Waiting between quest stages.

[carteh]

I'm trying to use my time-off from work to get as much story content done as I can and I'm finding myself stalled by having to wait for Japanese midnight to pass before I can my finish my current story quest. Is there any legitimate reason for this? Why can't we just progress at our own pace?

[Alhanelem]

I'm trying to use my time-off from work to get as much story content done as I can and I'm finding myself stalled by having to wait for Japanese midnight to pass before I can my story. Is there any reason for this? Why can't we just progress at our own pace...
The reason for this was to prevent people from digesting the storylines too quickly and then running out of things to do and unsubbing, which happens in a lot of MMOs. They also wanted players to do a range of content rather than inhale all parts of a content at once. To a certain extent it is still meaningful for end-game contents to increase the rarity of various special items and such.

However, many JP midnight waits have been removed or reduced to game-day waits (and in some cases just zone out and in). There used to be a LOT more of these waits in the game.

Particularly if you're a newer player though, there are tons of things to do alongside the mission storylines, and unlike FFXIV not everything is gated behind the story so you should have plenty of "need to dos" you can do in between wait times.

[Tharly]

I'm of the opinion that at this point in the game the waits should be removed. I pay a monthly bill to play the game and not being allowed to do missions released years ago when I see fit is just plain annoying. I'd venture to say a lot more people would do coalitions if they didn't have to wait on imprimaturs and could actually finish them in less than 6 months, for example.

[Alhanelem]

I'm of the opinion that at this point in the game the waits should be removed. I pay a monthly bill to play the game and not being allowed to do missions released years ago when I see fit is just plain annoying. I'd venture to say a lot more people would do coalitions if they didn't have to wait on imprimaturs and could actually finish them in less than 6 months, for example.
Well yes, this is the exact reason there is a wait time on them. They don't want everyone to have these things unless they really truly want them, because they're meant to be the most powerful weapons in the game. Some would argue, and I don't necessairly disagree, that the wait time for them is disproportionately longer than the other groups of weapons of similar power (i.e. the relic/mythic/empyreans), however wait times have a valid reason to exist in an MMO for many things. The story, particularly today, not so much, and that's why they've gradually cut down/cut out many of those waits.

We all pay a sub fee for this game (and for WoW and for FFXIV, two of the other major ones out there), and we do so with the understanding that the content for the game is laid out a certain way. If these things bothered us that much, we wouldn't be here. Hopefully you understand that if nothing has wait times of any sort, people will clear content too fast and then unsub, and that's bad for the longevity of a persistent world type game. MMOs were not made to be conquered in a short time and abandoned.

Having said all that: As I said, wait times were gradually reduced or removed from story content over a period of time years ago. If you can note specific main story missions that still have JP midnight waits, they could potentially be looked at in the future.

I did each of the nation storylines (except Bastok which I did back in the game's heyday) in a couple of play sessions, I don't recall having any real life day waits in those.

[Tharly]

So because I pay a monthly sub I should have a sub-standard gaming experience that doesn't allow me to enjoy the content in anything but small bits and pieces? What non-mmo has such draconian timegates on it? What game makes you do quests for a year to get a trust type character? I accept it is what it is, but that does not mean that it cannot be done in a better and less enjoyment sucking way.

[Alhanelem]

So because I pay a monthly sub I should have a sub-standard gaming experience that doesn't allow me to enjoy the content in anything but small bits and pieces? What non-mmo has such draconian timegates on it? What game makes you do quests for a year to get a trust type character? I accept it is what it is, but that does not mean that it cannot be done in a better and less enjoyment sucking way.
I mean, it's up to you to decide if your experience is worth your fee. But just because you're not happy or you feel your experieince is "substandard" doesn't mean everyone else feels that way. My point is this applies to all MMOs, not just this one, so if you don't like wait times/cooldowns/caps/etc, you're in the wrong genre.

That "trust type character" you speak of is in no way required or necessary, and was specifically designed as a veteran's reward. Not everyone has to have every item/thing/whatever in the game to enjoy it.

I don't have all the BLU spells but you don't see me complaining that i have to spend time hunting down particualr enemies to unlock them. I have one REMA weapon (relic staff) and it took me literally over a decade from when I started back when the game was relatively new to complete it. Do I wish it didn't take that long for me? Yes. Do I regret the experience? Not on your life. That's (supposed to be) part of the fun. It's supposed to be a grand epic adventure that plays out over a long period of time, not inhaled and consumed as fast as humanly possible, and it's part of the spirit in which the game was designed.

[Tharly]

I believe that during TAU missions there are two missions where you literally watch a cutscene and then have to wait for the next gameday to continue after just waiting a gameday to continue. They may end up hating to do missions and never do them because of it. I know several people who are like that.

People don't remain subbed for any extra period of time due to missions being timegated. They either stay subbed for the endgame activities or the social aspect or some other reason. Dienamis and Omen being timegated don't detract from the events like timegates do from missions. Finishing a mission just after a gameday change knowing there is a gameday wait for the next one is a huge turnoff.

