As a new player, I really don't want jump potions.

[MomomiMomi]

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?

I'm only going to reply to this portion to keep my post short.

If it's relevant, it stays. If it's not, it goes. Simple. I don't believe whether you liked it or not is much of an issue. New players won't miss it because it will be as if it was never there. You will still have experienced it. They can't take that away from you.

When 5.0 launches, what do you trim down in Heavensward and Stormblood?

I lied, I'll reply to this as well. We don't even know if 5.0 is going to pick up from the end of 4.x the same way HW and SB are. They might not have to trim anything. Plus, there's very little filler trash in HW. I doubt there will be in SB.

[Berethos]

Plus, there's very little filler trash in HW. I doubt there will be in SB.

Very little filler "trash" in 2.x as well. There's helping Tataru with her little side venture into different professions and...

Nope, that's it. Everything else is relevant to later plot developments.

Face it, reworking the MSQ outside of closing xp gaps and adding more "move to next place at the end of the quest/cutscene" the way they do several times in 3.5 simply isn't feasible.

There are other solutions to helping new players get caught up (particularly as a choice and not a change forced on all new players), but trimming the MSQ simply isn't one worth pursuing.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I'm only going to reply to this portion to keep my post short.

If it's relevant, it stays. If it's not, it goes. Simple. I don't believe whether you liked it or not is much of an issue. New players won't miss it because it will be as if it was never there. You will still have experienced it. They can't take that away from you.

That is still subjective. Look no further than the person a few posts above. I disagree, everything in 2.x is relevant. You could chop quite a bit; arguably the entirety of 2.1. Evidently, others see it differently. The devs have to factor that in and may feel a large portion of what the community feels "blot" is relevant to their story. Furthermore, it's a wasted endeavour since people disinterested in the story are going to skip it regardless. They just don't care, and nothing you do will change that.

I lied, I'll reply to this as well. We don't even know if 5.0 is going to pick up from the end of 4.x the same way HW and SB are. They might not have to trim anything. Plus, there's very little filler trash in HW. I doubt there will be in SB.

The point of a jump potion is appealing to people who want to play with their friends immediately. Say I invited someone tomorrow. The only actual content I can do with them are old dungeons whenever they reach that point in the MSQ or PotD. They basically have to play by themselves because there just isn't much for me to do with them until they're closer to me level. Admittedly, when Stormblood launches, the last thing I want to be doing is running Stone Vigil or Snowcloak. All of this only becomes worse if the person doesn't care about the story to begin with. Now you're asking them to spend hours upon hours slogging through what they don't find interesting just to reach the relevant fights. Yes, FFXIV has a good player influx, but the older it gets, the greater the decline. Newer games come along with better graphics and mechanics. Therefore, XIV has to adapt and change just like WoW eventually did. Maintaining a linear story is perfectly fine, but the option to skip ahead needs to be there no matter how they implement it.

[Driavna]

I disagree, everything in 2.x is relevant.

The problem with ARR MSQ is bad the pacing is and how much pointless backtracking/task are requested. For example, in order to unlock Snowcloack you have to do this-> Go to point A -> Back to base -> Point B (little farther away than A) -> Back to base -> Point C (agian, a little farther away than B), why not just use a linkpearl to avoid going back to base?

Also, I remember a quest about doman refugees that request your help to carry a crate and when you deliver it happens to be broken so now you have to retrace your step and grab a few more items. Was that necessary?

SE could fix this without removing any quest but it won't happen at this point. However, at least they fixed it for good with HW and forward.

[Berethos]

I disagree, everything in 2.x is relevant. You could chop quite a bit; arguably the entirety of 2.1.

Of course then you'd have to explain the important of Minfilia's adoptive mother who has just all of a sudden appeared in the story, or cut her out of the multiple places after 2.1 where she later appears.

It's definitely surprisingly difficult to remove more than bits and pieces without it chaining into having to rework or remove numerous other bits, and the bits and pieces that can arguably be removed (that set the pacing in an intentional manner anyway, it's hardly haphazard) wouldn't add up to enough to make a significant impact on most that find the MSQ serving as a gate to be cumbersome.

