In terms of spoilers, how much do minions actually have an effect on newer players?

[WantlessYoYo]

It's been said a bunch of times how they don't do(or not yet) some minions due to them being walking spoilers, to the point of changing their names to avoid even further this(Comes to mind Emet as Solus, or more recently Hythlodaeus and old Emet as Philos and Aidoneus)

But was talking it with a friend i was like, how much do they really have an impact on a new player(that for the sake of the argument wants and goes deep into the story)

Like, it reaches the extent of one time seeing a person who called an Ardbert cosplayer on a lvl 50 trial, a spoiler since it could spoiler ARR people but like, same as minions, a person who doesn't know a character that can or cannot have an impact lately will juts totally be ignorant without ruining the experience, or at least that's my thought

So, what you guys think?

[Jeeqbit]

It may not be a spoiler right at that moment, but... you can remember what you saw.

Later, when it's relevant, it may allow you to join the dots before you're meant to, and figure out a plot point ahead of time.

My memory is very good, so if I suspected, even slightly that a plot point might happen, I'll draw upon past things I've seen, such as mounts and minions, and view it as likely confirmation.

This happened for me with Endwalker. Although it was pretty obvious we were likely to fight certain bosses, it wasn't necessarily guaranteed. The story skippers flying the mounts around in MSQ areas in the first few days kinda gave it away...

[Oizen]

It's been said a bunch of times how they don't do(or not yet) some minions due to them being walking spoilers, to the point of changing their names to avoid even further this(Comes to mind Emet as Solus, or more recently Hythlodaeus and old Emet as Philos and Aidoneus)

But was talking it with a friend i was like, how much do they really have an impact on a new player(that for the sake of the argument wants and goes deep into the story)

Like, it reaches the extent of one time seeing a person who called an Ardbert cosplayer on a lvl 50 trial, a spoiler since it could spoiler ARR people but like, same as minions, a person who doesn't know a character that can or cannot have an impact lately will juts totally be ignorant without ruining the experience, or at least that's my thought

So, what you guys think?

Complete non-issue. The existence of characters isn't really something that can be spoiled.
For the Clockwork Solus minion, Nothing about it even says its Emet Selch, its description is written entirely as it being a historical figure for Garlemald's past. A new player is going to see a funny european lookin man with skunk hair, think nothing of it then move on. They're not going to go "IS THAT THE SECRET FINAL BOSS OF SHADOWBRINGERS???". Thats just people getting offended for others, the usual toxic positivity you can expect from the FFXIV community.

As for the Ardbert Cosplayer, whoever called that person out is just wants attention.. Especially when you realize Ardbert's design is quite literally in end of 1.0 cutscene. And has been used in a lot of other promotional material. Hell I'm pretty sure this cinematic plays in game before you even start it if you just have ARR.

[NekoMataMata]

I mean the internet is filled with spoilers for everything.

Reminds me of a certain character cosplayer on Dynamis getting harassed for showing up to midgame trials to help out.

[Jeeqbit]

What about Erichthonios, Athena? These could give the impression you meet Ascians that are more casually dressed than the hooded ones you meet throughout most of the game.

What about Estinien? The later versions of him suggest he does not die in Heavensward. The same can be said of many of the Scions, such as Y'shtola, with the new gear that suggests they don't die in ARR or Heavensward if someone early in the game sees these minions.

But anyway, this is not a big problem because most veteran players aren't hanging around in older MSQ areas and the ones that keep minions out are usually using a "cute" or "scary" one rather than a scion of all things. It's also easy to disable minion nameplates and player titles and I would recommend this.

[StarRosie]

I'd say it is heavily dependent on two things. Context and the minion itself. Lets say someone just got through the end of post patch ARR and is going into Heavensward. To them, Y'shtola is very likely dead. But if someone rolled by with say the Brave New Y'shtola minion? That would likely inform them that Y'shtola is alive or will be back somehow. Or say you have someone in the ShB portion of the story but hasn't beaten Crown of the Immaculate and the true identity of the Exarch hasn't been revealed to them, but they see someone stroll by with Wind-up Mystel? Well...it looks like G'raha and is wearing the Exarch's robes...ah, I guess they know who the Exarch is now. But, I will also say that people shouldn't be harassed for this sort of stuff, nor should they be expected to not use what could be their favorite minion to prevent spoilers.

