Confirmed: ARR campaign will be pruned

[Iscah]

I expect them to turn most of the quests that are not a critical part of the MSQ into sidequests that are optional. Easiest solution that requires no quest deletion, just updating which quests link to each other.

Post-ARR is in a difficult place because "less important parts of the MSQ" may still heavily involve characters who will not be available later, or need to move to a different location. It's why the hard mode trials are required rather than optional.

Even if you could turn MSQ quests into sidequests easily, they still need to be rewritten to remove the links that tie them to the quests before and after them, and those quests rewritten to ensure the join is seamless.

[Ruinfeild]

The only thing I can think of is post-ARR where for some reason you have to do the Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan on HM for no real reason.

[Iscah]

The only thing I can think of is post-ARR where for some reason you have to do the Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan on HM for no real reason.

As I wrote before, it's MSQ because the Scions can't stay in place to give you those quests. You need to clear them so the characters are free to progress.

From the way NPCs work, the Scions (ie. the particular instance of the NPC tied to the quest) must remain in place at the Waking Sands until their quests have been cleared. That means the characters can't move on to the next stage of the story without being in two places at once.

We've seen it happen later with Urianger, whose 2.X self will still be at the Waking Sands at the same time he's actually gone elsewhere as of 4.X MSQ, if you haven't cleared all the quests he has to give out. It's awkward, but that's what happens when MSQ-involved characters have optional sidequests to give out.

[Enkidoh]

The only thing I can think of is post-ARR where for some reason you have to do the Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan on HM for no real reason.

Much of 2.1 was for a meta reason - SE made players do the HM Primal fights along with stuff like Sunken Temple of Qarn and originally, the first 5 Guildhests, as a required part of 2.1's main scenario because this was content players had been actually avoiding and they wanted newer players a chance to experience that content, by forcing then 'endgame' players to queue for it.

Naturally that did not work out as well as they throught, as there was a real backlash player wise (in the end SE replaced the Guildhest requirement with a solo-instanced fight against a malboro), and with successive gear and level increases both Qarn and the HM Primals can be undermanned now anyway.

Either way it was an attempt to guide players into content SE felt was being ignored - needless to say that did not work as they had hoped and thus SE has more or less given up on repeating that sort of thing in later patches and expansions.

[MaraD_]

waiting till may of 2020 is honestly unreasonable from a business perspective.
I know yoshida wants to put all his effort into making new content for players, but the number of "new players" that quit by Lv20 is staggering.
The longer he waits, the more people try it, and never come back, regardless if it gets fixed later or not.
So many people were brought to the game because of Shadow Bringers, all of which wont even try the game if it gets fixed in may.

this should have been a MUCH higher priority over half the side content. (lol limited BLU)
Hardcore players would still return to the game, once new content comes out, but new players wont come back to the game.
Obviously should have been done "right" the first time, so you wouldnt need to go back and fix it. but better late than never i suppose.

[MistakeNot]

waiting till may of 2020 is honestly unreasonable from a business perspective.
I know yoshida wants to put all his effort into making new content for players, but the number of "new players" that quit by Lv20 is staggering.

If people leave that early, they wouldn't stay even with a reworked MSQ. Getting to level 20 is quick and easy, and the parts of the MSQ that people usually complain about happens later anyway.

That being said there is nothing strange about large number of players trying the game and then leaving early. That happens with all games, and just goes to show that not every game suits every player - which is as it should be.

[MaraD_]

If people leave that early, they wouldn't stay even with a reworked MSQ. Getting to level 20 is quick and easy, and the parts of the MSQ that people usually complain about happens later anyway.

That being said there is nothing strange about large number of players trying the game and then leaving early. That happens with all games, and just goes to show that not every game suits every player - which is as it should be.

You forget the Ifrit filler quests.
They were "mostly" fine with everything till copper bell.
And the filler quests of ifrit are the first real signs of things to come. some even make it to titan, only to realize "it never got better"
to which we all tell them "keep going" but they dont.

[Dagget]

There are a few segments they can toss without impacting the story, but what most needs to be done is slimming down segments to reduce near-pointless runabouts. Quick example, it would be simple enough for someone to hand you some milkroot and say give that to the Sylphs as a gift, rather than running back to the zone entrance and questing to acquire the milkroot. Lots of little 'time filler' bits like that can be trimmed down. Same for all the Pre-Titan run around. Then, for the 100 quests between end of ARR and start of Heavensward, they need to focus on the actual plot threads that are there. Those being the Domans, the Crystal Braves, and the Ishgardian heretics. The rest needs to be pruned considerably. Run around prep for the trials can be cut considerably, just leave in the core story for why we are doing each Primal. The bit where we escort/protect a mage taking aether readings can be reduced to "I need to go to Urth's Fount to take measurements and you protect me" and we find the body. And as much as I love Tataru, her escapades are completely off in left field from the ongoing story.

[MistakeNot]

You forget the Ifrit filler quests.

No, because there is very little there that I would consider "filler quests". No more so than the leveling dungeons are "filler dungeons" - which most of them could be considered as since they don't advance the story even less than the average quest.

No, the real "filler" stuff is the endgame gear grind. That is pure time filler.

[RyuDragnier]

- Condense and prune the leveling quests in Costa Del Sol leading up to the battle with Titan. They are mostly filler-quality fetch quests, and their story justification is dubious at best.

This is the only thing I agree with. 21 quests just to prove you're able to take on Titan? They could easily condense it into 5 or 6 quests.