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(06-09-2015, 01:15 PM)Telluride Wrote:(06-09-2015, 01:10 PM)Aya Wrote:(06-09-2015, 12:27 PM)Addison Wrote: A lot of the design choices people are saying are bad are pretty standard in both eastern and western MMOs. And it's not going to change so long as games that follow that formula turn a profit.I don't really have anything new to say that I haven't said already, but I just want to comment that I don't think any other game (at least that I've played) has anything approaching the MSQ, and its particular favor of massive time investment and complete requirement. This isn't asking a new player to level up to enter the new content, that is in keeping with standard MMO design. Its a very different, and much more burdensome, requirement.
The difference being that a lot of other MMOs use their main story as a sort of tour guide, giving the player the sense of having a reason to be here, here, or here, other than just because it's there.
FFXIV uses it very deliberately to lock things away, a carrot-and-stick approach, to deny a lot of otherwise on-level or even under-level content unless you're willing to play along with the program. It's the rail-shooter of storylines.
At the same time FFXIV is also very popular because it's a love letter to fans of the franchise and quite a lot of those fans are in it for the story just as much as they're in it for the game's mechanics. Those who want the standard 'cookie cutter' MMO experience have a wealth of alternate options available to them.