Massively OP: What content in Final Fantasy XIV is optional?

Interesting article over at Massively OP that takes a look at content that is technically optional, but is absolutely required to progress. Such as raids and old content.

Curious to know what the community's thoughts on this are.

It's a video game so everything is optional.

g a m i n g
j o u r n a l i s m

Getting out of bed is technically optional, but absolutely required to continue living.

I always figured that if someone's interest in a game is genuine, then they'd be inclined to explore as much of the game as possible.

In before the housing haters demand that housing becomes mandatory.

If you don't want to do it - it's optional.

It is pretty funny to see that one of the comments below the article is decrying the game for, apparently, having a broad range of content that is not necessary to complete, but offers a greater look into the game world and its lore.

I mean... MSQ isn't even mandatory. You can literally skip it thanks to the mogstation.
Nothing is actually "required to progress" when every player can have fun doing whatever they want and shoot for their own endgame.

Like...
I have friends that play this game JUST for crafting / gathering.
I have others that only wanna raid.
Between just those two groups there is no content necessary for them to fulfil their own
Like, they don't even need to go through the materia quests to overmeld. Any gear that's overmeldable is tradable so as long as you bring your own materia you don't need to overmeld yourself

At first I thought that the one thing all players need to do is their job quests, but some people play just to go deep into housing and post pics for their twitter or blog or whatever. They don't even need to interact with their job.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ItMe

I mean... MSQ isn't even mandatory. You can literally skip it thanks to the mogstation.
Nothing is actually "required to progress" when every player can have fun doing whatever they want and shoot for their own endgame.

Like...
I have friends that play this game JUST for crafting / gathering.
I have others that only wanna raid.
Between just those two groups there is no content necessary for them to fulfil their own
Like, they don't even need to go through the materia quests to overmeld. Any gear that's overmeldable is tradable so as long as you bring your own materia you don't need to overmeld yourself

At first I thought that the one thing all players need to do is their job quests, but some people play just to go deep into housing and post pics for their twitter or blog or whatever. They don't even need to interact with their job.

---

That's one of the things I like about this game. There's a little something for just about everyone.

Other than the original Coils of Bahamut, SE has done a great job of making anything that requires a party finder to be optional for getting the story.
Or even getting the vast majority of rewards - wait a patch or two and the item level catches up; and you're only out a few pieces of glamour and titles if you don't do the more intense stuff.

... and whoever wrote that article is kind of insane for complaining about CT being required.

...a lot of these comments are even lower quality than normal for the OF.

But on topic. I think it may have been a bigger deal if CT was required when it was current. Now? It's jokingly trivial. Maybe following perfect ideals it wouldn't be required, but the lore team - who does an above and beyond job with FFXIV and it's one of the major reasons I play - wanted to use the story, develop a certain character further, etc. To do this, to make any sense, the content has to be required.

Some might not care about the lore but I very much appreciate their attention to detail and continuity. Yes, it's not perfect, but it's better than any MMO I can think of and a lot of non-MMOs too.

When the price is 'you have to do some very easy - trivially easy - old content that used to be entirely optional' and we get a very good story in return, I'm OK with it.

So fun little history lesson for those who may not know but wayyy back when in the Burning Crusade in WoW you used to have to get keys that would let you into certain dungeons/raids. You would go through a questline to learn about the history of the dungeon or raid to unlock it.

When I leveled my Paladin from 1-80 there were probably 15 dungeons and multiple game features like pvp, hunt logs, sight seeing logs....hell even Challenge logs that I had never unlocked. In fact I skipped literally every single side quest in Mordana that unlocks quite a bit of content in FF14 and was at end game.

FF14 could maybe make an easier log once you hit max level sort of like a check list but I hate hate hate the WoW model in quite a lot of MMO's that just unlock everything automatically at end game. You have no connection with the story at all or what is going on.

Noone finds it strange that TOO THIS DAY when you do a roulette you get a guy watching the cutscenes for the first time in a hard mode? That is because that person was wondering around and finally clicked on some of these quest sitting around and realized there were entire dungeons, raids and trials you were never required to do.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lium

Interesting article over at Massively OP that takes a look at content that is technically optional, but is absolutely required to progress. Such as raids and old content.

Curious to know what the community's thoughts on this are.

---

What is optional depends on what your personal goals are. The more goals you set for yourself, the more things may become mandatory.

