MSQ as a new player

Hi, I'm a relatively new player, started this game about a month ago. Now I'm at lvl 66 with my bard.

So I wanted to share my experience and make a few suggestions for the MSQ.

I really enjoy the story and I really want to play through the story with other characters and classes again, but there are two things, which stop me from playing the story again.

Problems:
1st: The MSQ between the classic FF14 and Heavensward... I think it's called the seventh astral era quests. This was a real pain, it's absolutely too long without any progression for my character. I almost quitted this game because of it, cause I didn't know when I will start progressing again. And the story in that part is boring as well. So I fear that maybe other new players quit here as well, which isn't healthy for the population for this game.

2nd: Dungeons and bosses with partyfinder.... damn, some queues till finding a group are taking up to 1 hour! Sometimes I don't have so much time gaming, and waiting 1 hour to get 1 quest done is a disaster. I don't want to get through this waiting time again. Everytime a quest with partyfinder pop up, I get the feeling of "oh no, please not again". Maybe you know what I mean.

Suggestions:
1st: Remove the MSQ between classic FF14 and Heavensward or shortened it somehow.

2nd: Please remove Partyfinder quests, give us bots who can help with those quests or change those quests to solo quests, lower the bosses HP and dps etc. I know it's an MMORPG, but I don't want to depend on other players for the MSQ. Endgame has enough stuff to do with other players.

If those two things are done, I would be playing the MSQ again with other classes and enjoy it alot more. And these two things could also help other players to stay in this game.

Thanks for reading and sorry for my english. I'm not a native english speaker.

They are planning on streamlining it.

1. You are progressing, you are still gaining exp and gil and unlocking content. Most importantly you are progressing the storyline, welcome to Final Fantasy! :) If you are so far beyond it you might consider leveling another job.

2. Are you playing during the prime time of you data center? If you are playing what is the middle of the night for you datacenter queue times might be pretty bad. As Damage it's always worse than healers and tanks. It's also still kind of the start of the expansion and people probably aren't doing roulettes as much as they usually do. People doing roulettes fill out the parties for those doing specifics.

Funny enough...

1. They are planning to / currently working on streamlining it.

2. At least for the newest expansion, you get the option to run dungeons with NPCs.

1. As said, they are streamlining that portion of the MSQ in the coming months. Please look forward to it.
2. If you've unlocked Grand Company Squadrons you can run a lot of dungeons with them (NPCs) and you get instant queues and go at your pace. ShB has the trust system for the same idea but a bit more "efficient" with mechanics etc.

So yea, both your issues are going to be solved or have been solved if you level up and unlock the solutions *Thumbs up* Welcome and good luck! :D

As the other have stated they are reworking the MSQ. Not sure when that will be completed though. Alternatively, they are going to release a NG+ eventually as well. So you could just purchase the MSQ skip from the mogstation and go through the story again once the NQ+ is released. Or, you could purchase the lvl boost for whatever job you want and continue your current MSQ at lvl 70. This could save you the trouble of gearing up pre 70 and if you boost a tank or healer your queue times will be decent.

You've only been playing a month and you're 67 maining a DPS job. I think you're doing just fine.

Try to keep in mind that fresh content comes out every 3-ish months, so you will get there, and before you even know it. Just keep in mind that you're experiencing the grind, and you'd be a unicorn if you weren't feeling it. That being said, you will find progressing through the MSQ to be faster as a healer or tank since their queue times are much shorter on average.

As already stated, the post-ARR story will get streamlined because many players are frustrated with it.
The ~100 quests take an extremely long time and with the frequent trials and dungeons you need to do, they take even longer for a dps because of the queue times.

However, you can try to use the Party Finder (not Dungeon Finder, the one where you queue and get paired with randoms. I think you confused those two) to get help.
While I didn't need to during the MSQ as I was playing as a healer, I often used it during my ARR relic where I had to run all the 50s dungeons and found help really quickly. A lot of max level players regulary browse Party Finder for various reasons and many readily help with a quick unsync run to get you through a story dungeon.