[Dzian]

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?

I'm only going to reply to this portion to keep my post short.

If it's relevant, it stays. If it's not, it goes. Simple. I don't believe whether you liked it or not is much of an issue. New players won't miss it because it will be as if it was never there. You will still have experienced it. They can't take that away from you.

They don't need to cut it out entirely at all. they could for example just make a lot of that stuff optional side quests as per my earlier posts suggestion. that players could choose to do for a little extra lore if they wanted to dig deeper into the politics of dragon head and earn extra exp if they wish. or they can skip it and jump to the next main core plot point...

this could help newer players a lot perhaps on the first job they'd probably skip ahead and just focus on getting caught up.. and then do those optional quests to help level other jobs and classes and dig a little deeper into the lore in the process...

[MomomiMomi]

I disagree, everything in 2.x is relevant. You could chop quite a bit; arguably the entirety of 2.1.

So which is it? It's all relevant or 2.1 can be cut out? 2.1 is massive. It's one of the biggest grinds of pointless quests when going through the MSQ. I dread it every time I come across it. Even the Titan quests aren't as bad.

I will admit it has some decent world building, but finding children who are playing hide and seek isn't relevant to the main story, nor is perfuming and sniffing a chocobo. They can trim this stuff without actually removing the quests and the overall point itself.

Jump potions or not, they should definitely trim the MSQ for those who don't want to skip it. It has some really awful slogs.

They don't need to cut it out entirely at all. they could for example just make a lot of that stuff optional side quests as per my earlier posts suggestion. that players could choose to do for a little extra lore if they wanted to dig deeper into the politics of dragon head and earn extra exp if they wish. or they can skip it and jump to the next main core plot point...

this could help newer players a lot perhaps on the first job they'd probably skip ahead and just focus on getting caught up.. and then do those optional quests to help level other jobs and classes and dig a little deeper into the lore in the process...

Yeah, this is another thing I was going to suggest, so thanks. Just make it optional. Let players skip some of the quests without the need of a jump potion.

[Berethos]

Jump potions or not, they should definitely trim the MSQ for those who don't want to skip it.

Why should they waste the time to do that for the sake of those that aren't likely to care about it in the first place?

Trimming the MSQ is the worst of the options - it pisses off those who want the story untouched, it takes development time away from future content, and it still leaves the story as a whole in place as a barrier for those who just want to get past it and do raids/pvp with their friends.

There are other solutions to enabling players to catch up to their friends - trimming the MSQ of "fluff" (much of which is there for both world building and pacing because this game isn't written like a bloody movie and is closer to a television show with episodes and seasons and thus requires different pacing) is a compromise where no one really wins.

[Averax]

Jump potions or not, they should definitely trim the MSQ for those who don't want to skip it. It has some really awful slogs.

They don't need to trim it, but they could increase the XP given per quest so that you're always ahead of the game. I haven't leveled a new character since ARR, but i assume that there's still that awful slog where each quest is separated by 1-2 levels until 46, then it's that 3 level gap. It was really bad with the HW MSQ.

-Reach required level
-Do fetch quest
-Be two levels below the next requited level, grind the one dungeon 10 times or burn through all your side quests to maybe get up to the needed level.

That was not fun.

[Berethos]

They don't need to trim it, but they could increase the XP given per quest so that you're always ahead of the game.

With the friendship hat to 25 (helpful for referred players) and the XP ring to 30, the gap is noticeably lessened - my first character to 50 did so prior to Heavensward while this character was leveled afterward, when they had implemented the boost to quest experience. I think the only gap I hit was one level short in the 46 to 49 gap, though I did try and do roulettes each day along the way...

And then it wasn't a problem at all in the HW MSQ, though I did all the side quests along the way...like I hit 60 just before reaching the final zone, versus having to run multiple dungeons plus side quests to fill out gaps the first time through...

Which is why I whole heartedly endorse increasing experience to make sure new players never have any gap in MSQ - it definitely improves the flow and the experience when you don't.