[Suggestion] Lower the ranks required for current story missions

[Teknoman]

But wouldn't Betel's suggestion just create a hole later on? Or, I suppose they could work now to fill the hole before they raise level cap? I'd be good with that .

Totally agree. I'm surprised there are no low level NMs yet. (Unless they consider the current level cap to be low level when they raise the level cap to 99 or whatever.) But I'm looking forward to seeing what they've got coming.

Yeah that seems to be the best course of action, especially since Yoshida and co. seem to be trying to make the game more challenging, yet adhere to modern standards. Also that way, they could add decent boss battles without having to redo the entire story, and higher level players would already have access to a string of missions, since they would already be past that point. Looking at the list, there are only 8 total main missions at this point? So they could reduce the rank required for those missions once they add more. Im guessing the lack of main missions is just a remnant of Tanaka's team?

As far as low level NMs go, I remember Yoshi-P stating that they would add a decent amount of low to mid level NMs and content with the next few patches...of course i'd like actual instance (burning circle) battles too, since i'm a sucker for great boss themes/battles, but i'll take what I can get if it means taking down challenging enemies in a party.

It would be nice if the crafting/gathering classes had the combat abilities they were said to have before release, then we wouldnt really have this problem. Either way, i'm really hoping the next two patches are packed with content.

[Abriael]

I agree with this. At the moment the story quests are good, but they are a tad too diluted through the leveling to be as compelling as they could be. I would do pretty much the same as I suggested for class quests here: linky.

Basically, condense the current story quests between level 1 and 35, and then add more after them (at least 3-4 more steps) to level 50, increasing the epic scale of the new ones. I understand that SE plans to raise the level cap from 50 onwards, and that this will of course bring to an expansion of the storyline. But I do feel that we need some closure at 50 (like it was in FFXI, with the defeat of the shadowlord). The plot can be expanded further after 50, with some big "final fantasy-like" plot twist that reveals new enemies and bigger threats.

[Griss]

Yes later on you can bring people along with you on the fights. As an added bonus the people in your party show up in the cut scenes! Not being locked out of doing a mission because you are a misanthropic hermit is nice. But i would really like to see the difficulty of fights scale with the number of people you bring along for those of us who like to share the adventure with others.

But on topic, Would be nice to have a better flow between missions and quest lines. as it is now, i almost felt like i needed a "Last time in eorzea" refresher to remind me of who was who and what was what while progressing to the current stopping point.

[Teknoman]

But i would really like to see the difficulty of fights scale with the number of people you bring along for those of us who like to share the adventure with others.

But on topic, Would be nice to have a better flow between missions and quest lines. as it is now, i almost felt like i needed a "Last time in eorzea" refresher to remind me of who was who and what was what while progressing to the current stopping point.

Glad i'm not the only one. I really want to get into the story, but the way things stand now, its easy to loose track. Hate to keep bringing up XI, but even with the crazy names and ancient races popping up, it was easy to keep track of events.

Difficulty scaling would be great too, of course you should probably bring a full party to any boss fight though.

[OJtheLIONKing]

I'm all for increasing the pace at which story missions come. Especially coming from FFXI as I have, the major motivation to level for me is to get the new bits of story, but as it is they're so far spaced apart I have trouble keeping myself motivated. I suppose getting around is part of the challenge, but if the actual planned fights are easy and it's often possible to just have a friend teleport you there, I think there's room to lower the required ranks (and maybe have aggroing mobs stay off the main roads so it's not a nightmare to get around on foot, as there's already a low enough incentive to actually walk anywhere, but I digress).

Of course, this is predicated on the assumption that they'll add more story missions to fill in the gap. I hope they're not talking about raising ranks before sorting out the other stuff with battle and balance though, you need a solid foundation to build a house =).

[Teknoman]

Yeah, the best way to implement this would be to lower the ranks with the first patch of the month, and then implement the new set of story missions with the second major patch for the month.

That way, those that arent still making their way through the first few missions are able to do so, leading right into the new missions, while those that have finished all the current missions, can start the new missions the minute they log in.

Should be a win win situation for everyone.

[Magiksmurf]

Story missions should start at R10 and have a new one every 5 ranks for every class, period. Same for the main scenario starting at level 1 of course and again a new one at every 5 levels.

[Shiyo]

Also one of the main problems with the story missions as Rentahamster says is that they have made them so easy because of the DoL/DoH classes. Now the original plan for those classes was that they would fight alongside DoW/DoM classes in battle, I can remember reading that Miner was a THF type class with Treasure Hunter and Steal and Blacksmiths used their hammers in battle, this was all on the official FFXIV site and that info was even still there after launch. However SE obviously pulled all of there abilities to fight and gave them all stone throw. The problem is now that SE have still classified them as a proper class and as such they need to be able to complete the story, but because they removed all their abilities to fight they have had to dumb down the missions like crazy so they can complete them.

SE needs to decide are DoH/DoL proper classes and if so then they need to give them their abilities to fight back, if not then they need to drop them back to being side jobs that you can do on top of you DoW/DoM classes so that they can increase the difficulty of the game. Are we actually supposed to believe that in it's current state a R50 Weaver is going to topple the Garlean Empire???? I think not.

You keep saying this, but it doesn't explain why class specific DOW/DOM quests are a COMPLETE JOKE as well. Why was my 36 archer quest me 1 shotting like 4 mobs, then nothing but running and cutscenes? I think they just wanted every mission to be a complete joke, or they're placeholders or something. It makes no sense why DOW/DOM specific quests would be as easy as missions intended for "all classes"

[Dubont]

I know that the new Final Fantasy XIV team are working on new quests and story missions/content in general, but what about the current story missions already in game? I think all current story missions, especially those that pick up right after the previous, yet are fairly far apart in rank requirements, should see a reduction is the rank required to access the mission.

A decent amount of the missions currently in game are either just a few cutscenes strung together with some traveling, in order to further the story, or just a simple battle against low level standard enemies, so what should they be so spaced apart in rank?

As things stand now, it takes far too long for players to get into what story is currently available, and once the real meat of the story gets added in future updates, it will take even longer to get to the "good stuff" in a manner of speaking. Honestly, there is no reason why I should complete a cutscene missions at rank 15, only to have to rank up to 25 in order to see another cutscene. At the very least, string the cutscene missions together a little more closely, say access to several at a certain rank, instead of one at a time.

One thing that players look for as far as Final Fantasy feel goes, is the storyline of the game, and the story feels slightly disconnected with such large gaps between seeing story content.

The story really picks up later on...you just aren't high enough to get to the good parts yet. I like how it is personally.

[OJtheLIONKing]

The story really picks up later on...you just aren't high enough to get to the good parts yet. I like how it is personally.

I think this is the problem, actually. The game should hook you in early so you stay with it, but as it is it's kind of a slog to get to the juicy bit. I really like the story-based stuff in this game, there's just not enough of it and it takes a lot of grind to get to it.