I would also stick to MSQ trials/ dungeons for now and not try to get into all the 50s dungeons you unlock after completing ARR. Escecially old max. level dungeons often have nightmarish queue times because they only pop up in 50/60/70 roulette which isn't done as often as other roulettes.

I also recommend finding a FC. It makes sloggish times much more bearable if you are surrounded by nice players and can chat away while doing the 8348093485. fedex quest. They are usually willing to quickly get you through trials/ dungeons aswell. It's a matter of minutes at 80 while saving you tones of time.

Also, since Twintania is an EU server try to aim for EU evening times to get your MSQ trials/ dungeons done.
If your squadron is high enough, you can try to use that for the neccessary dungeons, though not all are accessible via Squadron and you will still need to queue for most of the MSQ dungeons. Traisl aren't accessible at all with a Squadron.
Another solution, though one that also requires time, would be to level a healer or tank alongside your dps as they have really short queue times with healers getting almost always instant invites even at night. Unfortunately players always gravitate towards dps classes so they are over-represented and have the longest queue times out of all roles.

At 71+ you can use trusts for dungeons and a few trials aside, you won't have an issue with queue times, no matter your role.

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Originally Posted by MsQi

They are planning on streamlining it.

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I expect they will do every quest unrelated to the Waking Sands ones :P

Thank you for all your replies. Then I'm looking forward to getting the streamlining patch.

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Originally Posted by MsQi

They are planning on streamlining it.

1. You are progressing, you are still gaining exp and gil and unlocking content. Most importantly you are progressing the storyline, welcome to Final Fantasy! :) If you are so far beyond it you might consider leveling another job.

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This is such a wonderful post. Becuase of the garbage gate system that lore purists defend. You can't do any class quests, because oh wait they are locked behind a msq. A person hits 50 and get garbage xp because those quests have garbage xp, unless they boosted them. But I recently did some lvl 50 quests I missed, xp was bad and did not scale at all.


Then the comment just pay to skip it. I just want to scream. It has almost been half a decade since we have known it was bad. So new people should just pay to skip it. Don't people feel ashamed even suggesting that.



The one good suggestion is tank or healer que. The other option which doesn't seem suggested much. If you just want to clear it and xp isn't that great anyways. Get a level 80 friend from FC to just speed run it unsynced. Unless it has a mechanic that requires multiple players. All that stuff just takes a few minutes.

I can understand shortening the ARR quests...I've personally seen people I've introduced to the game quit or lose interest before it even gets good due to the pacing. I've heard that they'll be shortening it at some point in 5.1.

But this...

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Originally Posted by Pokelong

2nd: Please remove Partyfinder quests, give us bots who can help with those quests or change those quests to solo quests, lower the bosses HP and dps etc. I know it's an MMORPG, but I don't want to depend on other players for the MSQ. Endgame has enough stuff to do with other players.

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You're playing the wrong game if you feel this way. It's an MMO...you can pretty much expect to play with others. Waiting until the "endgame" to do multiplayer content would be a terrible idea.

I do hope that the streamlining of the post-ARR MSQ does a good job of highlighting the good parts of that story section. Because there is a lot of interesting stuff that happens and a lot of important setup for future expansions, but so much of it is spaced out with all the boring fetch quests and other irrelevant filler that it takes away from all that significantly.

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Originally Posted by Moonlite

This is such a wonderful post. Becuase of the garbage gate system that lore purists defend. You can't do any class quests, because oh wait they are locked behind a msq. A person hits 50 and get garbage xp because those quests have garbage xp, unless they boosted them. But I recently did some lvl 50 quests I missed, xp was bad and did not scale at all.


Then the comment just pay to skip it. I just want to scream. It has almost been half a decade since we have known it was bad. So new people should just pay to skip it. Don't people feel ashamed even suggesting that.



The one good suggestion is tank or healer que. The other option which doesn't seem suggested much. If you just want to clear it and xp isn't that great anyways. Get a level 80 friend from FC to just speed run it unsynced. Unless it has a mechanic that requires multiple players. All that stuff just takes a few minutes.

