We should be able to play the product we buy.

[mikitan_fox]

Bought early access after finishing endwalker the first month or so it was out... Silly me thinking I would be able to play dawntrail because they added crap to the MSQ that YOU MUST DO before you get to play dawntrail content. I essentially paid for early access to dawntrail content only to learn i have to complete 4 days worth of extra fetch quests they tacked onto the end of endwalker. I feel like this extremely anti-returning player. Sure add patches for people that enjoy the current expansion but don't actively punish people for taking a break from the game. Now I have to either cough up an extra 25 dollars to play the content i paid to access early or i got to suck it up and play 24 hours of fetch quests and story dungeons that have hour long ques... this is a great first impression to dawntrail, an expansion everyone already seems to be saying is boring as heck to start only to get better in the later 30%...

[Freazer]

So what i'm hearing is your upset you can't play the new content even though you are not upto the new content yet. Very cool

[Holy Athena]

Originally posted by The Lapis Fox:

Originally posted by Holy Athena:

So if I buy a level skip in WoW, I can do dungeons that are story relevant with absolutely no idea what any of it is about?

Seems stupid to me.

Actually, in WoW, you can do exactly that. All WoW cares about is your level. When it comes to a new expansion, you have to get your level up, which means going through quests, but it doesn't force you to do all of the content from the previous expansions before you can access those quests. I mean, I could literally start up a brand new WoW account right this moment, buy a level 90 boost, and then immediately start on the current content. I would not be forced to start on the content all the way back to classic.

After reading what the OP has stated, I actually find the way FFXIV does it to be a little shocking. It tells me that if I was to buy Dawntrail, I would be starting all the way at the very first release? So, I would be forced to go through months upon months of old content before I would even be able to see the new stuff? Yeah, I agree with the OP, not very new player friendly there. It also means the OP wasn't truly given any actual early access.

Yes, because it all plays together... It's like buying the 3rd book in Lord of the Rings, then complaining you don't know whats going on, and they didn't put enough story elements, or explanation into the imprtance and back story...


WoW doesn't do that. each expansion is its own separate little entity in WoW mostly, where you wont miss anything if you do them out of order, or different parts.

[Haru]

If you don't want to play through the story, I don't know why you'd play this game. It's 90% of the content. It's the visual novel of MMOs.

[Holy Athena]

Originally posted by Haru:

If you don't want to play through the story, I don't know why you'd play this game. It's 90% of the content. It's the visual novel of MMOs.

This ^

90% of the game is story, that's the point. Other than that its a social MMO after.. If you don't want story, don't play a game where everything revolvesa round the story.

[The Lapis Fox]

Originally posted by Holy Athena:

This ^

90% of the game is story, that's the point. Other than that its a social MMO after.. If you don't want story, don't play a game where everything revolvesa round the story.

So, before I continue, I don't play FFXIV anymore. I used to, but I haven't since the original re-release. Regardless, I decided to look into stuff because of this whole 'revolves around the story' and 'visual novel' stuff. If that was the case, why do they offer a story skip? It would be one thing if said skip was free, but they charge $25 for it. To me, that says they set this game up that way as a way to get even more money from people. Remember, not everyone has the time to play a game for hours upon hours. Some people have family, job, or college, you know, the usual responsibilities of life. And the Post-Expansion quests aren't even all that important to the story anyway.

[hagare]

Originally posted by The Lapis Fox:

Originally posted by Holy Athena:

This ^

90% of the game is story, that's the point. Other than that its a social MMO after.. If you don't want story, don't play a game where everything revolvesa round the story.

So, before I continue, I don't play FFXIV anymore. I used to, but I haven't since the original re-release. Regardless, I decided to look into stuff because of this whole 'revolves around the story' and 'visual novel' stuff. If that was the case, why do they offer a story skip? It would be one thing if said skip was free, but they charge $25 for it. To me, that says they set this game up that way as a way to get even more money from people. Remember, not everyone has the time to play a game for hours upon hours. Some people have family, job, or college, you know, the usual responsibilities of life. And the Post-Game quests aren't even all that important to the story anyway.

then they should go play another game.
The skip is there for people who just wants to get to end game for whatever reason

[The Lapis Fox]

Originally posted by hagare:

then they should go play another game.
The skip is there for people who just wants to get to end game for whatever reason

I see, so nothing constructive to add to the discussion there.

Of course the skip is there so people can skip to the end game. It's part of the actual name of it. But it is kind of bad form that they charge people so much for it.

[hagare]

Originally posted by The Lapis Fox:

I see, so nothing constructive to add to the discussion there.

bla bla bla.
If they game's not to their liking of course they should find another game to play.
What else do you want me to say? Stick with it! you'll suffer more?

Originally posted by The Lapis Fox:

Of course the skip is there so people can skip to the end game. It's part of the actual name of it. But it is kind of bad form that they charge people so much for it.

ah there it is........ You want free stuff.

[Haru]

Originally posted by The Lapis Fox:

Originally posted by Holy Athena:

This ^

90% of the game is story, that's the point. Other than that its a social MMO after.. If you don't want story, don't play a game where everything revolvesa round the story.

So, before I continue, I don't play FFXIV anymore. I used to, but I haven't since the original re-release. Regardless, I decided to look into stuff because of this whole 'revolves around the story' and 'visual novel' stuff. If that was the case, why do they offer a story skip? It would be one thing if said skip was free, but they charge $25 for it. To me, that says they set this game up that way as a way to get even more money from people. Remember, not everyone has the time to play a game for hours upon hours. Some people have family, job, or college, you know, the usual responsibilities of life. And the Post-Expansion quests aren't even all that important to the story anyway.

