/r/ffxivdiscussion: XIV is becoming too big MSQ wise?

Does the game have too much MSQ? No, not really.

Does the game have too much MSQ a new player who wants to do current content with friends who already play has to work through sequentially? Ab.so.lute.ly.

I really hoped with 6.0 marking the end of the first story arc they would think of something to allow people to start the new arc starting with 7.0 right away while giving them the option to go back to the 2.0-6.0 arc at their own pace. Just giving them a story skip and telling them to NG+ it doesn't quite cut it.

It's really no surprise that this game is turning more and more into a single player experience with optional multiplayer if that is the experience a new player faces when picking up the game now.
So much of the MSQ forces you out of parties even if you had a friend interested in tagging along that, if you're just chipping away at the MSQ the 20 minutes you get to play the occasional dungeon with a friend, if they're even willing to run it synced because apparently we don't even do that for friends anymore, don't really make it feel like an MMO.

I really wonder how long they can sustain the current formula without relying entirely on established players to make things profitable.

I don't see the long MSQ as a problem. I feel like if you only jump into FFXIV for the endgame, you will be sorely disappointed because there just...isn't a whole lot of it. And if you're not a raider, then there's straight up almost none.

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Originally Posted by Kes13a

MSQ skip sure, but not all the way to Dawntrail, at that point why actually start the game? why not give them max level with full BiS gear too?

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An MSQ skip to Dawntrail is fine, so long as it is made clear to the user that it is a skip, and the story will not hesitate to reference back to past events where appropriate.

My longstanding suggestion has been that since Square Enix likely wishes to continue selling story skips overall, they could give vouchers for ONE free story skip and job skip with purchase of Dawntrail. New players can use it or not use it as they wish; old players either have no use for it or can use it on an alt.

Well... They can always just power through the msq and watch a recap on YouTube like so many other people do, if they're so eager to reach endgame, or buy a story skip. The msq actually doesn't take that long to get through if you're trying to power through it quickly, and believe me... If anybody knows that, it's me. I'm currently speed running 3 characters through the msq again yo add them to my ever growing army of alts. Each one of them has gone from brand new to post arr in 2 days.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

An MSQ skip to Dawntrail is fine, so long as it is made clear to the user that it is a skip, and the story will not hesitate to reference back to past events where appropriate.

My longstanding suggestion has been that since Square Enix likely wishes to continue selling story skips overall, they could give vouchers for ONE free story skip and job skip with purchase of Dawntrail. New players can use it or not use it as they wish; old players either have no use for it or can use it on an alt.

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This is precisely what WoW opted for and it's more or less solved the problem. For players who just want to play with their friends at current level, they can immediate jump to doing that while having New Game+ to go back at their leisure.

That being said, WoW didn't enforce a "Training Grounds" which is a more in-depth Hall of Novice to essentially force new players skipping to at least attempt to learn the basics of their class. So there is that to consider.

"The story so far" is an awful way of trying to remedy this if they go that route.

They trapped themselves by insisting on sticking with the same cast of characters post-Endwalker. If it wasn't for that, they could have easily designed an alternate start for players who didn't want to go through all of the Hydaelin saga.
A stupid summary of 10 years of narrative will never allow for players who skip to connect with the characters and terms in the level the MSQ expects them to at that point.

If MSQ is too much to handle for people, this game is not for them.
MSQ is THE game.

The MSQ does have a bit of a slow start, and when stuff really picks up towards the end of 2.0, the 2.x content then is just a slog... So someone new experiencing that and knowing they're facing several days worth of cutscenes might be turned off by the notion.

The game does very much have the problem of it "It gets good after X hours!" rather than just being good from the start.

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Originally Posted by strawberrycake

What do people think a story driven MMO thats constantly expansing upon it's narrative is gonna do? Like not to be a troll or something, just..........the game being a story focused game is one of it's main selling points, I'm expecting a 400+ hour story xD.

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A "Try not to burnout" challenge

Considering FF is a game where you can pick up and play at your own pace whenever without the fear of being left behind I don't see a long MSQ as a issue, especially it being a MMO. Having that freedom to choose if you wanna play it or not is probably the best aspect of it. There are some mmo's out there with a more boring story that requires tedious repeatable questing turn ins or such to level just to progress.