Technically, the only thing mandatory is to download and install the game. If someone wants to spend all their time playing with the character creator but never actually create the character and start the MSQ, they can do that.

I've got 2 alts that have never touched a raid outside of Crystal Tower before completing the 5.2 MSQ and they've only done Crystal Tower since then as it genuinely will be mandatory for MSQ progression in 5.3. They have average ilvls over 460. Raids (outside of Crystal Tower beginning in 5.3) are clearly not mandatory.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jennah

... and whoever wrote that article is kind of insane for complaining about CT being required.

---

It wasn't required before. You could understand what was going on in Shadowbringers well enough without it (though having done it gave a little more background depth to the story). Crystal Tower could have remained unexplored in the WoL's contemporary time, with the visit to the First and the explanation of its presence becoming the motivation to explore it later at some unspecified future date.

Why is it going to be required now? Is future MSQ lore going to be dependent on knowing what happened in the Crystal Tower raids, or is it only that Crystal Tower may be getting inserted into the MSQ to replace some of the content being removed?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Puremallace

Noone finds it strange that TOO THIS DAY when you do a roulette you get a guy watching the cutscenes for the first time in a hard mode? That is because that person was wondering around and finally clicked on some of these quest sitting around and realized there were entire dungeons, raids and trials you were never required to do.

---

In my experience those people also have a fair chance of being sprouts.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jojoya

It wasn't required before. You could understand what was going on in Shadowbringers well enough without it (though having done it gave a little more background depth to the story). Crystal Tower could have remained unexplored in the WoL's contemporary time, with the visit to the First and the explanation of its presence becoming the motivation to explore it later at some unspecified future date.

Why is it going to be required now? Is future MSQ lore going to be dependent on knowing what happened in the Crystal Tower raids, or is it only that Crystal Tower may be getting inserted into the MSQ to replace some of the content being removed?

---

My guess is that they're waking G'raha Tia up on the Source and requiring the raid simply makes their job of story writing a lot easier without needing to handwave the many months it took for the Crystal Exarch to start hero worshiping the WoL in the non-CT timeline. It's not really there to replace anything. They chose to bring back G'raha and likely hit a wall with their writing that needs context to be filled.

Requiring CT could mean any number of things. Maybe Nero's discarded compass finally becomes important. Maybe we need to venture into the World of Darkness again. Maybe they just want the ending of CT to be something that has definitely happened already so they don't have to dance around it with alternate dialogue choices.

I wouldn't count on it definitely indicating anyone's return to the main cast until it happens. There are lots of potential scenarios.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jojoya

Why is it going to be required now? Is future MSQ lore going to be dependent on knowing what happened in the Crystal Tower raids, or is it only that Crystal Tower may be getting inserted into the MSQ to replace some of the content being removed?

---

Based on absolutely nothing I suspect that they may be creating two tiers of alliance raids much like we've got 5/6/7 and Expert Roulette and likely giving more attractive rewards to the higher tier set. Making CT mandatory would make sure that the lower tier had some participation.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Puremallace

So fun little history lesson for those who may not know but wayyy back when in the Burning Crusade in WoW you used to have to get keys that would let you into certain dungeons/raids. You would go through a questline to learn about the history of the dungeon or raid to unlock it.

When I leveled my Paladin from 1-80 there were probably 15 dungeons and multiple game features like pvp, hunt logs, sight seeing logs....hell even Challenge logs that I had never unlocked. In fact I skipped literally every single side quest in Mordana that unlocks quite a bit of content in FF14 and was at end game.

FF14 could maybe make an easier log once you hit max level sort of like a check list but I hate hate hate the WoW model in quite a lot of MMO's that just unlock everything automatically at end game. You have no connection with the story at all or what is going on.

Noone finds it strange that TOO THIS DAY when you do a roulette you get a guy watching the cutscenes for the first time in a hard mode? That is because that person was wondering around and finally clicked on some of these quest sitting around and realized there were entire dungeons, raids and trials you were never required to do.

---

This was me. I didn't start playing FFXIV seriously, as in it didn't become my main game, until 2018. I leveled to 1-70 during Stormblood, and by the time I was caught up with the MSQ back then, I realized there was a metric TON of stuff I never unlocked. I just chanced upon dungeons and other features randomly. Or I'd see someone with a cool mount or ask how I could change my hairstyle, and then find out there's quests to unlock it or marks to earn it. I didn't even know about squadrons until I saw someone posting about it here on the forums.

