New Player Experience Sucks! - Impending Expansion Problems

[aeoncs]

You do realise clear rates and participation rate in Savage and Ultimate are abysmally low? The only reason they keep doing them is because they keep the higher tier players around.

While this is absolutely true for Ultimate, the participation rate of Savage definitely isn't "abysmally low" in any region and the same is true for the clear rate on Japanese DCs. Savage being content for the one percent hasn't been the case since Midas; plenty of players participate, even from the casual crowd.
Not to mention that clear numbers aren't even remotely accurate considering that they're based on people having the mount - I've cleared 3 Savage tiers and yet I only have a single mount because... well, PuGs.

[Melorie]

I think that the problem here is not "people wanting to rush to end game", it is the fact that, in order to unlock almost anything in the game, you have to spend hours doing solo stuff. FFXIV is a good game, but it's 90% solo and most people that play MMOs don't wanna play a single player game. FFXIV history is good, I like it, I've enjoyed doing it. But doesn't change the fact that it's a very bad design for a MMO, and everytime I get a new friend to play the game, I remember that.

Yes, you'll have people that want to rush to endgame - you'll always have, and I don't know why you people should care so much about them, since how they decide to play a game shouldn't be your concern. But they're hardly the majority. I think that there are a lot of people that would like to enjoy the journey, if only the journey wasn't getting to one npc to the next while reading text for hundred of hours.

[van_arn]

I think that the problem here is not "people wanting to rush to end game", it is the fact that, in order to unlock almost anything in the game, you have to spend hours doing solo stuff. FFXIV is a good game, but it's 90% solo and most people that play MMOs don't wanna play a single player game. FFXIV history is good, I like it, I've enjoyed doing it. But doesn't change the fact that it's a very bad design for a MMO, and everytime I get a new friend to play the game, I remember that.

Yes, you'll have people that want to rush to endgame - you'll always have, and I don't know why you people should care so much about them, since how they decide to play a game shouldn't be your concern. But they're hardly the majority. I think that there are a lot of people that would like to enjoy the journey, if only the journey wasn't getting to one npc to the next while reading text for hundred of hours.

Pretty succinct. I've recruited a few friends, and more than half ended up getting burnt out on the fedexing before they mattered. While a lot of them started off enjoying the story, the quantity of the social-discouraged play eventually wore them down.

[Melorie]

Pretty succinct. I've recruited a few friends, and more than half ended up getting burnt out on the fedexing before they mattered. While a lot of them started off enjoying the story, the quantity of the social-discouraged play eventually wore them down.

Yeah! And I mean, while I like the story, with the time that gets you to complete ARR main quest line, you can probably play a much better single player rpg out there, with a much better history and that will probably give you a bigger sense of progress while telling their tale and maybe even with less filler (if you're not going for those open-world rpgs...). Of course, it's going to be a solo experience but it woud be the same with FFXIV.

And giving people paid options doesn't really solve the problem. People have to like the game to start investing in it, and the new-player experience is far from something that will sell these expensive jump potions easily. Most people would rather give up than invest.

[MistakeNot]

I think that the problem here is not "people wanting to rush to end game", it is the fact that, in order to unlock almost anything in the game, you have to spend hours doing solo stuff. FFXIV is a good game, but it's 90% solo and most people that play MMOs don't wanna play a single player game.

Most MMOs are 90% solo game, and most of them require a lot of play before you reach the "endgame." FFXIV is not at all unusual in this aspect.

If anything FFXIV stands out in how much multi-player content is required to do before reaching level cap. In most other MMOs you can easily play solo all the way up to level cap, and lots of people do just that.