Am I missing out on anything worth it by taking my time with expansions ?

[Fahad]

Hi Everyone.

Let me preface this by saying I stopped playing the game by the end of 3.0 (2016ish) and came back a couple of months ago (Also I'll have a TL;DR at the bottom).

Since 4.0 was added for free, I have been sinking decent amount of time in the game. but considering I am playing older contents I noticed that I am enjoying it rather comfortably. Im not racing to get to the latest contents, I am actually paying attention to the story, and it is kind of a breeze to play. there are some major pros, and cons i'll try to summarize below:

Pros:

- All patches and story are added: no longer waiting for new content and everything is already there.

- Minimal grind for gear: best gear is already available with Peotics tomes, no weekly lock and grind and I have access to best expansion gear as soon as I hit max.

- Market items and gear are somewhat affordable since no one is seeking older gear and items.


Cons:

- Empty areas: I don't see many players in the areas I am exploring. it is not 100% dead but it is sort of. It doesnt bother me to be honest as it doesnt effect gameplay, and it works for immersion reasons, but socially it is a bit barren.

- Nerfed contents: This one is a mixed bag for me. in one hand I get bored wit story duties and instances since they are too easy and I miss the days where we explain the mechanics to each other before a boss or a trial. it has since gotten too easy and basically following ques of stack and spread with every boss. but also it is limited to story related contents which making moving along with the story a bit easier.

On the other hand, with extreme and savage contents I am having TONS of fun! as expected, those contents are somewhat dead within DF and PF but I found nice groups and discords for people who play all contents synced and MiNE. I have been enjoying the challenge and the learning curve. sure not every content I want to play right now is being played, but eventually there will be a group or static looking for someone for tonight's gaming session and its nice.


I was trying to think of a truly downside for playing a couple of expansions behind, and taking it slow to do everything the expansion has to offer. Honestly I can't think of something worth rushing to 6.0 . and since I am approaching the end of 4.0 I am looking for ShB physical copy so I can play it one expansion at a time.

Now I know Endwalker price is for the whole thing and I will get ShB and there is a sale currently, and also next year when 7.0 drops probably a bundle will be offered as well. but I don't want to be overwhelmed with stuff. I like taking it slow and it enhanced my enjoyment with the game


TL;DR
considering I am happy playing older contents and taking my sweet time, is there a reason worth it to rush to 6.0? am I missing out on anything ? I want to keep playing the game 2-3 expansions behind.

Thank you !

[Rolder50]

Problem is, those cons are cons even if you ARE caught up with content. Areas are empty unless it's patch day, and anything below Extreme is a joke difficulty wise even when it's current content.

Basically the only thing you lose by taking your time is the ability to prog Ex/Savage when it is current content.

[Jeeqbit]

I am enjoying it rather comfortably. Im not racing to get to the latest contents, I am actually paying attention to the story

That is the best way to experience it. The people who feel pressured to get to endgame because of a friend or some other reason, tend to feel like the NPCs are wasting their time and end up skipping dialogue, not reading deeply into the story or soaking it in as much. Because they want it to be over.

The problem with that is the story is trying to take its time as if it's real life. They will send you on little errands, they will ask you to talk to someone to "see how they are feeling", they will ask you rally someone's spirits to make them feel better when they are sad, they will ask you for basic life advice and you have to provide an answer in unskippable cutscenes...

In order to truly enjoy a story like that it just has to be your thing and you have to take your time with it. Because the story will take your time. Soaking in the new environments, enjoying the side quests, if all of that isn't your thing then a lot of the story is probably going over your head.

Back in ARR, when I started, I saw various patches happening in the launcher. I remember the Shiva trial being current. I took my time and I did not even finish the ARR patches until Heavensward had released and then I did not finish Heavensward for a long time either. Although I'd had a break for some months, it was, overall about a year and a half that it took me.

When a new expansion releases I do the MSQ and sidequests all at once and it takes me about 2 weeks or slightly more because I want to take my time compared to the people doing it in 4 days or skipping.

Empty areas

It does feel amazing to be doing the MSQ when everyone else is. But it is more of a con for there to be lots of people. Long queue times in evening hours, inactivity kicks, you can't see all the NPCs to interact with them unless you reduce the character quantity in character configuration, they ruin the immersion since you're meant to be the only one there in the lore, people can say spoilers in shout chat, they can ride the extreme trial mounts which can give away what the trial fights are (for example, I saw the ones for the latest expansion right away in an early MSQ area and it gave things away to me).

Nerfed contents

Most content does not actually get nerfed. Just as gear progresses through an expansion, the content naturally becomes more of a joke and then everyone syncs down to the maximum item level of the expansion, maintaining its status as a joke. Then battle system changes and potency increases make the content even easier.

I miss the days where we explain the mechanics to each other before a boss or a trial. it has since gotten too easy and basically following ques of stack and spread with every boss.

It has largely always been that way, it's just that they did not have the telegraphs. For example, orange stack markers did not used to exist, but they were still stacks. Or tank busters used to exist, but they didn't have the red indicators.

On the other hand, with extreme and savage contents I am having TONS of fun! as expected, those contents are somewhat dead within DF and PF but I found nice groups and discords for people who play all contents synced and MiNE.

That is the biggest issue with taking it slow, actually. Most people only do the high-end duties when they are current. After that, they wait until the mechanics don't matter and unsync them. So you miss out on the challenge if you are not at endgame. Except of course if you do it MINE, which as you will know is just a really small community compared even to the max level raid community.