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I'm not sure what you are implying about me, but if I had my way they would make the MSQ optional rather than change it. There are a few kill quests and some "back and forthing" they could adjust or make separate. But this is Final Fantasy, if you don't like endless text boxes and cutscenes you're a "casual" ;). Raids and harder content are mostly side quests, they fill out the lore and the universe and it beats dodging 200 lightning bolts, but they are often not the main story.

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Originally Posted by MsQi

I'm not sure what you are implying about me, but if I had my way they would make the MSQ optional rather than change it. There are a few kill quests and some "back and forthing" they could adjust or make separate. But this is Final Fantasy, if you don't like endless text boxes and cutscenes you're a "casual" ;). Raids and harder content are mostly side quests, they fill out the lore and the universe and it beats dodging 200 lightning bolts, but they are often not the main story.

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Sorry I interpreted the original response as "you should be basking in the glow of the MSQ it is xp and oh such fine writing how could you not be enjoying this" slightly embellished to illustrate how it came across. Ignoring the fact that it scales horribly and locks you out of other aspects of leveling.



I have seen a few people, not you though. Say that almost none of those quests can be cut because some npc mentions one tiny thing that ties into some quest you will do weeks from now and who really remembers or cares. Or people who say just give SE more money. Or people who claim that gating MSQ has solved botting going forward. Or that its a FF game and it has lots of text. I am sure somewhere someone on the internet has counted, but it feels like I have trudged through at least 3 FF games worth of text. Maybe I am wrong and the rabid lore fan base just makes every mundane filler quest that mentions some tiny thing feel like ten.

If you're not a native English speaker on an EU server, you may also want to check your Duty Finder settings to be sure you have multiple languages ticked. Your long wait times may be due to the difficulty of finding enough players with your preferred language to group together.

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Originally Posted by Hasrat

If you're not a native English speaker on an EU server, you may also want to check your Duty Finder settings to be sure you have multiple languages ticked. Your long wait times may be due to the difficulty of finding enough players with your preferred language to group together.

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This, even if you are it's just a good idea to have all the language settings ticked to maximize your chances of getting into a group. That's what the translated text options are for.

I recall them saying they are aiming for patch 5.3 to release the streamlined MSQ from 2.1 up to 3.0. They said they are already working on it now.

About the one-hour queues:
Is there any chance these were for the Extreme Primals? (Probably a re-match against Garuda, Ramuh, or the Ultima Weapon?)
If so - one-hour is actually pretty short for those. The quests are optional (and far, FAR more difficult than anything you're required to do); most people wait until max level and do them unsynced, solo or in a small group.
(And if you found the quest for the Coils of Bahamut - that one won't fill. Ever.)

I'd wager they'd streamline the 2.1-2.55 quests to be half as long, but keep the requirement to beat Qarn (normal), Ifrit (Hard), Garuda (Hard), Titan (Hard), and the rest of the story Hard mode primals for newer players and alts.

Funny thing is before ARR's original launch, when we were still in the early access stage and I was tearing through content fast since I had a bunch of 50s already from v1, I made the comment on here that they should streamline the msq because it was simply too long and there were too many garbage fetch quests (think I pointed out the titan storyline specifically) and I was torn apart by the masses. I don't think I had ever been comment bombed, screamed at or ragged on like that ever on a forum. It was a level of bad online behavior that would make trump blush.

But nowadays...

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Originally Posted by AnimaAnimus

Funny thing is before ARR's original launch, when we were still in the early access stage and I was tearing through content fast since I had a bunch of 50s already from v1, I made the comment on here that they should streamline the msq because it was simply too long and there were too many garbage fetch quests (think I pointed out the titan storyline specifically) and I was torn apart by the masses. I don't think I had ever been comment bombed, screamed at or ragged on like that ever on a forum. It was a level of bad online behavior that would make trump blush.

But nowadays...

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ARR has always been that weird, unedited first draft of a decent story that somehow got published even though it really needed to be taken to the editing desk for corrections. It just took people actually having to level alts, help their friends level, and even having the skip-cutscene fix for the MSQ roulette implemented for people to see it. The MSQ dungeons are basically the perfect analogy for the rest of the story. Slow, plodding, and with a lot of fluff and unnecessary dialogue that could be cut without consequence. There's only so many times you can listen to Gaius chew the scenery before you realize 'you know, you could have said all this in half the time' and then make the next leap and realize that applies to the rest of ARR.

