NG+

[ForteNightshade]

If I do something in a video game, especially an MMO, I expect a return. EXP at the very least. It's an MMO. If you do a QUEST, you get exp. That's how this has ALWAYS worked.

On top of that, there are way too many other things to do. Not only from a life perspective, but from a gaming perspective as well. There are other games that reward you for spending your time in their game. And I'm NOT saying FFXIV doesn't. I'm saying this one specific thing doesn't, and it absolutely should. Why wouldn't anyone want another way to level?

I understand that sure, some people want to go back through the story and take screenshots, and I'm happy for those people that they get to do that with all of the different resources (gpose etc) that we have now. But that's a minority, I'm sure. I know there are a lot of people like me that didn't know there wouldn't be exp for doing several QUESTS, and were excited at the prospect of a different way to level other jobs. Because, let's be real - you can only do PoTD, HoH etc so much. I love doing quests. It gives me something to read and different settings. I'm not alone here.

The return/reward is being able to experience the story a second or third time without having to spend $50 or hundreds of hours grinding through upwards of two expansions alongside the base game if you simply wanted to redo Shadowbringers.

You keep dismissing this as a tangible reward, which says this feature was never intended for you. Not everything needs or even should cater to everyone. Ultimate, for example, has one specific target demographic in mind. Neither were intended for more than the small amount of people they were always going to attract. Most games with a NG+ feature are single player, which allows for multiple endings or to make your character comically overpowered. I've been playing Mass Effect 3 and its NG+ doesn't offer anything different except I can upgrade my weapon modifiers beyond level V and start at level 60 as opposed to 30. For those unfamiliar with that game, this turns you (Shepard) is an absolute beast even on the highest difficulty. The game is not balanced for Shepard with level X weapon mods.

They obviously can't do things like this in a MMO nor is there any reason to. The quests are already easy.

Another factor to consider is how easily exploitable EXP would be. Last I calculated, you could net 12M EXP doing just the first twenty quests. As there is no battles during that portion of the story, you have access to mounts and teleports, it would take a half hour tops just skipping every cut scene then restarting NG+ to do it again. This effectively turns NG+ into the best leveling method without question.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect EXP for doing QUESTS, is ultimately what I'm getting at. Any video game gives it for quests. Especially MMO's. So... I don't think it should be an issue.

You got that experience. This is you doing them a second time and expected to be rewarded twice. Once again, if the story was not enough of a draw then NG+ was never intended for you. It exists solely for people who want to experience the story and not have to go through the aforementioned hoops. That's it.