The thing is, though... like any aspect of the game, exploration is something you can't force on players. For every player who oohs and ahhs at all the scenery, there's another player who is watching their minimap to make sure they're going in the direction of the next quest marker and otherwise their attention is on their television as they watch some show on Netflix while they level. Flying doesn't change that. For players who like exploration, they're still going to poke their nose into every nook and cranny whether they can fly or not, because it's part of what they enjoy. For players who don't like exploration, it's an added QOL convenience for them.
As others have mentioned, a lot of players don't even like sidequests. Maybe they have multiple characters, and so after they've gone through the quests on one, they'd rather just do the MSQ and run some dungeons with their FC to bridge any exp gaps. Said player forever has no access to flying if they do that. Whether it's their first or eighth character they MUST do a few sidequests and run around the zone collecting 10 ground spawns. Tedium.
A far better solution would be to let flying be unlocked as of the moment you unlock it via the MSQ (around level 51 quests, IIRC). Presto, it's now unlocked for all zones. But, until you know the currents in a zone, your flying speed is poor - you can fly only at the same speed you can run (which would be slower than your land mounted speed, of course). Each aether current you unlock increases your flying speed in that zone. There's 15 of them, so take the flying speed in the game now, minus walking speed, then divide that remainder by 15 to get the amount each unlocked current would boost speed. Got all the currents? You can fly at the same speed you can right now. Got no currents? Cool, you can still fly for the convenience of not dealing with maze-like rock outcroppings and platforms, just not swiftly.
It's exactly that kind of QOL stuff that will make or break a game.Â
Consider: What is even the point of the cross-class skills system? Generally, people take the same 5 skills for a given job, because you only get two classes' skills to pick from and there are usually only 5 that actually apply to your job (if that - some of them it's like... ehhhhh... I guess I'll take that because there's nothing better, but it isn't really an impact at all). Can't that be simplified? Why, yes it can:
1. For each cross-class skill a job would normally take, just make the base class of said job get their own version of that skill at the same level where the origin job gets it. For example, Provoke is a cross-class skill that's pretty much mandatory if you're playing as a WAR or DRK. GLA gets it at 22. Instead of mucking around with all this cross-class malarkey, just give MRD and DRK their own Provoke skill that they also obtain at level 22.Â
2. Forget about the required 15 levels in a secondary class in order to qualify for a Job. That's pointless. Even in the current system you generally won't have all of the cross-class skills you would need from that class by level 15, so you end up having to level it further anyway. Plus, removing that requirement also keeps new players from getting blindsided upon hitting 30 that they can't fully progress in their class (let's call it like it is, a Job is just additional core function for a class, and is therefore really not even a separate thing, it's pretty much just your class) unless they "take a break" from their MSQ progress and go start all over again for 15 levels, for which they might have not saved any sidequests, and can't do dungeons (because that doesn't start until 15), and very likely need to get new equipment for (since if they weren't expecting it, why would they have held onto their lowbie gear). Instead, they just smoothly go from finishing their class story to starting their job story. Neat.
3. If weapons define your class, but a crystal defines your job, but ultimately it's your job that you're playing as, then we can have everyone get a "class emblem" at level 1 in their class which is equipped in the same slot that you'll later use to equip a crystal. Equip the Lancer Emblem to be a Lancer. Easy. Guess what? Now weapons can be unlocked from classes, because that system is already totally irrelevant even in the current game (using a sword doesn't make you a PLD, using the PLD job crystal does).Â
Some other easy solutions:
4. Let people buy a chocobo at level 1 if they want to, but it only moves 10% faster than running. Let them use it in battle if they want to, too, and it can accumulate exp and level up (something which, normally, on a first character in their first job, the chocobo takes ages to get anywhere useful with), it just can't spend any SP yet. The GC thing you can unlock, instead of giving you a chocobo, is a training which enables the chocobo to run faster (to the current move speed). The level 30 quest for the companion unlock instead unlocks the ability to assign SP and make your chocobo more useful (and by that point, you might have a few SP to spend).
5. Since housing scarcity isn't going to change, why not add a feature to inns where a player can sink some Gil to rent a Suite for a month? Each month they pay rent, and they can pay rent up to 6 months in advance. A Suite would function as 2 simple rooms which could be decorated like a house and which you can invite visitors to be able to enter. Accessing the suite would be as simple as talking to the innkeep in the city where the suite is owned, and keying in the player's name. You could designate a given suite as a "favorite" for easy lookup on your "favorites" list, perhaps.Â
6. Want to check out gardening but can't get a house? Why not do something similar to the Suites idea where at the botany guild someone can rent a garden plot? A private little instanced garden which, like the Suite, others could look up and enter (but like the suite, only if they have permission).
