Quality of Life Improvements and MSQ Gating for New Players

[Vhailor]

MSQ is skippable through the cash shop, which means it will never be changed.

I think a fair thing to do would be to make people go through MSQ with their first character (because it’s actually very good, if a little long), and alts would be able to bypass MSQ entirely. But again, alts are basically a way to look different, and looking different is a cash shop feature. Ergo it’ll never happen.

I don't even think this is fair, because barring changes, this situation is only going to get worse. I mean, let's look down the road a couple of expansions. As of the conclusion of Stormblood (4.0, nothing from 4.1+), we're at over 500 Main Scenario Quests. We'll be at roughly 600 required MSQs to access the next expansion, whatever it may be. Closing in on 800 required MSQs to access the one after that. This simply isn't sustainable.

SE is going to have to make a choice: do they want to change course and stop requiring players complete every prior MSQ before starting the next expansion, or do they want to significantly discourage new players from sticking around? There really isn't a middle ground, from what I can see.

[Krotoan]

SE is going to have to make a choice: do they want to change course and stop requiring players complete every prior MSQ before starting the next expansion, or do they want to significantly discourage new players from sticking around? There really isn't a middle ground, from what I can see.

You are still assuming the majority of new players don't want to do the MSQ. While I don't argue that people will join wanting to ONLY do the new stuff, it's not a guarantee that all either: won't care about story, won't want to do pre-expansion content.