The state of Role Quests and locking content behind them

Let me start by saying I am aware of the distinct possibility that I am in the minority here and that many may disagree with me.

I do not like the Role Quest system, specifically I do not like the fact there is lore and story locked behind them that is irrelevant to your role/class.

In the past when we had Job quests, the stories were usually about that job, the culture surrounding it and other characters who were that job. They were very hit and miss, some were great, others were garbage (Paladin). But to my knowledge they never strayed too far from the lore of the job and how it functions, so of course it made sense that you needed to be that job to do those quests.

Now we have Role Quests, which are much broader and have a wider reach in terms of plot and characters involved, the lore in these quests generally don't pertain strictly to that role for the most part (there are some exceptions).

As somebody who has no interest in playing all role types and does not wish to level other role types, but cares about lore and story, I find this to be a bit of a headache.

Why should I have to level a healer to see the continuation Unukalhai's story and their attempts to investigate the void which is arguably MSQ relevant. Why should players be blocked from this extra content because of of their choice in class, the content it's self has literally nothing to do with roles or classes, it's ridiculous.

Would it kill Square Enix to make it so Role Quests were instead just quests that you could do as any combat role. If you need a contrivance to hand out AF gear then you could still have it so certain ones allowed you to get certain AF sets, that part is fine.

It feels as though you are punishing players who just want to enjoy lore and character development that is complimentary to the MSQ, due to their class preference, Job Quests did not have this effect.

All this isn't to say I miss Job Quests, I don't. I just feel that Role Quests should either be changed to be "normal" quests that happen to unlock AF Gear but don't need specific roles, or the content behind them should only require any one of the role quests to be done. (I'm aware the latter causes narrative issues)

Please Square Enix, let me rescue Unukalhai from the Rising Stones without being forced to play classes I don't wish to play.

Patches take about a week or two to completely clear for most people unless it's a new expansion. You have well over a year an close to 2 years of down/free time to level extra jobs, heck a lot of people max all jobs each expansion for the bonus reward you get starting from ShB. You can't not have the time to level up a new job for a story or bonus content between, unless your choosing not to.

Pick a class of each type with summoner or scholar being one as you'll freely level the other at the same time. Then just focus on those 4 classes till each are capped, solution solved. If you don't wanna do that buy a class skip.

There has to be content locked behind stuff other wise the game would be barren with people playing for a week and then leaving for the next 4 months between patches.

While I agree with the other replier that there is plenty of *time* to complete these quests, I do agree that they should be entirely optional and separate from other storylines and content. I am less of a lore-driven player, but I personally just do not find the role quests enjoyable, so it is always a negative experience when anything is locked behind them.

I agree in that I would love for the Void quest crew (Cyella, Unukalhai, the Virtue hunters etc.) to be involved in the MSQ, considering their goal aligns with ours at present, which...

Unukalhai even highlights! The devs updated his and Cyella's dialogue post-6.2 MSQ, and I'm glad for that at least!

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Originally Posted by Tendies

While I agree with the other replier that there is plenty of *time* to complete these quests, I do agree that they should be entirely optional and separate from other storylines and content. I am less of a lore-driven player, but I personally just do not find the role quests enjoyable, so it is always a negative experience when anything is locked behind them.

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I mean if you don't care about the role quest, you probably won't care that much about the capstone quest, since it's basically the epilogue to the role quests.

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Originally Posted by Tsiron

I agree in that I would love for the Void quest crew (Cyella, Unukalhai, the Virtue hunters etc.) to be involved in the MSQ, considering their goal aligns with ours at present, which...

Unukalhai even highlights! The devs updated his and Cyella's dialogue post-6.2 MSQ, and I'm glad for that at least!

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I don't think it would be possible for that to happen without making several pieces of content mandatory for MSQ, like how it was with crystal tower. Specifically Heavensward trial series and Shadowbringers role quests. Without them, all of those characters are pretty much nobodies, and would not make sense to be in main story.
Of course, they can make them mandatory, but thats gonna make pacing of main story pretty bad.
That said, they can just continue making sidequests for them when it becomes relevant.

