[Main Story Quests] "Role-playing" duties-- can they be optional, please?

[Reiryuu]

I know I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this, but here it goes anyway...

First of all, as someone who left the game at the later end of 4.0 and returned just 2 weeks before 4.4 and had to catch up all that way I have to say that the solo duties are my least favorite content in the entire game. However, I can tolerate these because they're things that are happening to *my* character and obstacles that *I* have to overcome.

Then I get to patch 4.3 and I'm put into a solo duty... on Alphinaud... then at the end of 4.4 we're forced to play Y'shtola in a back to back duty (fail one and you get to repeat both!) and I can totally see them forcing us to play Thancred sometime during 4.5 where we're fighting that lion thing in the trailer. I have to say I'm not really excited about these duties-- I don't want to be forced to play a job I don't necessarily want to play and doubly so when I am forced to play that job on a *character* that I don't necessarily want to play.

From a RP standpoint, as the WOL I would really like to know that my companions have the ability to handle themselves in situations like this. I don't want to feel that I have to do everything for them and this really flushes that image down the toilet. And from a player standpoint-- if I wanted to make another character or play another job (I mean, I leveled all my jobs to 70) I would be playing that job or character of my own creation and not one given to me.

Don't get me wrong though. I can totally see how people might enjoy this content, but why can it not be optional content unlocked through the main story and put on... say the wandering minstrel or a similar NPC? I just really dislike the idea of being forced to play a job/character that I am not interested in playing. And I will admit that yes, being forced to do another solo duty on a character that I don't want to play on a job that I don't want to play does make me especially hostile to this content. I just don't really feel its appropriate to force something like this on a player for storytelling purposes in an MMO or any RPG where the player creates a character for his/herself.

Sorry for the rather lengthy rant. And NO! NO TLDR for J00! If I'm forced to do this content, you can be forced to read the post! (j/k).

[Dirwen]

Personally, I thought playing as a NPC was an interesting experience. I'm a subpar player and didn't find those fights hard. Maybe because only a few buttons to press so less stress for me.

[Camiie]

You won't get any flak from me. I don't like the idea of playing as other characters either. If I wanted to play as some pre-made and clearly inferior hero I'd play any of the other Final Fantasies (except XI). If I wanted to play as Y'shtola I'd play Dissidia. If I wanted to play as Alphinaud I'd check myself into the nearest mental institution. No, this is the Warrior of Light's story. This is about her adventures and her battles. Everything the player experiences should be from her perspective. I dare say we shouldn't really even be witnessing events that she is not present for, but that's an even bigger kettle of fish than my retainers apparently have access to.

[kikix12]

The role-playing parts are for the player. They have nothing to do with the Warrior of Light. The Warrior of Light is not in any way affecting them. You're not "controlling Y'shtola" as a Warrior of Light. You are simply shown the battle she had from her perspective as the player.

This is both so that you know the FULL story (Alphinaud's case) and...just for a change of pace (Y'shtola). It's absurdly common in all fiction. It's the least common in games, but even then there are cases where it's present.

And it's not like they are "jobs". Seriously, two or three abilities that are seriously overpowered is not something you can reasonably fail with nor something you'd need to study to use. Don't like it?! Well, no one forces you to like it. However removing them would mess with far more people than keeping them, while delegating them to optional content would be equal to you skipping chapters in a book then asking people what happened when you'd come across unknown reference.

In other words...sorry, but you'll have to "deal with it" somehow.

[Reiryuu]

Well, no one forces you to like it. However removing them would mess with far more people than keeping them, while delegating them to optional content would be equal to you skipping chapters in a book then asking people what happened when you'd come across unknown reference.

In other words...sorry, but you'll have to "deal with it" somehow.

No one forces me to like it, but I am forced to do it. Would you like a duty that forced you to be a certain class in order to proceed? What if it was a job/class you neither liked nor had ever played? I am not asking that these duties be removed or not developed. I am only asking them to be optional, you can tell me or show me what happens to Alphinaud or Y'shtola without having to make me play through the scenario myself. For those who want the more hands-on experience, there is the duty. For me, personally, there isn't much story telling value in the actual duty anyway considering the story continues after the duty and not really much during it. It feels more like I'm watching a movie, the movie pauses and I'm forced to go through an obstacle course before it goes on. Sure, some people may like the obstacle course, but I would find it annoying. This is one of the reasons I dislike some of the solo duties as well.

[kikix12]

No one forces me to like it, but I am forced to do it. Would you like a duty that forced you to be a certain class in order to proceed?

Yes, actually. Too bad for you, but I did come to this game exactly because of the multi-class system and I hoped it would have actual support, beyond just saving me making alt characters.

I am only asking them to be optional, you can tell me or show me what happens to Alphinaud or Y'shtola without having to make me play through the scenario myself.

That is a lot of extra work for little to no extra gain. You are in the minority. Just how everyone needs to do the fetch quests which I don't think many like, just like everyone needs to do the trials which I know some don't like (there are people with social anxiety for which eight-man trials are horror itself), just like everyone needs to do the solo instances which I can assure you many people don't like (wanting to do em with friends)...This is just another thing like that. One that was actually indirectly asked for by players and one that was actually a rather successful experiment...rare for FXIV.

Not everything in any game will match everyone's tastes. The developers cannot possibly hope to accommodate everyone. When they do try, they are just making matters worse anyway.

[SendohJin]

I am only asking them to be optional, you can tell me or show me what happens to Alphinaud or Y'shtola without having to make me play through the scenario myself.

not going to happen because it costs too much.

if it's optional it means they have to make the fight and they have to make a cut-scene that people who skip the fight can watch. they're not going to get approved to do double work for you.

i don't really care for them either, but this is a game first, more options to play is not bad.

[Reiryuu]

not going to happen because it costs too much.

if it's optional it means they have to make the fight and they have to make a cut-scene that people who skip the fight can watch. they're not going to get approved to do double work for you.

i don't really care for them either, but this is a game first, more options to play is not bad.

There is literally like no story contained within the fight itself. Besides, you can skip every cut scene in the main story and the cutscenes thereafter don't take into account whether or not you skipped the previous cutscene(s). If the fights are trivial, the story contained within is trivial, and I can skip the cutscenes (which probably cost more to make with voice acting and all that), then why not be able to skip these? And before you try to make the argument that maybe these cutscenes will contain important story elements in the future-- how will that affect people who stream the game on Twitch and skip the cutscenes to avoid story spoilers for their viewers? Will they be screwed now because they can't skip the fights and some guy in the fight says something that spoils a major plot point? As for work, I'm really not asking for much more than Press ESC -> skip optional duty -> duty ends, life goes on.

I also notice that you say more options are a good thing while advocating for a feature that is not optional.

[Fynlar]

I think these roleplay duties were received well overall, so I wouldn't count on them going anywhere.

They're simplistic enough that you really shouldn't be struggling hard to beat them even if you've never touched the job; it's basically like the ones where you're riding magitek armor and get your hotbars replaced by magitek commands. (Other than that glitched one in Azim recently where sometimes the boss refused to actually die and they had to do a patch for...)

[Driven]

I could understand the complaint about it if it was required to do multiple missions and multiple instances as another in NPC... but it was a 5-6 min event.
People all the time say they wish the game would try something different. They did, and it was fresh and interesting. I look forward to doing it again as the story progresses forward.