How would you design a new player start expansion?

[XtremePrime]

A random idea popped into my head recently and I wanted to open the discussion for this!

What if the writing team does go ahead with our WoL exploring a new shard or a new world, that could be perfectly window to create a new spot for players to jump in the story!
The reason I picked shard is because maybe it could be made so that our WoL reaches this new shard but finds themselves stripped of rank/title/blessings (even temporarily) which could put us on an equal footing with a new adventurer who starts at the same locations as the WoL would arrive, similar to players that transferred from 1.0! It could be different dialogues based on how you got there (started there or arrived).

My solution might not be perfect or even what you have in mind, but I'd love to hear your fun ideas!

Throwing this back at you guys, if you had complete freedom to design the next expansion to be a new starting point for new players, how would you make it? (regardless of what info we have right now on 8.0)

[Shistar]

Oooh I love this idea! Thanks for starting the thread!

Here's my take on it, just for fun! Very loose points since I sadly don't have time to sit here and write all day, as much as I'd love to.

The Warrior of Light is at some point in the MSQ where a clear major goal hasn't been defined yet (Let's take the Alzadaal mini arc as an example, but not necessarily where I'd place my idea at all) - you're just out there, you find something that might be cool (a treasure map, a rumor at a local tavern, a relic with an inscription or a magical voice, you name it) so you follow its trail to see where it leads you!


This leads into an early dungeon unlock instead of leaving it for the mid to end of the tie-in patch. My idea actually begins in a X.5 Part 2 instead of the expansion itself as a way to provide some context for new players (you are a veteran adventurer and you're out on a sidequest of sorts) without having to be an extended cutscene where people just stand there awkwardly or do the same 5 recycled animations.


The dungeon ends in a cliffhanger cutscene where you get yourself into an ambush, trap or an NPC you met along the way turns out to be Not The Nicest Guy Around, and you basically either get sucked in by a portal or the good ol' sack on your head and taken somewhere you don't know. All your fancy weapons and things are taken from you and the goal is clear: Find anything that qualifies as a weapon and bring hell to those that stole from you (and get your stuff back, obviously). The new jobs can be quickly picked up in this area or you can stick with your preferred class and your WoL can materialize an aetheric weapon like the Padjali ones, but a new design preferably. These weapons can be unlocked for glam later on, but you have better things to do right now.


So it neatly leads you into areas you don't know at all, the WoL is just as confused as you are and you rely on worldbuilding, NPCs and exploration to find clues on where you might even be. You don't know who to trust so some NPCs could straight up lie to you to throw you for a loop or try to fight you on sight - you will later on find out you are somewhere in one of the recently liberated provinces formally under Garlean rule and they've trapped you with an elaborate plan to use you against Garlemald, Eorzea, both, who knows? They're not going to explain their reasons to you, they're using you!


You're thrust into this difficult situation (you could kill them, but doing so would strike the next biggest war in Etheyris, potentially setting up the next Umbral era if you're not careful - but you'd like to return home in one piece!) where you meet all sorts of people, from commoners to the highest powers, stuck in this complex war of interests. As the WoL, you will use your experience as a veteran adventurer to strike new alliances with those who are willing to hear you out before they kill you and bring your hide to their boss. You will have to prove yourself like you did in ARR but you will be treated with the due hostility/waryness as someone whose reputation is less than stellar from Garlemald's perspective.With this new group of people, you try to make your way to the core of the problem while trying to make contact with anyone who may be out there looking for you (Scions or relevant NPCs for the area), sometimes making progress but sometimes also failing, adding tension. You're strong, but everyone is against you and you have precious little people you can rely on, and you have good reason not to turn all Murder Machine on them, because you will find out clues about the various reasons you're here early into the expansion and slowly find more details as you go (stuff like wanting to use you to gain advantage over other powers such as Eorzea, trying to use you as a weapon against Garlemald if they were to try to lead another conquest into their territory, perhaps they also want your skills to fix problems inside the nation itself, or more personal reasons tied to the ruler of the region)


Also, I just want a nice classic fantasy setting, preferably with a kingdom and court and stuff. We have so many but they're all a thing of the (far) past or basically useless. I want a cool, drama-filled story where you have all the reasons not to use your OP powers, realistic struggles born from the current state of Garlemald (and maybe a chance to redeem the rushed nature of that arc in EW) and just gimme a pretty princess we can all agree must be protected at all costs. Speeeeeeeen but more likeable lmao

[Myotis]

New players would be able to start the newest MSQ with Lv1 to balance this with the old players they would start with Lv1 as-well yet it would be a {blue colored} level.

Previous level cap would be a legacy achievment and still used in previous dungeons and so on.

Someone could say it could create a disbalance but to make it happen SE would actually need to re-balance each of the class so it's fun to play and downside of the button bloat on high levels and high level number itself it's that at some point it all will create this very issue we face right now.

So mine solution is old levels are legacy levels and new players cap at 50 where whole content is re-balanced towards that new level 50. ( whatever the number of legacy will be displayed for the old players.)

[Yeonhee]

New players would be able to start the newest MSQ with Lv1 to balance this with the old players they would start with Lv1 as-well yet it would be a {blue colored} level.

Previous level cap would be a legacy achievment and still used in previous dungeons and so on.