Try leveling one of the healer classes so that you could finish the DF quests. Healers almost get insta queue on DF these days.

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Originally Posted by RokkuEkkusu

I'd wager they'd streamline the 2.1-2.55 quests to be half as long, but keep the requirement to beat Qarn (normal), Ifrit (Hard), Garuda (Hard), Titan (Hard), and the rest of the story Hard mode primals for newer players and alts.

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I'm not sure about Qarn, but definitely the hard-mode primals have to stay in the MSQ at that point because the Scions need to give you those quests before those NPCs can leave the Waking Sands - which is why the MSQ stops you from progressing when those characters should be in Mor Dhona by now.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I'm not sure about Qarn, but definitely the hard-mode primals have to stay in the MSQ at that point because the Scions need to give you those quests before those NPCs can leave the Waking Sands - which is why the MSQ stops you from progressing when those characters should be in Mor Dhona by now.

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Adding on top of this that you have to at least have titan hard unlocked by the patch 3.4 quests, i think it unlikely for them to relax the arr hm primals. Why make the player do them later rather than earlier?

Story-wise, Ifrit, Garuda and Titan (Hard) felt absolutely pointless outside of an earlier comment about the need to re-evaluate previous encounters, but after unlocking and clearing said Trial(s), there's no follow-up at all to make it feel "relevant" for the - at that point - ongoing plot point. If they want to keep it, they could push the quests to unlock the hard version when it's actually required and add some short "I received the data from X after your rebattle with Y" to the Scion who gives you the quest for the next Hard version. Or let the game recognize you have already done the trials with the current version, instead of needing to to do them a second time (outside of intrinsical motivation or roulette purpose).

As for Quarn: It would have helped if the system had acknowledged retrospectively that you already cleared the dungeon; so that the NPC in front of the entrance could simply hand you the item over for some reason.

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Originally Posted by Mahoukenshi

Story-wise, Ifrit, Garuda and Titan (Hard) felt absolutely pointless outside of an earlier comment about the need to re-evaluate previous encounters, but after unlocking and clearing said Trial(s), there's no follow-up at all to make it feel "relevant" for the - at that point - ongoing plot point.

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My understanding is that if you were playing the game at release, the hard primals were available immediately or soon after clearing the MSQ - the equivalent of what endgame content we currently have for Shadowbringers while we wait for patch X.1 to continue the story.

Now it's just a sidequest you can pick up alongside the first 2.1 quest, but back then it would have been the only quest that Minfilia had for you after completing 2.0. There were no ongoing plot points to account for at the time you were intended to do them - but that's not the same as the point where you're forced to do then.

I actually think the best move could be to convert the unlock quests into MSQ - you have to do them sooner or later, and it takes away the confusing business of Minfilia having two different quests that you probably pick up one after the other (and she's in quite different moods between the two cutscenes, which is a bit jarring).

While the story was amazing to go through at the time, when broken into patches, I must agree that going through it in one go is a very painful experience. I really feel for new players.
Good thing is, as few mentioned, SE realized it and the main quests will be streamlined in the near future.

Having just started a new character and going through MSQ again... I can say that there are FAR TOO MANY 'fetch quests' that send you over there, then back, go back over there, come back here, go back there... AGAIN... which gets extremely annoying very quickly. "Hey go tell her this, then come back and tell me what she says, then go back and tell her this..." even though the said person is only a few feet away. Those type of annoying and pointless quests need to be completely snipped or could even be turned into another side-quest. It's not so bad if you're high enough level where enemies don't attack you... but if you are at level and had to fight through those same enemies over and over again because you have to go back and forth... that's even worse.

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Originally Posted by Enla

ARR has always been that weird, unedited first draft of a decent story that somehow got published even though it really needed to be taken to the editing desk for corrections.

