I can only cheer for anything that removes gating, and if 4.0 does this, I'm all for it.
Right now, I have only my main able to get into Heavensward; the two lvl50 alts I have were left off at the end of 2.0, because I didn't want to do the same story content all over again because, quite frankly, (and as some people are likely tired of hearing me say), I find SE's vaunted story to be too often terrible and ridiculous, and frankly, completely deserving of ridicule in some points. I love FFXIV for its gameplay, and flexibility, and for the great Balmung community, but SE's story writers could all be sucked into the void and I'd only offer up a little cheer reminiscent of that lauding the fate of Robin's Minstrels in Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
I'd love to bring a couple of more alts into Ishgard for the RP possibilities, but nope, I gotta drag each one through some of the most annoying parts of the game to have that right.
As far as people complaining, you can say it's time honored, true, but I also believe that it's also possibly a reaction to everything else that FFXIV gets RIGHT, and people wishing that the remaining aspects of the game could be just as satisfying. The fact that this game exists and has an expansion is a testament to the idea that things CAN be fixed, made better, improved, and rebuilt successfully. Maybe I'd just like that applied to the story.
I think gating is fine for some content - raids and difficult dungeons, surely, to ensure that people who get to them have some level of competency in their classes. That is COMPLETELY fair and equitable. But to gate a game's story, and thereby gate an entire new and massive area of the map behind a series of annoyances AFTER completing them once, is a poor design choice, to me, and one that's particularly annoying when the new content is something I have to play extra for, above and beyond the cost of the original game and the subscription.
Right now, I have only my main able to get into Heavensward; the two lvl50 alts I have were left off at the end of 2.0, because I didn't want to do the same story content all over again because, quite frankly, (and as some people are likely tired of hearing me say), I find SE's vaunted story to be too often terrible and ridiculous, and frankly, completely deserving of ridicule in some points. I love FFXIV for its gameplay, and flexibility, and for the great Balmung community, but SE's story writers could all be sucked into the void and I'd only offer up a little cheer reminiscent of that lauding the fate of Robin's Minstrels in Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
I'd love to bring a couple of more alts into Ishgard for the RP possibilities, but nope, I gotta drag each one through some of the most annoying parts of the game to have that right.
As far as people complaining, you can say it's time honored, true, but I also believe that it's also possibly a reaction to everything else that FFXIV gets RIGHT, and people wishing that the remaining aspects of the game could be just as satisfying. The fact that this game exists and has an expansion is a testament to the idea that things CAN be fixed, made better, improved, and rebuilt successfully. Maybe I'd just like that applied to the story.
I think gating is fine for some content - raids and difficult dungeons, surely, to ensure that people who get to them have some level of competency in their classes. That is COMPLETELY fair and equitable. But to gate a game's story, and thereby gate an entire new and massive area of the map behind a series of annoyances AFTER completing them once, is a poor design choice, to me, and one that's particularly annoying when the new content is something I have to play extra for, above and beyond the cost of the original game and the subscription.
"But in the laugh there was another voice. A clearer laugh, an ironic laugh. A laugh which laughs because it chooses not to weep."