I had an MSQ Roulette earlier today — Castrum Meridianum. Both Healers were new, first-time players. The SCH naïvely said hello, introduced herself, mentioned she was new.

So what happened?
Both Tanks immediately began speedpulling everything between Searchlights and First Boss, while the two confused Sprout healers obliviously tried to watch their cutscene, unaware everyone was dying.

The rest of the run was messy. The tanks stubbornly continued trying to mass-pull and speedclear everything (while one kept complaining about the SCH trying to watch cutscenes), many deaths occurred, and the poor WHM (who deserved 8 commendations) somehow kept most of us alive while frantically canceling every cutscene she encountered and having multiple heart attacks.

Meanwhile, I kept trying to type the most advice or guidance I could squeeze in while also trying to stave off wipes by actually DPSing and not getting locked out of each battle. In the end though — as usual — mostly all I could do was wince and try to keep up.

This is not a new or surprising story, this is a normal day in MSQ Roulette. I think this is an absolutely terrible way to treat Sprouts, and a horrible way for excited new players to have their first big story arc capped off.

I think this same thought after so many MSQ Roulettes finish — "Wow, that must have really been disappointing for the new player" — and it's exactly how my 2.0 MSQ finished several months ago: a disorienting rush while frantically canceling cutscenes.

But I don't know how to fix the problem, so I always just leave feeling guilty and then move on with the day. After how badly that poor WHM / SCH were treated today, though, I am motivated to try saying something.

Sprouts are the lifeblood of Eorzea. Without an influx of excited new players to keep the world alive, it will slowly wither away. And the payoff to 50 levels of MSQ is handled so poorly, that it's as if SE isn't thinking about the effects on new players at all.

Ultimately, I do not blame the players for this Speedclear Meta, though:
Running Meridianum for the 100th time is a little dull already, expecting a majority of players to do that and watch those same cutscenes again and again is asking way too much of the average individual (of which I count myself, for better or worse).

Human nature is something that needs to be anticipated and designed around — I think it is the Developers' responsibility to prevent this sort of issue from harming the experience of new players. And, respectfully, I do not think SE has been very responsible about this at all.

As it stands right now, the final 2.0 MSQ experiences feel more like a hazing and brutal rite-of-passage than an exciting finale to a personal story. Yes, most of us have gone through this — but I would feel better if further new players did not have to keep going through it the way I did.


Why does this problem only begin at MSQ Roulette? Some possible reasons:
  • Parties can't crazy-speedclear L10-49 group content, because the iLevel sync is stricter.
  • Pulling with 1 member missing is more punishing in L10-49 content, because it's a Light Party. Especially pulling without your Tank or Healer.
  • Leveling Roulette's rewards don't attract impatient, jaded veterans as much as the MSQ Roulette payout does.
  • Cutscenes are much shorter in L10-49 content, and limited to only the beginning and ends of content (and sometimes a 2-3 minute scene before a boss).
  • The ratio of time spent watching Cutscenes vs. time spent playing is much more skewed in MSQ Roulette than any other content I've encountered.
  • More of the cutscenes in leveling content keep the Safety Rails on, preventing even impatient groups from leaving someone behind.


Possible solution 1: Community-driven MSQ events (Solution quality: Weak)
The community could try to help. We could have, 'MSQ Days', to go along with 'CT Sundays', 'Shatterdays', etc. Where we agree to chauffer newbies through their MSQ Roulette so they can finish their storyline in peace.

The problem is, this is mostly a feel-good solution, but not a real one. Because the number of new players that would ever be aware of this would be small. And then, even the ones aware might not all utilize it — they might be too intimidated, etc (after all, L1-49 only teaches you to use Duty Finder to solve all things).

So I think, even if we tried to do this, more often than not most Sprouts would still endure MSQ Roulette speedruns as their storyline finale.


Possible solution 2: Remove MSQ Roulette (Solution quality: Poor)
I don't think this is a very good idea, because new players would have even more trouble finishing their MSQ (especially since Party Finder is not a solution new players are ever trained to use before L50).

Also, it would probably just lead to a different kind of rushed speedclear (Unsync'd i230 L60 players solo'ing the place for Poetics bonuses).


