The expansion on the horizon

[Cleretic]

Yeah, this is a 'solution' that assumes that the problem is just 'numbers too big'. That's a fundamental misunderstanding of everything about it, and ignoring what Yoshi-P actually said, which is that continuing to just up the level cap feels lazy.

Basically, they absolutely could just keep going 'next expansion increases the level cap by ten', and nobody would actually have any significant problems with that because it's not like 'level 100' is some hardline mechanical wall they can't overcome. The actual situation is just that they don't think doing that is as interesting as finding more unique ways to progress, and just see level 100 as a natural point to draw the line and say 'this is where leveling stops and we get creative'.

Essentially, the problem with a level squish is that it assumes that everything that must be sacrificed and done to make a level squish happen is an acceptable cost for solving what nobody actually thinks is a problem. Yuella, would you actually feel all that strongly if 8.0 rolled around and they went 'the level cap is now 110'? Or would you just shrug and keep going because that's not actually a big deal?

[Zero-ELEC]

They just need to adjust the numbers. Not that hard.

Rebalancing an entire game and four entire expansions is not a simple task. It would be a lot of effort and would require revamping and rethinking the entirety of the game content. It's a frankly inane ask for actual no reasons.

[kaynide]

They just need to adjust the numbers. Not that hard.

The only real reason to re-balance anything is if there is intent for future expansions to be new "starting points" where they can be played out of order, or if they see fewer and fewer people playing multiple roles at cap due to the sheer commitment to max level a job from square 1.

They more or less have answered the 2nd problem by having the job-specific and role quests which more or less quickly get 1 of each role to max level. They could always expand or boost job/role XP to make that even easier.

Unless they're planning to allow a more free-form game type (which I would like but don't think will happen), there really isn't any reason NOT to just keep doing +10 levels per expac.

[Iscah]

The only real reason to re-balance anything is if there is intent for future expansions to be new "starting points" where they can be played out of order [...]

I hope they never switch to that system, because it would necessitate all ongoing story arcs to grind to a halt. You couldn't have any of the same characters appear across multiple expansions unless they remain forever locked in their same status and never getting personal growth.

I firmly believe that the best way to handle "late entries" in this story format is to simply give a voucher for a story and job skip along with the purchase of future expansions. Write 7.0 to be a good entry point where people won't be too confused if they start playing at that point in the story, but don't try to disguise the fact that they've come in late and their character is already acquainted with a whole cast of people that they-the-player won't get a personal introduction to.

[kaynide]

I hope they never switch to that system, because it would necessitate all ongoing story arcs to grind to a halt. You couldn't have any of the same characters appear across multiple expansions unless they remain forever locked in their same status and never getting personal growth.

I firmly believe that the best way to handle "late entries" in this story format is to simply give a voucher for a story and job skip along with the purchase of future expansions. Write 7.0 to be a good entry point where people won't be too confused if they start playing at that point in the story, but don't try to disguise the fact that they've come in late and their character is already acquainted with a whole cast of people that they-the-player won't get a personal introduction to.

It has been done to some degree of success in other games, but largely I agree it just isn’t the formula FFXIV has set for itself, or what players expect out of the game by this point.

[Denishia]

The set linear nature of XIV was one of its key drawing points to me, and how well it keeps story, setting, and characters relevant instead of dumping them for the next expansion has kept my interest as a fan. I like having one jumping on point for a game or narrative (one of the reasons why I own mostly manga and the majority of my DC comics are the limited Elseworld series). Some of the weaker ARR moments are because they had to juggle the two starting points of 1.0 and 2.0 and keep the story coherent. That ARR was so successful is something I doubt can be replicated after four/five expansions. Until the length is proven to be insurmountable for new players jumping into the game, a level squish for the sake of imitating other games would be weakening a core appeal. I’m sure internal metrics will be tracking that in 7.0