The way Square Enix depicts our characters...are we helpless, or are we heroes?

[Abriael]

It does not have to be like this at all. I agree that changing the existing quests as they are would be a problem but imagine completely new quests created with the purpose to entertain a whole party.

a player could be asked by the NPC to put a team together, once you
accept the quest you would have a symbol glowing next to your name with a little number for (rank)
you would invite people or people would ask you to join (even if they already have completed the quest)
once you have a party the NPC can address everyone by the name and those who are doing the quest for the first time are to be addressed by the NPC directly (as if they were the party leader)

You can not see how the dialog for other players is anyway and no one really would ask.
The quests could start out as simple as sending a party to kill some NM, or fight some instanced battle against the empire soldiers.

A good quest could be where you and your party are taken to some new area with a airship where you get to fight mids in a huge battle. you could be inside a small instance but all around you , you would see huge masses of NPC fighting eachother, explosions and all.

there are so many possibilities to generate cool content this days.

Umh. That's exactly what I'm saying Randis.
That kind of content already exists in several games (and partly in FFXIV as well). But as you said the cutscene/storytelling part is seen as each player is the protagonist, with the NPCs talking directly to the player put in a leading role on his own screen, and talking with the others in the same role on their screens.

While fights and traveling happen in a shared world, cutscenes happen in an incompatible vacuum, which is entirely acceptable, and in no ways incompatible with each player's character being portrayed as a main character on his own screen.

[Randis]

I'm sure by Rank 46, your character should be buff enough to actually do something.

exactly! People solo Goobbue and NMs, they should not be asked to play mini games with random beastmen.


Also...You guys remember the green flying saladheads? I remember there was some lower rank mission (maybe 20) where you have to save their eggs from the empire?
Later you can go back to that place and kill the salad heads... i mean, why? Why make them an attack-able mob? it just makes no sense.


Also after almost all quests some NPC will always say, "let's go back, you must be eager to collect your reward"
Is the story so poor that even the NPC assums that you only do it for some gill?

[Reika]

exactly! People solo Goobbue and NMs, they should not be asked to play mini games with random beastmen.


Also...You guys remember the green flying saladheads? I remember there was some lower rank mission (maybe 20) where you have to save their eggs from the empire?
Later you can go back to that place and kill the salad heads... i mean, why? Why make them an attack-able mob? it just makes no sense.


Also after almost all quests some NPC will always say, "let's go back, you must be eager to collect your reward"
Is the story so poor that even the NPC assums that you only do it for some gill?

Lol... sylphs. And yea youre right. But, they drop sylph beast currency! >.>

[SilvertearRen]

It'd be great if we could get a response from the creative team at Square Enix on this issue.

Cannon fodder, we are not.