MSQ teleports - A simple band-aid for discouragement of new players in ARR

[Derio]

ARR yes, As for HW and SB, no those should not be condensed. However the alternative is jump potions which was already introduced.

I am looking most forward to new game plus. As I am too lazy to create a new player and see 2.0 fetch quests again for myself.

[KisaiTenshi]

So for the whole of 2.0-2.55, we can preload multiple ARR areas.

What? That's not how it works at all. It has to load the entire zone, props, players, npc's, monsters, for the spot teleported to. If you don't like the load time, invest in a SSD, the load time then becomes about 2-5 seconds, even on laptops with weaker cpu/gpu's.

It's been said before, if you don't like the MSQ, there's the jump potion. Why ruin other players enjoyment of the MSQ? The people complaining about having story content in a game series known for it's storylines shouldn't get to destroy it for others just so they can get to whatever aspect of the game they will no doubt complain is boring, having skipped all the content in the game.

There's very little that needs to be condensed and the only half-measure that would feel appropriate is "I've already played ARR/HW/SB to completion on another world in this data center/other data center, just mark all the MSQ quests done and forgo the experience, I will reset the MSQ when I want to play it." and have the game track this at the service account level. Unlike the Skip potion, no leveling is done, no money is given, here's your starter weapon, the story is out of the way. To prevent bots from being able to abuse it, simply require that any character that skips the MSQ, still has to do the 8-player trial gating the content (eg Steps of Faith, Final Steps of Faith) otherwise their level will be remain capped, and teleports will still have to do the quests, so to unlock flying and swimming, the MSQ quests will be marked done, but the side-quests that are part of unlocking it will not. If the player later chooses to do the MSQ, the quests will be "unmarked" including those that contribute to unlocking dungeons, flying and swimming.

The jump pot is simply "completion with experience and leveling already done". Cash shop cash grab, but hey players asked for it.

Perhaps the player base needs to revisit the ARR MSQ and come up with a proposal for what specific changes should be made to smooth it out. XP rewards can always be adjusted to keep the player on pace to hit level 50 at the required point in the MSQ without having to resort to side content.

Easy, smaller skip steps, but you forgo the Roulette/duty finder. eg Every player, probably gets bored to tears of the 1-15 story bits, and really, a "Have you played FFXIV before starting in <starting city>?", select yes. "Would you like to mark all 1-15 quests done in the storyline (no experience will be given). So it would pick up right outside Sastasha. At that point, you can "opt out of all further ARR 2.00 storyline", which will mark the quests done, and the MSQ dungeons will be unlocked up to Praetorium. You still have to do the Praetorium to get the "ending clear", but you can level to 50 unimpeded. After that's clear (eg skipping the credits) you get "Would you like to skip straight to HW (Patch 3.0)?" and if you select yes, it will mark everything done except Steps of Faith. Clear it, and you're at the beginning of HW.

Basically, you have
Skip 1-15 2.00
Skip 15-50 2.00
Skip 2.xx
Skip 3.00
Skip 3.xx
Skip 4.00 (after 5.0 comes out)
Skip 4.xx (after 5.0 comes out)

Most players who are intending to level an alt, will just play the MSQ because it's faster to level solo that way. If they have 7 friends that they want to play together instead, then they can just straight level to 1-70 by themselves by any measure they want. But as I've said already, don't ruin the game for everyone else by trying to strip the content to make it shorter just because you're impatient or think it's boring. One player may love all the lore, another just skips all the dialog anyway and thus their leveling experience through MSQ isn't that much slower than marking it all done in the first place.

The MSQ doles out the EXP necessary to not have to do any grinding (eg you "play" less of the game if you do the MSQ as intended, and don't have to repeat any dungeon twice.) If you opt out of the MSQ, you opt out of the experience points as well. See jump pot for the alternative.

[Freyt]

I'm in full on agreement with the opening post.

[bass9020]

No there is not lore as to why there aren't any mini-aetherytes in the Waking Sands. Yes, they talk about why the Syndicate hasn't placed a big one in Vesper Bay, but they don't need a big one in Vesper Bay. The mini-aetheryte can be gotten cheap on the Marketboard.

And more to the point, do they really need alienate new players with the frustrating lack of fast travel back into the MSQ quest hub?

Waking Sands is part of Vesper Bay so yes it still counts as lore reasoning. And no I see no issue with players either traveling on foot to Waking Sands or as I said taking the ferry from Limsa. You and many others are so worried about new players for what reason? Its a game, a RPG. Traveling is a big part of that especially early on. But be my guest keep spouting about new players this and new players that.

[Enkidoh]

Its in the lore why there arent aetherytes set in place there. Teledji Adeledji even placed a Statue of himself where a normal aetheryte would be.

And side note: If you take the boat from LL you arrive right at Vespar Bay.

It wasn't Teledji that did that but Lolorito - look at the statue closely, there is no mistaking the turban/mask. But yeah, that's the lore reason why there is no aetheryte at Vesper Bay (not that there was ever one there even in 1.0) - it was a deliberate snub against the Scions because Minfilia refused to take bribes from Lolorito and the Syndicate, this is why they packed up and moved to Revenant's Toll (away from the Syndicate's influence), so instead Lolorito had that ostenatious statue of himself erected there, effectively placing his own ego over the good of the realm. This was explained back in 2.1's story.

I make a point of throwing rotten eggs at that statue every time I pass through Vesper Bay accordingly (in emote ).

[Fynlar]

Many of us know potential new players who are discouraged by the time sink of A Realm Reborn (@Square-Enix - these people are lost money!)

If you view experiencing the story of an RPG and the gradual buildup of your character as an uninteresting "time sink", these kinds of games are probably not the right kind of game for you in the first place.

If you still wanna do it anyway, there are jump potions.

With that and the fact you can skip the vast majority of cutscenes anyway (something which is taken for granted nowadays even though that was not always the case in video games), I don't think any more concessions need to be provided to the Instant Gratification crowd.

Vesper Bay absolutely does need an aetheryte, though. I don't care if there's "lore" reasons behind it, and neither does most everyone else. Maybe in 10 or so years it will get one, like Selbina did with the nomad moogle. That seems to be how SE operates, anyway.

[SenorPatty]

Then how about Waking Sands tickets? They can function like GC tickets. Wouldn't have to retcon any lore and the pro-lore people don't feel like anyone's stepping on their toes.

[Fynlar]

Then how about Waking Sands tickets? They can function like GC tickets. Wouldn't have to retcon any lore and the pro-lore people don't feel like anyone's stepping on their toes.

I'd find this acceptable. They could even make the MSQ give you some, likely particularly at the moments where you'd be expected to use one.

[SenorPatty]

I'd find this acceptable. They could even make the MSQ give you some, likely particularly at the moments where you'd be expected to use one.

I fully approve this. Problem solved, now let's close this thread and get back to important things like filtering out all the BLU threads

[bass9020]

It wasn't Teledji that did that but Lolorito - look at the statue closely, there is no mistaking the turban/mask. But yeah, that's the lore reason why there is no aetheryte at Vesper Bay (not that there was ever one there even in 1.0) - it was a deliberate snub against the Scions because Minfilia refused to take bribes from Lolorito and the Syndicate, this is why they packed up and moved to Revenant's Toll (away from the Syndicate's influence), so instead Lolorito had that ostenatious statue of himself erected there, effectively placing his own ego over the good of the realm. This was explained back in 2.1's story.

I make a point of throwing rotten eggs at that statue every time I pass through Vesper Bay accordingly (in emote ).

Thank you for correcting me, and explaining it with more detail!