Ok, thanks, that clarifies things.  I personally don't have an issue with this, but it has definitely changed.  And it would probably be to PA's advantage to have more flexible paths of entry to the game.  The initial parts really aren't that consequential anyway in terms of game balance.  They were put in place to ease people into the game, more than it used to.  But for someone coming into the game with a guide - yeah, I see that.

Idk why you get downvoted, OP. You ask for something sensible. Since there is an option to skip the MSQ, why be forced to do it in order to skip it (lol). There are good reasons to not let people skip the tutorial the very first time, but not the whole MSQ.

The people who downvoted/disagreed with you probably didn't understand your point. I also read some tautological "counter-arguments" like you "you can't skip it because you have to complete the MSQ first"....

Anyway. OP, you're right, for an ostensibly sandbox MMORPG, too much stuff is locked behind pointless questlines. Look at storage for examples, you have to do the entire Magnus bug-fest just to be able to use your storage in other towns... or Atoraxxion. You have to do an entire questline just to be able to enter the dungeon.

thank god, the first one that understand what i try to say after 3 pages of discussion.

where is "do simplified but can still redo the story later" update?

I feel you, and I always choose simp. That's why I have 437 energy and people have like 600+ haha. I also prefer to get it over with. However, I do think doing it once is worth it. If he can't make it thru the main sere quest once, he's probably not gonna last in BDO, let's be real.

But I've dealt with a lot of people quitting, friends, guildies, etc. I dunno how to make it better. I do wish they'd give people more raw cash for doing the story. If they paid people off for their time invested, people might wanna do the story, and people who are story-doers would be able to gear.

I have a friend who was never really into grinding mobs, and I bet his GS is total trash, but he's done SO MANY QUESTS. He's playing the game as intended. So, I would say, FOR A NEW PLAYER ON SEASON, I'd like to see them boost the heck out of rewards. You should get tuvala ore 4 days + cash + pets, slots. For real haha. You do a quest and it's like big reward... two 10m gold bars. It's like heh? Shud I buy some draughts or something??? But 'we' know that, new players don't. They are just set up to be disappointed.

Surely questing in BDO should be well rewarded. But my point is simply that BDO currently has two fundamentally different design concepts, but prioritizes one by pushing all players, not just new ones, to play that content.

As a season character, new players should also have the choice of following a linear MSQ with a guide, or the simplified, freer path.

I don't disagree, but incentivizing them to complete the quest + get all of those rewards is good, too, cuz if you come out on season even w/ max gear you have like what maybe 150 cont points, like 100 energy? haha. Not that you're massively better if you complete the quests, but they should at the very least set up people for BDO life.

btw for what it's worth I don't downvote people loool. I dunno why people come along and downvote. Incase you think that was me.

no all good. idk, many ppl dont understand what i try to say. they think a lot of time i just want to destroy there game or something.