Future .5 MSQ

[Hestzhyen]

Yet this isn't like the first msq to have an abrupt halt and even in the story they say that everyone is getting ready for round two and that we should put Alisaie into the huge bed we're stickin everyone else in. Heck it's not even the hardest hitting abrupt end that we've had at least not in my mind.

"It's not the worst" isn't a reason to absolve the game of it's little issues. And if this isn't the first time then shouldn't SE know or care how to avoid this by now?

It's not going to stop me from playing or liking the story. But it was really jarring, and SE should do better. They want this content to be meaningful and engaging, so it should be treated with care instead of being lazily chopped off. A few extra scenes to bait more hype wouldn't have hurt.

[Iscah]

I understand it has to stop somewhere (and probably around that point) but it did feel like it needed more of a wrap-up.

Although I suppose they might be looking at how the story will be presented long-term as well, and they can't have it come to too much of a halt for a player who will experience both parts of it without this forced break.

[Mansion]

...See my previous post above.

Don't see the relevance though. Maybe you did not get my point which I will try to make clearer.

We know X.5 MSQ is alway split and Iscah made a reminder that is quite striking.
I'm addressing 4.5 MSQ specifically, not the split. I'm saying its pacing is not equivalent to 2.5 and 3.5, which had their peaks to justify the valleys.
4.5 is more of a flat land. And I said it ; the story remains interesting, that is not the problem. But it has a slower paced build up. In itself, it's not a problem. It becomes one when you are drawing links to future MSQ, setting expectations considering the gap that is necessarily coming, because of the patch mechanic. For me, since 4.4 the story does not fit the model of patches, that's just it.

I don't see an impasse in Part 1 end; I see a weakness in writing, considering FFXIV's general storytelling.
Thus my suggestion of sacrificing the mechanical way of doing, and if the story does not work with the shape, then let's change the shape. Give MSQ in one time but later. It's not a valid argument to say MSQ keeps people busy like a trial or new raids do.


And by the way, people cheering on what is said during a Fanfest has no weight in a discussion. People have not reached Blizzard's audience level of discontent. People are hyped by those events, and it's an experience from within, just like people will cheer if on the next fanfest they will announce Shadowbringers can be preordered yet not everyone will preorder it.

[SannaR]

"It's not the worst" isn't a reason to absolve the game of it's little issues. And if this isn't the first time then shouldn't SE know or care how to avoid this by now?

It's not going to stop me from playing or liking the story. But it was really jarring, and SE should do better. They want this content to be meaningful and engaging, so it should be treated with care instead of being lazily chopped off. A few extra scenes to bait more hype wouldn't have hurt.

They probably didn't have to avoid it because until this expansion the first part of a patch tended to be top heavy so the major complaint was about the overall patch not just the awkward stop of the msq. The old complaint of basically everything being done within the first two weeks and asking for thing to be more spread out. Now we have it spread out and this time we mostly got story so of course people are going to pick on it's faults more. Course it seems that right now people will complain about anything SE does just because it wasn't what a person wanted to a T. Just look at relics people complained about it asked for how it's done to be changed and they changed it and now people are going no lets go back to the old way.

[Burningskull]

I don't mind the story of the .5 patches being split apart. It's just never felt as sudden stop to me before as this one did. There wasn't a set up for the next part like there was in 3.5. Granted the 3.X patches were all over the place and didn't set up 4.0 until 3.4 or 3.5, but with the first part of 3.5 you got Griffin summoning a primal and Papalymo sacrificing himself to stop it. So the set up was how are we going to deal with the sealed primal, what was Garlamld's reaction going to be, who was the primal Griffin summoned. Here in patch 4.5 we get a lead up to a new war but only have one battle then everyone "takes a break" cause Alisaie passes out. Then it just ends. No set up or anything just "take a break" till the Garleans come knocking again.

Don't get me wrong. I love 4.X story. Even the story we got in 4.5. My favorite part is how each patch has been leading up to 5.0 just a little each patch. With the introduction to the Popularis and Shadowhunter hunting Ascians and such. I just think that when SE knows they are going to split the MSQ of a patch in half they should have the first half build up to the second half, and then that second half leave you over the moon for the next expansion. Which all of 4.X has done for me.