I really wasn't gonna respond anymore on my earlier argument because I liked the note I ended on. I feel like it's a bad design choice and I dislike it, I would have it removed if it were within my power. You know what else I think are bad design choice? French doors and lime green paint. I find them needlessly garish. My house has them both and if I had the power to change them into something more pleasing to my sense of style I would. I'm not going to burn my house down to spite the doors though. And I'm not going to quit the whole game because I don't like the story.
I stand by my point though. They're making you run a single player campaign to unlock the MMO features. My ability to engage in multiplayer is affected by their decision to gate off content according to story progression. There were times where I was the correct level to go do a dungeon with my friends, but was not far enough in the story so I couldn't go with them. If I can't multiplayer with a massive amount of people online, then how can you call it an MMO? Instead of millions of people I can play with 'people who have done exactly this many quests only'. It damages my ability to be a part of that game's community, because regardless of my skill level or gear I am tethered to this small chunk of content.
It's not just dungeon content that's gated by the 'story progression' system. You can't access a personal bank, use the auction house, or have use of your mounts until you've completed the 'story' for those things. Those are arguably VERY important features that people who want to level crafting and/or gathering need. Is their enjoyment of the game less legitimate because instead of combat they'd rather do that? It's even worse for them because you can't use your crafting/gathering professions to further the story! So now they have to level a combat class just to get the basic tools they need to 'play the game for real' by their own terms. And people DO play this game for only those classes.
I feel like my enjoyment would have been vastly improved if I could have grind between 37-40 and said "Story? Just gimme cliff notes... blah blah ship blah dragon blah, got it. I'll do the wrap up dungeon a few times to get some better gear and work out this difficulty spike before I ship off for Garuda." Because I was excited to do Garuda!
...and then I spent two weeks at level 38 because I could not stand the story at that point. It was painful for me to do. After I finally slogged through the parts I found tortuously boring? Bam. 40-45 in less than 9 hours and I'm ready to do the boss I was excited about. But I lost all that time because the game arbitrarily slammed down a stop sign and said "No video games until you've done your homework."
That's all the story is... homework. Some of it I do like. Some of the subjects are fascinating and I can get into them (the primals are way cool). Some I simply don't mind and I can busy my way through. Others I can't see the appeal of and will likely never understand. That's why I failed every math class I was ever in and never dropped below an A- in History or Classic Lit.
I frankly just don't see the appeal in forcing a single-player narrative into an MMO. It feels awkward and disconnected from what is going on in the story and what is actually happening. I'm not going to say that's an objective statement, because I clearly am expressing my opinion, but the game itself maintains Story/Content segregation in regards to MANY things. I don't see why just giving the nod to players who level ahead and say 'Well, this way lies the lore and context you may find to be of merit. If not, that way is the pen were we keep all the grinders. You can move on to the next area when your hips are sufficiently chapped.'
I have never, in my whole time as a gamer, been more frustrated and angry with a game that I was with the whole Corethas/Ishgardian questline... Nothing but swear words spewing out of my mouth for two hours unrelenting and any attempt to talk to me was met with a "F**K ISHGARD AND I HOPE BAHAMUT COMES BACK AND LEVELS THIS WHOLE MOUNTAIN". It was the worst time I've ever had in a game I've played willingly. And I've played Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition.
I stand by my point though. They're making you run a single player campaign to unlock the MMO features. My ability to engage in multiplayer is affected by their decision to gate off content according to story progression. There were times where I was the correct level to go do a dungeon with my friends, but was not far enough in the story so I couldn't go with them. If I can't multiplayer with a massive amount of people online, then how can you call it an MMO? Instead of millions of people I can play with 'people who have done exactly this many quests only'. It damages my ability to be a part of that game's community, because regardless of my skill level or gear I am tethered to this small chunk of content.
It's not just dungeon content that's gated by the 'story progression' system. You can't access a personal bank, use the auction house, or have use of your mounts until you've completed the 'story' for those things. Those are arguably VERY important features that people who want to level crafting and/or gathering need. Is their enjoyment of the game less legitimate because instead of combat they'd rather do that? It's even worse for them because you can't use your crafting/gathering professions to further the story! So now they have to level a combat class just to get the basic tools they need to 'play the game for real' by their own terms. And people DO play this game for only those classes.
I feel like my enjoyment would have been vastly improved if I could have grind between 37-40 and said "Story? Just gimme cliff notes... blah blah ship blah dragon blah, got it. I'll do the wrap up dungeon a few times to get some better gear and work out this difficulty spike before I ship off for Garuda." Because I was excited to do Garuda!
...and then I spent two weeks at level 38 because I could not stand the story at that point. It was painful for me to do. After I finally slogged through the parts I found tortuously boring? Bam. 40-45 in less than 9 hours and I'm ready to do the boss I was excited about. But I lost all that time because the game arbitrarily slammed down a stop sign and said "No video games until you've done your homework."
That's all the story is... homework. Some of it I do like. Some of the subjects are fascinating and I can get into them (the primals are way cool). Some I simply don't mind and I can busy my way through. Others I can't see the appeal of and will likely never understand. That's why I failed every math class I was ever in and never dropped below an A- in History or Classic Lit.
I frankly just don't see the appeal in forcing a single-player narrative into an MMO. It feels awkward and disconnected from what is going on in the story and what is actually happening. I'm not going to say that's an objective statement, because I clearly am expressing my opinion, but the game itself maintains Story/Content segregation in regards to MANY things. I don't see why just giving the nod to players who level ahead and say 'Well, this way lies the lore and context you may find to be of merit. If not, that way is the pen were we keep all the grinders. You can move on to the next area when your hips are sufficiently chapped.'
(10-31-2013, 08:25 AM)Kismet Wrote:(10-31-2013, 07:54 AM)LeCard Wrote: How in the Nine hells would you get to 50 without having done copperbell? FATEing? cause if so, you probably have no idea how to function in a party and really should have just done the quest line provided to open those dungeons.(also of note until you do the first level 15 story quest in limsa you cannot even reach gridania or Ul'dah)While I highly doubt that it is the norm to skip that much stuff, I honestly would not be surprised if there are people who mostly did FATEs and side quests all the way up to lv 50 without completing a large percentage of the main storyline. I mean, my WHM is almost 50 and I haven't even started the chain of quests that lead to Garuda yet... If doing a bunch of bland, run-around story quests weren't in my way, I could do it right now. <_<
I have never, in my whole time as a gamer, been more frustrated and angry with a game that I was with the whole Corethas/Ishgardian questline... Nothing but swear words spewing out of my mouth for two hours unrelenting and any attempt to talk to me was met with a "F**K ISHGARD AND I HOPE BAHAMUT COMES BACK AND LEVELS THIS WHOLE MOUNTAIN". It was the worst time I've ever had in a game I've played willingly. And I've played Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition.
Please read all the above with a soothing, British accented monotone.
