Story Line Quest

[AskaRay]

My whole point is the game is completely unfriendly to new players. Three friends and my wife cannot deal with the back and forth story line quest requirements. It's just a waste of time.

That's the point of my post, not to be negative, but to show that it's pushing people away from the game because they aren't Final Fantasy fans and aren't hooked to play even if it's boring. Why not put a teleport stone in Vesper Bay? you really need to sprint there 20 times before you even get your chocobo? Then ride your chocobo there every time after that?

It's horrible gameplay, it's not fun, it's not exciting. It's just lazy time sinks they are justifying as gameplay. It's a load of garbage and needs to be stated as such. About 10% of the story line is interesting, the rest is filler nonsense.

To be fair they actually say why there is no Aetheryte in Vesper Bay.
Short answer: politics
Long answer: ...politics

[Enkidoh]

You think FFXIV is 'unfriendly to new players' - this is actually completely false, as the game's very design was intended for new players. This is why content is locked behind story completion - Naoki Yoshida wanted to guide new players into the game gradually, letting them 'learn the ropes' so to speak by not overloading them with everything at once.

Sure there are a lot of filler quests that do drag the story out a bit, but even those so-called 'filler' quests have a deeper connection to the story - everything happens for a reason, even if said reason is just to build your rapport with the people of Eorzea, which given the events of 2.55 ended up karmic and helped the player out in a big way. This is the actual point of the story - you're the Warrior of Light not just because you can slay Primals and save the world, but also because you're not afraid to help those in need, no matter what trivial problem they have or regardless if there is a potential reward or not.

As for the lack of an aetheryte in Vesper Bay, Aska Ray summed it briefly, but the specifics of it (which is actually mentioned during the storyline), is the Scions of the Seventh Dawn refused to accept bribes from Lord Lolorito, so to spite them he conspired with the rest of the Syndicate to prevent an aetheryte from ever being installed there, instead having an ostentatious statue of himself erected there, effectively laying his own ego over the good of the realm. Besides, how hard is it to simply teleport to Horizon and ride a chocobo to there? It takes what, not even a minute? It's actually not that far even if you have to walk it.

I'm really sorry for sounding harsh but you are coming across as very entitled and lazy in your posts - maybe if you weren't in such a rush to get through the game and actually took the time to stop and actually immerse yourself in your surroundings, you might actually enjoy it more.

[Farkle]

Why not put a teleport stone in Vesper Bay? you really need to sprint there 20 times before you even get your chocobo? Then ride your chocobo there every time after that?

Teleport to Limsa.....Aether to Arcanists Guild...Take Boat to Vesper.

[Velisra]

My whole point is the game is completely unfriendly to new players.

<snip>

/wave

New player here. I LOVE ARR's storyline and questing, and it didn't drive me away one bit. In fact, it made me want to stay a good long while, and see the rest of the story. :-)

Generalizations are generally not accurate or productive. ;-)

[Felis]

Why not put a teleport stone in Vesper Bay? you really need to sprint there 20 times before you even get your chocobo? Then ride your chocobo there every time after that?

1. Set your homepoint to Limsa Lominsa or teleport to Limsa Lominsa.
2. Take the ferry to Vesper Bay
3. ...
4. Profit

Vesper Bay is only 1 loading screen and 5 seconds away from Limsa Lominsa

[Solarra]

My whole point is the game is completely unfriendly to new players. Three friends and my wife cannot deal with the back and forth story line quest requirements. It's just a waste of time...
...It's a load of garbage and needs to be stated as such. About 10% of the story line is interesting, the rest is filler nonsense.

Another new player here. To be honest, it sounds like you, your wife and your friends all dislike MMO levelling, because this 'back and forth' seems to be pretty standard. At least FFXIV gives you plenty of options with travel, you can teleport or hire a chocobo if running is too slow.

Personally, I'm enjoying the story and the running around. The world looks fantastic and because I chose to run rather than teleport, I'm getting a sense of the geography. If I need to run to a dungeon, I can because I know where it is.

I guess there's not much more I can say, you either enjoy questing and feeling immersed in the world or you don't.
If you want to skip all that 'garbage' and get to the end as quickly as possible, this game won't accommodate you. It's a shame you're not enjoying it but you shouldn't assume every new player feels the same way.

[Jandor]

Gee willickers, a time sink? In an MMO??? Scandalous! I'm sure SE will turn right around and edit their quest structure on ARR just for you now that you have shone a light on this wholly unprecedented and absolutely heinous aspect of MMO design.

I'd just like to point out that 'everyone else does it' and 'its always been this way' are not exactly brilliant reasons for anything.

[sirDarts]

EVERY single find X, deliver Y, kill Z quest inside of the MSQ has a reason that is tied to the MSQ.
If you skip the MSQ and ignore the reasons, then this game is NOT for you, it's heavily story based.
You start as a no-name adventurer, one of thousands. NOBODY has a reason to trust you, to help you, to give you ACTUAL tasks, you need to prove your worth, show what you are capable of.

Nobody would just follow a random adventurer on a raid of Castrum Centri for example. But someone who killed 3 primals? That's a very different story.

Later it picks up though. You become the savior of Eorzea, the Warrior of Light.
Especially in 3.0 the amount of "fetch" quests or "kill 15 X" quests is very low, and the story is incredibly well written.

[Bishop81]

I am just surprised at what this game passes for "content". There is literally so much running back and forth for the main story line it\\'s ridiculous. Who in their right mind approved content to make you run back and forth between quests endlessly for countless hours?

So you want it to be like WoW? Where everything is in one place? Where after you are done with the quests you never revisit zones? Where it's literally a theme park with disposable rides?

No thank you.

I want a WORLD. Not an amusement park.

Not to mention it's such a waste the way they do things in WoW. Entire zones left to rot after you run through them once.

And seriously, you complain about running back and forth in this game? You can teleport instantaneously around the world! Unlike WoW with its ridiculous flight paths that have you sit on a stupid bird 15 mins straight able to do nothing. Talk about lengthily "cutscenes" - because that's what flight paths are.

[DragonFlyy]

My whole point is the game is completely unfriendly to new players. Three friends and my wife cannot deal with the back and forth story line quest requirements. It's just a waste of time.

That's the point of my post, not to be negative, but to show that it's pushing people away from the game because they aren't Final Fantasy fans and aren't hooked to play even if it's boring. Why not put a teleport stone in Vesper Bay? you really need to sprint there 20 times before you even get your chocobo? Then ride your chocobo there every time after that?

It's horrible gameplay, it's not fun, it's not exciting. It's just lazy time sinks they are justifying as gameplay. It's a load of garbage and needs to be stated as such. About 10% of the story line is interesting, the rest is filler nonsense.

This is literally every MMO out there. If they don't like that kind of thing, then MMOs aren't for them.