[Dragoy]

Most of the time I thought of the mission and such waits to be more a way to battle against congestion at NPCs and battlefields and whathaveyous.

Of course this would only really make sense when the missions and quests are very new, and should have been lowered or removed later on.

The time-sink reasoning is much more likely to be true, but I still rather think that's not entirely the case... even if it's just to fool myself a little.

[Alhanelem]

Most of the time I thought of the mission and such waits to be more a way to battle against congestion at NPCs and battlefields and whathaveyous.

Of course this would only really make sense when the missions and quests are very new, and should have been lowered or removed later on.

The time-sink reasoning is much more likely to be true, but I still rather think that's not entirely the case... even if it's just to fool myself a little.Many of those waits have been removed. It seems to be just the TOAU story that still has them.

[Tharly]

Not so. Start SoA to do RoV and there is a huge timegate of 20+ imprimaturs to do SoA missions to the point where you can continue with RoV. Imagine a new player trying to do RoV and having to wait over a week for imprimaturs so they can continue the missions. Now imagine they only have a few hours of playtime a week so the problem gets magnified. There's another part of SoA that requires even more imprimaturs to be spent in order to continue the mission line. How does that help keep people engaged when they cannot even continue a storyline in a continuous fashion? XP and CP bonuses and access to reisenjima and other things are locked behind that mission progress that is being brought to a screeching halt. Why is being able to have a smooth and continuous run through missions an evil thing and anyone who wants that wrong in your opinion? We probably will never get it, but that would be one of the best QoL changes one could make for a new player.

[Alhanelem]

Start SoA to do RoV and there is a huge timegate of 20+ imprimaturs to do SoA missions That's not a wait time, you're doing content that's required of you as part of the missions. It's only a wait time if the only thing you're doing is waiting.

SOA has no "wait until JP midnight to continue" at all as far as I can recall. Some game day waits, but game day waits are 1 hour at most and usually less."

I mean seriously though, there's a million things to do in the game across hundreds of areas and something like 1000 quests, instanced battles, etc. There are so many side th ings you need to accomplish like buying spells, unlocking features from quests, that those few wait times that still exist create oppertunities to get those things done. You don't have to barrel through the entire story as fast as possible you know. As I've said before, the content and gameplay aren't nearly as dependent on the story as they are in other modern MMOs. Do. Other. Things. It's really not a big deal.

[Tharly]

Its not a wait when you need imprimaturs to do the content required as part of the missions and imprimaturs incur a 6 hour wait per imprimatur? A new player running through missions doesn't know to front load those so they aren't a hindrance to progress.

Do. Other. Things. is a coping mechanism to a mechanic that serves little purpose after content has been released for several years. You may be fine with coping, but myself and many others would greatly appreciate the lessening of either dead time or being forced to change focus from the goal you set for your gametime. Imagine if your PC forced you to restart every hour to Go. Do. Other. Things. when you're trying to get work done on it.

[Alhanelem]

Its not a wait when you need imprimaturs to do the content required as part of the missions and imprimaturs incur a 6 hour wait per imprimatur? A new player running through missions doesn't know to front load those so they aren't a hindrance to progress.

Do. Other. Things. is a coping mechanism to a mechanic that serves little purpose after content has been released for several years. You may be fine with coping, but myself and many others would greatly appreciate the lessening of either dead time or being forced to change focus from the goal you set for your gametime. Imagine if your PC forced you to restart every hour to Go. Do. Other. Things. when you're trying to get work done on it.

It's not a "coping mechanism." It's a legitimate response. If you're going to insist on being belligerent, then my original comment stands. The game encourages you to play different things throughout, it's not just with the missions. If you're not willing to do that, and just dismiss it as a "coping mechanism," then you are literally in the wrong game genre. Every MMO has wait times and caps / limits on doing various features of the game. It's not just this one. I'm sorry you don't think it has a purpose, but the developers who made it disagree.

"If you don't like it, leave." I mean, I really don't like to say that. But it doesn't seem like this is the game for you. And that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that, we all have different tastes, preferences, desires and goals.

[Tharly]

Who's belligerent? The person stating his view and agrees with the OP on unreasonable waits or the person who cannot accept that is a valid point of view and keeps saying that people who don't like the waits should quit? I'd say that more people would say the latter.

[Alhanelem]

Who's belligerent? The person stating his view and agrees with the OP on unreasonable waits or the person who cannot accept that is a valid point of view and keeps saying that people who don't like the waits should quit? I'd say that more people would say the latter.
Not me? I've remained calm and made sensible posts based on facts. That's not being belligerent.

And what I said is true. Over several updates most of the wait times in the storylines were reduced or removed. The ones that still exist, exist for a reason. It's fine if you disagree with that reason, but raging about it isn't going to change it.

Wait times exist in MMOs for a reason. If you can't tolerate wait times at all, then you shouldn't play any MMOs, because they all have wait times in them at some point. But then again, maybe you're not as upset by this as you sound and you're just trying to use exaggeration to make a point.