An option for characters to start at level 50, pre-heavensward, for FREE

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

But this isn't changing it's core, it isn't changing anything about the game. It's offering an ARR skip for free, once the game gets too big and there's too much story to slog through.

ARR is the worst part of the game. The quests are too long winded and vacuous, and there's far too many pointless ones, and you'd get to avoid the nonsense that is the Praetorium, if playing the story firsthand doesn't concern you.

In that case you can pay to skip. I never found the story terrible, and I've done it a few times. Endgame is not everything, and is a pretty small part of this games overall content. Especially now, with the 3rd expansion coming out, there is a lot less endgame than there is content leading up to it.

[Seraphor]

In that case you can pay to skip. I never found the story terrible, and I've done it a few times. Endgame is not everything, and is a pretty small part of this games overall content. Especially now, with the 3rd expansion coming out, there is a lot less endgame than there is content leading up to it.

I feel like you've missed the entire discussion.
The game is receiving a large influx of new players, many have come from games like WoW, many have come via recommendations from friends, and a lot fall into both boxes.
These people make up a significant portion of the player base now, and they want to play with their friends, not dredge through 6 years of story content on their own before they can do so, or have to pay more money for the privilege.

I've personally welcomed a friend who used to play WoW, after they liked the look of Shadowbringers. They quit at level 40 from burnout.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I feel like you've missed the entire discussion.
The game is receiving a large influx of new players, many have come from games like WoW, many have come via recommendations from friends, and a lot fall into both boxes.
These people make up a significant portion of the player base now, and they want to play with their friends, not dredge through 6 years of story content on their own before they can do so, or have to pay more money for the privilege.

I've personally welcomed a friend who used to play WoW, after they liked the look of Shadowbringers. They quit at level 40 from burnout.

That's on them for trying to burn through 6 years of content in a week. Also, you can play with your friends in older content. I ferried around mine, did the dungeons with them, chatted on discord.

And I'd like to see your stats and source on them being a significant portion. People got burned out at lvl 40 years ago, that just means they rushed too much or the game wasn't for them. That's OK. The game doesn't have to be for everyone. I didn't like WoW, and I only tried to play during vanilla. I didn't like XI either.

[PyurBlue]

To an experienced player, maybe not.

Those were actually some of the first classes I experienced in the game, so I'm speaking from a new player viewpoint. I am pulling things from memory so I might not be painting a completely accurate picture but I don't feel like my opinions are completely unfounded here.

I think you also misinterpreted my post to mean that any player would be able to jump into the game at 50. That's not the case.

Black Mage at lv50 has a full rotation including shifting away from using Convert in favor of Ice3/Fire3 adjustments by that point, with Flare as a finisher. They also at that point have developed a full set of utility actions (some common to all casters, such as Manashift and Surecast, others specific to them, like Mana Ward).

There are more skill available than Fire 1 for sure, but most of those are pretty situational. For the most part you're pressing F1 over and over. When I was leveling it I had to consider if the class was what I really wanted to play until I was able to experience level 60. It took that long for managing the class and its resources to actually become interesting. Starting immediately at level 50 would present learning a curve compared to level 1, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I guess it depends on if you just want to pick up the class in full right away or want some complexity to play with.

Paladin at lv50 has their full threat combo, half of their DPS combo, one DPS AoEs, two threat AoEs, several defensive cooldowns (some common to all tanks, such as Anticipation and Rampart, some specific to them, like Bulwark and Sentinel), an offensive cooldown, two stances to apply in different situations, two stuns (one common to all tanks), and a couple of situational abilities.

The half DPS combo is useless because the aggro combo out DPS's it. All you can really do with Riot blade is build MP for flash. This didn't take me very long to figure out as a first time tank. Defensive cooldowns are pretty straight forward and I distinctly remember being super cautious when the only one I had was Rampart because with just 1 CD you can only maintain so much defensive uptime. If I had more options I might have been encouraged to use CD's more often as you're supposed to.

other classes

While some of these are harder to learn than other classes (I'd say Monk and Ninja specifically), FF14's leveling system isn't actually very good at teaching classes either. There are points where you need to unlearn habits that you've picked up previously. You mentioned one with Black Mage actually. Using the III spells to swap element instead of transpose. You don't even unlock both of the spells at the same time. Being giving a bunch of skills at once has its own challenges, but also provides advantages in that the skillset that you're learning is going to change less often.

