Square you need to streamline the main story

[Airget]

Really need do something with those 50 level quests, I almost ragequit doing my alt (me) because of them. I was 60, unable do 50+ job quests, with a 255 book , stuck on them like 2 weeks after because the amount of those 50 quests are insane.

Yes, it is insane to think you can rush through 2.1-2.55 quest worth of content released from the months of December 14 2013 to March 30th 2015.

[Lexia]

"I been doing MSQ stuff on my alt"
Have you hit the 50 ones? Those are not enjoyable at all, they just drag on and on, almost ragequit over it. Those 50 quests are so tedious they should not be gate blocking anything. Being not able to progress with my job quests because I am stuck on 50 MSQ is/was beyond pointless. Blocking me from HW because of all these pointless go here go there filler was aggravating.

My alt is already 60 and into the lvl 59 HW portion of the MSQ.

[Berethos]

Where and what do you really think can be trimmed? I see this a lot "Much/most/large percentage of the MSQ can be trimmed or cut without much work."

Outside of obvious suggestions, like the Tataru bit where you help her check out other professions (it exists for pacing as a calm before the storm moment, but it is technically filler as you essentially end up where you started), I've yet to see anyone present any suggestion for what parts of the story can be trimmed or cut without it impacting other places in the story...especially anything that is voiced, as not only is that not a cheap to re-do, many of the voice actors from the 2.x series no longer voice those characters meaning either you can't cut anything that impacts a voice cutscene (even if it isn't directly referenced, there are frequently comments that make less sense if other content isn't there) or they'd have to re-voice everything that character did. Things like the Company of Heroes...once you start cutting bits then it basically doesn't make sense at all so either all of it would have to be cut or completely rewritten.

True, there are bits and pieces - you could trim out the hide and seek with the kids (it's world building, as it subtly tells you about the state of the lives of Domans - they live in fear but the adults try and hide it from the kids - but it's not strictly necessary) or the helping the old man who can't stand the smell of chocobo a means of riding with the caravan via a perfume laced cloth mask (the oft-mentioned "chocobo sniffing" in case anyone forgot is actually a world building moment to indicate just how unusual the Domans find these creatures, but again is not strictly necessary). Maybe trim down the setting up of Revenant's Toll and the Rising Stones (the rest of 2.1, Minfilia's adoptive mother and the Moogle primal, require reworking other sections of the story)

You could teleport players to/close to their next quest objective the way they do several times in the 3.5 series to reduce travel time.

You could have the experience gaps eliminated so that the MSQ is always there and you're always ready to do the next part.

But even all that will not reduce the MSQ by an appreciable amount without extensive reworking...

To which I always have another question - why should the developers waste their time reworking and removing content for those who don't really care about it in the first place?

Why not advocate for dungeon/raid/trail/region content to be ungated from the MSQ instead? Sure, immersion for those who don't follow the MSQ takes a hit (do they care about that in the first place) but the devs don't have to do nearly the amount of reworking and can instead focus on future content. Like the jump potions, is a one and done style change to the game, only without the cost factor for the players.

Trying to have the "best" of both worlds - a required MSQ that everyone must follow but shortened for players coming through that just want to get to the end - ends up with the worst of any of the available options.

[Ama_Hamada]

Yes, it is insane to think you can rush through 2.1-2.55 quest worth of content released from the months of December 14 2013 to March 30th 2015.

No idea what that means, nor do I care. Screw having that much tedious filler gating progress, it is not fun. If it did not gate anything sure it would be fine.

Where and what do you really think can be trimmed? I see this a lot "Much/most/large percentage of the MSQ can be trimmed or cut without much work."

Outside of obvious suggestions, like the Tataru bit where you help her check out other professions (it exists for pacing as a calm before the storm moment, but it is technically filler as you essentially end up where you started), I've yet to see anyone present any suggestion for what parts of the story can be trimmed or cut without it impacting other places in the story...especially anything that is voiced, as not only is that not a cheap to re-do, many of the voice actors from the 2.x series no longer voice those characters meaning either you can't cut anything that impacts a voice cutscene (even if it isn't directly referenced, there are frequently comments that make less sense if other content isn't there) or they'd have to re-voice everything that character did. Things like the Company of Heroes...once you start cutting bits then it basically doesn't make sense at all so either all of it would have to be cut or completely rewritten.

