I am extremely concerned about this

[Asari5]

there are a lot of player thoug who were like 'doing quests? i hate that, i would rather skip'
and after doing the story for a bit they start enjoying it. its not because arr is slow but because people arent used to it.
of course there are always the people who cant get used to it, but those other people will miss out on it

and yes there already are too many people who dont use aoe and mitigation in higher lvl dungeons. people who need 100 dungeons to get used to pulling two groups at once and more ... do we really need more of these players?

[caffe_macchiato]

Curious. Haven't people been going on ad nauseum about how the story is the best part of FFXIV and the main reason to play this game? Yet as soon as Yoshi-P starts endorsing a free skip, people defend him and call those who back the story trolls? Something's not right here. Is he the Second Coming? Why play this game at all if the story is skippable?

They should abridge the story to be 50 hours prior to 7.0 like any other RPG. But as I'm not Yoshi-P, I'm sure that idea would be criticized for not coming from His Highness. As well as all of you who "cry" during every cutscene of this game. Alternately, Square Enix can do like it did fifteen other times and make a sequel, but that would essentially be a story skip too.

Lastly, it's nice seeing how it took no time at all for WoW to be brought up because this skip feature is associated with WoW. You know that FFXIV is a WoW clone, right?

[CaptainLagbeard]

With Endwalker the whole big story arc that's been ongoing since at least 2.0, probably even from 1.x days, was finally finished and with Dawntrail we're supposed to be starting onto a new major story arc. I don't see why they couldn't look into making it as an optional new onboarding point new players.

The problem really is the hundreds of hours of cutscenes and thousands of quests containing important lore that might just leave a new player confused if they know nothing about it. Anyone who hasn't gone through the MSQ probably would have very limited idea of who any of the Scions are and why they circle around the WoL.

[Saraide]

Yea roulettes and DT dungeons would be a nightmare but I think the main problem there is between keyboard and chair. The game isnt rocket surgery, if someone wants to learn from scratch they can easily do so. There will still be tons of rotational errors but the fundamentals are very easy to grasp.

I find the concerns about other people skipping story and then not knowing what happens very weak. It's their decisions to skip. Not knowing what happens in the story because of skipping is the obvious consequence. You dont need to be a long time ff14 player to know this. Even if they do end up regretting the skip that's their problem to deal with. Shouldnt have skipped then.

[Jojoya]

1. Nothing in what he said indicated anyone would be getting 3 expansions for free. They're still going to have to purchase the base game plus Dawntrail.

True they wouldn't have to pay for the story skip but suspect I SE would follow Blizzard's lead and restrict it to one character per expansion purchase.

If SE chooses to implement the new starting point for MSQ, no one is going to be jumping straight into end game anymore than they already are with a story skip. It wouldn't be implemented until Dawntrail and at that point endgame becomes the new raid and trials from 7.0, not 6.1. Those players are going to have to do not just the 7.0 MSQ but the 6.1 to 6.5 MSQ as well.

2. That problem already exists and quite honestly, I don't think there's any way to prevent it short of having some sort of "Proving Grounds" type content.

It's also not insulting to the rest of us. The only ones that will feel insulted are those looking for reasons to feel victimized. The MMORPG industry is way past the point of no return when it comes to level skips. Even WoW's system for training players who are purchasing level skips is near useless. It comes down to the same thing that we're discussed in other topics about player skill - you will never be able to force someone to put in extra effort or learn if they are not interested in doing so.

3. Okay, no problem. SE can change the starting point from 6.1 to 6.55. Problem solved.

No one needs to play through Heavensward to follow what happens in the 6.1-6.5 MSQ anymore than we need to have played through 1.0-1.13 to understand what happens in 2.0. They miss out on the fine detail behind some of the things mentioned but it doesn't make the story gibberish.

As YoshiP says, there can be some sort of message strongly suggesting that the player start with ARR instead of taking advantage of the level skip. In the end, it's up to the player. Many players have zero interest in story, coming from other games with some pretty bad story telling, just to discover they want to know what's going on in this one. Let them discover for themselves if they want to know the story or not. We've got plenty of players with no interest in it as it is, why only penalize the new player?

[Iscah]

Admittedly a much smaller scale, but they made it work with all the players who didn't complete 1.0.

I think it could work. The Hydaelyn/Zodiark story is pretty much done with (I'm sure the 4 outstanding Convocation members will show up at some point). They can start a new story with 7.0 and just adjust dialog like they did with the 1.0 WOL for all the people who aren't the 1.0 WOL.

I do question 6.1 as a starting point though. I did enjoy 6.x's story, but even though it's not something major to the story, I feel like Zero's backstory as Zeno's familiar will be tough to explain.

Nothing Yoshida has said on the matter suggests that a jump to 6.1 (if implemented) would involve an ARR-style alternate narrative if you didn't play the preceding storyline.

Additionally, unless starting in such a way would also lock people out of accessing NG+, it would cause a narrative mess if someone started to go back and play those quests if they're not supposed to be part of their character's backstory.

It's not at all the same situation as 1.0 where everyone is equally and permanently barred off from ever accessing it again, and with a relatively small amount of story lost.

I expect and hope that any potential "story skip" is exactly that – a skip and not an erasure of the past games' storylines, no different functionally from the story skips sold in the online store.

[Jeeqbit]

is kinda a kick in the teeth to those who had to pay for it and grind through it.