As for things like Primal or Boss minions...well that is also context and the minion itself. If the person knows nothing of FF and is just playing XIV cause their friends do and they see ya stroll by with Wind-up Kefka...they don't know who Kefka is, so it is a none issue to them. But if it the player is experienced with FF and sees Wind-up Kefka? They will likely thing "Well, Kefka is a really popular FF villain, so it'd make sense he'd have a minion." But that could also lead to them googling how to get it and spoiling themselves, but at that point it is their fault. Not the player rolling around with Kefka behind them.

All and all, it just depends. Personally I don't use a few minions around friends, because I don't want to spoil things for them. Same for some music rolls. I have the Zeromus fight theme, never play it in my house cause one of my friends who is in patch MSQ for ShB is a HUGE FF fan and would instantly recognize the theme. And I genuinely want Zeromus to be a surprise for them. In the end though, it is up to the individual on if they care or not, and they shouldn't be harassed for it.

[Commander_Justitia]

As for things like Primal or Boss minions...well that is also context and the minion itself. If the person knows nothing of FF and is just playing XIV cause their friends do and they see ya stroll by with Wind-up Kefka...they don't know who Kefka is, so it is a none issue to them. But if it the player is experienced with FF and sees Wind-up Kefka? They will likely thing "Well, Kefka is a really popular FF villain, so it'd make sense he'd have a minion." But that could also lead to them googling how to get it and spoiling themselves, but at that point it is their fault. Not the player rolling around with Kefka behind them.

The moment you see the minion, you can assume there will be a fight with them tbh.

I played FFX and saw Magus Trio and Anima as minion, before I even saw the dungeon. Was kinda spoiled. I think worse spoiler are in the Exploration tab for dungeon map unlocks as well as Battle category. You can also look at housing items innocently and see Alexander, Niddhog and Innocence blades "victory over the greatest of the Lightwarden" as description.

[Avoidy]

I really don't think it's that bad. Is there potential for spoilers? Sure. But it's the sort of thing that (for most people, like 95% of people) is only obvious in hindsight. It's sort of like those Jojos OPs that technically give away a LOT, but if you don't really know what you're looking for, then you won't know that what you're seeing is a spoiler until your seasoned jojos friend who read the manga starts screaming about how you're watching spoilers.

Maybe worst case scenario, the devs turn the "display minion name" option off by default until the player targets it, but honestly whatever. Anecdotal, but I've never seen an actual sprout complain about a minion or an outfit or a mount spoiling the game for him, but I have seen a handful of people who're done with the story discussing the possibility of it. When EW dropped and people were wearing that one robed outfit with the mask (if you know you know) there was a thread on here by someone who'd already arrived at that point, basically crying about how that outfit would spoil the game for new players. Except here's the thing: new players hadn't asked about it and didn't seem to care. In fact, their thread detailing that "X IS A SPOILER" did more to spoil it than simply letting people exist with a certain robe and not mentioning it at all. Plenty of MMOs just hand out fanservicey storystuff all the time, so most people wouldn't look at something like that and assume it means we go to meet [redacted] until you flat out tell them that in a "BEWARE OF SPOILERY OUTFITS" thread.

[StarRosie]

The moment you see the minion, you can assume there will be a fight with them tbh.

Eeehhh, I guess? But I don't think everyone would immediately jump to Wind-up Kefa = We gonna fight Kefka. Especially not a new player. Or more likely not a new player. Cause nothing is absolute. But we also can't control everyone to not use things like Wind-up Mystel or OMG. All we can do is control ourselves and decide if we want to use those minions or not. Play those songs or not. Put up those furnishings or not. That's the best we can do, cause the other option is harassing folks to not put up or use spoilery things. Cause SE isn't gonna put a 'hide all spoilery things' option. Cause...you then have to ask what is spoilery? And how do you hide it? If someone gets on Model O, does it just not display Model O? Again, all we can do is account for ourselves. Cause the alternative is not something I particularly approve of.

[TaleraRistain]

I generally won't use newer mounts and minions related to story right away but that's a personal choice. I like that thrill of discovery and I don't want to take that away from someone either new or just not at that point in the story so I tend to hold to the same sort of timeline spoiler bans usually go of about two weeks. That gives weekend players a couple weekends to get story in.