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I don't know that I would even call it a decent story. Aside from the final 45-minute cut scene, I didn't find it particularly compelling. One quest that stands out as an example of what made it so frustrating for me was where I had to go help Thancred with his investigation. When I arrived, Thancred said that he had already finished up and wanted to meet me back at the Rising Stones, where I had just come from. Why? Seriously, why? Also, I don't know how many times I had to sit through the Sultana whining about the stress of ruling and lengthy diatribes about her intent to abdicate the throne. I lost count after three. Then there are the extended cut scenes of characters emoting at each other. The quest line is already long enough without having to watch each Scion emote for ten seconds each. I just finished ARR yesterday, so the irritation is still fresh in my mind. I remember thinking I was done after repelling the Garleans and seeing what I thought were end credits rolling. Little did I know I was still tens (hundreds?) of quests away from being done done! I'm glad to hear they're streamlining it. There's certainly plenty of filler to cut!

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Originally Posted by Ronduwil

I don't know that I would even call it a decent story. Aside from the final 45-minute cut scene, I didn't find it particularly compelling. One quest that stands out as an example of what made it so frustrating for me was where I had to go help Thancred with his investigation. When I arrived, Thancred said that he had already finished up and wanted to meet me back at the Rising Stones, where I had just come from. Why? Seriously, why? Also, I don't know how many times I had to sit through the Sultana whining about the stress of ruling and lengthy diatribes about her intent to abdicate the throne. I lost count after three. Then there are the extended cut scenes of characters emoting at each other. The quest line is already long enough without having to watch each Scion emote for ten seconds each. I just finished ARR yesterday, so the irritation is still fresh in my mind. I remember thinking I was done after repelling the Garleans and seeing what I thought were end credits rolling. Little did I know I was still tens (hundreds?) of quests away from being done done! I'm glad to hear they're streamlining it. There's certainly plenty of filler to cut!

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A friend said it best in my mind, ARR's story was built primarily around slowly getting you through every single zone in the game like a tram ride at a theme park. Unlike later expansions where it felt like the zones were made for the story, not the other way around. Cut out those unnecessary fluff pieces and the story isn't bad by any means and would be a lot more cohesive. The issue is that it's trying to do too much (tell a story, get you to visit every zone, try and pad out the leveling experience, etc) and is basically the equivalent of a rough, first draft - where the author doesn't think, they just word vomit out what they want to write before shelving the script for a few months so they can go back and rewrite the story into something that flows much better.

But yeah it /desperately/ needs to be parred down. It was okay back in 2.0 but now it's such a huge barrier to entry.

My only problem with the MSQ is the forced grouping with other people. Experiencing a story dungeon as part of some rush-rush groups daily roulette is absolutely terrible. Nothing like playing with 3 other people who are bored to death, trying to get out of the dungeon as fast as possible, to completely take you out of the story.

Also, most of the time it makes no sense. "The echo protects you from Primal Influence, so you'll have to handle this fight. Oh, and here's 3 other echo users no ones ever mentioned you'll be randomly paired up with and then never see again.

I wouldn't have minded taking a mini-tour of each zone, but it really didn't feel that way to me. It was lots of back and forth between Revenant's Toll and a bunch of random places that I'd already been through over the course of leveling my classes. I'm trying to get all my classes to level 50 before moving on, but apparently I have to finish the ARR MSQ in order to pick up various classes that start at level 30 (for some reason). I want to level everyone together to get the most out of my gear before desynthesizing/converting it. I'm a completionist by nature, so I like exploring areas and doing quests. The ARR MSQ, however, had too many gratuitous fed-ex quests and lengthy cut scenes with no plot development whatsoever. I don't want to be too spoilery, but there were many questionable decisions that I was forced to endure. I say endure because my character was given no opportunity to object, and I was forced to comply if I wanted to move the story forward. I can't emphasize enough how annoyed I was by the lengthy cut scenes. Every time I got a quest saying that Minfilia wanted to talk to me (and there were lots of those), I had to suppress a physical groan. I've heard more than enough speeches about the burden of carrying on Louisoix's legacy already. Let's just get the job done.