Not a good point, because this happens all the time. I had to "grind through extreme trials" to get the mount just for people to unsync it effortlessly years later or get it via mogtomes. I had to fight through challenging savage mechanics just for people to solo them years later. I had to spend weeks doing beast tribe quests just for people to get a few mogtomes for the mount. It is what it is. That's how the game has been for the last 10 years so it's nothing new really.

2. and this is my strongest point. its not about msq, its about the things u learn through the msq. u learn ur job, and basic mecanics. jumping right into 6.1 is going to birth an insane amount of "skippers" who know literally nothing about the game, its core mecanics and thats going to be reflected in your roulettes.

Although that is true, they can (and probably will) cross that road when they come to it, such as making a 6.1 version of Hall of the Novice that teaches all the basic mechanics seen up to 6.1. It could be in the form of a Sharlayan lecture in a classroom, or a practical test in the rocky mountains of Thavnair by the striking dummies.

I think it's a good point but they will most likely notice it being a major problem, if they don't account for it initially.

tanks who are sprouts but on the same level dng as you with nowhere near the experience you do. Healers completly overwhelmed by the sheer number of buttons.

Honestly though, some people already skip; some people pickup GNB and enter a level 60 dungeon not knowing the first thing about tanking; people already get overwhelmed by the amount of buttons when unlocking higher levels jobs like Sage or Reaper, and I've had plenty of people say how overwhelmed they are even at low levels because although most of the low-level abilities are barely used (like role actions), to a sprout they still look overwhelming/confusing on some jobs.

core gameplay experiences like Grand company ect.

Although it's true they may not know what a Grand Company is due to this, there are likely many people that don't rank it up at all anyway until they have to for hunts or other reasons.

a player skipping the expansions is going to also find the amount of "backwards" content daunting.

They already do because many just do the MSQ and skip the normal raid and side trial stories.

3. starting from 6.1 is an even worse idea than ARR. the story in 6.1 is GARBAGE and also doesnt make sense to anybody who didnt play half of heavensward and ARR (tlaking about void lore)

True. They would need some sort of introduction to the void first, such as being required to do Amdapor Keep.

removing all this content will further send messages that give the wrong idea. wanting to buy a game and just not engaging with 80% of it.. whats the point

They would have the option to start from the beginning. Plus, New Game+ exists to still go through the story from the beginning without preventing their access to end game content.

[Kaurhz]

The reality is - For as good as the MSQ is lauded to be -- and as core to the game as people believe it is -- Ultimately the length of the MSQ is bordering far too close to unmanageable.

People could very well view it as the best story in all of existence if they want to - But none of that matters, literally none of it matters if many players quit before they actually get to the stages where the MSQ is actually good, or if they quit because they essentially need to burn through 400 hours of story, before they are able to do the stuff they want to do.

I think the only thing I would change, and granted I know they won't -- But create different points in the game where players can decide to skip to, rather than the only choice essentially being 6.1 or 6.55 or whatever.

[sindriiisgaming]

You're like one of those people that goes out of their way to be unhappy about something.

1. I fail to see the issue with this since you can already buy skips on the store. Just because someone can skip previous expansions doesn't trivialize the fun I had in the past.

2. Honestly they need to release an updated Hall of the Novice that teaches you what the various symbols that frequently show up in encounters mean as well as a quick play guide for a high level job. This is one of my gripes with the release of new jobs as you're given 20+ abilities and need to figure out what they all do and how it all fits together before being thrown into a solo duty.

3. It's an option, unlike WoW. If someone wants to play FF14 for the story they're not going to use the skip to jump to patch 6.1. WoW's story already stopped making sense when they wiped out all the vanilla content with Cataclysm, resulting in new players doing quests dealing with the aftermath of the fall of The Burning Legion and The Lich King, and then leveling through two expansions where suddenly those enemies are alive and well. FF14 keeps all its old story available (aside from trimming some of ARR).

You can story skip on the store yes. And even buy a road to 80 book. But it's paid for to deter you from doing so. Also players who skip jobs like whm stick out like a sore thumb. God just the other day I had 1 in the last stb dungeon and they had no idea about regen/cure3 or medica 2. You could also tell because they were in full tome gear and accessories. We shouldn't keep encouraging this as it will have a detrimental effect on player skill level ... and honestly. After having done my 2k grind.. its already shockingly bad

[sindriiisgaming]

The reality is - For as good as the MSQ is lauded to be -- and as core to the game as people believe it is -- Ultimately the length of the MSQ is bordering far too close to unmanageable.

People could very well view it as the best story in all of existence if they want to - But none of that matters, literally none of it matters if many players quit before they actually get to the stages where the MSQ is actually good, or if they quit because they essentially need to burn through 400 hours of story, before they are able to do the stuff they want to do.

I think the only thing I would change, and granted I know they won't -- But create different points in the game where players can decide to skip to, rather than the only choice essentially being 6.1 or 6.55 or whatever.

Right now ppl can skip cutscenes, but not dungeons. So they still learn the basics of everything. They can go from low level 15 healer/tank to 80 healer through the game and still grasp the core gameplay mecanics. Which continue to intensify as the level bumps up. A full skip of 90 levels would be completely overwhelming to most new players. If u want to sell an expansion to new ppl make the new jobs start at level 1. Most ppl are already overwhelmed by there level 70/80 kits