Just Beat Stormblood

How many weeks am I looking at to get to Shadowbringers?

I quit for three years because the ARR wait to get to HW, only came back for Hrothgar.

Should I just story-skip the filler?

I came back about 2 months b4 ShB, it took about a week and a half to get caught up from initial SB end to all the patch story additions. But that also had to do with being ilvl locked,which now shouldnt be as much of an issue at all to get that gear

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Originally Posted by Barta

How many weeks am I looking at to get to Shadowbringers?

I quit for three years because the ARR wait to get to HW, only came back for Hrothgar.

Should I just story-skip the filler?

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Don't story skip anything. The first part of the SB patch quests might not be that important but the later patches most definitely are.

Yeah....

But I really don't want to spend a month running around the same place watching Japanese Horatio Cane or picking up dogshite, or whatever unimportant and completely inane bullcack they thought was ABSOLUTELY necessary to force upon you.

Lile, ARR to HW was awful. Fucking unbearable. I know scores of people who quit and won't come back because of it.

And HW to StB wasn't all that great either, at least it was relevant and fit the plot?

But I'd rather not go from revolutionary war to picking out dresses with Tatarutu or whatever.

If you're not here for story, just skip it.

Then, perhaps you just dont really want to play FF at all?

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Originally Posted by Barta

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If you don't like the story then skip it. You'll miss out on context for ShB which has one of the best FF stories in decades, not just MMO expansion, but if the story is so unbearable and you have the spare cash then skip. Just remember you're still going to have to level the hard way if you do, unless you buy a job skip in which case you're still going to have a lot of adjustments to make. That said SB to ShB is a pretty merciful grind compared to the other two and ESPECIALLY compared to ARR to HW. Plus the fights are generally pretty fun as well.

I really liked Lady Iceheart, most of HV, watching things come together in Doma and Ala Mhigo....

But the Detective Manderhume or the days of pointless Minfillia whining? No. Please God No. No. Noooooooooooo!

There were 100 quests between ARR and HW, half of which were extremely long and boring fetch quests. There are 40 quests after SB main scenario quests, shorter and mostly story focused.

However if you're not at all interested in the story, feel free to skip it, but you will be a bit lost when starting ShB.

Really sounds like you won't be interested in post SB, or ShB.

I already played through all of HW and StB? What are you on about?

My forum avatar has been stuck like that since ARR when my data failed to transfer from 1.0, because Squeenix couldn't make an MMO.

There is literally no Roe on Typhon. It just lists that on my Service Account and Mogstation. The actual character is on Coeurl and a Hrothgar and has been for years, and was a Roe of course.

I will say this, if you do story skip make sure you watch them all in your book at the inn or house.

If you do not know the stories in ARR,HW,and Stormblood you will miss alot of nuances in Shadowbringers.

title and what you say does not add up.

Title says you "just beat stormblood" but then you ask "How many weeks am I looking at to get to Shadowbringers?" if you have beat stormblood then shadowbringer is next..

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Originally Posted by Barta

Yeah....

But I really don't want to spend a month running around the same place watching Japanese Horatio Cane or picking up dogshite, or whatever unimportant and completely inane bullcack they thought was ABSOLUTELY necessary to force upon you.

Lile, ARR to HW was awful. Fucking unbearable. I know scores of people who quit and won't come back because of it.

And HW to StB wasn't all that great either, at least it was relevant and fit the plot?

But I'd rather not go from revolutionary war to picking out dresses with Tatarutu or whatever.

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I don't think this game is for you...

Just let people play a game how they want to.
If there is an option to skip story then it is there for a reason.

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Originally Posted by White_Wolf_X

title and what you say does not add up.

Title says you "just beat stormblood" but then you ask "How many weeks am I looking at to get to Shadowbringers?" if you have beat stormblood then shadowbringer is next..

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They likely just beat 4.0 and have haven't done the subsequent patches.

The MSQ in SB are easy to finish in 3-4 hrs for each patch (while watching the cutscenes in a slow pace). So it will only take you 5 days max to get through them if you do one patch per day.

If you're gonna skip, you can easily finish it in one day.

The 4.x patches after Stormblood’s main story are far shorter than anything in 2.x (ARR leading into HW), and there is not a lot of filler in them—they are mostly plot focused. 4.1~4.3 sort of wrap up a few loose threads leftover from 4.0, and 4.4 starts building up context and foreshadowing leading into 5.0. If you care about seeing 5.0’s story, I would highly recommend not skipping anything from 4.4 onwards. 4.3 is also a really good patch in terms of story, so I would recommend watching that as well; but that’s just my personal opinion.

I did the entirety of 4.x over the course of a couple days on my alt in preparation for 5.0’s story, so it won’t take you that much time at all. And I watched all the cutscenes on her.

If you have the right Item level gear you can do all of the stuff better SB and ShB in a day, it's not that long.

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Originally Posted by Barta

How many weeks am I looking at to get to Shadowbringers?

