Why do I have to complete *all* vanilla story quests to get to HW content?

[Ilitsa]

I'm surprised that people still come into a final fantasy game and not expect tons of story to progress through. Do you buy a book or movie and skip to the middle point as well? That's essentially what you're asking for. The HW storyline is stapled into what happens in those final quests. skipping them would is akin to opening a book in the middle and starting from there. It's something more MMOs should do, imo.

[Kewitt]

The Real reason is to Lock RMT out of new content. New ways to make gil without having to spend time to get threw content. As fast as RMT can get to 60 it's slowed by this type of content blocking.

And when they kill off 4000 accounts a week. It really puts a dent into it.

[Skivvy]

I'm surprised that people still come into a final fantasy game and not expect tons of story to progress through. Do you buy a book or movie and skip to the middle point as well? That's essentially what you're asking for. The HW storyline is stapled into what happens in those final quests. skipping them would is akin to opening a book in the middle and starting from there. It's something more MMOs should do, imo.

Comparing gameplay from a single-player game (which accounts for the majority of the FF franchise) to that of an MMO doesn't make sense. If anything we should be comparing this to XI since it is their only other MMO at this point. While XI has an ENORMOUS amount of story, they did not force you to complete the entire MSQ up to the recent expansions as they came out. If you wanted to participate in Sky, you could start that quest line and get your access. Traveling to the new hub citites? Do a handful of quests and you're set. And no, I am not asking for things to simply be handed to me. I love Xi, still play, and that game definitely does not hand you much of anything.

Being forced to sit through 100+ quests of random MSQ is painful when you'd rather be doing other things. I've noticed a lot of people trying to belittle those who don't enjoy the story, as if they have no "real" reason to play the game. I play the game for MY enjoyment. If that enjoyment is found running dungeons all day long, or farming mounts, or playing with glamour, then that is what I'm going to be doing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to follow the story in this game.

[Enkidoh]

Comparing gameplay from a single-player game (which accounts for the majority of the FF franchise) to that of an MMO doesn't make sense. If anything we should be comparing this to XI since it is their only other MMO at this point. While XI has an ENORMOUS amount of story, they did not force you to complete the entire MSQ up to the recent expansions as they came out. If you wanted to participate in Sky, you could start that quest line and get your access. Traveling to the new hub citites? Do a handful of quests and you're set. And no, I am not asking for things to simply be handed to me. I love Xi, still play, and that game definitely does not hand you much of anything.

Being forced to sit through 100+ quests of random MSQ is painful when you'd rather be doing other things. I've noticed a lot of people trying to belittle those who don't enjoy the story, as if they have no "real" reason to play the game. I play the game for MY enjoyment. If that enjoyment is found running dungeons all day long, or farming mounts, or playing with glamour, then that is what I'm going to be doing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to follow the story in this game.

While you are correct about later FFXI expansion stories not requiring previous storyline completion to undertake, ironically your example about Sky is actually an exception to that - it required completion of your starting city storyline to rank 6 (Shadowlord) and then completing almost all of the Rise of the Zilart expansion storyline missions just to access Tu'lia (aka 'Sky'), and that was no picnic (Zilart's missions in older days were an absolute nightmare - do you not forget the horrors of Ugglapieh (trying to avoid tonberry hate?), the stupid gallivanting back and forth around Vana'diel on the 'Headstone Pilgrimage'? To say nothing of trying to make your way through that goddess-forsaken desert of Altepa and the ruins beneath filled with antica and goddess-knew what else. All that was required to be completed before you could get anywhere near Sky.

Really, that took me literally years to complete, and you're complaining about a couple of days story quests that can be virtually soloed just to get to Ishgard in FFXIV is somehow worse? I'm sorry, but I just can't see how this could be a bad thing.

[Yasuhiro]

I never really found a problem with people comparing FFXI or XIV to other games in the series, obviously being an MMO some things are gonna be different they have to be but Square Enix making them main titles in the series does hold some weight when people compare them to others. Should just call them Final Fantasy Online and Final Fantasy Online II but I wouldn't like that. I think that'd split the fanbase up even more, rambling again.

[Alacran]

When 2.0 hit all of those that played through 1.0 had to do the same. I recall vividly having to do low level MSQ just to catch up to the new content of the end game at that time. However because the level cap was still 50 all of that experience was wasted ( I had PLD and WAR at 50 before 2.0 and little to no interest in other jobs). While it was some time ago I do understand you pain. Take solace in that your are still gaining experience, gear, tomes, & gil for your troubles.

[Skivvy]

While you are correct about later FFXI expansion stories not requiring previous storyline completion to undertake, ironically your example about Sky is actually an exception to that - it required completion of your starting city storyline to rank 6 (Shadowlord) and then completing almost all of the Rise of the Zilart expansion storyline missions just to access Tu'lia (aka 'Sky'), and that was no picnic (Zilart's missions in older days were an absolute nightmare - do you not forget the horrors of Ugglapieh (trying to avoid tonberry hate?), the stupid gallivanting back and forth around Vana'diel on the 'Headstone Pilgrimage'? To say nothing of trying to make your way through that goddess-forsaken desert of Altepa and the ruins beneath filled with antica and goddess-knew what else. All that was required to be completed before you could get anywhere near Sky.

Really, that took me literally years to complete, and you're complaining about a couple of days story quests that can be virtually soloed just to get to Ishgard in FFXIV is somehow worse? I'm sorry, but I just can't see how this could be a bad thing.

I think the point is still OK. Yes, you were required to get to rank 6 in your home nation, but you didn't have to complete the full thing. So you had some prerequisite quests, and then were granted full access on the 13th mission.

Also, after a bit of digging, these were some additional requirements for some of the more popular end-game activities throughout the game history*:

Sea access - complete about 16 missions within the CoP mission line
Abyssea - purchase expansion and have a level 30 job (did also require owning Zilart)
Campaign - purchase expansion, 2 missions in you obtain access
Assault access - purchase ToAU - most assaults unlocked within 2 missions
Einherjar - required a level 60 job
Skirmish - level 96 job, access to Adoulin (obtained in 2 missions)


Sky access probably is the most time consuming one as you mentioned above, but none of these have required full completion of anything before you are given access to it. I'm not opposed to having to do some leg work to obtain access to something, but blocking it behind 2 years worth of content is not the way to go.


*There is obviously a ton more, but my tired brain is struggling right now so Im sticking with the content I was most familiar with.

[Cwestcott18]

I wish people would stop commenting and start a new post for the information that comes after the OP's post @.@

[Jermz]

OP, you stole my thread!

[AnaviAnael]

FFXI and Zilart stuff. Editing for post limits.

To add a little to this, let's also not forget that years later they nerfed CoP because not as many people had finished it as they would have liked, and its story was heavily tied with the Abyssea zones they were introducing. That stuff wouldn't fly today, especially when we have people complaining about original Steps of Faith. If you didn't have a static for CoP, or the "right jobs" for the fights, you'd be stuck shouting for hours to get people willing to complete it. Nobody wanted to revisit those fights because they were such a pain.

I do sympathize with people brand new to the game wanting to get to Ishgard, but the 2.1-2.55 questing isn't as bad as it seems. I took an alt through the quests and I was actually grateful for it. I entered Ishgard at level 52 and had to do fewer grind sessions in order to get the next HW MSQ quests.