As a new player that really likes this game ...

[Moonlite]

I can answer that! No one believes you're a fugitive in Limsa Lominsa or Gridania, since Merlwyb and Kan-E-Senna were there and know your character well enough to KNOW the acusations against you are false; in Ul'Dah, the Flames also believe in your innocence (because, duh) and the Brass Blades are so scared of you that they don't dare to even try and arrest you. It's all there if you speak to the NPCs

You don't see it? It is easy for them to leave it that way so it is. Imagine if every NPC in Uldah wouldn't sell you anything. If you couldn't use the the teleport crystal. All you see is some bluecoats wandering around and a few new speech bubbles. Seriously if the story was as solid as you all think it is would that type of excuse fly. It was literally a non-event event. It devalues that whole section and the some of the plot. You are on the run, but not really.

But I seriously understand that people can't see the plot holes the size of a transformers movie because it would undermine their praise of the MSQ. It has become very clear that a percentage of the population is very stubborn

[Paladinleeds]

You don't see it? It is easy for them to leave it that way so it is. Imagine if every NPC in Uldah wouldn't sell you anything. If you couldn't use the the teleport crystal. All you see is some bluecoats wandering around and a few new speech bubbles. Seriously if the story was as solid as you all think it is would that type of excuse fly. It was literally a non-event event. It devalues that whole section and the some of the plot. You are on the run, but not really.

But I seriously understand that people can't see the plot holes the size of a transformers movie because it would undermine their praise of the MSQ. It has become very clear that a percentage of the population is very stubborn

Do I agree that the story has plot holes? Certainly. It's far from perfect. But FFXIV is for the most part a story driven game. Thrust it into the background and make it all fluff, and dungeons are just unlocked at the level, etc. You get rid of the reason I play the game. Following the story and seeing things come together and duty being a part of that story, is what entertains me in this game. Every dungeon I did in WoW, felt like it was there for the sake of being there. Being story driven, I felt like all the dungeons etc had a real purpose in FFXIV.

Primal fights being important as part of our main overarching role as a Scion of the Seventh Dawn

This is also very important to me. If you took all of it out of the MSQ, you get rid of the reason I play FFXIV. Even the farming bit feels worth it, as it feels like memories of those previous encounters.

I don't want things being removed from the MSQ. Sure, patch up the plot holes, but don't get rid of one of the things that sets apart FFXIV from other games.

[Moonlite]

snip

Isn't the MSQ enough to stand on its own? Separate from dungeons and adding new CS to areas as you get to them. I am not saying MSQ should be removed. I just want the option to play in a more open style. Imagine if you couldn't get mogmail unless you have done every mogmail quest and then they add more to it. Or a game where we all admit maybe it has some plot holes and cliches add a few more in and let more people be happy.

I think you're being a little too judgy. It's not exactly a good thing- even for the sake of the plot- to lock your players out of content (Like a major city) for a really long time in an MMO, that shit just wouldn't fly and would only piss off more people than it would make the few like you who NEED the lockout happy.

Yet they did it with 3.0 and 4.0 content and the player base defends it. I do believe the whole issue is that SE chooses to lock players out of content because of MSQ. Also other MMO's have this thing called phasing. Maybe if SE wants us to put such blind devotion in the MSQ they should learn to use it.

[Paladinleeds]

Isn't the MSQ enough to stand on its own? Separate from dungeons and adding new CS to areas as you get to them. I am not saying MSQ should be removed. I just want the option to play in a more open style. Imagine if you couldn't get mogmail unless you have done every mogmail quest and then they add more to it. Or a game where we all admit maybe it has some plot holes and cliches add a few more in and let more people be happy.

In this game? I don't think so. Final Fantasy has a deep entrenched history of doing what I said, even in its predeccesor MMO XI (as far as I know). At this point, it's to be expected. However, what you are suggesting, will push MSQ into the background, akin to WoW's system (which makes the story feel empty as I mentioned and actually pushed me away from the game). The dungeons all play a role in the story. Castrum Abania, Ala Mhigo, all have a deep relationship with the MSQ. If you did them without the MSQ, they would feel like just another dungeon. There wouldn't be an understanding of why this is being done, which is important in the Final Fantasy franchise. Everything has a lore-wise point, even if convoluted and it doesn't seem like it does, including instanced duty (something WoW doesn't do for duty). I can understand the request, and can sympathise with it, but I don't think it's the right decision for this game.

As for mog mail, I highly doubt they'll do that. Lorewise Moogles already do the delivery stuff. But the Postmoogle quests just have you help deliver certain stuff. But if the story tied deeply into it as to why the mog mail function couldn't be used until you beat it all, then yeah, I'd get it, and I'd not mind the decision. Final Fantasy attracts people interested in the lore and the story, because of how deeply driven it is in the game. Your suggestion would push the MSQ to the background and runs the risk of making it like most other MMOs out there, just with a Final Fantasy coat of paint. The story being so intrinsically linked to progress in this game is one of this game's unique selling points. People like you might not like that, and that's okay, but at the same time it means maybe this isn't the game for you. And that's also OK. SE do this locking as a design decision, to help give more world impact in their story. And in my eyes, it works. It gives the dungeons more depth and reason to exist.

Now, the story skip potion I agree is a cashgrab. Why not just offer the option of marking the story up to Stormblood start as complete as an option with the potion? But, when a player follows the story, they'll see how intrinsically linked dungeons etc are to the quests. Their presence is covered in the overarching MSQ lore (for MSQ dungeons at least). Phasing... wouldn't really work in my eyes.

