Thread: Making the case for a new starting point in 7.0

Originally Posted by Tsumdere

I am not sure what the correct path to take is, but eventually they will have to make an alternate starting point. It is unfeasible now to expect new players to want to wade through 300+ hours of story to get to endgame. Imagine it in 4 more years when it is 500 or 600+ hours of story. It will reach a breaking point where it will be extremely hard to convince new players to try FFXIV, and will likely hurt SE's numbers.

I think it would just be worth to let people skip ARR - EW and hop straight into 7.0 at the appropriate level if they would like. Make it once per account so story and job skips aren't useless (SE would never remove these, so best compromise I can think of). Sure - it would drop unskilled brand new players into dungeons that might be far above beginner skill-level... but that's just normal DF anyways. Could even make a tutorial they have to play first so they understand the basics of the game such as tank stance/common damage markers/limit breaks/etc.

People have always had the option to buy a story skip. This game is designed as a mmo single player game. That is the core game is designed to be enjoyed at your pace solo, with the option of doing it with friends (eventually this will also include dungeon content that currently forces groups).

Its fair to allow for skipping straight to 7.0, and it’s fair to ask for it, but the thing is, this option already exists if people want it.

I’m not against further story pruning to shorten/cut the less important parts of the MSQ (turn into sidequests?), but just because 5 years have past doesn’t make Heavansward any better or worse than it was at launch. A player coming in in 2022 can still enjoy 3.0 in all its glory.