And a big problem with doing them MINE is it doesn't feel rewarding like it does when it's current, where you actually get worthwhile weapons and where you can't just unsync for the mounts, and farming MINE is a big ask when you are lucky to fill a group for just 1 clear.

since I am approaching the end of 4.0 I am looking for ShB physical copy so I can play it one expansion at a time.

Now I know Endwalker price is for the whole thing and I will get ShB and there is a sale currently, and also next year when 7.0 drops probably a bundle will be offered as well. but I don't want to be overwhelmed with stuff. I like taking it slow and it enhanced my enjoyment with the game

I don't really see the point in paying for older versions of the game that grant less expansions than you could be getting, but you can do what you want.

[Iscah]

Overall, if you want to enjoy the story, then going slow is your best option.

The MSQ will sometimes reference back to side stories you have completed, occasionally in quite important ways. It may affect things that other characters say, additional dialogue choices for your own characters, and in recent patches it has even occasionally affected characters being present or absent in cutscenes.

By doing side content as you go, you are getting the most canon version of the story.

since I am approaching the end of 4.0 I am looking for ShB physical copy so I can play it one expansion at a time.

I don't think there's much benefit to doing this, because the game already gates everything by your MSQ progress. You won't see any 5.0 elements (with the possible exception of the "Heavensward epilogue" quests added in Ishgard in 5.X) until you've completely finished 4.X. Then you won't see any 6.0 content until you've finished 5.X.

[Hasrat]

Nah, I totally get the sentiment of sticking with one expansion at a time. What you gain by that is retaining expansion level cap, which makes the content at that level cap feel more rewarding.

When I first started, I absolutely loved having just the base game and being capped at 50, dabbling in a little bit of everything you can dip into. There's a sense of pride knowing you're the "weak link" that seems to know/understand Coils fights better than the 60s joining to unsync. There's a sense of accomplishment in crafting gear/items at-level instead of blitzing to cap to make everything easy. And there's just generally a sense of containment, knowing you can actually do all the little side things and take your time without overleveling. In a way, you still get to experience the expansion's "end game" without having it impact progression beyond that expansion.

[Jojoya]

Play as fast or as slow as you want. Content will still be there when you're ready for it.

[Minarisweet]

Hi Everyone.

Let me preface this by saying I stopped playing the game by the end of 3.0 (2016ish) and came back a couple of months ago (Also I'll have a TL;DR at the bottom).

Since 4.0 was added for free, I have been sinking decent amount of time in the game. but considering I am playing older contents I noticed that I am enjoying it rather comfortably. Im not racing to get to the latest contents, I am actually paying attention to the story, and it is kind of a breeze to play. there are some major pros, and cons i'll try to summarize below:

Pros:

- All patches and story are added: no longer waiting for new content and everything is already there.

- Minimal grind for gear: best gear is already available with Peotics tomes, no weekly lock and grind and I have access to best expansion gear as soon as I hit max.

- Market items and gear are somewhat affordable since no one is seeking older gear and items.


Cons:

- Empty areas: I don't see many players in the areas I am exploring. it is not 100% dead but it is sort of. It doesnt bother me to be honest as it doesnt effect gameplay, and it works for immersion reasons, but socially it is a bit barren.

- Nerfed contents: This one is a mixed bag for me. in one hand I get bored wit story duties and instances since they are too easy and I miss the days where we explain the mechanics to each other before a boss or a trial. it has since gotten too easy and basically following ques of stack and spread with every boss. but also it is limited to story related contents which making moving along with the story a bit easier.

On the other hand, with extreme and savage contents I am having TONS of fun! as expected, those contents are somewhat dead within DF and PF but I found nice groups and discords for people who play all contents synced and MiNE. I have been enjoying the challenge and the learning curve. sure not every content I want to play right now is being played, but eventually there will be a group or static looking for someone for tonight's gaming session and its nice.


I was trying to think of a truly downside for playing a couple of expansions behind, and taking it slow to do everything the expansion has to offer. Honestly I can't think of something worth rushing to 6.0 . and since I am approaching the end of 4.0 I am looking for ShB physical copy so I can play it one expansion at a time.

Now I know Endwalker price is for the whole thing and I will get ShB and there is a sale currently, and also next year when 7.0 drops probably a bundle will be offered as well. but I don't want to be overwhelmed with stuff. I like taking it slow and it enhanced my enjoyment with the game


TL;DR
considering I am happy playing older contents and taking my sweet time, is there a reason worth it to rush to 6.0? am I missing out on anything ? I want to keep playing the game 2-3 expansions behind.

Thank you !

Savage raids being relevant but its not that big of a deal honestly.

[kaynide]

If you are playing the game for the main story, you should play at your own pace. I would even go so far as to say "Sub when the game expac is new, play til you finish it then unsub until right before the next expac launches".

Basically you could do everything the game has to offer in terms of story of the post main expac (read: everything in the x.1-x.55 patch series not counting the grindy bits like relics) in like.. a month.

It's not really worth keeping a sub during the longer content drought parts of an expac unless you do stuff w/ friends or otherwise "make your own fun".

imho SE should really consider investing enough staff to be able to have 2 teams working on the game with an expac every year...but that's folly at this point.

[lennit]

take you time and enjoy every bit the game has to offer you , there's no rush , by the time you get to endgame, getting gear to do the duty/raid is not hard to get. at the endgame you just need to get a crafted set off the market board or get a friend to craft one and you can get in the first raids easy. so there no need to rush. some players only rush so they can play with there high level friends, and they miss a lot of content. i tell my friend to get on a lower class and play with me, and you can enjoy the game at your own pace

[Payadopa]

Unless you care about raiding it's not worth rushing through everything.