Main Scenario Restriction Bloodstorm - Very Very Bad idea.

[Pintsized]

On the other side, why do you think these raids and trials actually have lore and stories attached to it, if, like some claim here, no one cares ?

To pander to the elitists and make them feel special that they get to see what the 'scrubs' can't?

[Brian_]

But why does people who don't care about the story (or as I said quite often now: Someone like me who cares, but wants to have a 2nd or 3rd character in end-game content) even bother you?

As Terribad explained: Doing all the MSQ isn't doing anything good or worse to the overall player skill. There are some who care about getting good, and some who don't. That has nothing to do with doing MSQ.
Yes, MSQ is a slow way to learn every bit of the game in a set pace... but what, if someone doesn't want to, but wants to learn the ins and outs of the battle content with PotD or with friends in current content? As if they care that the first 20 runs with their friend are kinda rough. All I see is that you want to prevent them from that.
Maybe a girl-/boyfriend who enjoyed the story together with you and then decides to make an own account and enjoy the further story together with 2 characters? Too bad, you're only entiteld to leave base game after 280+ quests.

If people still have a sprout for 168h and get encouraged to learn their class there is no problem. This encouragment to actually learn a bit about your class has to be created anyway. They could also create something like an alternate 10h long MSQ (you can already be level 50) which leads people into the game mechanics and "what has happened". Make it cost ~20€ like a DCL for a normal game to justify those extra works for that, pff..

Your examples are not the majority. They are specific and situational examples. That's the problem. If you want to release a jump potion that can only be used for alts or with a RaF code, then I think SE would ask if it's worth the trouble to cater to such a minority when they should be looking at majority based solutions. They already give people the option to spam click through dialogue, skip cut-scenes, under-size rush trials and dungeons, and burn through the MSQ.

And the MSQ does make a difference. I think most people have come across a healer or tank that has leveled exclusively through FATE spam as opposed to by doing dungeons. The MSQ at least does something to try and guarantee a very basic competence.

So, in order to cater to your specific examples, you are throwing the majority of players under the bus. Yea, some people who use the leveling pot will be doing it for an alt. Some will have outside help for self improvement. The majority will just be regular new MMO players who bought an expansion and want to just jump into the current content. Do you not see the blatant skew in equivalency there?

Games that use leveling pots need to be designed specifically for them. Earlier, I told people to think back to 3.0's release. Dusk Vigil and Ravana, the first dungeon and trial of the expansion, were not designed for players completely new to FFXIV. Players were dumped straight into the thick of things because it was expected 2.X's MSQ prepped you for it. When we get an expansion with a means of skipping straight to it, it'll require a much more specific design that allows new players enough of an introduction but doesn't bore veterans.

[Reynhart]

To pander to the elitists and make them feel special that they get to see what the 'scrubs' can't?

So, the mere fact of being able to clear the raid and enjoying a good story out of it is being elitist, now ?
Things have gone down real sour...

If you want to release a jump potion that can only be used for alts

Maybe they could make some access accountwide for Alts.

[Nestama]

Most lv 17-49 Dungeons are part of the story quests (you have to do those dungeons to progress the story).
Remove the MSQ will remove the reason for new players to enter low level dungeons and you get untrained tanks in high level dungeons

Gosh dang, look at that hyperbole. If you get a tank who doesn't know how to use Flash, Overpower, Unleash and/or their 1-2-3, offer suggestions and advice to improve their gameplay. If they ignore said advice and make life difficult for the party, then you may kick them. MSQ does not teach you how to do anything.

Also 7 out of 12 dungeons from level 15 to level 41 are a part of the MSQ. Halatali, StoQ*, CC, DD and AV have no relation to the MSQ (and can be unlocked when you're the appropriate level). *StoQ only becomes a story dungeon in 2.1.

[Kathryn]

Wow... When did all these instant gratification people join FFXIV and start to complain it should be more like WoW, As a player from 2010 v1 of the game if this game goes anymore like WoW I will quit and I won't look at this game again the biggest reason I play this game and my husband does aswell is that we love it's story based gameplay it's unique in it's own sense and not dumbed down drivel rubbish like WoW. If you people want to skip story based content games you should go play those games please stop spreading your drivel here of instant gratification, Many Thanks.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Pretty sure most just want the fat trimmed. Say the ability to go 1-60 without 499 sidequest working for fed-ex. The group dungeons, the important instanced solo combat MSQ, and job quests.

To actually level just as fast as if playing your first playthrough experience wise, but cutting all the padding out. They could still keep the filler quest for extra experience/lore lovers but just not needed.

And Stormblood could add it's own time fillers, and when the next expansion comes out after it, the Stormblood expansion gets trimmed as well.

Trimming old content would be nice, in theory. Unfortunately, it's not going to come without cost. Any part of story condensed will necessitate rewrites and new animations to keep the story cohesive. You cannot just remove say, the company of heroes questline, and have players immediately go into fighting Titan, otherwise the story would become a convoluted mess. Any further tweaks, like unlocking dungeon requirements or opening the game entirely from the word go, would need additional coding. Keep in mind, the devs have said repeatedly how difficult its been just to make queueing into dungeons with our Chocobo out or dyeing only certain sections of clothes because they didn't originally code the game in such a way as to allow those features. Therefore, whatever time and resources are needed to overhaul the MSQ would be subtracted from Stormblood's budget, all for content none of us current players will ever see. Now if it wound up being cost efficient, then sure, this might be the ideal solution. On the other hand, if it took a sizable portion of the budget. I'd rather they do a jump potion and not allocate money to content I'll never even see unless I level an alt.

