip it, they can pay for that privilege, though, they should be warned that the result might not be as satisfying as they wish. Since, yes, while some people will focus on Crafting or Raiding in this game, it's not for everyone to enjoy ONLY that stuff due to how much focus FFXIV has on MSQ rather than these systems (As opposed to other MMO's which will have their focus on these things at the cost of their story. Hence, why I'm saying that WoW a game that is complete trash, actually does Dungeons and Raids better than FFXIV, as it does because its focus is entirely on them at the cost of every other aspect of the game)

[Iscah]

You are stating your opinion as fact here.

You opened the entire discussion by stating as fact that "the new player experience sucks". That's very much an opinion.

I'm not a new player here any more, but I joined after Stormblood was released, took a long time to work through MSQ (doing sidequests and leveling alt jobs along the way) and it's still been ages since I caught up - sometime around 4.2 if I remember correctly. And I enjoyed the experience and the story along the way.