Main Scenario Restriction Bloodstorm - Very Very Bad idea.

[Welsper59]

I don't think they is a tutorial in the world that can help how bad some are at the game. The system just does not click for some people. Best way to teach people is giving them the basics during leveling and then offer somewhat challenging content in job quests. For end game the team needs to offer more challenge and mechanics to the fight, but not an overbearing amount. Just enough that you need to get up and actually contribute. So they can be more easily worked into the harder content of the game or get an idea of what they need to do.

Easier said than done, but that is how it should be ideally set up.

I agree, but want to mention that challenge isn't always specific to individual difficulty. A lot of the bad players tend to stem from the games primary focus on the self, rather than the group. It'd be good to have more content that focuses on team efforts, which for this playerbase, must be introduced slowly and in an obvious and mandatory manner. Output is important, but this game sorely lacks a focus on needing the group to be responsible, instead of just the individual player.

I actually think things would go better if 8 and 24-man content were more streamlined into a dungeon-esque situation, similar to how 24-man content is currently (which means it'd be nice to see more of it). Branched off paths that eventually come together, boss or trash mob mechanics that require interacting with something in the environment, a need for 4-8 players to run a gauntlet while the rest of the group handle the main boss, etc. Stuff that is either obvious and automatic or that requires a quick "strategy" assignment to a group. Not saying to lessen the amount of the "right-to-the-boss" type of layout we normally expect, but rather to add in a couple of the type mentioned.

CC mechanics could always make a come back in some way, with removed non-stun DR punishment in PvE (but maybe a reduced duration). Something to just bring an importance back to group coordination, rather than simply focusing on gearing up to burn down the target faster. It can still be very casual, despite a reduced need to focus on DPS numbers. That DPS output currently is clearly too much to expect according to the devs with the upcoming combat changes, so I don't really see a problem with making group focused duties fun, rather than individual output.

[Nestama]

The fun part? It is the quests and leveling which is the fun part. The so-called endgame is mostly a boring grind to fill out time until more content gets added. Well, that is my opinion anyway - one which I am sure not everyone shares.

Like you said, that's your opinion. If you read my entire post, I never mentioned skipping the levelling up progress (though 1-50 is pretty boring compared to 50-60), but rather giving players the option to do new dungeons and such the moment they meet the right level/ilevel. They can always go back and do the story (especially if they want to level up another Job. Free exp).

[Blood-Aki]

The fun part? It is the quests and leveling which is the fun part. The so-called endgame is mostly a boring grind to fill out time until more content gets added. Well, that is my opinion anyway - one which I am sure not everyone shares.

Indeed, as leveling and quests only take up a very small portion of the game and once those are done, there isn't much else to do, once all jobs are 60 and all quests done then what do you do?

[Niwashi]

You also may be able to learn those mounts pre-grand company but you can't use them. Because it is required by lore to have a license, which basically says you have been authorized and are knowledgeable to ride a chocobo (or other creature) in Eorzea.

There is no such licence mentioned in the lore. In fact, nothing in the quest makes any mention of other mounts. It's purely about the chocobo your Grand Company is issuing you (and there's no licence for that either). The fact that other mounts also get unlocked at the same time you get your chocobo is purely a gameplay rule with no lore basis to it.

I mentioned job crystals because it is a restriction of the MSQ. You are a nobody until you prove yourself time and again and those people who give you those said job crystals won't even consider you worthy to have them until you have made a name for yourself.

With the exception of Summoner (and possibly the HW jobs, I'm not sure what those quests say), the other job quests only reference the name you've made for yourself by doing the preceding class quests. They don't reference anything in the Main Scenario.

In fact, initially, they didn't require any Main Scenario progress. SE added that requirement later, to make sure everyone was keeping up with the main part of the game. But no changes were made to the quests or their lore when the MSQ requirement was added. So that's also a gameplay rather than lore requirement.


EDIT: I do agree with your overall point, though, just not with these examples.