Someone could say it could create a disbalance but to make it happen SE would actually need to re-balance each of the class so it's fun to play and downside of the button bloat on high levels and high level number itself it's that at some point it all will create this very issue we face right now.

So mine solution is old levels are legacy levels and new players cap at 50 where whole content is re-balanced towards that new level 50. ( whatever the number of legacy will be displayed for the old players.)

I feel like doing a full level reset will just cause a pretty big backlash from veteran players and make a lot of them quit. Personally, I have all but one jobs at max level, if the next expac everything goes back to 1 and I have to gain 50 new levels on all of them, I would more than likely stop playing. If they do the same with crafters and gatherers, it's even more people that are likely gonna say "fuck that"

[Azurarok]

Think a sort of level reset in another shard's the only real way they could make it work, given how well-known and powerful the WoL is in the source at this point. Wake them up in another shard with amnesia (on a chocobo-like carriage if we're feeling daring) or just put the player in the perspective of another shard of Azem while the WoL's out in a coma or something.

Start players off with new versions of all jobs with refreshed kits from then on, while allowing their lv100 versions to be used in past content so the devs don't have to guarantee their viability in old hard content.

[Catwho]

Think a sort of level reset in another shard's the only real way they could make it work, given how well-known and powerful the WoL is in the source at this point. Wake them up in another shard with amnesia (on a chocobo-like carriage if we're feeling daring) or just put the player in the perspective of another shard of Azem while the WoL's out in a coma or something.

Start players off with new versions of all jobs with refreshed kits from then on, while allowing their lv100 versions to be used in past content so the devs don't have to guarantee their viability in old hard content.

I thought of the amnesia idea as well. I think it might be possible, given that the people of Solution 9 are masters at manipulating memory (especially Calix), and it would be an easy way of getting rid of the WoL while they do their nefarious deeds.

And it'd work perfectly on another shard if you get mistaken for that shard's Azem. The NPCs will treat you like you have amnesia, and you're stripped of everyone you know from the Source.

MSQ could start out at level 1 in the new areas for everyone, but unlike the ARR tutorial, you've already got all the features of the game unlocked if you load in a level 100 character.

Players who already have level 100 on their character are quest synced at level 100. And the zones could be like the old 1.0 zones, where the mobs are level 1 near the starter zones but go all the way up to level 100+ if you go super deep in the woods. That way, all players can get a similar leveling experience in each of the zones, but the level 1 players and the level 100 players are fighting mobs on other sides of the maps for the same MSQ progression.

Could even have the WoL slowly re-unlock their memories as they progress through MSQ, and the finale at level 110 is you remembering you're the shard of Azem from the source, and summoning back in the Scions to help beat the big bad.

Edit: Thinking about this more, the new players would get an accelerated leveling process, but be locked out of standard Duty Roulettes since those are on the Source. Make a new custom duty roulette for the area that has a mixture of dungeons and trials. Add in dungeons at level 25, level 50, level 75, and level 100 - veterans will be synced down. Have trials at 30, 60, and 90 - veterans synced down again. Add a new Hunt Log that gives a bunch more exp and gil.

[Enkidoh]

Essentially, I wouldn't. Because each expansion is a continuation of the previous story, and even 1.0 players started ARR with their existing levels and EXP intact, it wasn't reset (thus there was a whole section of players who started ARR at level cap), so such an idea would completely invalidate that.

New players who want to skip ahead to the most recent expansion have the story skip items on the Online Store to use anyway, so such an idea is completely redundant.

[ForteNightshade]

Essentially, I wouldn't. Because each expansion is a continuation of the previous story, and even 1.0 players started ARR with their existing levels and EXP intact, it wasn't reset (thus there was a whole section of players who started ARR at level cap), so such an idea would completely invalidate that.

New players who want to skip ahead to the most recent expansion have the story skip items on the Online Store to use anyway, so such an idea is completely redundant.

Except that's asking new players to pay an additional 50$. So no, having a built in option is far from redundant.

Part of the reason for the declining player numbers is new players aren't supplementing the loss of veterans. And that's because it takes hundreds of hours just to catch up to current content. For a lot of people, that's a deal breaker. Especially once you factor in how horrendous the game is at allowing you to play with friends. You look at any online discussion and you'll see people frustrated how they constantly have to break parties because the game goes seemingly out of its way to do so. Nevermind, it's not exactly fun for the friend is will be left waiting around with little to do.

[BlisteringFrost]

We aren't a cog in the machine, like in WoW, that can be socketed into it at any point. We ARE the machine in FFXIV. It just wouldn't work to have an xpac give us a new starting point to the game.

[Jeeqbit]

They could give us a new starting point easily:

- Have us go to another shard. We're completely fresh there and can ignore any prior lore related to our character including the scions, and make the enemies not center around being replled by the Blessing of Light.

- Have us go to another island - the New World was an example of this. We're completely fresh there and can ignore any prior lore related to our character including the scions, and make the enemies not center around being replled by the Blessing of Light.

- Have us go into the past or the future. A lot of interesting things happened in the past. Our current lore would definitely be out of the window in a different time period. We could go and fight one of the previous calamity wars.

The reason SE didn't start a fresh page of lore with Dawntrail is because journalists frequently approach them and say how much they loved and appreciated having to go through the entire MSQ that gave them a lot of memories, and that would be lost if they were not required to do it.