Suggestion - An Alternate Start [Light, Vague 6.1 Spoilers Included]

[M1SF0RTUNE]

Hey all. First post to the forums, so here we go...

A thought hit me today. I have all these friends I've been introducing to the game yet they have to go through so much content just to get to where I am and I don't have the heart to tell them to pay their way through it because there's so much good story content to explore.

Quite a dilemma, I think.

So it got me thinking about something SWTOR did once upon a time that I think we've reached a point in the MSQ where it could be worth exploring:

An Alternative Start

Imagine if you will, a new adventurer of some repute arriving in Sharlayan, perhaps to become a new member of the Students of Baldesion. They're accomplished, but not around Eorzea per se. But they're one of the many gifted with the Echo, and perhaps a unique variation of it.

This "newfound adventurer," if you will, is seeking fame and fortune and perhaps hearing about a certain treasure hunt. He gets acquainted through a tall elven man bearing a lance who says he knows some people who can help with this treasure hunt. The hijinks will ensue, but now you're asking... where's the Warrior of Light?

That's the unique thing about this adventurer's Echo. They can see into the past of the Warrior of Light and witness their many accomplishments across Eorzea, from the humble beginnings to where they are now. The Warrior of Light is busy for sure tackling many problems and going on many adventurers, but this Newfound Adventurer seeks to follow in the WoL's footsteps and help the world in the same way they did, while also learning what feats they have accomplished.

Through this rather tenuous connection to the WoL, they draw the interest of some of the WoL's major associates and they decide it'd be worth including them on their escapades into Eorzea's next chapter.

So what does this mean mechanically? Read onto the next post (that had to get cut from here due to maximum character size) to find out!

[M1SF0RTUNE]

See, we have a New Game+ system, we have an in-world gift called the Echo that an unknown people around the world possess. Why not combine these two in a narrative way, while also letting new players jump right into new content, a new adventure and a new storyline in the wake of Endwalker?

A new player could start right at level 80, maybe 90 at the start of 6.1. They get a fully unique introduction to the world (perhaps like the old City-State starting zones and their unique stories that merge into the MSQ), a bunch of major mechanics in a narrative use of the Hall of the Novice to get them up to speed with major mechanics by this point in the game, and if they wanted to go back and view the old story, they could use this "Echo" as a way of living out those adventures the WoL went on (if they don't feel like referring to the Unending Codex for that information). This way they can go back and check out old content without having ten tons of it rewritten for this new character coming in post-EW. They could also see themselves playing as the WoL almost in an Assassin's Creed "Animus" style of storytelling, where they essentially are puppeteering the WoL in events that are known to happen no matter what. This could also let the Newfound Adventurer envision themselves as the Warrior of Light whenever this echo happens, allowing them to play as their character or use the canon appearance of the WoL as seen in all the FF14 promotional material and intro cinematics.

Certain story threads can be self-contained stories that the Newfound Adventurer can go on and meet people in (such as certain Class storylines), while other ones are indicated as "WoL Echo Storylines" for specific storylines that can tie into the grander narrative (looking at you Dragoon).

I'd imagine a *lot* of side quests, main story quests, and major storylines would be hidden from the world until you go into some "Echo mode" (similar to New Game+) in order to play content the WoL was definitely present for and people recognize them for, so as to not have any moments where, say, the Newfound Adventurer somehow saved a town of people despite having never been there before).

But that's my pitch, I leave the rest of the conversation to the internet.

What do you think?

[redheadturk]

In a word, no. I have been playing since 3.5, I don't want any new characters I roll to not be the WoL. So, I don't want this.

[Lambadelta]

Given that the story seems to be leaning heavily into established characters and knowledge we have about these characters. I don't think a new starting point like you've suggested would be for the best. Also skipping people to such a high level would leave us with many people at higher level content who have no clue how their jobs/classes work while also confused what is going on with the story.

[Aneshda]

Nay if you want to Play a Game, then do something for it. Like Leveling, playing the Game and not skipping all Content.

[Iscah]

I think it's far more likely that they would give one free story skip with game purchases than to go to all the effort of writing a second starting point and constantly having to keep a second version of events in mind for every scene they ever write.

It's already messy enough when they try to adapt the script according to whether or not you've done side content.

[StriderShinryu]

Yoshida did hint that the 6.1 series would potentially be considered as a sort of potential new starting point but given how the story has actually played out I'm not really sure how that would work at all. I doubt we'd see any sort of system that allows a completely fresh start at this point but I'm also not sure how anyone could really just jump in here and have any idea about most of what's going on.

[Seera1024]

No. The players who buy level skips already have a portion who don't bother to do the basic part of learning their class. This would just get worse if players were allowed a free level boost for free.

[M1SF0RTUNE]

Yoshida did hint that the 6.1 series would potentially be considered as a sort of potential new starting point but given how the story has actually played out I'm not really sure how that would work at all. I doubt we'd see any sort of system that allows a completely fresh start at this point but I'm also not sure how anyone could really just jump in here and have any idea about most of what's going on.

This is kinda what I was getting at. We just wrapped up a massive storyline and we're about to start a new one that could be an entry point. Plus it'd be nice to see some new characters getting the spotlight for a change, since we've done quite a lot with the characters we've been with already.

I get the concern about not letting people level through but we're also not taking into account what new players are being asked to do. See, the main issue I find are the post-ARR/Xpc Patches, where there are long stretches of no progress for the player with a lot of segments sprinkled around that are some pretty bad filler (see post-ARR).

Personally I'm of the mind that it's better to let new people get invested into the story from the beginning, but I like the idea of letting new players be able to come into a new story starting in 6.1 and be able to look back on the old story much like how some players look at lore and history and try to uncover things about the Allagans or the War of the Magi, but with the WoL instead.

[M1SF0RTUNE]

In a word, no. I have been playing since 3.5, I don't want any new characters I roll to not be the WoL. So, I don't want this.

I get that concern though, it's a lot of investment to take away from a player becoming the WoL, but if I might propose a counter-argument, isn't it possible a new player progressing through this new storyline could become a new WoL in their own right while hearing legends about the old one and the great feats they've accomplished?

After all, this is the in-lore setup for how the 1.0 players were written and established. Why can't we have something similar at this new point in the story?