[ManuelBravo]

I'll never understand why people have the wrong idea. Think about it this way. The main scenario is setting the stage, heavens ward is the intermission of a similar plight and getting you prep up for upcoming battles and a limit break. Yes a level limit break. The third expansion will go to a current struggle and eventually will lead to the orient. If you don't see this you are not putting attention to what is happening to the character. It would be the same as wanting to have over confident players forgetting simple mechanics. Besides SE is being generous by giving lots of XP to get one job to max level fast instead of grinding. What more can people ask. Pls power level us while we are at school or at work? really?

[Dorander]

There is no such licence mentioned in the lore. In fact, nothing in the quest makes any mention of other mounts. It's purely about the chocobo your Grand Company is issuing you (and there's no licence for that either). The fact that other mounts also get unlocked at the same time you get your chocobo is purely a gameplay rule with no lore basis to it.



With the exception of Summoner (and possibly the HW jobs, I'm not sure what those quests say), the other job quests only reference the name you've made for yourself by doing the preceding class quests. They don't reference anything in the Main Scenario.

In fact, initially, they didn't require any Main Scenario progress. SE added that requirement later, to make sure everyone was keeping up with the main part of the game. But no changes were made to the quests or their lore when the MSQ requirement was added. So that's also a gameplay rather than lore requirement.


EDIT: I do agree with your overall point, though, just not with these examples.

Forgive me, I miss remembered on the chocobo thing. I could have sworn it was for a license instead of just an issuance. I'll retract my statement on that then.


I did say in an earlier post that they did in fact add the MSQ requirement of getting to a just past joining a Grand Company purely to combat RMT. It is true that there is no mention of what you've accomplished in the MSQ to take up a job, the reverse is actually true. If you have dragoon unlocked and/or finished the level 50 quest, Estinien does mention you being the 'other' Azure Dragoon when you start getting into pre-heavensward MSQ line. So in at least that regard, that job is tied into the MSQ. I would even go so far to say that there will probably be a mention come Stormsblood, if you have monk unlocked/have completed certain quests, even if they are minor.

My whole point being however, is they do subtle nods to certain accomplishments through out the MSQ to what you've done. Just this past 3.4 patch if you had completed all of Coil, you got extra lines of dialog from Allisae. Though that was purely optional content. The MSQ is the driving line of this game, and everything revolves around it. Cutting it or making it optional is never going to happen.

[Mihana]

My biggest problem with the main story up until before Heavensward is the monotonous quest fillers that take place between all the really important stuff.

A powerful Primal has appeared, and it must be dealt with immediately lest it grows stronger and destroys the surrounding areas! Oh but first we need you to...

* Travel to a faraway city-state and question 3 individuals.
* Using their information travel down to this random portion of the map and search 5 designated spots. Kill any enemies that appear and take a specific body part.
* Bring those parts to a random person completely off the beaten trail and have him craft something with those parts.
* Said person refuses to help you unless you find the people who did insert despicable action. Hunt them down and make them pay. Start by questioning these 5 individuals for their whereabouts.
* Return to said person after questioning those individuals and find out their hiding place.
* Defeat roughly 3 of these people who did insert despicable action and return with something to prove it.
* Give evidence to said person and they will agree to help. While they're doing so, take this package to another random person standing just 5 feet away.
* Said another random person will then ask you to go speak to 3 more individuals to tell them to return to said another random person.
* Task completed return to said person who was crafting the item. They have finished but before you return to fight the Primal a crisis has occurred in another faraway city-state! Go investigate this new danger!

Toss in a random fight sequence, some more fetch and deliver stuff, and FINALLY you can go face the Primal. Maybe... The main problem with it all is just there's SOOO much backtracking and menial tasks between the really important stuff. Somebody important disappeared! Why do I need to go fetch a couple (3-5 depending on the developer's mood.) flowers, get a vase, fetch some water for said vase and flowers, and cull 3 enemies just to find out where they may have gone? I'm fine with some side-tracking, after all there's plenty of side-quests for that which give money and gear as well. But a lot of these are not optional quests, rather they are MANDATORY if you want to progress the story. It's just annoying. If they streamlined it while keeping the important bits in there it wouldn't be such a chore for new players or people making alts to progress through.