[ElHeggunte]

Yet they did it with 3.0 and 4.0 content and the player base defends it. I do believe the whole issue is that SE chooses to lock players out of content because of MSQ. Also other MMO's have this thing called phasing. Maybe if SE wants us to put such blind devotion in the MSQ they should learn to use it.

You're trying to compare apples to oranges and call them both a banana. 3.0 and 4.0's MSQ gated access to new areas, meaning you simply couldn't go to them early for one reason or another. But you're arguing that in 2.0 the Sultana plotline should have locked you from reentering Ul'dah, even though you'd been freely able to access it up to that point. Those aren't the same. One is locking access to new areas, one is robbing access from a major area you could visit freely before. Big difference.

I'm also not sure what area phasing has to do with any of this. Area phasing is for when you have a bunch of people in the same space, but for story reasons it should look different to each of them. Not sure how that would be necessary or even work in this situation.

I hate when people share their opinions and immediately get shut down.

People are free to share their opinion, just like everyone else is free to share their opinion by disagreeing with it. If you want to sit in an echo chamber of agreement you're going to need to find a way to clone yourself.

[Snow_Princess]

I hate when people share their opinions and immediately get shut down.
Game is not perfect. Like, whenever someone says something even the slightest negative
about this game, you best be in Shield Oath. All the aggro coming your way!OP even stated he like the games story, and other things on it but the end-game
is bad...I can't speak for the thousands of players but I am sure a lot think
end-game isn't all that great. :/ It really isn't...It's missing something.
Also sucks gear is obsolete within a patch so you don't really feel accomplished
by your work. It's just a treadmill that dies out in a few months, just get another
treadmill that'll die at the same time frame.

Part of the reason I feel locked in one job:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...weekly-gatings
Hey you know all that weekly time gate! now that you just got all 330 gear here is a different 450 tome of boring!

You can have opinions but saying "Go back to X game" doesn't make much for discussion.
No one has yet talked about End-game minus me, which OP seems to be talking about the most.
I guess people here are content with the content giving end-game?

Or there is not much end game to talk about

People are free to share their opinion, just like everyone else is free to share their opinion by disagreeing with it. If you want to sit in an echo chamber of agreement you're going to need to find a way to clone yourself.

That can be done without chasing people away though, meaning "go back to wow" is not really constructive. Why not talk about how the game could be better instead just accepting whatever is given to us while trying not to chase people away?

Raiding (by which I mean savage) is niche. The amount of players who engage in it is minuscule compared to those who don't. So if you're saying that raiding is the "only real endgame" you're also saying that the majority of those playing FFXIV don't engage in the "only real endgame". So what, pray tell, are they all doing then?

I consider endgame something you do or rather something you can do with near top gear - bis and feel challenged. For me the best endgame FFXIV had was 3.4, where you had a good chance of failing to HQ 250 gear even with full HQ materials (weapon because of the crystal things don't have HQs) so it was hard. Other then that FFXIV never had an endgame to me, including now. Doing stuff at max level is not endgame to me. I do stuff at 70 because it is something to do, not because it is exciting or anything, but because it is something to do with friends.

[ElHeggunte]

You can have opinions but saying "Go back to X game" doesn't make much for discussion.

That can be done without chasing people away though, meaning "go back to wow" is not really constructive.

Yes, that's true. But it also depends on how someone gives their opinion. If most of their posts boil down to "Well X game did it better" instead of simply explaining how this game could improve, then it's not too egregious to tell them to go and play X game instead of trying to get Y game to copy it.

Which isn't something I'm attempting to accuse this particular OP of, but when looking at some of his posts I can understand why other posters would call him out on it: if he feels that so many aspects of WoW are better than XIV he might be happier going back to WoW instead of trying (in vain) to change XIV to match it.

[Nalfein]

Yes, that's true. But it also depends on how someone gives their opinion. If most of their posts boil down to "Well X game did it better" instead of simply explaining how this game could improve, then it's not too egregious to tell them to go and play X game instead of trying to get Y game to copy it.

Which isn't something I'm attempting to accuse this particular OP of, but when looking at some of his posts I can understand why other posters would call him out on it: if he feels that so many aspects of WoW are better than XIV he might be happier going back to WoW instead of trying (in vain) to change XIV to match it.

I really agree with what you said, maybe OP played the same game for so long that he get used to some feature and now feel that something is missing here while it's not. suggestions are great, trying to change the entire game is not.

[Greedalox]

Snip

I think you're being a little too judgy. It's not exactly a good thing- even for the sake of the plot- to lock your players out of content (Like a major city) for a really long time in an MMO, that shit just wouldn't fly and would only piss off more people than it would make the few like you who NEED the lockout happy. Single player games are a different story, you can steer a story away from certain areas- but this is a themepark MMO, and coming from someone who's been to Disneyland 4 times and still hasn't ridden the Matterhorn because it's always unavailable when I go- it would be annoying above all else.

[Paladinleeds]

snip

Going to assume you meant to quote me there, since she was advocating for getting rid of it like you want. But I think one thing worth remembering is, this is a Final Fantasy game, a series known for story, and being locked out of content until you do what is required to unlock it. Is is known for locking things behind story progress. As a result, it pulls in a higher amount of people who like that. The reason Final Fantasy gets away with it, is because I believe it is a story-driven MMO and its franchise is associated with that, and thus why it flies here and not elsewhere.