New (ish) player feedback

[tdb]

It would be nice to get the Chocobo sooner but it's the same amount of gameplay even if the levels are flying by.

The issue with Chocobos right now is the whistle is obtained from your Grand Company which is hard gated behind the MSQ. Maybe they could make it available in Bentbranch Meadows? But then the default barding would have to change.

Ah yes, I forgot to mention this. It would take some reworking of the storyline to allow acquiring mounts earlier.

Chocobo porters also allow renting a chocobo to ride yourself starting from level 10. Details on this seem to be scarce, but I assume you get to ride it until you dismount.

Teleportation for newbies can get expensive if they're the type to explore everything about in an area. Hell, last night on my alt, I was restricting myself to msq and job quest only and I had about 3-5 "mandatory" teleports, each costing over 500 gil. Now, luckily for me, all my created chrs come with 100 teleport tickets so I save those for the costlier teles but I can see how this can drain a newbie's wallet, especially on a preferred world where you unlock more sidequests faster.

Out of curiosity, how many and which quests were those? Over 500 gil per teleport is basically 'porting between the major Eorzean cities; I seem to recall the fee between Gridania and Ul'dah being around 350 gil and between Gridania and Limsa Lominsa just over 600 gil. Teleports internal to a region are in the 100-300 gil range. There's a few points in the storyline where the quests have you hopping all over the world, but for the most part they tend to stick in the same region for a while. Doing job quests at the same time can certainly mix it up though.

Early main scenario quests give around 200 gil per quest (although some relatively simple quests give nothing), and around level 20 it seems to jump to 1000 gil or more. Since there's usually a few main scenario quests plus a bunch of side quests at the same location, it should be easy to earn more than the teleport fee before moving to the next location.

[wereotter]

Ah yes, I forgot to mention this. It would take some reworking of the storyline to allow acquiring mounts earlier.

Chocobo porters also allow renting a chocobo to ride yourself starting from level 10. Details on this seem to be scarce, but I assume you get to ride it until you dismount.

Rented chocobos have a timer to how long you can ride them before the kick you off. But if you know where you're going, you'll have more than enough time to ride a chocobo between Gridania and Ul'Dah. This was especially handy for new players starting in Ul'Dah in Heavensward and ARR since you could use the chocobo to go to Gridania, unlock Conjurer and get protect before the game expected you would have access to it.

Teleportation for newbies can get expensive if they're the type to explore everything about in an area. Hell, last night on my alt, I was restricting myself to msq and job quest only and I had about 3-5 "mandatory" teleports, each costing over 500 gil. Now, luckily for me, all my created chrs come with 100 teleport tickets so I save those for the costlier teles but I can see how this can drain a newbie's wallet, especially on a preferred world where you unlock more sidequests faster.

Teleporting is indeed a real pain for new characters (though I think they expect you to use airships and ferries more at low level) which is why I do wish they'd copy the model of ESO where teleports cost more based off how recently you did your last teleport rather than how far you're going, and for low level players, make it free to teleport from a major aethercyte crystal to another.

It would be nice to get the Chocobo sooner but it's the same amount of gameplay even if the levels are flying by.

The issue with Chocobos right now is the whistle is obtained from your Grand Company which is hard gated behind the MSQ. Maybe they could make it available in Bentbranch Meadows? But then the default barding would have to change.

It feels like doing that would disproportionally benefit players starting in Gridiania, unless you also have to complete the starting city envoy quest... in which case I can also see the issue that several new players might miss getting their chicken. It's nice that the MSQ points you toward that quest as is, and while it would be even nicer if you got it sooner, it's really not that far into the story that you get it.

[SenorPatty]

Ah yes, I forgot to mention this. It would take some reworking of the storyline to allow acquiring mounts earlier.

Chocobo porters also allow renting a chocobo to ride yourself starting from level 10. Details on this seem to be scarce, but I assume you get to ride it until you dismount.


Out of curiosity, how many and which quests were those? Over 500 gil per teleport is basically 'porting between the major Eorzean cities; I seem to recall the fee between Gridania and Ul'dah being around 350 gil and between Gridania and Limsa Lominsa just over 600 gil. Teleports internal to a region are in the 100-300 gil range. There's a few points in the storyline where the quests have you hopping all over the world, but for the most part they tend to stick in the same region for a while. Doing job quests at the same time can certainly mix it up though.

Early main scenario quests give around 200 gil per quest (although some relatively simple quests give nothing), and around level 20 it seems to jump to 1000 gil or more. Since there's usually a few main scenario quests plus a bunch of side quests at the same location, it should be easy to earn more than the teleport fee before moving to the next location.

So the first actual mandatory teleport that could cost you over 500gil, starting from Vesper Bay, is when you get the memorial quest (its part of the choosing your GC story here). Other teleports were not actually mandatory but rather necessities and/or interest points that I highly doubt anyone would ignore (hence the air quotes I put over the word). For example, to unlock the hair styles, you unfortunately have to travel to each state and pick up a package from an npc, then go back to Jandelaine. If you want to unlock your first dances of the game, that's another travel around the states, which once again, depending from where you tele, can get you close to 500. So the pattern becomes that if you're looking to unlock something in the game from early and you're in a preferred world where you level very fast and more unlock quests show up rapidly practically everywhere you turn, you could rack up quite the travel debt, especially if you're a complete newbie and you're trying your hand at just about everything. Like wereotter mentions, there are other venues to diminish those expenses and experienced players playing on alts may use those frequently but I just don't see a new person remembering those or making use of those frequently once they attune to an aetheryte.

[tdb]

So the first actual mandatory teleport that could cost you over 500gil, starting from Vesper Bay, is when you get the memorial quest (its part of the choosing your GC story here). Other teleports were not actually mandatory but rather necessities and/or interest points that I highly doubt anyone would ignore (hence the air quotes I put over the word). For example, to unlock the hair styles, you unfortunately have to travel to each state and pick up a package from an npc, then go back to Jandelaine. If you want to unlock your first dances of the game, that's another travel around the states, which once again, depending from where you tele, can get you close to 500. So the pattern becomes that if you're looking to unlock something in the game from early and you're in a preferred world where you level very fast and more unlock quests show up rapidly practically everywhere you turn, you could rack up quite the travel debt, especially if you're a complete newbie and you're trying your hand at just about everything. Like wereotter mentions, there are other venues to diminish those expenses and experienced players playing on alts may use those frequently but I just don't see a new person remembering those or making use of those frequently once they attune to an aetheryte.

I guess it must be because I'm a penny pincher in game and out, but I always take note of the cheapest ways to do things. For quests asking me to travel between the cities it just felt natural to use the airships with their 120 gil fee. I've even gone as far traveling from Gridania to Ul'dah for free by first going to the Gold Saucer and from there to Ul'dah. I've arranged my free and favorite teleport destinations so that I can get to any major city for no more than 499 gil (though Crystarium is on a 15 minute cooldown because of Return, but that's hardly ever an issue). My typical route to the Doman Enclave is teleport to Kugane (499 gil), take aethernet to Ruby Price (free) and teleport to the Enclave (250-ish gil - cheaper than to do it directly from Kugane because Ruby Sea is closer). This saves me about 250 gil which is an utterly insignificant amount of money compared to how much I own, but I still do it because savings.

Maybe there should be a travel planner which would show the best route to your destination.