The skill progression is atrocious

[Lumberfoot]

I disagree. What mmo does combat better? FFXIV is clearly superior.

Not sure what you mean, I didn't say the combat was bad or that other games does it better.

It takes a few hours of game play to level to 50. If players don't want to invest a few hours into an mmo they should probably find a new genre.

It just took me 4 days to get Dragoon to lvl 50 and that's with the bonuses from having a character at 80, company exp bonus, rested exp etc. That's more than a few hours to me. It takes vastly longer to get past 50 with your first character, especially since you will be stuck doing the post ARR MSQ. Not to mention most skills are locked to HW quests so even if you level up you don't get any new skills till you're done with ARR. And most jobs doesn't get most of their skill until after lvl 50.

[Jandor]

Classes should have the core essentials at 30. Thinking about 10 to 15 abilities that form a 'complete, but very basic' class to use as a base.
A new ability every two to three levels should feel like enough, especially with the pace of early leveling.

Jobs should then work on getting their gauge set up and established by 50, with the 50 to 80 stretch adding neat side-abilities, upgrades and options.

[DPZ2]

Combat is the number one complaint I've seen from new players. They feel it's slow, clunky and boring and never get as far as 50+ to start unlocking oGcD's. First impressions matter a lot.

Yet, somehow, someway, every new player has gone through this to get to the next tier, and the next, for the last 7 years. Many are still playing, many are new and still playing.

First impressions matter a lot, but there are other things about this game that appear to outweigh the leveling combat system, since it isn't the primary reason players continue to play Final Fantasy XIV.

[Lumberfoot]

Yet, somehow, someway, every new player has gone through this to get to the next tier, and the next, for the last 7 years. Many are still playing, many are new and still playing.

First impressions matter a lot, but there are other things about this game that appear to outweigh the leveling combat system, since it isn't the primary reason players continue to play Final Fantasy XIV.

Just because the leveling isn't the primary reason why people play (which it mostly isn't in mmorpgs, its almost always the endgame that determine player retention) and that many have persevered through it doesn't mean it cant or shouldn't be improved.

[tdb]

It takes a few hours of game play to level to 50. If players don't want to invest a few hours into an mmo they should probably find a new genre.

It might be a few hours for someone who already knows the game (especially what gives best exp) and is powerleveling a new job. But I can guarantee you a new player isn't going to do it that fast. I think it took me around two months of calendar time to get my first job to Lv50 back in 3.58 / 4.0, though I also had at least two others to Lv35 by that time (due to free-to-play restrictions and the delivery time of StB preorder). I had played almost 1.5 years by the time I caught up with the MSQ and had all endgame content unlocked. More recently it took about two weeks each to level GNB and DNC from Lv60 to Lv80, mostly by doing daily stuff like roulettes and beast tribes.

[tdb]

Yet, somehow, someway, every new player has gone through this to get to the next tier, and the next, for the last 7 years. Many are still playing, many are new and still playing.

First impressions matter a lot, but there are other things about this game that appear to outweigh the leveling combat system, since it isn't the primary reason players continue to play Final Fantasy XIV.

It's kinda like tolerating the noisy kid sitting next to you in a movie theater because the movie is still good. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be a more enjoyable experience if the kid kept quiet.

[Payadopa]

So if you're out for a combat fix, play GW2. If you want a story fix, play FFXIV.

It's rather silly to expect any single game to be everything you want.

Classic forum response. You dare offer criticism you get told to go play something else. lol You do realise what these forums are for, right?

[Reap00]

Just because the leveling isn't the primary reason why people play (which it mostly isn't in mmorpgs, its almost always the endgame that determine player retention) and that many have persevered through it doesn't mean it cant or shouldn't be improved.

You do realize ffxiv is at its highest sub #'s ever right? I think Yoshi P is doing a fine job of directing the game. You can go play without that burden.

[Lumberfoot]

You do realize ffxiv is at its highest sub #'s ever right? I think Yoshi P is doing a fine job of directing the game. You can go play without that burden.

Yeah I wonder why that is, couldn't have anything to do with people being home because of a certain global event could it?

[LaylaTsarra]

Yeah I wonder why that is, couldn't have anything to do with people being home because of a certain global event could it?

Not really. Sub numbers have been increasing and the player base is growing significantly since xpac. I think that is a pretty well accepted fact. That's not to say that log in queues on many servers are due in part to people being home.