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

Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Even single player gamers can't get into ARR in its current (pre-addition of Trusts) stage. There's no fun in the combat and the story takes too long to pick up. People just don't care about what's happening in totally-not-generic-starter-village-Gridania or pirate land. They want to fight the empire, and they want to go fight dragons in Ishgard. Also, they want to actually be able to fight and use their abilities, which isn't possible in current ARR instances. This is my opinion as someone who for the most part avoids multiplayer games except this one and FFXI. If the story is floundering and every fight is over in less than a minute, why should I buy your game in order to pay for a skip to when everything actually starts getting good? It's bad business.

An optional skip or Season 2 character creation for 7.0 solves the main barriers to entry: Want a good story? Start at the point where the writers finally figured out what they were doing and abandoned most filler quests/classic mmorpg garbage. Want to play with friends in the more recent (and objectively more engaging) fights? Start at 7.0. A single opportunity to start in Season 2 or to make a character for one would go a long way towards helping the current state of affairs. At any time they can go back and unlock the content they missed out on, maybe even add an in-game guide of questlines/raids not completed yet outside of the new game plus menu that is more obvious and handy.

I dont agree. There have been a raft of new players who enjoy the story of ARR but criticize certain points. It is by no means the best story, but it is decent and holds its own. The later chapters of Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers and Endwalker while they can and do hold on their own, do have a greater impact on those that played the whole narative and those that played only part. The bottom line is that FFXIV is a game built around narritive, sure if you arent interested you can just skip and play the content, but the cost is some of the resonance and hype those fights have because of where they were. Would EW trial 2 be such a powerful moment if it was divorced from the narative? Id say no.

That said, I do think there is a point where the subsequent levels of story make starting out a daunting task. But to look at it another way, it would be akin to skipping The fellowship of the Ring and then not knowing who anyone was and what was going on in the two Towers. Or perhaps skipping until the northern crator scene in FF7? Essentially the story is impactful and has weight by virtue of the path taken to walk there. I dont think skipping is something that should be granted for free. If a person takes the decision to story skip, then that is what the purchasable item is for. It is expensive currently because it essentially offers a poorer experience.

At the end of the day, this is an RPG with MMO aspects, if one doesnt like RPGs and Stories then perhaps, the game will not offer the best experience for them. Looking at ex wow player feedback, it certainly seems the story comes as a plesant surprise. For us veteran players looking back on ARR, of course its going to be a worse experence than current. Its the same as comparing Tales of Arise to Breath of Fire 1 - Breath of Fire 1 will always be a worst experience because its a product of its time. But that is differnet from being an enjoyable or valuable experience.