I quit for three years because the ARR wait to get to HW, only came back for Hrothgar.

Should I just story-skip the filler?

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Ok let me put it this way.

They have learned their lesson. NOTHING past HW demands you to complete 100+ quests.

After you finish the Stormblood quest you enter what they call "the Legend Returns". You have 6 sets of quests culminating in "A Requiem for Heroes Part 2". All those are a total of 41 quests. I've counted.

That is less than half of what you go through from the end of ARR until Heavensward.

I know ARR sucked but they have never made that mistake again.


Edit: also the post stormblood things are not filler. You kinda need them to understand things going forward, story wise. They have learned to trim the fat a bit.

Thanks for the encouragement and wisdom, I consumed litres of caffeine, cartons of nicotine, and other stimulants and I'm now on... Grismal... Gray?

Grittle Gray? Some fucking war dungeon.

Yotsuyu's story was especially touching and resonated with me, as a child who was taken from an abusive home and put through the foster system.

Actually the entirety of this filler patch stuff was wholesome.

Sound slike you wont like the game at all. like... 60% of its enjoyment is the story and characters...

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Originally Posted by Uielyave

Sound slike you wont like the game at all. like... 60% of its enjoyment is the story and characters...

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I don't believe this to be true at all. I've played through the MSQ from 2.0 through all of 5.0. I haven't skipped through any of it myself and yet I find myself enjoying the Dungeons, Trials, and Raids much more than the MSQ. I mean I haven't finished both expert dungeons yet (waiting for a friend to catch up), and I've been playing the game much more post 80 then I did 70-79.

Not everyone enjoys FFXIV for the story. I like the story, but its definitely not why I'm here. If I was looking for story, I'd play ESO. Its quest/story system is far superior to FFXIV's. However, that's not why I play MMOs. I play for the game itself, as well as the people and the social aspect. So far FFXIV has the best dungeon content of any MMORPG and has the most of it, while at the same time being the most challenging. And that was the weakest part of ESO's content. It was too easy, too little, and hardly any variety.

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Originally Posted by Uielyave

Sound slike you wont like the game at all. like... 60% of its enjoyment is the story and characters...

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I wouldn't say it's that high of a percentage. Yes it's a story driven game but there is still plenty to enjoy outside of the story. I'd say the other big + from this game are the Trials aka Boss fights.

I can tell you most of my enjoyement of this game comes from Boss fights. The spectacle blows my mind more often than not. The transitions, the music, the cinematics. That is why i stick around and I will probably stick around while they keep being so damn good at those aspects.

Also i've spent an unhealthy amount of time Chocobo racing. I say unhealthy because I am a slave to the mindset that my time is wasted if the numbers on my characters stats are not incrasing, be it with levels or new, stronger gear. I am learning to stop blaming myself if i spend 2 hours just taking screenshots of the sights or of my characters. If I'm having fun I shouldn't be considering it "wasting time" now should I?

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Originally Posted by Barta

Thanks for the encouragement and wisdom, I consumed litres of caffeine, cartons of nicotine, and other stimulants and I'm now on... Grismal... Gray?

Grittle Gray? Some fucking war dungeon.

Yotsuyu's story was especially touching and resonated with me, as a child who was taken from an abusive home and put through the foster system.

Actually the entirety of this filler patch stuff was wholesome.

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Glad you are enjoying it.

To answer your question - the size of the Stormblood to Shadowbringers story is about as long as it was to get from Heavensward to Stormblood.

They really, REALLY learnt from the backlash of A Realm Reborn to Heavensward.

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Originally Posted by Uielyave

Sound slike you wont like the game at all. like... 60% of its enjoyment is the story and characters...

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I playing with another person that dislikes the way the story is delivered but enjoy everything else.

Have you guys read the post instead of telling the OP of how this game isn't for him? Gezz. The guy is reading the story, he just wanted to know if it's a stupid slog like ARR-HW or if it's better. If you think that you must enjoy ARR-HW slog in order to enjoy the rest of the game you're nuts. I'm saying that as someone that read all of ARR-HW slog and actually, hah, enjoyed it. Doesn't make it less of a slog, of course.

Gymlit Dark is the last bit of SB before you enter ShB. The story in ShB doesnt slog, if you ignore the optional sidequests, at least to me, its very straightforward, does have a couple slog moments, but it feels like by the end of each quest youre actually a step closer, sometimes area chapters ending a bit fast, if you wanted/liked the story and wanted more context before getting the results. If you are at that point, youre basically a quest or two away from ShB. You'll know what I mean when you get the first quest for ShB, you will be given a nice surprise, during your fetch duty.

So dont play it, it seems u dont like history, so maybe its not the game for u. There isn't filler patch, all patches are part of the MSQ. Stormblood wasnt great, but middle to the end it got good, better then the beginning.

It's not long. Maybe a week or so. Maybe think along the lines of a days play session per patch.