Friends of mine, new to the game, becoming discouraged by STORY QUESTS

[Alleo]

I still don't understand how they will make those shortcuts in 4.0...not only did we loose quite some characters (T_T) but the WoL is involved in nearly all of the situations. What happens if a new player wants to go to the new 4.0 first but also wants to discover the 3.0 story later? Even if they are able to completely skip the 3.0 story they would still be around 50+ and will have a hard time at the new places. (I believe that using the options to skip the main quest would make all of those quests disappear) I mean I really hope that this does not mean that most monster in the new 4.0 parts will be around 55+ or something..an expansion should be something nice for the players that are already through the other parts of the game, so the monster should at least be 60+ (if we have an increase of the level cap). Can you imagine how bad it would be for older players to do the new quests but barely get anything for it or it being really easy thanks to having a much higher level. And to do the daily roulettes you need to have unlocked all the HW story dungeons anyway, so why put all that work into having to create two ways for the players to play the game (with or without a shortcut) instead of using this manpower to make other nice things for the players?

I can understand that this could get a little overwhelming with more and more expansions but instead of making it possible to skip the story they could just do other smaller things to make it easier. For example instead of having to run all over the HW areas to unlock flying, new players could be able to fly right away. They could put any new job in the ARR areas so that people can play them from the beginning and not need to reach the expansion (even though I liked it because it made sense with the lore). And if someone does not like to see the story than skip the cutscenes and ignore the side quests..We had new people in our fc that reached HW after not even one month, so its not like this takes half a year or something like that..(they had the help from our fc, all the nice new exp bonus and so on)

If I want to start a new MMO I will do my online research and after that I will decide if its okay to play or not..never would I go into a game were the main selling points would already annoy me that much. I did not like dungeons and playing with random people but I liked every other aspect of this game so I pulled myself together and tried to make the best out of the necessary dungeon runs..and now after I have my fc I do enjoy them a little because its fun to play with them..its like playing a game that is mostly about PVP and than going to the forums to complain about that.

And there is not that much to do if you are only into raiding and other high level content. Who knows maybe a lot of those people that wanted to skip all those story parts would than be bored because of nothing to do and complain about it on the forums

[FoxyAreku]

If people are coming to this game to purely raid then its not really the mmo for them, what you call filler is what everyone else enjoys.

First and foremost FF XIV is a story and character driven game, raiding isn't the main focus.

That's funny, because I have never met anyone who enjoyed collecting 15 bomb cores or whatever generic quest you can think of. I have however, met dozens of people who say they have skipped every cutscene they've ever been given in this game. Some (most of the MMO crowd, I dare say) just don't care about it and they just want to play with friends.

Also for reference, I like the story and questing too, but only when it's actual story or an actually interesting quest. Even I can see that 90% of the story in this game is pure filler. There is no other word for it, have you seen my signature?

[basketofseals]

I don't really want players to be able to quickly skip all the story, but if they could just delete the dozens of times Minfillia calls you via linkshell to the Waking Sands to only ask you to meet somewhere else, that'd be just grand.

[Alleo]

Having just finished my grind from level 1 to the end of Heavensward (not the extra stuff patched in after 3.0, I'm still working on that) I feel like I feel like I have to agree with the OP. [...] But as it stands it serves as nothing more than a momentum killer for people trying to play through the game and hopefully get to max level.

Yes there were some quests that are really not that interesting and I really hope that they do less of them in the future, especially those "go there and than here and well there too and than come back to me again" quests. I would be okay if they would cut those down a little with more expansions coming out but I don't want them to make all of the main story into a little movie or something like that..and comparing this story to games like Black desert all I can say is: Yes this games story is one of it selling points, it might not always be on the top but Black desert cant even compare to it. (Still enjoy that MMO for other aspects )

What I don't really understand: Why do you (not speaking of only you CodingSquirrel) have to hurry so much? Why is it so important to reach endgame so fast? Just because your friends are already max level does not mean that you have to power through the game. You can always play with them anyway and dungeons are still quite fun if you are doing them synch and there is even a raid for level 50 which is still not that easy synch. I had enough people in our fc that did the same and after that were bored quite fast. There is not much to do at max level outside of raiding at least not if you want to do some fighting. Doing ex primaes and other high level content might be fun for a time especially with friends but everything will become boring at some point. After that you will farm the stones and every new dungeon again and again to equip your character, waiting for the next patch.