It's easy money. Level skipping started with WoW, to ff people to the next expansion onward. It's extremely profitable, because it feeds on the idea of FOMO. Story skipping was never originally a thing, and is likely less a developer philosophy than a business philosophy. On the developer end, you can control text speed or skip cutscenes like in most JRPGs.

I'll also say, that maybe it's not the game for them then? I'm a bit tired of this "Well x only has two hours a week to game" mallarky. Those are x's life choices. Why does the game have to be tailored for x? No. If you enjoy a hobby, you'll find time for it, even if that's only two hours per week. Same logic when you start watching an extremely long series, be it a book or TV show. If you -really- like those things, you'll spend that spare two hours on those things, regardless of how long they take, because the experience is fun. This idea that all content should be designed so everyone on a 9-5 seven days a week can keep up is what's turning a lot of games into homogenised slop.

Not to mention, plenty of people I know work full time but fully participate in FFXIV's story.

If it was trying to leech money off of you for time, it would be more akin to Genshin Impact, where you have zero control over the flow of a discussion or ability to scene skip at all.

[Uriahheep]

I bought tickets to the concert, WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO DRIVE THERE?!

[mikitan_fox]

The only difference between what I am doing now and buying a skip is not paying enix for this obviously predatory practice. I completed all that matters in the story... you know what the last quest I did was? choosing spices for the perfect curry! i'm sure this choice will be the lynch pin to defeating the big bad of dawntrail, I chose extra spicy because how MONUMENTALLY IMPORTANT TO THE STORY AND NOT A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME THE POST GAME PATCHES ARE! I'll keep this spicy curry and my 25 dollars, together we can defeat whatever the enemy of dawntrail is (I would know, except for being barred from my early access i was sold on, so I guess this curry is destined for a very mysterious foe!)

Its a predatory practice to exploit people like me that just want what we paid for, there's no way around it. Unless one of you wants to spoil me on how cataclysmic-ally important my spiciness level of curry is...

[Haru]

Originally posted by mikitan_fox:

The only difference between what I am doing now and buying a skip is not paying enix for this obviously predatory practice. I completed all that matters in the story... you know what the last quest I did was? choosing spices for the perfect curry! i'm sure this choice will be the lynch pin to defeating the big bad of dawntrail, I chose extra spicy because how MONUMENTALLY IMPORTANT TO THE STORY AND NOT A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME THE POST GAME PATCHES ARE! I'll keep this spicy curry and my 25 dollars, together we can defeat whatever the enemy of dawntrail is (I would know, except for being barred from my early access i was sold on, so I guess this curry is destined for a very mysterious foe!)

Its a predatory practice to exploit people like me that just want what we paid for, there's no way around it. Unless one of you wants to spoil me on how cataclysmic-ally important my spiciness level of curry is...

If you don't enjoy it, don't play it.

Like, really. It's that simple.

[mikitan_fox]

Originally posted by Haru:

Originally posted by mikitan_fox:

The only difference between what I am doing now and buying a skip is not paying enix for this obviously predatory practice. I completed all that matters in the story... you know what the last quest I did was? choosing spices for the perfect curry! i'm sure this choice will be the lynch pin to defeating the big bad of dawntrail, I chose extra spicy because how MONUMENTALLY IMPORTANT TO THE STORY AND NOT A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME THE POST GAME PATCHES ARE! I'll keep this spicy curry and my 25 dollars, together we can defeat whatever the enemy of dawntrail is (I would know, except for being barred from my early access i was sold on, so I guess this curry is destined for a very mysterious foe!)

Its a predatory practice to exploit people like me that just want what we paid for, there's no way around it. Unless one of you wants to spoil me on how cataclysmic-ally important my spiciness level of curry is...

If you don't enjoy it, don't play it.

Like, really. It's that simple.

How can I know if I like it, I'm still 9 hours off of being even able to play what I bought... I loved heavensward, hated endwalker, dawntrail ???... would love to get a chance to try it honestly!

[The Lapis Fox]

Originally posted by Uriahheep:

I bought tickets to the concert, WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO DRIVE THERE?!

HAHAHAHAHAH Umm no. This would be like, buying a concert ticket, driving to the concert, and then, once you get there, being told you have to complete an episode of Iron Chef before they will let you through the doors, all while the concert is going on, that or paying them an extra $25 just to get through the doors on top of what you paid for the tickets.

[Haru]

Originally posted by mikitan_fox:

Originally posted by Haru:

If you don't enjoy it, don't play it.

Like, really. It's that simple.

How can I know if I like it, I'm still 9 hours off of being even able to play what I bought... I loved heavensward, hated endwalker, dawntrail ???... would love to get a chance to try it honestly!

It's all a part of the core experience. If you don't enjoy the core experience, there is no sense in torturing yourself, even remotely. You're already playing the game. Dawntrail is more of the same. Personally speaking, if you don't like your little curry subplot in Endwalker, what makes you think you're going to love doing the exact same type of thing for most of Dawntrail?

Do you buy a book trilogy and skip straight to book three because you don't like a chapter in book one?

Doesn't really make a lot of sense.

If you don't enjoy, don't play. Forcing yourself through content you don't like because there might be content you do like is a fool's errand, and ultimately a poor experience.