Game difficulty, syncing, minimum ilvl and new players

[Takamorisan]

So regarding new player experience, 5 friends of mine out of the moon decided to play FFXIV they are leaving WoW (Wow who heard this story before huh). I was surprised and happy at the same time, since ARR had to play alone basically but its not the subject of the thread.

Their experience:
They like the pacing of PvE and visual presentation since they used to play old FF games so they have something familiar to be attached with, but they have a universal consensus that the story pacing is a damn slog painful sometimes, wish they condensed everything in a cutscene instead of going to X to Y place and triggering a cutscene.

Wish they offered an option to the player just enjoy combat and if they desire to engage with MSQ they could just pick a Chapter and start from there, that would retain a lot of players that are not much interested in the story side of FFXIV. (Personal note: I loved the story since HW)

Some people get in this game interested in the end game, FFXIV have a reputation with their encounters but the slow pacing of 1 to 80 scare away the new blood.

[TaleraRistain]

Wish they offered an option to the player just enjoy combat and if they desire to engage with MSQ they could just pick a Chapter and start from there, that would retain a lot of players that are not much interested in the story side of FFXIV. (Personal note: I loved the story since HW)

Problem there is, you start legitimizing the idea in a story-based game that someone can ignore the story without facing a consequence in some manner (like they have to do MSQ now and can skip cutscenes but not steps) then you open up the door for their complaining when the story gets attention. And if they whine loud enough, SE will start catering to their perspective. You kill the entire structure that is core of Final Fantasy XIV. It's fine if people want to skip the cutscenes or hurry through dialogue, but we don't want the game to support that mentality.