So yeah, there's a lot of easy to miss stuff for players joining late in the game. Pun intended.

PS. Raid attunements in WoW were a real pain in the neck.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enla

(spoilers)

---

There's no spoiler warning on the thread so this should probably be under hidden text...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enla

My guess is that they're waking G'raha Tia up on the Source and requiring the raid simply makes their job of story writing a lot easier without needing to handwave the many months it took for the Crystal Exarch to start hero worshiping the WoL in the non-CT timeline. It's not really there to replace anything. They chose to bring back G'raha and likely hit a wall with their writing that needs context to be filled.

---

There is no "non-CT" timeline for the Exarch - there is a timeline where it happened in its proper place prior to ShB, and a timeline where it happened sometime after... which only makes sense if you don't stare at it too closely, but then it's not really trying to create an alternate canon, just hold things together enough to work for people who didn't play it in the right order.

In any case, whether or not you(r character) has ever met G'raha Tia, the Exarch has met you in his distant past and explored the Crystal Tower with you. There's no need to handwave some alternate reason as to why he knows you because there's only one version of those events, whether it's in your past or your future.

Making CT mandatory doesn't just make it "easier" to write a plotline where we wake up young G'raha - it is an absolute requirement because otherwise he isn't there to be woken up.

Though as I said earlier, there are other events that would also require CT completion for continuity. Or they might just want to make absolutely sure that whatever happens to the Exarch in the upcoming story, you-the-player have full context and there is one established version of the WoL's interactions with G'raha that don't rely on an ambiguous "maybe this happened, maybe it didn't yet" format of story.

They made the ambiguity work in ShB but it does put restrictions on the story they can tell.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Macleod

Getting out of bed is technically optional, but absolutely required to continue living.

---

That sounds like a challenge to me!

On another note, I think with the ARR rework that is coming, CT will just be added to the MSQ as forced completion, at that point in the story.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheRealQuah

That sounds like a challenge to me!

On another note, I think with the ARR rework that is coming, CT will just be added to the MSQ as forced completion, at that point in the story.

---

Adding this for clarification, they said in the last live letter that CT story will be made required to be completed to begin the 5.3 story. Prior to that, they will simply pop up friendly 'reminders' to notify the player of such a roadblock if they have not cleared it. So players can still have the alternate dialogues in ShB's original story.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Iscah

I'm not sure if it would be actively required - I read somewhere it would just be a prompt to do it if you reached the end of post-ARR and hadn't got to it yet? Anyway, I could see it being something like the setup for the Four Lords or Sorrow of Werlyt questlines where the MSQ "leads you to the doorstep" of the starting point, highlighting the questgiver and discussing it as something you should do without actually integrating it into the MSQ sequence.

---

This is exactly what we were told, mandatory only for 5.3 story. Also rather than just once after post-ARR, I believe it was after every set of credits the reminder would pop up if you hadn't completed/started.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheRealQuah

On another note, I think with the ARR rework that is coming, CT will just be added to the MSQ as forced completion, at that point in the story.

---

I'm not sure if it would be actively required - I read somewhere it would just be a prompt to do it if you reached the end of post-ARR and hadn't got to it yet? Anyway, I could see it being something like the setup for the Four Lords or Sorrow of Werlyt questlines where the MSQ "leads you to the doorstep" of the starting point, highlighting the questgiver and discussing it as something you should do without actually integrating it into the MSQ sequence.

I'm relatively new player, but not exactly newbie (I play since last year's november). There is still so much things that I do not unlocked yet. Like, yesterday I just started Hildebrandt questline. Not so long time ago I totaly randomly unlocked this turtle quest in Ruby Sea that unlock you some dungeon and trials. I didn't touch proffesions until I finished MSQ. I still do not beat Palace of the Dead. It's not World of Warcraft where you need to do every daily system in game to be viable. You just do what you want. Only MSQ and quests that unlock for you main features of game are necessary.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gaido

I didn't touch proffesions until I finished MSQ.

---

If you mean you didn't do your class or job quests... that's actually one of the things that is (or should be considered) necessary as you go along. Most of your skills are unlocked by completing those quests.

Beyond that, yes, most things you come across are optional until you reach the very end of the game and start unlocking the current dungeons and trials - and even then you're not actually required to keep up if you're not planning to raid.