[Alleo]

You can't help players much with the MSQ. You can only help with the dungeons and trials, but those are probably the least time consuming part of it. You can't talk to Minfilia in your friends stead, you can't help with story battles (You even have to disband the group for them) and playing chocobo porter with a 2-seater becomes obsolete from 20 onward (Until HW).

They will have to do it on their own.

Well it seems that this depends on the view. I am not someone that likes to run dungeons and as a DD my waiting time was quite long in the old 2.0 content. (I had to catch up to Shiva patch) So most of my time imo was used for dungeons, especially at the beginning where you had to go through a handful of them. If someone has friends that will unsynch those for them (especially the two story dungeons at 50 at the end of 2.0) than this will be quite faster than without friends. True they cant help with the story but if someone is truly not interested in it they can just skip the cutscene, so the only thing that will be left are the solo instanced battles and the walk between the quests.

And maybe that will sound harsh but if this is still way too much for those people than I am not sure if they will like FF14 in the long run. Solo instanced battles are a nice way to see if someone even knows their class and most of them are not that difficult. And thanks to teleport you can get around the world really fast. Some quest were a little annoying (go to A, B, C than to A again) but those are way less in HW and one should be able to endure them in the ARR questline. I play Black desert next to this game. It has lots of fetch quests and a main story too (but not as good as FF14) but you dont have teleportation. I dont know how much of my playtime was just afk running from one point to the other...Its a little faster on a mount but if you have some goods with you, you had to make sure that there are not bandits on the way. In FF14 its really a joke to get from one place to the other.

[Zojha]

If someone has friends that will unsynch those for them (especially the two story dungeons at 50 at the end of 2.0) than this will be quite faster than without friends.

Uhm...you are forgetting something crucial - you do not only need the MSQ to advance, you also need XP. If you unsync someone through Sastasha through Copperbell, they will have 2 levels less than if they did these dungeons and they will then have to spend time elsewhere to get those XP, so in the end, you don't actually save a whole lot of time there. And unsyncing Castrum/Praetorium unfortunately doesn't shave off hours from the whole mountain either - at best a few minutes.

So, going back to the initial statement: No, I do not think it's the friends fault in any way. They can't do much about it.

That aside, this part of the MSQ is one people complain about the least and while I gladly admit that I don't meet a huge lot of new players on Balmung, none of the ones I did meet took any issue with that part. As a matter of fact, some voiced that they would have liked MORE MSQ up to 50, so they could level to 50 with MSQ alone instead of being walled every now and again (The 47-49 jump probably being the most jarring).

The part that gets complaining the most is the 2.1-2.55 part. In this part, you are looking at over 10 hours of playtime, only about 3 of those being spent in queues, dungeons and trials. Most of it is spent left clicking dialogue away, teleporting around the world and hitting escape -> left click to skip. Yes, even if you skip everything, even with all the teleportation we have, this will take most of your time. And people who actually read the dialogue and watch the cutscenes take weeks. If you are going about it casually, do your daily roulettes and a bit of MSQ every day, you can easily be 60 before even reaching HW - I do think that is way too much.

[MistakeNot]

Like you said, that's your opinion. If you read my entire post, I never mentioned skipping the levelling up progress (though 1-50 is pretty boring compared to 50-60), but rather giving players the option to do new dungeons and such the moment they meet the right level/ilevel. They can always go back and do the story (especially if they want to level up another Job. Free exp).

Personally I find the 50-60 quests to be the boring ones compared to 1-50, but tastes clearly differ. One problem with letting people do dungeons early is that many of them are closely tied to the story and would make no sense if done too early.