On the other hand, if you're coming back to FFXIV with a level 50 character after an absence of several months, as I was, the catch-up work and delayed gratification required can be daunting.
For anybody who’s been subscribed and actively playing this whole time, that's not a problem, and brand-new players who've bought the expansion ahead of time will be grateful for the roughly three levels of XP the 16 or so hours of level 50 content yield on the journey from levels 50 to 60. It's important to note that the impact of the story hinges a lot on knowing the personalities and backgrounds of various characters from the initial story content for A Realm Reborn, and thus Square Enix made the unusual decision to require players to finish all of the main story content from patches prior to the expansion.