7. Want to do things like coloring your chocobo? Yeah, I don't know why this isn't something that's available at the main city chocobo stables either - why does it have to be an owned stable? Psh. Lemme pay some stabling rent and have the same options to color up my bird and get him racing-ready or whatever (seriously, as a non-landowner, I have no idea what all can even be done with stables, that's how broken the current system of housing is making this kind of thing for people).
8. There's no conceivable reason why the dye quest is level 17 and the glamour quest is level 50. Those quests could just as easily be level 1 quests, and should be offered by the vendor who sells dyes in each of the main cities at their markets. Further, make a "Basic Glamour Prism" for each type which only works for items level 1-20 but is vendor-bought. Grade 1 changes to 21-50, Grade 2 starts at 51 instead of 41.Â
9. This one's a biggie. Add "Veteran mode". If a player has a character that has completed the pre-HW MSQ already (so everything through patch 2.55), upon creating a new character they will be prompted as to whether or not they'd like to begin that character as a Veteran. A Veteran character loses the "sprout" icon from their name (because duh), but more importantly begins with all MSQ-gated features through 2.55 already unlocked regardless of progress in their MSQ (including, but not limited to, access to levequests, guildhests, dungeons, and trials, albeit with their access to individual content within those systems still limited by level; ability to select a GC and begin earning seals right away; airship and boat travel routes unlocked; ability to change class unlocked; materia system unlocked; and, most importantly, access to Ishgard and the HW MSQ unlocked - though everything there still requires level 50+ except for unlocking DRK, MCH, and AST which would have their initial unlock quests scaled down to level 1, but would have no further job quests until the appropriate level).
Anyway, I could go on. Wall of text, woo! The point is, the huge number of QOL issues that are off-putting to newcomers are pretty easy to resolve with just a little tweaking. And yeah, fine, I'm sure I'll get a response to this from somebody claiming to have worked in the video game industry and they have all this computer programming expertise and the things I'm suggesting are actually super duper complicated and they are super cereal about it. Cue preemptive 9_9 and :p at that person.
As others have mentioned, a lot of players don't even like sidequests. Maybe they have multiple characters, and so after they've gone through the quests on one, they'd rather just do the MSQ and run some dungeons with their FC to bridge any exp gaps. Said player forever has no access to flying if they do that. Whether it's their first or eighth character they MUST do a few sidequests and run around the zone collecting 10 ground spawns. Tedium.
A far better solution would be to let flying be unlocked as of the moment you unlock it via the MSQ (around level 51 quests, IIRC). Presto, it's now unlocked for all zones. But, until you know the currents in a zone, your flying speed is poor - you can fly only at the same speed you can run (which would be slower than your land mounted speed, of course). Each aether current you unlock increases your flying speed in that zone. There's 15 of them, so take the flying speed in the game now, minus walking speed, then divide that remainder by 15 to get the amount each unlocked current would boost speed. Got all the currents? You can fly at the same speed you can right now. Got no currents? Cool, you can still fly for the convenience of not dealing with maze-like rock outcroppings and platforms, just not swiftly.
It's exactly that kind of QOL stuff that will make or break a game.Â
Consider: What is even the point of the cross-class skills system? Generally, people take the same 5 skills for a given job, because you only get two classes' skills to pick from and there are usually only 5 that actually apply to your job (if that - some of them it's like... ehhhhh... I guess I'll take that because there's nothing better, but it isn't really an impact at all). Can't that be simplified? Why, yes it can:
1. For each cross-class skill a job would normally take, just make the base class of said job get their own version of that skill at the same level where the origin job gets it. For example, Provoke is a cross-class skill that's pretty much mandatory if you're playing as a WAR or DRK. GLA gets it at 22. Instead of mucking around with all this cross-class malarkey, just give MRD and DRK their own Provoke skill that they also obtain at level 22.Â
2. Forget about the required 15 levels in a secondary class in order to qualify for a Job. That's pointless. Even in the current system you generally won't have all of the cross-class skills you would need from that class by level 15, so you end up having to level it further anyway. Plus, removing that requirement also keeps new players from getting blindsided upon hitting 30 that they can't fully progress in their class (let's call it like it is, a Job is just additional core function for a class, and is therefore really not even a separate thing, it's pretty much just your class) unless they "take a break" from their MSQ progress and go start all over again for 15 levels, for which they might have not saved any sidequests, and can't do dungeons (because that doesn't start until 15), and very likely need to get new equipment for (since if they weren't expecting it, why would they have held onto their lowbie gear). Instead, they just smoothly go from finishing their class story to starting their job story. Neat.
