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

[Fyce]

Exactly. And if we could remove the ARR Tataru errand boy part, that be great

It's not because you don't like some aspects of character development that we should get rid of it. If anything, that's the kind of stuff that should stay.
Bringing cookies and soup to random guards, however, can go.

[Derio]

For the next 2 years they need someone to go through all the MSQ quests and make the unnecessary fetch quests side quests.

[TarynH]

OK, lets talk about SE's only other MMO Final Fantasy XI. They didn't force full MSQ completion on you.

OK, let's talk about XI. I'll fetch my rose-tinted glasses.

They did, and they didn't force story in XI. It depends how you want to look at it.

XI made a point to make each expansion separate from any other expansion. So you didn't have to complete one story to go into the next. In that regard, XI's story wasn't "forced."

However, that being said, XI did force story completion. The main story had to be completed past the Shadowlord to open up Dynamis. The rest of the city stories were extra. Zilart had to be completed nearly to the end to open up Sky, its endgame content. CoP had to be completed to open up Limbus and Sea. Not to mention a certain part of it had to be completed to open up Dreamworld Dynamis. ToAU needed enough completion to reach Nyzul, more completion to do Salvage, and full completion (plus Assault rank) for Einherjar. WotG needed some slight progression to reach WoE, but had very little endgame content aside from that; making the story trivial for that expansion. Abyssea and the other 3 add-ons were all story driven, and somewhat forced progression. SoA had completion checkpoints to access Delve and Skirmish, but I feel they stopped caring about the story in this expansion. Rhapsodies even needs completion to a certain point to open up content.

XIV went a different path and made an overall connected story arc. Thus "forcing" the main story to be completed.

XI's case was actually a failure on many levels, imo. The main story probably should have been forced more, and had more incentive to help others do it. XI is extremely hard to get back into, and especially hard to get back into and finish up any story you missed.

XIV actually has incentives, and reasons to do story. So the people that actually enjoy that thing, have some help along the way. They've also done a lot to make the story, for the most part, soloable in many regards. Which is another area where it succeeds.

Regardless, forced or unforced, it doesn't negate that the story played a significant role in FFXI overall.

There is A LOT of other content outside of the Story (which really only lasts a short bit of time).

See... I'd disagree here. There really isn't that much to do after finishing the story, and I personally don't understand everyone's rush to skip the story or ignore it. It's a large part of the game. Eureka was probably the biggest grind (time sink) they have added to endgame in XIV, and I have a love/hate relationship with it. The rest of the content, however, is repeated raids/dungeons ad nauseam to get loots, which end up completely useless after a short time. Especially useless when the next expansion rolls out. Not to mention the only reason the gear exists, is to help you meet ilvl requirements for... more story, or... more raid.

[Driavna]

ARR is just terrible (the early story is meh, low-level classes are boring and early dungeons are not that interesting) very noticeable how a lot of the stuff was made to just keep the player busy for a longer period of time. It made me quit the game the first time around and almost manage to do it again, I glad "I forced myself" but boy ARR is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. My boyfriend is trying right now the game and "At what point is going to get more interesting?" questions are already popping up.

[Kalise]

Not to mention the only reason the gear exists, is to help you meet ilvl requirements for... more story, or... more raid.

Or the real end-game...

... Glamour!

So you can look pretty while you AFK in Limsa because there's nothing left to do outside grind Relics (Via farming Duties/Eureka) or... Farm Duties/Eureka for fun?

[Skivvy]

OK, let's talk about XI. I'll fetch my rose-tinted glasses.

They did, and they didn't force story in XI. It depends how you want to look at it.

XI made a point to make each expansion separate from any other expansion. So you didn't have to complete one story to go into the next. In that regard, XI's story wasn't "forced."

However, that being said, XI did force story completion. The main story had to be completed past the Shadowlord to open up Dynamis. The rest of the city stories were extra. Zilart had to be completed nearly to the end to open up Sky, its endgame content. CoP had to be completed to open up Limbus and Sea. Not to mention a certain part of it had to be completed to open up Dreamworld Dynamis. ToAU needed enough completion to reach Nyzul, more completion to do Salvage, and full completion (plus Assault rank) for Einherjar. WotG needed some slight progression to reach WoE, but had very little endgame content aside from that; making the story trivial for that expansion. Abyssea and the other 3 add-ons were all story driven, and somewhat forced progression. SoA had completion checkpoints to access Delve and Skirmish, but I feel they stopped caring about the story in this expansion. Rhapsodies even needs completion to a certain point to open up content.

XIV went a different path and made an overall connected story arc. Thus "forcing" the main story to be completed.

XI's case was actually a failure on many levels, imo. The main story probably should have been forced more, and had more incentive to help others do it. XI is extremely hard to get back into, and especially hard to get back into and finish up any story you missed.

XIV actually has incentives, and reasons to do story. So the people that actually enjoy that thing, have some help along the way. They've also done a lot to make the story, for the most part, soloable in many regards. Which is another area where it succeeds.

Regardless, forced or unforced, it doesn't negate that the story played a significant role in FFXI overall.

Anything that starts off mentioning "rose-tinted glasses" is bound to be great. I still sub to XI off and on (status: currently subbed), so it's not just nostalgia talking as your comment would imply.

But lets dive into XI! You are correct - the game does require you to do certain quests/missons/ranks up to a certain point to unlock the latest content!...but I already mentioned that in one of my other posts. You removed the rather vital part of my complaint - the 100% forced completion. This is where I take issue with XIV's MSQ. I feel like you're trying to contradict some point I never made.

I'm not asking for all content to simply be available as soon as you hit a certain level. I am hoping that they take a look at how they handle the MSQ and perhaps make it less forced when it comes to the full-completion.

As for XIV game content, if you truly feel there isn't a lot to do outside of the story, what exactly do you do once you've put in your few hours to complete the latest story patches?

[odintius]

As for XIV game content, if you truly feel there isn't a lot to do outside of the story, what exactly do you do once you've put in your few hours to complete the latest story patches?

For me I move on to another game or other mmo the reward structure for this game is to much pure vertical progression for my taste leaving me to care less about the gear even more. This expansion going to take my time and not rush it because after at least a week it be over like I did with stormblood and play wait game for patches you can complete after 1 day. I play story then move on getting ilvl ready is super easy anyways don't need to other with extremes\ Savage bc gear isn't worth it to me to care.

[SerLuke]

TarynH Is right, in FFXI to get to Endgame content you had to almost fully complete Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Prometha to get in to Sky and Sea respectively, it wasn’t 100% but it was pretty close to it, I also remember to get one of the bis rings you had to 100% finish CoP. Also I remember dynamis required completion of the base story.

[Skivvy]

For me I move on to another game or other mmo the reward structure for this game is to much pure vertical progression for my taste leaving me to care less about the gear even more. This expansion going to take my time and not rush it because after at least a week it be over like I did with stormblood and play wait game for patches you can complete after 1 day. I play story then move on getting ilvl ready is super easy anyways don't need to other with extremes\ Savage bc gear isn't worth it to me to care.

Fair enough But I would bet SE hopes most players aren't like you as their game would suffer greatly and would fail rather quickly. :X

Compared to other games I play, I would also agree that XIV's endgame is rather...stale and and repetitious, and I also am not a fan of the vertical climb. My issue tends to lie with those claiming the story is the main chunk of XIV, it's just not true. Sure, MSQ has it's place, but it's just one small piece of the whole pie.

[SerLuke]

And to add to that some of the COP story trials were harder than anything FFXIV in its currently form as offered at least in terms of story trials, I think it was PM 6-3 or whatever number was super hard and took me months to get a group to clear.