How would you design a new player start expansion?

[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.