True, there are bits and pieces - you could trim out the hide and seek with the kids (it's world building, as it subtly tells you about the state of the lives of Domans - they live in fear but the adults try and hide it from the kids - but it's not strictly necessary) or the helping the old man who can't stand the smell of chocobo a means of riding with the caravan via a perfume laced cloth mask (the oft-mentioned "chocobo sniffing" in case anyone forgot is actually a world building moment to indicate just how unusual the Domans find these creatures, but again is not strictly necessary). Maybe trim down the setting up of Revenant's Toll and the Rising Stones (the rest of 2.1, Minfilia's adoptive mother and the Moogle primal, require reworking other sections of the story)

You could teleport players to/close to their next quest objective the way they do several times in the 3.5 series to reduce travel time.

You could have the experience gaps eliminated so that the MSQ is always there and you're always ready to do the next part.

But even all that will not reduce the MSQ by an appreciable amount without extensive reworking...

To which I always have another question - why should the developers waste their time reworking and removing content for those who don't really care about it in the first place?

Why not advocate for dungeon/raid/trail/region content to be ungated from the MSQ instead? Sure, immersion for those who don't follow the MSQ takes a hit (do they care about that in the first place) but the devs don't have to do nearly the amount of reworking and can instead focus on future content. Like the jump potions, is a one and done style change to the game, only without the cost factor for the players.

Trying to have the "best" of both worlds - a required MSQ that everyone must follow but shortened for players coming through that just want to get to the end - ends up with the worst of any of the available options.

Just trim down all the running around, so much time is burned having to run back and forth for no reason.

[Berethos]

Blocking me from HW because of all these pointless go here go there filler was aggravating.

"Pointless."

Ya'll keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

[Berethos]

Just trim down all the running around, so much time is burned having to run back and forth for no reason.

That's why it's one of my suggestions, though I get the feeling by "trim down" you may mean remove quests/conversations meant to deliver exposition/world building/character development that have you running back and forth and not the teleport to the next location (the idea being that you walked there at the end of the cutscene, the game just takes care of it for you) in as many places as appropriate.

If you do mean the teleport to location option, then I agree that it would be an excellent (and likely low impact on dev time) solution.

[Ama_Hamada]

That's why it's one of my suggestions, though I get the feeling by "trim down" you may mean remove quests/conversations meant to deliver exposition/world building/character development that have you running back and forth and not the teleport to the next location (the idea being that you walked there at the end of the cutscene, the game just takes care of it for you) in as many places as appropriate.

If you do mean the teleport to location option, then I agree that it would be an excellent (and likely low impact on dev time) solution.

No i am not talking about removing quests, just remove the pointless running around! No reason i should go talk to X, run to y, only to return to X to talk more.

I should just be able do A>B>C>D, not A>B>A>C>A>B>A ... etc It was not planned out well because they just kept adding stuff at 50 for the sake of doing so, and lacked a full picture vision.

That or remove the gating, make them side quests, I should be allowed in HW once I hit 50. NO REASON! I had to be stuck in 2.0 areas as a level 60 and a 255 book

[Derio]

They did HW quests alot better. Most of the HW filler quests have meaning and tell more story. While ARR are mostly fetch quests with no meaning. I defend HW MSQ, but ARR I do not

[Lexia]

That or remove the gating, make them side quests, I should be allowed in HW once I hit 50. NO REASON! I had to be stuck in 2.0 areas as a level 60 and a 255 book

Sounds like you over leveled, as many seem to complain about the opposite that they have to level up in order to continue with quests.

[Ama_Hamada]

Sounds like you over leveled, as many seem to complain about the opposite that they have to level up in order to continue with quests.

??? no idea, and it shouldn't matter. If you mean I out leveled the pace of the MSQ clearly I did, the 50's takes too long

They did HW quests alot better. Most of the HW filler quests have meaning and tell more story. While ARR are mostly fetch quests with no meaning. I defend HW MSQ, but ARR I do not

Yeah HW was fine, the only time I was annoyed was the 50 quests, too meany of them, too much wasting time running around.