Quote Originally Posted by MomomiMomi View Post
A lot of what you say would not have to be done. Why would they need to change cutscenes? They wouldn't be cutting any of the cutscenes out. I've gone through the damn thing a lot of times, there's tons of content that has no relevance to the main story at all.
Because those cut scenes tie to story content that may no longer exists. Take the Company of Heroes, for example. That story arc amounts to roughly 33 quests with varying bits of plot development sprinkled in between time wasting fluff. If the devs were to cut it all wholesale, they now need to rewrite the entire lead up to Titan to retain narrative cohesion. That is no small undertaking, especially when you consider it's not a one and done scenario. You then have to factor in what actually constitutes filler. I liked a good chunk of the political dealings in Camp Dragonhead but I know plenty of people who found it boring to tears. So what gets cut? Even putting all that aside, it's still only a temporary solution. When 5.0 launches, what do you trim down in Heavensward and Stormblood? Without a jump potion, you're asking new players to play through three full games worth of old content. That simply isn't a very enticing sales pitch. Hence why most MMOs moved away from gating content the way XIV does.