Dev team, please do not remove the importance of the MSQ

[linay]

The story in WoW is relevant if you want to know the full lore, if you don't want to know the full lore then you can just level and play the end game. The game isn't just really forcing you to do it except you want some certain extras like flying in and after WoD and so on. Just because you don't have to do it doesn't mean it isn't relevant.

No, it isn't relevant because the story doesn't treat it as being relevant. When I can boost a character and not have the story autocomplete or force me to do the story in chronological order in the way it canonically happened, then it's irrelevant. When I am leader of my class order hall in Legion expansion via gameplay but canonically in the lore I am not (according to some people in the WoW forum), then the story is irrelevant. When my character is an allied race that was newly recruited near the end of Legion expansion and yet I am experiencing storyline quests from expansions prior to my joining the faction that I joined, then the story is irrelevant.

When I'm playing an RPG, my character should be part of the story, not just a game character that is experiencing a story disconnected from the character. If my part in the story is messed up because gameplay convenience trumps lore continuity, then the story is irrelevant.

Having the story be relevant just to know the lore of the world makes it an irrelevant side story. Those kinds of story should just be put in a lore book, not in the game as the main story.

It makes it a story put into the game, not a story about the game.

[Ilan]

No, it isn't relevant because the story doesn't treat it as being relevant. When I can boost a character and not have the story autocomplete or force me to do the story in chronological order in the way it canonically happened, then it's irrelevant. When I am leader of my class order hall in Legion expansion via gameplay but canonically in the lore I am not (according to some people in the WoW forum), then the story is irrelevant. When my character is an allied race that was newly recruited near the end of Legion expansion and yet I am experiencing storyline quests from expansions prior to my joining the faction that I joined, then the story is irrelevant.

When I'm playing an RPG, my character should be part of the story, not just a game character that is experiencing a story disconnected from the character. If my part in the story is messed up because gameplay convenience trumps lore continuity, then the story is irrelevant.

Having the story be relevant just to know the lore of the world makes it an irrelevant side story. Those kinds of story should just be put in a lore book, not in the game as the main story.

It makes it a story put into the game, not a story about the game.

So the story is only relevant for you if stuff is locked behind it and the game forces you to do it? Thats pretty weird don't you think?

A story is always relevant if you care for it and not just because the game forces you to play each and every single MSQ.

[linay]

So the story is only relevant for you if stuff is locked behind it and the game forces you to do it? Thats pretty weird don't you think?

A story is always relevant if you care for it and not just because the game forces you to play each and every single MSQ.

When the story is disconnected from the game, then it's not relevant to the game, it's just part of it. They're called side quest stories, not the main story of the game.

[Ilan]

When the story is disconnected from the game, then it's not relevant to the game, it's just part of it. They're called side quest stories, not the main story of the game.

Call it whatever you want. A multiplayer game should never force you to do a MSQ just to be able to continue playing the game, with solo games it is obviously different because you just play it for the story.
We can totaly agree to disagree because i won't change your opinion and you won't change mine.

[linay]

Call it whatever you want. A multiplayer game should never force you to do a MSQ just to be able to continue playing the game, with solo games it is obviously different because you just play it for the story.
We can totaly agree to disagree because i won't change your opinion and you won't change mine.

Except MSQ in FFXIV is not just solo content.

[Awha]

And as I mentioned above, that's a slippery slope to where the developer may put less emphasis on the story if it's just going to be optional content, which would be missing the point of the story. The story is the story because content is structured around it. Once you decouple game content from the story, then it's no longer a story of the game, just a story tacked into the game.

Right now, people who don't care about story can pay a one-time $25 fee per character.

People who care about story won't have any way of resolving their problem if dev starts to deemphasize the story because it's optional content. At that point, it's no longer MSQ, just a long side quest.

So the fear so to speak is if the story is not mandatory then the developers will no longer give it the same attention as they are now if it is optional. I understand the fear, but it does not necessarily have to be the case, sure the possibility remains but I personally do not see SE falling into that situation.

Granted I also do not see SE to make it optional either, but it is interesting none the less to talk about. I guess main reason for the disagreement is you feel such a change would lead to less emphasis on the story from SE, and I feel that everything could remain the same if the content was locked behind level only. Though I guess for some if it was not mandatory or instead of a in invisible hand guiding players along the story they prefer a strict path, without the path it seems as if it has no meaning to some.

[linay]

So the fear so to speak is if the story is not mandatory then the developers will no longer give it the same attention as they are now if it is optional. I understand the fear, but it does not necessarily have to be the case, sure the possibility remains but I personally do not see SE falling into that situation.

Granted I also do not see SE to make it optional either, but it is interesting none the less to talk about. I guess main reason for the disagreement is you feel such a change would lead to less emphasis on the story from SE, and I feel that everything could remain the same if the content was locked behind level only. Though I guess for some if it was not mandatory or instead of a in invisible hand guiding players along the story they prefer a strict path, without the path it seems as if it has no meaning to some.

Yes, I think you get it.

The story is the story because you have to go through it. If you can skip it, then its relevance as a story about the game and your character in an RPG is gone except for knowing lore. Even with a boost, you technically didn't skip the story because FFXIV's boost completes the quests for you so your character still canonically and actually did go through the story quests even if you, the player, don't.

[grinkdaboy]

take nidhogg, seiryu, ala mhigo, keeper of the lake, etc out of their respective trial things and put them in msq roulette

[gumas]

i never use the skip potion, but it wont hurt them to give an additional option to see a 5-10 minutes summary so at least you get the gits of what you should do after using the potion.

*use skip potion* *screen goes black* "previously on FF14" *bunch of narration of what have you done so far*

So the fear so to speak is if the story is not mandatory then the developers will no longer give it the same attention as they are now if it is optional

IT COULD in the future, when everything is over (no more expansion, main story has ended like really end, no more "to be continued" or anything like that) then yes i can see they going to make the story optional because at that point they just need to garner more people to keep the game alive (marketing, instant level package, mount package, etc)

but as in current? i doubt it, the story is the main aspect that make FF14 different than any other mmorpg right now, its the spearhead of the operation, just take a look at the advertisement especially the JP one, they even make a live action mini series about FF14 (that one guy and his dad drama thing), personally i think the story is not going anywhere, in fact its going to get better considering we are at the 3/4 of the story climax right now.

[Crushnight]

I don't see SE making the msq optional too much emphasis has been placed on it over the years, remember the demand for raid story to be more accessible so normal mode was created in HW due to 1.x msq conclusion being behind final coil, The story matters in this game a lot more than other MMORPGs and i like it because of it. Now if you just want to do end game stuff that is fine you do you but i'm going to enjoy everything as i walk through the fields rather than run.

Though if msq became optional you should shouldn't see the can't beat original Steps of Faith, Sadu or Zenos threads again, msq is currently the only way the devs can enforce some sort of gear/skill check (even if they are light) onto players something some people wish they would be harder on