Game's main selling point is the story? Then who for are all these trials, raids, ultimates, criterions, field operations, large-scale alliance raids, chaotics, unreals? And why is it that savage tiers and ultimates gather so much attention and generate so much hype?Quote:
Originally Posted by Divinemights
Story in MMO is like a story in an adult movie, it's cool to have it, there are people who will enjoy it, but we all know that people come to it not for the story at all.
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05-06-2026, 02:23 PMAlicie
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05-06-2026, 02:57 PMVeyaAkemi
I would actually be okay with a skip of a sort being hard integrated into the game, like skip 'em to the start of DT, that's plenty to skip and I imagine someone clicking that option wouldn't be bothered by the story anyway, but, and this is extremely important, there is two points that would be required for me to find it acceptable:
1. It cannot be "advertised" in any way, there should be no pop up that tells you that you can skip, I am not saying it needs to be buried under 6-9 layers of menus, it can be an innocuous option in one of the already existing menus, put it under New Game+ for all I care, so you need to be told by someone else it is there or look for it yourself.
2. It cannot be the default, because making it the default poisons the well, everyone, every new character, should be given the opportunity to organically experience the story from the start, and if you don't care, once you get through the very short intro and can see other players, then you can skip ahead, after all, it would be backwards to make someone who only cares about the game aspect to go through menus to experience a story, it's the person that don't, that only cares about the mechanical aspects, who should go through the mechanical process to do it.
I think those two conditions would be fine enough? no one would have a reason to complain about them? ultimately I don't think a skip would hurt the ability to enjoy the story, because it already does exist and you just have to pay for it, but it isn't obvious you can skip, nor it is pushed onto your face, and that gives people the opportunity to naturally engage with the game's world, if they still don't care then, that's their prerogative, but they still need to be given the opportunity.
However if even a single person complains the story sucks after having skipped it, it should be YoshiP's right to revert the changes immediately. -
05-06-2026, 05:32 PMFreyt
How about a free story skip to wherever the Free Trial ends, at any given time? I think it kind of makes sense, that way.
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05-06-2026, 05:48 PMGarruss
If people want to skip the story, that is up to them. But I don't want the fallout from that to turn into "Why can't I understand what's going on?" "They should make this easier to understand this story". When the means to understand said story is right there in the MSQ
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05-06-2026, 06:08 PMAnwar
I have in the past been against a story skip. and i still am to this day. As in when Evercold comes out? I don't think players should just be able to skip the msq. Fast food spam no brain dungeons to max level and etc.. However. I can understand that from an entirely new players perspective starting final fantasy like i did back in january. taking on the base game and 4 expansions worth of msq can feel very daunting. I am unemployed.. I have all the time in the world at the moment to enjoy the game and the MSQ to the fullest. And I have played since january every single day. Loved every moment and my time in the msq so far. I have of course not only played the msq while ive been playing but still. I am now closing in on the end of the base story in endwalker. Thats me an unemployed no life mmo gamer. having played since january every single day. for over 8 hours a day.
Now imagine a new player with friends. family. a job and perhaps other games they also play.. how long do you imagine it would take them to reach the present point in dawntrail? I am still against story skipping.. as in i think we all should play trough the msq same as before when evercold comes out. But i do think new players should be given the option from base game up to end of dawntrail when Evercold comes out included in the Evercold purchase. And i think that in reality when they end up playing evercold.. and should they enjoy the story. They will regret having skipped it, they will look up the lore on youtube and the wiki and learn what they missed out on. Speaking of course only based of how i would have felt. had i done it my self. But i would at least felt like something was missing. and I would of regretted my level skip as far as the story goes. wished i was a part of the journey and had felt it. Instead of cheating my self to the destination. But a story skip might ease the daunting level of entry a new player feels facing 4 expansions of msq. Although they might come to regret it later. -
05-06-2026, 06:13 PMOdrN
Adding an I don't want to play the game potion to the game you sell, very smart idea indeed, and what a strong message to send about it. "FFXIV is long and boring, so just skip to the end, where the real fun is."
Obviously nobody does that. Keep it optionnal.
Interesting signature Alicie.
Do you think new players are the ones who buy those because the story is bad? Wouldn't it be more likely the players who have alts or multiple accounts and don't want to redo everything every time?Quote:
If the story is so good, why does story skip never leaves bestsellers of FFXIV Store?
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05-06-2026, 06:27 PMKarloss01
I can see where you're coming from, but I can see people contacting SE or coming here to complain that they accidently used their story skip or job skip and now they want it reverted.
It'll probably cause more problems then it will solve, and personally, I think most of these skips are bought for Alts, rather then by new players.
The most obvious example is that Quinn guy. "WHERE ARE THE HEALS!?" -
05-06-2026, 06:57 PMvirianna
Story skips and level skips exist. They are not made for Katie the new player, they are made for John and his 15th alt.
They could grant such skips for an account made in first month or two of EC, for a singular character. But imo they should also do a bootcamp to teach these peoeple in and outs of the jobs - if they give evetyone a skip i can assure you first week of EC this forum will be full of people crying duties are hard bc they being kept added to a 3 ppl who are like 'first time in a dungeon EVER'. -
05-06-2026, 09:01 PMAlicieOh yeah of course everyone is creating alts non-stop and buying skips for them all the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by OdrN
That being said, I suppose it is a mix of both. Because it is just as difficult to imagine that someone is willing to drop $110 on the game immediately.
Imo including one skip into DLC is just a good move purely from a business-customer relationship point of view. Right now you buy complete edition or expansion and you don't have access to what you have purchased, to get that access you either have to sink few hundreds of hours or make a purchase comparable in price to yet another DLC. It's just not very consumer-friendly business model, even if we remove all game-specific reasons from it. -
05-07-2026, 12:46 AMNaddaWe truly are in dark times in gaming when Expansions and DLC are considered interchangeable words in an MMO context.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alicie
Edit
I realize it was unfair to say such a thing without giving a definition.
So I'll define what I see as a difference between the two.
Expansions are to MMOs by definition, are like a sequel to a book; they build onto what already exists.
In Gameplay context, an expansion is large scale additions to a game adds new zones, new story, level cap and systems.
A DLC be more like a book series, something within the same branding but not connected. You don't need to read one as they are all isolated stories.
In Gameplay context, A DLC might add optional and often modular side content loosely connected to the main story, but which you can participate in right away.
One is more rigid, building off a foundation.
The other is more fluid, opt in at any time.
It's easy today to think DLCs are like Expansions and vice versa because the industry at large really blurs the lines... but in an MMO Expansion means MORE content to play through.
Or at least it's supposed to. I know World of Warcraft is more of a Play the Expansion type of game, kinda just leaves a mess of everything that came before.
I guess it doesn't force you to go through each expansions zones or story because for one leveling is too fast and two Blizzard honestly doesn't care about their story.
And this isn't a plight of needing to care about FF14's story.
But you do get to play through each expansion in a sense. Evercold too will have its leveling dungeons, extremes, savage and ultimate.
So to me I don't see what's being missed out on other than wanting to play the newest content... but as a new player all the content is new to you - and if you want to play with your friends you could do that content with them as they get to it.
Paying for the game isn't the same as paying for access to later content in the game. I don't think any game should operate that way.