why i quit before reaching endgame (feedback from a new player)

[MrKusakabe]

I think it's not that there are cutscenes, but the frequency of it.
Tried to get this across in another thread, but it's just stupid that it fades into letterbox with camera movements just for like 10 lines of text.
I get an item, I walk 10 meters to the guy and: Cutscene.

You know, when Minfillia and I think Urianger were explaining the Aether (what happens when you die etc.)- that was cool and a real meaningful cutscene.
The OP made it pretty clear with this simplified flowchart that there are too many cutscenes. The way they are set up has nothing to do with this game being "story-driven".
Imagine your boss is not giving you 10 tasks at once for that workday but instead wants a meeting every 30 minutes for every task scattered all over the day.

Right now it's simliar for me (according to the quest list I am just a few quests short of the Amphiteathre): How often did Alphinaud talk to me about small details that I observed myself already? There is no need that every character so far has to intervene and share their two cents. Just make one big cutscene. Talking about why "The Weaver" did this and that is not worth of fading in and out the screen every 5 minutes.

[SerLuke]

Right now it's simliar for me (according to the quest list I am just a few quests short of the Amphiteathre): How often did Alphinaud talk to me about small details that I observed myself already? There is no need that every character so far has to intervene and share their two cents. Just make one big cutscene. Talking about why "The Weaver" did this and that is not worth of fading in and out the screen every 5 minutes.

You have a lvl 63 RDM and a level 57 SCH and you haven't done Akh Afah Amphitheatre which is a lvl 50 MSQ quest?

[SturmChurro]

You have a lvl 63 RDM and a level 57 SCH and you haven't done Akh Afah Amphitheatre which is a lvl 50 MSQ quest?

My alt is level 64 paladin, and I have only done ARR. It's still on level 50 Story quests.

[LaylaTsarra]

My alt is level 64 paladin, and I have only done ARR. It's still on level 50 Story quests.

I leveled two alts on Mateus to level 50 in less than 10 days for the car including earning the MGP needed for the rewards. It's really not that hard to do and it doesn't take all that much time given the skip buttons work wonders. Granted there are additional update quests past Pratorium to get through prior to Heavensward for those who wish to continue past 50 but they can be sped through pretty quickly as well especially with only one character.

I have no plans to further level mine at the moment.

Endgame isn't some panacea that will make the game wonderful if you aren't really enjoying the journey to get there.

[Physic]

You have a lvl 63 RDM and a level 57 SCH and you haven't done Akh Afah Amphitheatre which is a lvl 50 MSQ quest?

you outlevel msq easily, especially if you play in smaller bursts, and do leveling dungeon roulettes. MSQ is a very poorly designed content gate. I say this in terms of how well it tracks normal player progress and playstyle. There gets to be a growing backlog of content locks. Msq is pretty good at having a plot, and providing context, but its execution is not that good.

[Barraind]

You have a lvl 63 RDM and a level 57 SCH and you haven't done Akh Afah Amphitheatre which is a lvl 50 MSQ quest?

But why? =( by not going the MSQ you are also limited to only the level 50 and below quested job abilities not to mention the lvl 60 tome gear in shire

With road to 60 and a few xp items, you can keep 3 classes 6-10 levels above msq level until stormblood doing only msq and sidequests that unlock things (had to do 4 quests in ruby sea and 8 in yanxia on my alt to get to msq dungeon level). Or as a friend of mine is doing, you can hit mid 60's by the end of ARR with a couple roulettes a day and ONLY the msq.

I think it's not that there are cutscenes, but the frequency of it.
Tried to get this across in another thread, but it's just stupid that it fades into letterbox with camera movements just for like 10 lines of text.

Its not just the msq either.

Do 6 weekly deliveries, get a cutscene that is 'Yay you're really cool". I've been max faction with you for a year now, you can stop.
Do 6 more weekly deliveries. Get a cutscene. "Yay, you're really cool". Ive been max faction with you since the first week it was possible, please STOP GIVING ME THIS CUTSCENE.

I blame the way they do their menuing system. The cutscene every time thing is just the natural progression to every npc shop menu taking full control of your ui.

XIV's thing is it has a very good story, with a lot of depth and some interesting characters and some...

14s thing is that its the most "My first videogame" of any MMO available. This might be good if its your first video game, but if youve played ANY other MMO, or any other RPG, really, the first 30 levels are awful. (Honestly, at this point you can ignore 1-60 and you'll be perfectly fine with knowing how things work by the time you're doing content thats relevant). My girlfriend has tried 2 or 3 times to get into it and just cant, because after playing 3 other MMO's, she feels like she HAS to story and level skip or shes going to be bored to death of starting the game again. Narrating the leveling of my alt "here's where i mash escape until I can do things again" may not have helped any.


The biggest lie current day MMO's want to sell you is that the journey matters, not the destination. It was true in older MMO's, when new content included massive zones you could explore and were designed for all level ranges (or at times, most level ranges). Then expansions started being current level cap and above ONLY experiences and the journey stopped being relevant after a week or two, because the ONLY thing that matters is level cap content. 14 is no different. The journey doesnt matter. You arent exploring gigantic zones full of wonder. You're running from hub to hub following 3 different kinds of quest markers with the goal being to get to where you can buy a house or do 8 man content with your friends, or do 24 man content with a lot of random people.

[Tharne]

because the ONLY thing that matters is level cap content. 14 is no different. The journey doesnt matter.

To you, only level cap content matters.
For some people the journey matters.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

To you, only level cap content matters.
For some people the journey matters.

This. If the journey didn't matter, rpgs would be a dead genre. They aren't.

[Barraind]

They do not matter in current era MMO's. There is no new content added for those levels in content updates or expansions. In fact, there is usually stuff taken AWAY form those levels after an expansion or two.

14 forces people into lower level content in roulettes specifically to make sure people doing old content actually have people to do them with. Most every other mmo takes the "just dont bother doing old content unless you have a friend carry you" approach.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

They do not matter in current era MMO's. There is no new content added for those levels in content updates or expansions. In fact, there is usually stuff taken AWAY form those levels after an expansion or two.

14 forces people into lower level content in roulettes specifically to make sure people doing old content actually have people to do them with. Most every other mmo takes the "just dont bother doing old content unless you have a friend carry you" approach.

Sounds to me like a point in xivs favor, not the other way around. Content is still new the first time you do it.