I'd go as far as to wager that your argument that it's simple at that level largely stems from the fact that either (a) you're forgetting that new players might not be used to the systems this all builds on at this point or (b) you haven't actually leveled every class to this point or higher.

What I was specifically saying was that starting from 50 isn't necessarily beyond the ability of a new player (but it's not realistic for all new players) to cope with. I pointed out a couple of simple classes to support that and I also based my idea on my own new player experience and discussions with new players that I've encountered in the game.

Whether or not it's simple would depend on what you consider simple. You can't pick up level 50 classes blind and jump into content, but you can get familiar with them pretty quickly with practice. That's not a negative for all new players and overbearing simplicity like the first 15 levels isn't a positive for all new players either.

[Veliena]

I feel like you've missed the entire discussion.
The game is receiving a large influx of new players, many have come from games like WoW, many have come via recommendations from friends, and a lot fall into both boxes.
These people make up a significant portion of the player base now, and they want to play with their friends, not dredge through 6 years of story content on their own before they can do so, or have to pay more money for the privilege.

I've personally welcomed a friend who used to play WoW, after they liked the look of Shadowbringers. They quit at level 40 from burnout.

Honestly if they don't want to dredge through 6 years of story, they probably aren't a good fit for ffxiv. Like others have said, thats fine, the game doesn't have to appeal to everyone, its better that it doesn't. I don't care if they came from other games like wow, I came from wow years ago myself. The difference is, I didn't show up and start complaining because things weren't how I thought they should be. If the players joining are trying to make ffxiv a wow2, please stay away.

[Ronduwil]

I feel like you've missed the entire discussion.
The game is receiving a large influx of new players, many have come from games like WoW, many have come via recommendations from friends, and a lot fall into both boxes.
These people make up a significant portion of the player base now, and they want to play with their friends, not dredge through 6 years of story content on their own before they can do so, or have to pay more money for the privilege.

I've personally welcomed a friend who used to play WoW, after they liked the look of Shadowbringers. They quit at level 40 from burnout.

I just came over from WoW, and I'm overjoyed that to find an MMO that still takes the leveling experience seriously. I'm level 39 in my main class, have all my DoH/DoH classes at 30+ now, and I'm nowhere close to burning out. Given your friend's short attention span, maybe this game just isn't for him. He can always go back to WoW. He can get a free boost to level 110, and then he can rush his way to level 120 in a couple of weeks. From there, they have a bunch of catchup mechanisms that can have him raiding at the highest levels by the month's end. As for this game, I don't think they should change a thing. I bought the game to play through it, not to skip straight to the end.

Besides, what makes you think that your friend wouldn't have burned out anyway even if he'd been boosted to 50?

[linay]

Again, paying for less content, is completely illogical.

First, you're paying for the game to complete the content for you in a fraction of the time it would've taken you to do manually. So your character still gains the benefit of completing the content.

Second, please look forward to New Game+. You can experience completed content at your leisure.

Conclusion: You're not paying for less content, you're paying to save time while still having your character progresses through the content.

[Sathona]

Nawh we dont need a WoW 2.0
Its already bad with the lvl boost.
People joining lvl 60 raids or late 50 trials etc and wipe others

[MrKusakabe]

Here is my experience as a former Guild Wars 2 customer, and how I managed to get back into FFXIV:

I played this great game from September 2013 to mid-2015 and stopped right after the A Realm Reborn ending credits. My personal attitude towards this game and it's style grew sour and I really thought everything was a chore, pulling down my friends and FC mates with that terrible attitude. Until I stopped paying my subscription.