3. If weapons define your class, but a crystal defines your job, but ultimately it's your job that you're playing as, then we can have everyone get a "class emblem" at level 1 in their class which is equipped in the same slot that you'll later use to equip a crystal. Equip the Lancer Emblem to be a Lancer. Easy. Guess what? Now weapons can be unlocked from classes, because that system is already totally irrelevant even in the current game (using a sword doesn't make you a PLD, using the PLD job crystal does).Â
Some other easy solutions:
4. Let people buy a chocobo at level 1 if they want to, but it only moves 10% faster than running. Let them use it in battle if they want to, too, and it can accumulate exp and level up (something which, normally, on a first character in their first job, the chocobo takes ages to get anywhere useful with), it just can't spend any SP yet. The GC thing you can unlock, instead of giving you a chocobo, is a training which enables the chocobo to run faster (to the current move speed). The level 30 quest for the companion unlock instead unlocks the ability to assign SP and make your chocobo more useful (and by that point, you might have a few SP to spend).
5. Since housing scarcity isn't going to change, why not add a feature to inns where a player can sink some Gil to rent a Suite for a month? Each month they pay rent, and they can pay rent up to 6 months in advance. A Suite would function as 2 simple rooms which could be decorated like a house and which you can invite visitors to be able to enter. Accessing the suite would be as simple as talking to the innkeep in the city where the suite is owned, and keying in the player's name. You could designate a given suite as a "favorite" for easy lookup on your "favorites" list, perhaps.Â
6. Want to check out gardening but can't get a house? Why not do something similar to the Suites idea where at the botany guild someone can rent a garden plot? A private little instanced garden which, like the Suite, others could look up and enter (but like the suite, only if they have permission).
7. Want to do things like coloring your chocobo? Yeah, I don't know why this isn't something that's available at the main city chocobo stables either - why does it have to be an owned stable? Psh. Lemme pay some stabling rent and have the same options to color up my bird and get him racing-ready or whatever (seriously, as a non-landowner, I have no idea what all can even be done with stables, that's how broken the current system of housing is making this kind of thing for people).
8. There's no conceivable reason why the dye quest is level 17 and the glamour quest is level 50. Those quests could just as easily be level 1 quests, and should be offered by the vendor who sells dyes in each of the main cities at their markets. Further, make a "Basic Glamour Prism" for each type which only works for items level 1-20 but is vendor-bought. Grade 1 changes to 21-50, Grade 2 starts at 51 instead of 41.Â
9. This one's a biggie. Add "Veteran mode". If a player has a character that has completed the pre-HW MSQ already (so everything through patch 2.55), upon creating a new character they will be prompted as to whether or not they'd like to begin that character as a Veteran. A Veteran character loses the "sprout" icon from their name (because duh), but more importantly begins with all MSQ-gated features through 2.55 already unlocked regardless of progress in their MSQ (including, but not limited to, access to levequests, guildhests, dungeons, and trials, albeit with their access to individual content within those systems still limited by level; ability to select a GC and begin earning seals right away; airship and boat travel routes unlocked; ability to change class unlocked; materia system unlocked; and, most importantly, access to Ishgard and the HW MSQ unlocked - though everything there still requires level 50+ except for unlocking DRK, MCH, and AST which would have their initial unlock quests scaled down to level 1, but would have no further job quests until the appropriate level).
Anyway, I could go on. Wall of text, woo! The point is, the huge number of QOL issues that are off-putting to newcomers are pretty easy to resolve with just a little tweaking. And yeah, fine, I'm sure I'll get a response to this from somebody claiming to have worked in the video game industry and they have all this computer programming expertise and the things I'm suggesting are actually super duper complicated and they are super cereal about it. Cue preemptive 9_9 and :p at that person.
Lydia Lightfoot ~ The Reliquarian's Guild «Relic» ~ Lavender Beds, Ward 12, #41
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
This player has a sense of humor. If the content of the post suggests otherwise, please err on the side of amusement and friendship, because that's almost certainly the intent. We're all on the same team: Team Roleplayer! Have a smile, have a chuckle, and have a slice of pie. Isn't pie great?