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Originally Posted by MyakotApelsia

I don't think it would be possible for that to happen without making several pieces of content mandatory for MSQ, like how it was with crystal tower. Specifically Heavensward trial series and Shadowbringers role quests. Without them, all of those characters are pretty much nobodies, and would not make sense to be in main story.
Of course, they can make them mandatory, but thats gonna make pacing of main story pretty bad.
That said, they can just continue making sidequests for them when it becomes relevant.

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They wouldn't need to make more content mandatory. The player already got introduced to most of those characters in the 5.0 MSQ. The NPC who did the player's required role quest could then fill in the background of what occurred after the quest ended. Unukalhai could be introduced as someone who was taken to further one of the Ascians' many plots without getting specific on which plot and where. We already have slight timeline disruptions for things like Coils of Bahamut if the player does those post 3.0 so it wouldn't be anything unusual.

On the other hand, their goal isn't truly aligned our goal. It's just the location that's the common factor. While those of us who completed all the role quests might find it nice to have them intersect the MSQ, unless our goal changes it wouldn't make that much sense narratively for us to encounter them.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

Unukalhai could be introduced as someone who was taken to further one of the Ascians' many plots without getting specific on which plot and where. We already have slight timeline disruptions for things like Coils of Bahamut if the player does those post 3.0 so it wouldn't be anything unusual.

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And what would that introduction achieve, or where would it take place? After mandatory role quest chain completion? And what would be excuse to bring him together with other npcs? "Oh he is from thirteenth so i guess we can send him to them, they will figure it out". Or maybe when he is added into new story stuff? How would that work? It would create no context for character for people that havent done the content in question, and then put *that* piece of content into time bubble, like some other stuff.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

The NPC who did the player's required role quest could then fill in the background of what occurred after the quest ended.

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How would they fill you in? "So after we did this, i decided to get together with these random people and go ask Cyella some things, wanna tag along?", or something similar? Imo this just creates more illogical jank than it tries to solve

I do find it a bit weird when there's some really important lore locked behind leveling 4 classes, the Shadowbringers one being the biggest offender, especially considering what we are doing in the story now.
Role quests have the issue of not particularly being about your role to begin with, so it feels completely arbitrary to lock story content in such a way.

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Originally Posted by MyakotApelsia

And what would that introduction achieve, or where would it take place? After mandatory role quest chain completion? And what would be excuse to bring him together with other npcs? "Oh he is from thirteenth so i guess we can send him to them, they will figure it out". Or maybe when he is added into new story stuff? How would that work? It would create no context for character for people that havent done the content in question, and then put *that* piece of content into time bubble, like some other stuff.



How would they fill you in? "So after we did this, i decided to get together with these random people and go ask Cyella some things, wanna tag along?", or something similar? Imo this just creates more illogical jank than it tries to solve

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We tend to get a fair amount of "illogical jank" because not everything can be fit into the MSQ.

Certainly there are ways that it could be done; the question is should it? As I said if you kept reading, at this point there's no reason for them to be included in the MSQ because our goal has no bearing on their goal or vice versa.

Also, anyone who did all the ShB role quests should drop by the Wandering Stair to talk to Unukalhai and Cyella/Cylva.

i mainly just find it sad that newer jobs will only have one short questline that goes into its lore :(

I have mixed opinions on this one. On the one hand, it is kinda strange that the role quests are more plot-oriented rather than focused on the role itself. On the other hand, I'm someone with somewhat limited time to play most of the time. I love the lore, but I'm probably never going to max out all of my classes. There's a lot of class lore I've missed as a result. I do, however, have more than enough time to just level one of each general role, so in that regard I've really liked that they shifted away from every single individual class having its own questline, and dividing them up by role. I've been able to see the full story that way in a way I likely never could if it was locked behind leveling every single class.

Cyella's story makes no sense unless you do all the role quests, so no.