Games that use leveling pots need to be designed specifically for them. Earlier, I told people to think back to 3.0's release. Dusk Vigil and Ravana, the first dungeon and trial of the expansion, were not designed for players completely new to FFXIV. Players were dumped straight into the thick of things because it was expected 2.X's MSQ prepped you for it. When we get an expansion with a means of skipping straight to it, it'll require a much more specific design that allows new players enough of an introduction but doesn't bore veterans.

Even at release, Ravana was easy. Dungeons have never been difficult, even if you happen to get someone with little to no idea where they've doing. You are overstating the impact it would have, especially seeing the amount of players who did opt for this expensive means of accessing the expansion wouldn't outnumber even current players. You'll have nearly the same likelihood of coming across someone bad as you do now. Eventually, things would balance themselves out-- with people who cannot be bothered to learn how to play the game properly leaving and those genuinely interested learning of their own volition. Not to mention, WoW's jump potion also forces those who purchased it into their equivalent of a "Hall of Novice," where people had to complete certain dungeons or whatever to "prove" they had a general idea how to play their chosen job. No reason to think something like that wouldn't be required for FFXIV too. Think like, "complete the following number of dungeons/trials/raid"

[loreleidiangelo]

snip

Tell me how while playing this game I can skip the Company of Heroes section by out-leveling it. "It doesn't take that long" isn't a valid answer, and in my opinion, neither is "you should respect this wonderful engaging bit of the narrative that the devs created for you because this is a great story and letting people skip that is a disservice to the creators".

This is a game, not a movie. I know that SE seems to have forgotten that games =/= movies with some of their recent FF titles, but it translates even MORE poorly to an MMORPG than it does to a JRPG.

I can get what you're saying with the "there aren't that many people who would skip the MSQ", but I could easily counter that with "there aren't nearly as many people who play this game JUST for the story, either". Truth is, neither of us have access to that metric so no one knows.

In the interests of fairness, I freely admit that it's not like I'll quit if they don't remove the mandatory flags off the MSQ. But I get kinda irritated wgen people try to shout from the rooftops that enjoying the story is the only "right" way to enjoy this game. I find that even the most positive of things can quickly become a detractor when it's made arbitrarily mandatory, is all.

[Mwynn]

Blubb

Sure, you started the Game as a Lv.1 Player and knew the entire Black Mage Rotation of yours the second you killed a Lv.1 Monster outside of the Town.

People really think Square Enix is going to change things that are a huge Timesink and keeps Players playing?
Yes, there might be exceptions when Newcomers quit due of the massive Quests, the majority though will keep playing like the rest of us did.

It is a much Safer Routine to keep up then trying to do something else and risking loosing a lot of Potential Customers (Us, paying the Subscription every 1-2 Months).

Think from Square Enix's Side and not from the Players Side, you wouldn't wanna loose a huge Number of Customers too if you were owning your own Company!

Example : Three Players start to play FFXIV, one of them leaves due of the Timesink, the other two are still playing, one of them rarely, the other one more Actively.

Question : Would you rather change the Game for the lost Customer or keep the Game going on for the two Potential Customers that still stick with the Game?

One False Adjustement, be it MSQ or anything else in FFXIV can break the entire Community or even make them mad.

[Reynhart]

Even at release, Ravana was easy.

Not for everyone, and there was legitimate tricky mechanics than can surprise you even if you're a good player.

People who cannot be bothered to learn their jobs, won't stay.

That's where you're wrong...they stay...and they complain over and over about how <insert_instance_name> is too hard.
Besides, job is not the only thing that the MSQ teach you. You also face a lot of important mechanics in those fights.
The gaze mechanics, the pack mechanic, the break-the-chain mechanics, the tower mechanic, etc...all of those are taught in a "newbie-friendly" way in story dungeons/trials so that you can deal with theirmuch harsher version in optional content.

[CosmicKirby]

Very Very Very bad idea let players skip stuff or give them level 60 by the face. Games starts form the beggining, not from the end. Sorry but the XXIth century "gamer" mentality of "please give me all here and now without time and effort" is the worst thing hapenning in the videogame world. So, I won't support such thing. Games start form the beggining.

Poor analogy.
I could start reading Harry Potter on the 6th book. I can watch Ironman 3 before the first two. I can start watching a tv show 2 seasons in, 10 minutes in on one episode. I can even load someone else's save and play a game from there.
Will my enjoyment be lesser for it? Most likely yes. But at a certain point enjoying long-lived media such as entire series' or very long narratives requires such an investment that you begin to turn people away that would otherwise possibly enjoy the media.
This is a problem both for us, the players, who need newer players to enter as old ones leave. As well as a problem for square, who wants to make more sales, new players being a valuable target for sales.
There's good and bad ways to go about doing this. There's very little to gain from a hardline unchanging stance on the topic, and a ton of potential new players to lose.