After about two weeks later of struggling and "emptyness" of my now vacant MMORPG-spot - I do not play many games, but when I create a character, I can't let go off any of my Zedek family that easily - I found a new and welcoming home in Guild Wars 2. This game does a lot of things right. The professions are nice, the storytelling (and the story itself) is cool and the voice-overs are really good, at least in German. Later I had the perfect combination for GW2: An Asura Deadeye (sniper-thief).

I loved the fact I could switch back and forth between the expansions and stories. I always thought of myself as some sort of "mercenary" - if I show up to a fight, it's their luck And it kinda worked, because I concentrated on the current storyline. I mean, that's like saying you need to play other Final Fantasies first before playing XV, else you might not understand why there are so many Lightning look-alikes are running around. In reality: Not affected at all about that. I think it's equally strange to have an epic and unavoidable fight coming up, all NPCs are looking up to you (or down to you as Lalafell) that you must save them, with an epic cutscene and...you rather go fishing and crafting for the next two weeks, or kill some random dungeon bosses for tomestones. That's almost as random and bad for storytelling as skipping stories back and forth, isn't it?

But one day, it was more or less by accident as I lured into the FFXIV forums and material, I saw a picture that caught my attention. A beautiful, elegant and awe-inspiring male cat amongst my Google results. I talk about this guy:

Bam!This is it! I only play midgets in every game: Mostly Yordle in LoL, Asura, I have/had two Mascu in Bless, a Lalafell, Goblins,.. But this mancat there is my wildcard. I loved him on the instant - just by the look. And later, after actually playing the game, I think he is probably the coolest character in the game (in my opinion, #nohate!) despite having only such a short screentime for my profession's quests.

As I loved the look of him (IRL, as a wild mix of "goth" and "aristrocrat", I simply have to get attracted to the Red Mage's look!) and after I figured out it's the Level 70 uniform for a Red Mage - means I can obtain it! - there was no holding back! A fire started inside my heart, the feeling when you really look forward for something, overshadowing my joy and fun in GW2.

My brain said: "No, you left FFXIV for a reason. You have to invest much for gametime and the expansions!" and my heart said: "You gotta become a Red Mage. Period". And there I spent about 80€, without any transition from GW2 to FFXIV, literally over night. From an U.S.-based game with fast gameplay and rough topics to one of the most iconic Japanese franchises ever. The total change from Black to White, From Left to Right, the very opposite spectrum in literally everything: Audio-visual, story-wise, the professions, the community, the terrible GW2 engine that gives me 48fps on a 2,000€ PC...


How did it work out?

Absolutely fantastic!

Now look, I am not the guy that wants a super-mega-awesome story. Give me an objective, let me figure it out, and I kill/steal/kidnap it for. (Heh, I play stealth games usually^^). But in FFXIV, for some reason, I found it good or at least okay'ish to have smaller quests, errand tasks to do, especially in the right doses.

The life is not about the big tasks 24/7, is it? It gave a lot of perspective, to appreciate the "flair" of the game. I think I care more about Krile than about Rytlock because of that. There are people writing an entire universe basically, but the majority of the "instant endgame players" don't care. They want their tunnel-vision. I do not. I enjoy to save Tataru several times from her stupid ideas inbetween Primae kills. So should everyone else. Because this is an online RPG. There are surely good appstore games where you are thrown from level to level, bare-bone with 0 lore and background.

About skipping? Well, I am now at ARR. And I want to have the Duellist attire of the Red Mage. Guess what, I looked up the base requirements, I counted the quests:

ARR: 71 quests to do.

Ouch! But I could accept to become a Red Mage trainee under X'rhun, so I levelled it up. And here is one of the core problems of skipping: I was looking up a flowchart on how to play it. The mix of melee and ranged magical combat, the two types of mana etc. overwhelmed me a bit. Ya ya, it's not rocket science, but muscle memory and gameplay understanding is worth a lot, too! Now, as Level 70 and fully-trained Red Mage, I have to smile myself about that, but it still made someone else create a flowchart, so I was not the only one that needed a helping hand.

Skippers do not have this. They do not play the tutorial of the game. And you can often see that, when a healer uses the massive AoE heals and pull aggro for no reason in lategame dungeons. Those were not available in the early dungeons, so the learning process has never happened. Learning usually means to build up on a foundation. That is not the case when you skip things. They might use the wrong skills in the wrong situation and wrong fashion (Ice Mage anyone?) And that is one of the reasons why skipping is bad.