However, it's definitely worthwhile to unlock things as you go if you want to experience the game story fully, as the optional quests sometimes come back into being important to the main story.

Personally, I'd enjoy the MSQ's a lot more if it referenced the 'optional' content more often. At least where it makes sense. I was bitterly disappointed with the lack of a mention of Regula during the negotiations at the end of Stormblood, for example.

You're not obligated in life to play this game, so everything is optional.

Imagine being mad about having to play the game. It's not like you are being forced to do savage or anything.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Stepjam

Imagine being mad about having to play the game. It's not like you are being forced to do savage or anything.

---

Just because someone doesn't participate in one part of the game doesn't mean that player isn't playing the game. There is plenty of other content they're doing.

It's a theme park MMO. Theme park is pick and choose the parts you like. Developers have to be careful about what they make effectively mandatory for base progression. Try to force players into doing content they don't like for the sake of being able to progress in the content they do like, and you end up losing players. WoW learned that the hard way in MoP.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ClickOnce

You're not obligated in life to play this game, so everything is optional.

---

Clearly this person understands there is no spoon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Puremallace

Clearly this person understands there is no spoon.

---

https://i.imgur.com/DeDSFDe.png


_____________

As for the OP:

I like things having structure so I don't mind things being connected and mandatory.

My only concern for such a concept is when you get people coming in excited not for the old but only for the new, especially as a lot of their lessons for gameplay will be towards the later end rather than earlier (anyone who is ready for MMO combat, or quick learner, is going to have a chance to be bored with like the first 40 levels of any job), or /just/ want to play with new friends, and they get the message of paying another $20 to do so (and be thrown at 90mph into the future) or are told yeah sure sure but it'll take you 200 hours lol. So I still feel some sort of quick / alternate start would be good, that slaps you into as logical place as possible with as much reference knowledge and gameplay guidance as is possible in like 2-5 hours instead of 200. View it like skipping Mass Effect 1 or 2, straight to 3, or Witcher 1 or 2 straight to 3, perhaps also like WoW's new system coming in Shadowlands where you can pick any expansion to start at and at the end of that you go into the new expansion (of course easier for them since the MSQ isn't really tied as much to you 'you' the player).

Yet much of the story could still make sense in FF if you missed stuff but had a very choice key selection of bits as a primer (like I can easily imagine not being confused all the time in ShB if I skipped the previous expansions, but the depth would be missing which is unfortunate), especially if they give you that 3 hour ish buffer to pad the 90mph splat against the wall (say for example it's not needed to know about white authercite in ShB prior to ShB, when they bring it up again they bring it up with enough context you can rub two chocobo feathers together and know what it does). Of course though you'll miss loads of nuance but if that's how you /want/ to play then I think fine (and with MSQ+ system in place you can always go back once you've decided to do so), just like SE lets people skip important cutscenes because fine if that's what you want. But yeah beyond that mandatory stuff is fine with me.

So in all that mess above I think when too much becomes mandatory (using the word to mean finish MSQ, not like "life is optional" lol) that it takes like 2-5 60 hour games worth of time to be up to speed... I worry a bit.. Especially as the older content wont have as much of their experience (touch of their knowledge of what is fun), and technology (and so it's like mandating you play Witcher 1 to get to Witcher 3, as people should be aware many don't do that and have only played one, ARR to play ShB, sometimes people only want the really shiny stuff even if the older unit can provide some extra quality wrapping to the current content), but in the sense that each unit should be held together in a close knit unit that interlaces story and expects you to do one thing to do another.. I like that. I like that stuff is interwoven into other stuff. The nuance of the story is quite fun so missing that is unfortunate but you can still understand the very core arch at a simpler level, from that level they may dip in, like what they see and then go back or maybe they don't care and so then whatever and they wont look back lol.

Just a thought that it's not really important what someone enjoys in FFXIV so long as they were enjoying it is good enough, yet without removing all the interlocked gooey glue that makes each unit of the game feel complete rather than disjointed pieces lined up next to each other to be taken care of one by one.

Once again, we are reminded of the inherent weaknesses of a) themepark MMOs, and b) Square-Enix.

It is altogether laudable that this company has a vision, and has stuck to it for so long.

It isn't so great that said vision is consistently boring.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TeraRamis

Once again, we are reminded of the inherent weaknesses of a) themepark MMOs, and b) Square-Enix.

