Maybe I could offer some insight into this thread. I purchased FFXIV and the Heavensward expansion about two weeks ago, looking forward to trying out the job of Dark Knight. I did a little research and found that I needed level 30 in any class in order to play the new jobs offered. But as I reached that milestone, I found out that I would not only have to reach level 50 in order to access Ishgard, I would also need to finish all the story quests from patch 2.0 to 3.0.
The total time it took me to finish all the quests was around 120 hours. I know that a lot of these quests were given buffed rewards to smooth out the process, but it's still a long time to ask a person to invest for content that they want to experience. Whether it is a certain job or just relevant PvE content or access to new zones, it's a ludicrous amount of time for a person to invest in. If I had leveled as dps, or if I didn't have this much free time, it could have taken me more than a month and a half of just pure story progression to reach Heavensward content. I don't hate gated content in general, but this enormous gate just made me anxious to rush through stuff that the developers most likely wanted you to savor and enjoy over several months. I did not enjoy most of the story content, the characters didn't get fleshed out enough, and the nature of your character is just to *nod* and do the hard work.
I'm glad 4.0 will not need 3.0 to be completed. If I ever want to roll an alt or quit for extended period of time, I won't have to rush myself through quests and content in order to play a new job or do dungeons with my friends.
The total time it took me to finish all the quests was around 120 hours. I know that a lot of these quests were given buffed rewards to smooth out the process, but it's still a long time to ask a person to invest for content that they want to experience. Whether it is a certain job or just relevant PvE content or access to new zones, it's a ludicrous amount of time for a person to invest in. If I had leveled as dps, or if I didn't have this much free time, it could have taken me more than a month and a half of just pure story progression to reach Heavensward content. I don't hate gated content in general, but this enormous gate just made me anxious to rush through stuff that the developers most likely wanted you to savor and enjoy over several months. I did not enjoy most of the story content, the characters didn't get fleshed out enough, and the nature of your character is just to *nod* and do the hard work.
I'm glad 4.0 will not need 3.0 to be completed. If I ever want to roll an alt or quit for extended period of time, I won't have to rush myself through quests and content in order to play a new job or do dungeons with my friends.
