Random Thoughts.....What Are You Thinking?

As a preface, I like what they did as a section of a story. The fact that they grew some balls and made some, quite frankly, grisly death sequences and impactful moments was a great change of pace from most of the rest of the story so far. That being said...

I've played a lot of MMOs. A lot of them. Never before have I felt so lost and left behind as I do now. I'm not talking about the tragic events that transpired during the story, that's all fine, I'm talking about as a player of a game, to receive 0 resolution or other such ending to the game. It's literally just all open ends, not only the ones we've had since the very beginning but also a slew of brand new ones.

There is no feeling of it being an end of an era, or a waypoint in the story. There's not really much of a "okay, that was a good end to a long saga". It just sets up for Heavensward and continuing the current events through a paid expansion pack. What other game has ever done that?

Let's use XI as an example. Each expansion pack had its own unique microcosm; it was built around itself and had a unique, rich story with the characters reacting and changing based on that individual story. Sometimes there were nods or interwoven threads of other stories/expansions, but they were not normally integral or required you to play the other stories/expansions to understand/interpret/incorporate them. XIV is going in an entirely different way; there won't be individual stories and scenarios, but an overarching premise that carries through from base game to the expansion(s).

Why does it bother me you ask? I just see it as a slimy business practice. Instead of allowing the customer, or player, a valid end to a long scenario, you instead punch the throttle up to full and open up all the loose ends right in the final cutscenes just so that you can sell them an expansion pack and continue that... possibly, and probably, just to do it again at the end of that. I don't like it.