Possible solution 3: Change the rewards of MSQ Roulette (Solution quality: Probably pointless)
If MSQ was like Leveling Roulette and only rewarded XP, it would probably draw in a different crowd of players. For example, not bored level-capped players just trying to squeeze out some more Relic points each day.

However, I see this as an ultimately pointless change: It still wouldn't solve the problem that the cutscene structure in MSQ Roulette is just not designed to be compatible with a combination of New Players (seeing scenes for the first time) and experienced players (that just want to play and finish).

I think the only way to really solve anything about MSQ Roulette is to begin at the source of the issue, the cutscene conflict between New and Experienced players.


Possible solution 4: Make MSQ Roulette iLevel sync much stricter (Solution quality: Probably pointless)
If groups were sync'd closer to the intended level, then they would not be able to speedclear as aggressively.

However, this would probably solve absolutely nothing:
  • There are speedclear videos on YouTube from 2013. So the Speedclear Meta is not remotely new, and was doable even in much weaker gear.
  • Lower iLevel would not change the duration of cutscenes, nor the impatience of players that want to do more with their limited play time than watch the same cutscene for the 50th time.
  • Inflating clear times would only reduce the number of players willing to queue, as well as the time required to clear a run (thus, inflating queue times and possibly making new players give up entirely).
  • (probably more issues)


Possible solution 5: Block cutscene skipping in MSQ Roulette (Solution quality: Very Poor)
If no one could skip cutscenes in MSQ Roulette, then no one would get left behind.

But I foresee these consequences (and more) from such a change:
  • Queue times inflate severely (not only would each run take much longer, but much fewer players would be willing to queue at all). New players might be waiting 90-120+ minutes for a pop, which is also not ideal at all.
  • A different sort of abuse becomes possible. Does SE implement a time limit on reading dialogue boxes (possibly rushing some players), or does SE allow unlimited time (potentially trapping the group in Cutscene Limbo for a very long time)?
Personally, I am not going to pretend I'm so good a person. If I knew every single MSQ Roulette would involve watching every single cutscene between start and last boss, in full, every time — I would not queue MSQ Roulette. It would just take too much time relative to the reward.

Even if SE increased the reward to absurd amounts (to bribe players into sitting through the long cutscene delays), queue times would probably still be very long, and the experienced players on 'babysitting duty' would probably become very bitter and unhappy, just doing another tedious chore each day.


Possible solution 6: Solo Duty with NPC Allies (Solution quality: Expensive)
What SE could do, is make it so that Meridianum and Praetorium fill out your party with simple AI NPC allies that will Tank, Heal, or DPS for you. Basically, similar to what happens during many FATEs or MSQ solo-duties.

Mechanics in MSQ Dungeons are very simple, at i130+ Sync most mechanics can simply be blundered through. So the NPCs don't have to be very smart AI, they just have to do simple things — hold Enmity, heal a lot, shoot things.

Not even actual imaginary Party members (meaning, not like a Chocobo). Just NPCs that are helping you, by holding Enmity, healing you, etc. Maybe add in a chunky Echo buff to help Sprouts that will be entering in their i90 AF1 sets.

This would allow a new player to queue solo and complete the story at their own pace, without having to introduce anything complicated (like actual Chocobo-like party companions) or re-tune the entire instance for 1 player truly solo.

What about players leveling with friends?
What SE could do, is scale the number of helper NPCs. So if you queue with your 3 friends, then Meridianum and Praetorium would fill in the last 4 spots with NPCs. And if you queue alone, then you would get 7 NPC allies.

I think this is a good compromise, but it's 'Expensive' — While it's not a radical re-design, it would still take a lot of developer resources away from other issues and projects to implement and QA the changes.

I would argue that such an important change to the new player experience would be worth the resource cost — but I'm sure many will not agree with me. Personally, I think that long-term health of a world like Eorzea (Hydaelyn?) must keep the happiness of new players in mind, or the entire world slowly collapses from the bottom-up.


This is my dilemma, personally. I see that the current situation is pretty awful for new players, and that SE should not allow Sprouts to be treated this way, nor to end their epic story journey in such a confusing and disappointing manner.

But, I don't know what to do to solve it — every solution is flawed, sometimes as much or more than the current status-quo.

Does anyone else have ideas for a better solution?