So, the proud mancat stopped talking to me because... I need to play trough Heavensward to advance my Red Mage training. Uh-oh!

Guess what? 134 Quests! Now that was a MASSIVE bummer, and this is the situation the "new players" might be in as well. But here is the important part: If you like FFXIV, you will also like Heavensward. If yo don't enjoy the game by now, you should not be allowed for fully-fledged endgame at all! I do not want WoW tourists, and I only would accept players that...well, I can't spoiler, but people who killed or helped to kill important enemies.

Let's go!! Tackling an entire expansion!

So what happened? Instead of crying about skipping potions and instant gratifcation, I set up a list - and checkmarked every of those 134 quests, put into small brackets (storylines, levels,...). The two blocks on the right are dungeons/primae fights. This is my original "I want to be a fully-trained Red Mage with this beautiful attire but need to play trough Heavensward first"-list shortly before being done:

This disclipline, those dungeons, those quests build up the reason what we are. Why would you want skip that?

Conclusion / TL;DR:

And guess what? It was fun! So. Much. Fun! The entire stories about the various kinds of dragons, several "other characters" (you know, spoilers,...) - I never put a lot of care into stories, FFXIV is the first game where the story made me calm down. I did not skip a single cutscene! I read everything and watched everything - despite me being basically just want to talk to X'rhun again! But it was quality gameplay and a great story, and I am grateful to experienced it! The point of a videogame, an interactive piece of art!


After finishing now over 210 quests, I had a little bit of work to do to reach "The Peaks" in Stormblood and finally,

I did it! I passed my Red Mage training^^

Yes, I made it! The moment when I got my "Duellist coffer" and put my outfit on, this feeling of satisfaction and the mechanics I learned on that long way (or situations when not to go into melee...) - that can't be replaced. This is what also builds up player skill.

You are guided step by step trough this game, and everyone should appreciate that!

The only thing I can agree to so far is the consolidation of the quests. Talking to an NPC just to get told to talk another NPC in hearing range - all with their own cutscene - bloat the whole thing up.



On my cousin's PlayStation one, there was a sticker: "Fair Play - Don't cheat". Level skip cheats were common back then - people wanted to play with the fancy weapons from the last levels on the get-go. It still applies today. So no: Skip nothing, no levelling, start at level 1 and enjoy the game.

You start as a "pleb", an random adventurer without much skills and a nobody:

Me as an archer...

You become experienced, settle for your professions you love and offer your service in said jobs. You advance to the point where the poor beginner turns into a respectable hero, known amongst all the NPC of Eorzea for various reasons:

And now as Red Mage, my final profession!

And this is the true fun of an MMO(RPG).


Sincerely,

[Penthea]

I feel like you've missed the entire discussion.
The game is receiving a large influx of new players, many have come from games like WoW, many have come via recommendations from friends, and a lot fall into both boxes.
These people make up a significant portion of the player base now, and they want to play with their friends, not dredge through 6 years of story content on their own before they can do so, or have to pay more money for the privilege.

I've personally welcomed a friend who used to play WoW, after they liked the look of Shadowbringers. They quit at level 40 from burnout.

I feel like players who say "they want to play with their friends" conveniently forget that lvl sync is a thing. Sorry but this "can't play with friends" argument just doesn't fly in FFXIV. If you can't play with your friends due to a lvl gap, it's because someone is refusing to play certain content.

Also lets not put all WoW players in the same basket. I played WoW for ten years and I had no problem adapting to FFXIV. I never felt as if the story shackled me. In fact I was very impressed that FFXIV presents meaningful content from the very beginning, unlike WoW in which said content won't start until you hit current expansion section of the game.

I know a lot of players who played WoW for just as long as I did and they never felt allergic to the msq or the act of working through a game. Of course some did, but these were people who often disliked having to work through any kind of progression in WoW so it wasn't surprising that they didn't like it in another game as well.