It is altogether laudable that this company has a vision, and has stuck to it for so long.

It isn't so great that said vision is consistently boring.

---

To you perhaps. Others are having a good time.

If it's really that boring to you, why do you stick around?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jojoya

To you perhaps. Others are having a good time.

---

Funny thing, that: my vote is the only one that counts. What universe do you live in where your opinion matters to other people?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jojoya

To you perhaps. Others are having a good time.

---

SAME
This is honestly the first MMO I've stuck with for more than 2 months. I'm enjoying myself considerably.

I think this could be summed up in 2 factors

1. Canonicty: I think that for all intents and purposes the WoL did do most of the content (I'd even argue they did everything that isn't induced by bardic retellings), that includes content that is inaccessible like Legacy, as well as content that would be unmandatory when introduced like the alliance raids and the relics (Reminder that both Derplander and Ardvert had Bravura).
2. Necessity: As in "does this gate the MSQ?" a more fluid thing as it can be retroactively applied to contest that was older than the thing it was gating, such as Qarn (2.1), HM Primals (2.5 and later in Titan's case, 3.4) and CT (5.3). Applied to storylines outside the MSQ you have the Ivalice Raids being required for Save the Queen. As well as some Beast Tribes (gated by minor questlines) and the "Hard Mode" dungeons.

For now a fair bit of side stories are not directly tied to the MSQ, but that did not mean they didn't happen, just that they aren't required yet. So if the Devs wanted to make Ryne relevant beyond Shadowbringers, they would make Eden mandatory, if the MSQ wants to dive deeper int he methods the Exarch used to got to the First than they would necessitate Omega, Alex and maybe the Twinning as well. Unukalhai and the Void? Warring Triad. Mikoto? Ivalice and maybe STQ. It all depends on whether or not the devs have to make explicit references or introduce charterers that debuted in the optional content. Something that seems to be the case for CT, even if it was belated.

tl;dr, it would be worth it to try everything, you may never know which optional content might not be so optional anymore

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

tl;dr, it would be worth it to try everything, you may never know which optional content might not be so optional anymore

---

100% and I couldn't agree more.

I have to say, it's funny to see this sentiment in this thread. When I made a thread a few months ago about how raiding could one day be mandatory - as in tied to MSQ progression - because you never know the direction the devs may go, everyone flipped out. (Forum hivemind.)

Now, the linked article in the OP as well as the consensus in this thread is backing up the points made in that old thread, which others have made as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lium

I have to say, it's funny to see this sentiment in this thread. When I made a thread a few months ago about how raiding could one day be mandatory - as in tied to MSQ progression - because you never know the direction the devs may go, everyone flipped out. (Forum hivemind.)

Now, the linked article in the OP as well as the consensus in this thread is backing up the points made in that old thread, which others have made as well.

---

The contention in that thread wasn't about optional content being made mandatory, it was about the claim that the specific content (the Crystal Tower alliance raid) was somehow forcing players into harder content simply because it has the word "raid" in its description rather than judging it on the difficulty of the actual content.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MrThinker

Adding this for clarification, they said in the last live letter that CT story will be made required to be completed to begin the 5.3 story. Prior to that, they will simply pop up friendly 'reminders' to notify the player of such a roadblock if they have not cleared it. So players can still have the alternate dialogues in ShB's original story.



This is exactly what we were told, mandatory only for 5.3 story. Also rather than just once after post-ARR, I believe it was after every set of credits the reminder would pop up if you hadn't completed/started.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Iscah

I'm not sure if it would be actively required - I read somewhere it would just be a prompt to do it if you reached the end of post-ARR and hadn't got to it yet? Anyway, I could see it being something like the setup for the Four Lords or Sorrow of Werlyt questlines where the MSQ "leads you to the doorstep" of the starting point, highlighting the questgiver and discussing it as something you should do without actually integrating it into the MSQ sequence.

---

Hmm. So as of August 11th, CT series is a mandatory part of MSQ before you can complete 2.55.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheRealQuah

Hmm. So as of August 11th, CT series is a mandatory part of MSQ before you can complete 2.55.

---

Have you got a source for that? The most recent thing I heard was still that it's not going to be forced and you can still play up to and through Shadowbringers before being forced to do it. I thought that was coming from the live letter, but I didn't watch it myself so can't confirm.