MMO on rails confirmed!

[Virin]

Don't put me with those grass people. I LOVE the graphics in 2.0

No! Better grass is key to the plan.

[Nuinn]

There's no adventure doing exactly what the game tells you though anyway so you might as well not.

There should be quests and all that crap obviously, but handholding you through everything can get very insufferable very quickly. "Go here" "go here" "go here" "go here". Especially when the quest objectives are barely 100 meters from the quest start.

It's been done very poorly in the past. And SE seem intent on repeating the mistakes of past games, so... you do the math

I didn't know some of the current players already have access to FF X|V ARR and know exactly how things will work! Colour me amazed~!!! :O

[KiriA500]

There's no adventure doing exactly what the game tells you though anyway so you might as well not.

There should be quests and all that crap obviously, but handholding you through everything can get very insufferable very quickly. "Go here" "go here" "go here" "go here". Especially when the quest objectives are barely 100 meters from the quest start.

It's been done very poorly in the past. And SE seem intent on repeating the mistakes of past games, so... you do the math

I know, it was so much better before.

Let's use XI as an example.

Level 1? Go outside any city.
Level 10? Go to Valkurm Dunes.
Level 20? Go to Qufim Island.
Level 30? Go to Yuhtunga Jungle.
Level 40? Go to Crawler's Nest.

Just because the game actually tells you where to go isn't a bad thing. Cryptic gameplay is a thing of the past, get used to it.

[Sephrick]

self-directed gameplay is more interesting than doing what some nobody farmer tells you to for no reason. Maybe you dont want to help him kill 10 marmots or whatever other bullshit.

Open world grinding is not self-directed.

The developer controls mob populations and respawns just the same as the do the number of floating exclamation points.

Choosing between the two or three camps for your exp range is the same as choosing between a handful of quests. You follow the trail the developers want you to and get as much exp per hour as they allow you to.

The thing is, Yoshida has said from the onset that he's making a fan service theme park game. If you go to Disney, they don't tell you you absolutely must ride It's a Small World for seven hours before you can do anything else.

As has been explained to this chicken little many times: yes, mob grinding isn't the most efficient means of gaining exp, but nor is just spamming quests. The devs want people to mix it up and use all sorts of methods to break up the monotony.

[Starlord]

No matter how you shake it Most people don;t wanna be running around with the chicken heads chopped off trying to find X person/place/thing before continuing with quests, its a very huge turn off and people will leave just as quick as they got here.

Quests pointing you in the direction you need to go doesn't stop you from having the best adventure of your life, in fact its no different then " Here's a Treasure map, and X Marks the Spot" the only difference is it's guiding you there. Guiding/non guiding you to places like some of you say doesn't make the game hard! Its the "Quest" itself that makes it hard or not hard, not getting to where you need to get to.

[Rokien]

I know, it was so much better before.

Let's use XI as an example.

Level 1? Go outside any city.
Level 10? Go to Valkurm Dunes.
Level 20? Go to Qufim Island.
Level 30? Go to Yuhtunga Jungle.
Level 40? Go to Crawler's Nest.

Just because the game actually tells you where to go isn't a bad thing. Cryptic gameplay is a thing of the past, get used to it.

You do know that the game didn't tell you where to go, people made that, not SE, PEOPLE found the best areas to leveling not se. PEOPLE EXPLORED not se

[Dawiichan]

You do know that the game didn't tell you where to go, people made that, not SE, PEOPLE found the best areas to leveling not se. PEOPLE EXPLORED not se

Except SE made these areas, and placed monsters in a way to make it a leveling spot. There's a difference between finding the spot, and creating the spot. The only thing SE didn't do is tell you where it was at, but they did form a "clouded path" towards your leveling experience.

[Alhanelem]

Hooray slippery slopes!

[Picoman]

"Bubble of 2003", so you mean every MMO I've played released after it with people using World Chat for gathering people for DPing and so on are just living in 2003?

Nah, I'm talking about having both, he thinks there will no way to make exp parties. I say there will be, judging by the way yoshi-p made his party and killed stuff. Plus the bubble comment was me having a go at him not wanting options/alternative ways to gain exp. idk, it was direceted him, not every single game/player.

[Syris]

Hello again, it's me Rokien! So with Reinheart's translation, my initial worry was correct!

"Yes, when you first reach a area by following the “!” (Exclamation mark) it leads to another ! We are currently making those links."

So.. what would you suggest they do? Keep the current system?

Maybe it would be better if they had an option to do both as the same exp rate, but I don't see a problem with story driven content in the form of quest hubs in a Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy is meant to be story driven and imo leves and mindless grinding don't cut it.

The way levelling was in FFXI and this game is that there are ideal grind spots and camps to level in. You progress from say one zone from level x, and once you hit level z then your going on to the next zone. Rinse and repeat untill you have all your jobs capped out. Is that not the same as content on rails? Sure, you could be a rebel and opt to grind in an unorthodox camp but your exp gain will most likely not be up to par. Currently in FFXIV 45+ is natalan for maximum efficiency or do something else for less exp gain. If they throw in a quest system its the same. Do your quests for maximum exp gain, or do something else for a bit less.

TL;DR FFXIV in it's current state is on rails. For new players these rails are not made obvious and they must often turn to veteran players to understand where to start. Quests should be a welcome addition to what is supposed to be a story driven game.