Everything will be less fun if you power through it. Try to break it up a little. Maybe if you like gathering or crafting just do them for a time and maybe only finish a handful of quests each day. Or gamble your MGP away at the gold saucer . If you dont feel like playing the game for some time, its okay to not play it . I still like this game a lot but a little bit before another patch hit I get a bored of it so I do other things.

[Metalwrath]

Final fantasy was never a MMO series.It's a JRPG series that has branched off to an MMO game aswell.It was never gonna be like one of those souless grind monsters for 20 hours to gain one level mmo's.
It's story driven which is actually a good thing and why it's not as boring as other MMO's
If people don't like the idea of story in a Final fantasy game well then Final fantasy is not for you.
If you want to just grind monsters all day long and do 'serious' MMO raiding well there are plenty of linear MMO's out there for you to choose from.

[seraseth]

I think all they'd really need to change is take a bunch of those boring fetch and carry quests at lvl 50 and reflag them as side quests instead of main quest. They don't add anything to the story, and are generally the part people find the most boring and grindy. They'd still be there for anyone who wanted to do everything, and would smooth out the story(less interruptions for meaningless tasks), and make it faster for those who wanted to skip them.

Personally I love questing and storyline, so I do every single one of them, but I can understand that 2.55 does lag a bit.

[bass9020]

Why can't people GRASP that people are NEW and what does new mean? It means you have to start from the BEGINNING just like everyone else did. What don't people understand about that FFS. Someone will always be ahead of you and someone will always be behind you its just the way it is. Coming in here complaining and acting like entitled little cry babies is pathetic. Ive tried to be nice but its getting out of hand now. Stop being lazy do the quests just like everyone else has, grab your friends or FC m8s or your cat for all I care( which I don't because I could care less about any of you who complain) and unsync all main content. Its a game and its an RPG at heart( as much as yoshi will allow it to be anyway) they don't cater to the I WANT IT NOW people(for the most part), except for the new jobs which start at level 30 but thats a whole another topic I will not go into.

TL;DR
BUCK UP AND DO IT or stay where you are and keep complaining and quit(Which I hope to god you do)

[NaesakiAshwell]

I have however, met dozens of people who say they have skipped every cutscene they've ever been given in this game.

Don't really care about your other points to argue further as it would lead nowhere and ultimately because thats your opinion on the matter so I respect that, but this^ right there is kind of defeating one of the major selling points of this game.

And my point still stands, if people are playing this game to only raid and nothing else then they are missing and skipping on a lot of everything else, there are much better suited mmo's out there for the people who love to raid and only raid.

[Marcellus_Cassius]

Why can't people GRASP that people are NEW and what does new mean? It means you have to start from the BEGINNING just like everyone else did. What don't people understand about that FFS. Someone will always be ahead of you and someone will always be behind you its just the way it is. Coming in here complaining and acting like entitled little cry babies is pathetic.. Its a game and its an RPG at heart( as much as yoshi will allow it to be anyway) they don't cater to the I WANT IT NOW people

TL;DR
BUCK UP AND DO IT or stay where you are and keep complaining and quit(Which I hope to god you do)

The only thing pathetic and out of hand here is your attitude. It's a whole different experience to do parts of the main story line here and there between patches than to do years of patches in one go. Every gameplay element in mmos including this one have a way of making old content more feasible for upcoming players to catch up.

[bass9020]

The only thing pathetic and out of hand here is your attitude. It's a whole different experience to do parts of the main story line here and there between patches than to do years of patches in one go. Every gameplay element in mmos including this one have a way of making old content more feasible for upcoming players to catch up.

My attitude? Have you seen people on this forum? Im sorry I'm tired of seeing threads with babies crying because they can't handle content or can't take the time to get something done. OBVIOUSLY they put effort into making the content the way it is and don't want people skipping it. If I'm being too blunt or harsh I don't really care.