The people who expect too much from a monthly subscription kill this game

[Elvin]

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I'm afraid I disagree.
The fact that is dying because most people find it's prize too high is totally relevant to me.


Anyway that's not so important. The topic here is that complaining customers are killing the game. That's not true. Complaining customers are giving feedback.

The responsability of the future of the game relies in their developers.

And customers giving feedback are something very valuable. Wich doesn't mean that you have to do what they say. You have to listen, think, and take decisions. But those opinions are always valuable.

[Risvertasashi]

I'm afraid I disagree.
The fact that is dying because most people find it's prize too high is totally relevant to me.

All that really matters:
Is it a form of paid entertainment?
If so, how much does it cost per hour?

If you've got your HD TV, then how much are you paying for cable or satellite or whatever? Or how much do you spend on movies? Point being, you're going to be spending a lot more on that than $15/mo.

If you're a pure gamer... so how many hours of story-driven content does that $60 shooter have? (Probably around 10, some have even less)

The rest of your post I agree with. But I also agree with that guy that said if the OP wants no time investment, there are tons and tons of games out there to serve his market. RPGs, well, time investment is the nature of the beast.

[Avidria]

I'm not sure what your actual point is.

MMO's are, and always have been, significant time commitments. Paying a sub in a sub mmo does, in fact, buy you hundreds of hours of playtime because it gives you access to the game, likely in its entirety barring additional costs for expansions (which some games, like swtor, offer for free to subscribers...Aion is f2p and offers free expansions as well). Even f2p mmo's offer what could potentially add up to hundreds of hours of gameplay.

That's the nature of the genre. Raids, story, dungeons, pvp, crafting/gathering, collecting things, achievement hunting... the list goes on.

I'm not sure what exactly it is that you're trying to say. That they should add less content? That people should expect less content? That they should reduce the time required to cap characters and/or reduce the requirements to get endgame stuff? Your overall point isn't very clear.

[Kosmos992k]

For some of us it's more of a "about the journey, not the destination" kind of thing.

Indeed and agreed...

LOL, "It is about the journey, not just the destination." that's my FC motto...and has been since forever.

If a player doesn't care about story and just wants to rush to endgame and raid with friends, they won't like this, but me... If I were just starting now, I'd like having a story that I could log into and work on a bit each day (or however often my schedule allowed). I mean, you don't buy a 60+ hour CRPG expecting to finish it in a sitting or two; just a longer version of that.

Over 114 hours... if you view it as a gate, it's horrible. If you view it as 114+ hours of adventure, on the other hand...

Time was when a game that featured 114+ hours of leveling to hit the end-game was seen as a superb investment and great value for money. Some of us still think that way.

Final Fantasy games are all about the journey. If your biggest concern is with getting to 60 as fast as possible, you're missing most of the game and some of the best content available in any MMO. The folks behind these games are story tellers, and they throw in some action to keep us interested. Pay attention to the story, and there should be more than enough to keep you interested on the journey to level 60.

Indeed and agreed...

If you buy a FF game, is it not by default an expectation that there will be a long story being told? To me the 'end-game' is more like bonus content that you can access once you have played the rest of the game and max'd out your gear. It's that greater challenge mode that lies beyond the story in the realm of "New Game+".

[Ryios]

Only 39% of american citizens work more than 50 hours a week. The remaining 61 percent work between 0 and 49. 42% works a standard 40 hour work week 9AM to 5PM. In my case I have a flex schedule and I can go in between 7 and 11 and work to between 3 and 7.

The 40 hour work week has been the majority standard since Ford Motor Company started using it back in 1925 and still is. It might be true to say that the 40 hour work week is diminishing, but currently it's still the majority. Want proof of that just try to get into washington DC or any other major city at 8 AM, and then try to leave at 5PM. The DC commute where I live can have as many as 40,000 cars packed in 10 miles of road....

[Elvin]

But come on. Most of the Main Story Quest are just a pain in the ass.


A good amount of them are just

A "Go to speak with B"
B "Ok, go and tell A that I agree"
A "Ok. So tell B that I appreciate his help"
B "Very good. Now do what I was going to do. By the way, speak with A before doing it, ok?"

Sometimes I even think that the devs laught at us, like when Minphilia gave us our linkpearl .... And the first contact that he does is to say "Well done. Now I want to speak with you, so come here."


People keep saying that is a final fantasy and it's also about enjoy the story, but actually FF XIV Main Story Quest is sooo full of fillers that's it's not enjoyable anymore.

I like Final Fantasy series, a lot. And of course I play them for the story. But FF XIV can't compare at all with the single player games...

[Risvertasashi]

A "Go to speak with B"
B "Ok, go and tell A that I agree"
A "Ok. So tell B that I appreciate his help"
B "Very good. Now do what I was going to do. By the way, speak with A before doing it, ok?"

Well... you can simplify plots of any story telling medium this way (although gaming is the interactive one). But here we delve purely into the realm of opinion... The devil is in the details on whether it's well executed or not.

Personally, I not only liked the MSQ but a number of the plots in sidequests as well. Some will not, and that's OK. SE already said 4.0 will not be gated by 3.0 completion, even for 3.x they are moving stuff like primals out of the MSQ, and over time I would not be surprised if they add more measures to accommodate the don't-care-about-the-story crowd. For example, perhaps some time SE will let characters start at max level with low tier token gear, as some other MMOs do.

[Ryios]

The main story line should def be optional though, and it will be in the next expansion.

Also due to the one character design of this game, you only have to do it once. Level 1 character to 60 and do all the MSQ and you are done. Now you can level other jobs and you don't have to do it again. Same thing with aether currents for flying in Heavensward, you only have to do it once. Your next level 50 will be able to fly because you already did it.

[Seryl199]

But come on. Most of the Main Story Quest are just a pain in the ass.


A good amount of them are just

A "Go to speak with B"
B "Ok, go and tell A that I agree"
A "Ok. So tell B that I appreciate his help"
B "Very good. Now do what I was going to do. By the way, speak with A before doing it, ok?"

It's story exposition backed by a fetch quest. Is it the most stellar of storytelling techniques? No, it is not. However, there's a lot of information that is told in those quests. They build the world of Eorzea. Many quests are further backed by journal entries that have additional exposition and subtexts you may not have picked up on during the quest's dialogue. If the story is such a chore for you, skip it. Just don't be surprised when events hit critical turning points and you don't find yourself invested in any of the characters or the story.

[Elvin]

That's true, it depends.

But you have to reckon that is pretty diferent to the final fantasy games. Yeah, it's true that you can summarize a lot of plots in "Go there, do X, come back". But the thing is that in MMOs they usually repeat a lot the same structure. FF XIV isn't diferent in that regard to any other mmo.

Usually in a single player game, in fact, you'll have "Less quests" and they woud take more time. That woud be a good approach. (And take the time in a good way, not just... Kill 50 rats instead of 5)

I woud be pretty happy with an MMO with far less quests but with more work on them. Yeah, right now they work on the quests. NPCs talk a lot. But as in the end we have to do the same again and again, it doesn't feel like if we are achieving something.