Confirmed: ARR campaign will be pruned

[Ayuhra]

I mean that's true, but it's ultimately a temporary solution. Think about it:
Right now we have about 300ish hours of story easy before you reach current content. Say ARR is pruned and that cuts its to about 200 hours. Nice! Then Shadowbringers patches add another 30 or so total. Then the next expac adds another 60. Now we're back up to 300 hours again and the problem of new player retention rears its ugly head once more. Because honestly; while Heavensward on improves so much in the pacing and story department, it never goes the 100% to fix issues that have plagued the story since ARR.

We see players get farther before giving up, but burnout after running so much story at once, under pressure, is still a thing. So we start seeing complaints about all new quests and pacing problems pop up, and people start clamoring for pruning Heavensward. Now it's become a cycle.

And I guarantee people will go through the pruned ARR and complain about the story they lost. Don't tell me they won't; this thread is full of posts pointing out how necessary any minor quests A, B and C are to the overall narrative. It'll happen.

So it ends up being a ton of dev time and money spent kicking the can down the road. Simply making the MSQ optional will cause a lot of complaining too--I know this well--but it at least ensures the core problem doesn't come up again, and as a bonus it doesn't require any pruning at all.

The MSQ cannot be made optional, period.

That's not an issue of narrative, it's an issue of coding. They've said before that so much hangs on the MSQ that redoing portions of it is very hard. That's why they've been reluctant to adjust it for so long.

[Verlyn]

Honestly, I don't know why people are playing FFXIV if they don't like story-based games. The game is a story-driven RPG. Yes, it is an MMO but the story is the main driving force. If they start simplifying the story and streamlining MSQ's where they are 8 hours or less, I truly will not be interested anymore.

But FFXIV isn't just a story-driven RPG, it is also a massively multiplayer online game. There are a ton of reasons to play it, and it has a ton of content for people to enjoy. Some people like running Eureka. Some people like simply running dungeons with their friends. Some want to see every inch of the game world. Some are massive lore freaks who enjoy analyzing every cutscene and quest.

But everyone enjoys being able to enjoy the content that is currently populated and hyped. Putting a 300 hour barrier between a new player and that content is super dismaying, and there's no guarantee they'll enjoy all the different plot arcs just because you did. It's one thing to muscle through something you're not enjoying because you anticipate Shadowbringers' story. It's another to muscle through that content because you're force to, to get into a dungeon where you can use your new toys, or to join your friends in their raid static.

I'd rather someone plays the story because they want to and because they enjoy it, personally. FFXIV always had the option of being a single player game, and they chose to make it an MMO. You can't just pretend everything that people want out of the genre just disappears because this one happens to have an involved MSQ.

[Verlyn]

The MSQ cannot be made optional, period.

That's not an issue of narrative, it's an issue of coding. They've said before that so much hangs on the MSQ that redoing portions of it is very hard. That's why they've been reluctant to adjust it for so long.

Well, clearly they've decided to do it. Would be a shame if they did it only to kick the can down the road and have to deal with it *again* later. You can be dismissive all you want, but it doesn't make the problem disappear.

[Gwenorai]

Well, clearly they've decided to do it. Would be a shame if they did it only to kick the can down the road and have to deal with it *again* later. You can be dismissive all you want, but it doesn't make the problem disappear.

I didn't hear anything in the LL about them fully remaking it. I thought they were just removing the filler as there were some quests there that really didn't need to be there and felt more like forced side quests? Wish we knew what they were snipping. I have a hunch that the Tataru 'aid' quests might be snipped. And perhaps the quest where Minfillia gives you a dagger to have material slotted in it. A lot of the more 'irritating' quests were honestly those that required me to go back and forth from the waking sands - without a mount, but that's my opinion of course.

[Ayuhra]

Well, clearly they've decided to do it. Would be a shame if they did it only to kick the can down the road and have to deal with it *again* later. You can be dismissive all you want, but it doesn't make the problem disappear.

Managing a live, ongoing game with years under its belt is pretty much just a constant kicking of a can down a road.

[Verlyn]

I didn't hear anything in the LL about them fully remaking it. I thought they were just removing the filler as there were some quests there that really didn't need to be there and felt more like forced side quests? Wish we knew what they were snipping. I have a hunch that the Tataru 'aid' quests might be snipped. And perhaps the quest where Minfillia gives you a dagger to have material slotted in it. A lot of the more 'irritating' quests were honestly those that required me to go back and forth from the waking sands - without a mount, but that's my opinion of course.

It's up in the air at this point. I've said my piece, but they're set on their course. We'll see!
I think a lot of the MSQ can be streamlined quite efficiently by simply having Minfilia or other Scions use their linkshell to talk to you occasionally instead of summoning you from wherever you happen to be at.

Managing a live, ongoing game with years under its belt is pretty much just a constant kicking of a can down a road.

Yet they keep telling us they don't want to focus on old content :P.

Regardless, they have made their decision, so I know an optional MSQ is not actually happening. We'll see how much of what I predict comes to pass.

[Unaki]

Yet they keep telling us they don't want to focus on old content :P.

Regardless, they have made their decision, so I know an optional MSQ is not actually happening. We'll see how much of what I predict comes to pass.

No no, they don't want to focus on keeping old content updated for current gameplay loops. There is a pretty large difference between adding more and more weapons to old Primals and creating an acceptable new player experience so that new players don't burn out in the very first MSQ sprint. Pruning pointless quests that are just "Run to the waking sands, talk to someone, go to the edge of the world to talk to someone then return to the waking sands" falls into the NPE category.

[Lissyl]

Looks like I'll make it juuuuuust in time so that a couple years down the road I can lean back and say 'Oh, you should have seen how long it USED to be!' =)

[RokkuEkkusu]

As far as the 2.1-2.55 quests are concerned, they should at least keep the requirement of clearing Qarn (normal) and all hard mode primals (Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan Hard included) intact.

The first half of the 2.1 and 2.2 story quests might need quite a bit of pruning, but the Mog (Hard) and Leviathan (Hard) trials are still important enough to keep.

[Daniolaut]

I feel this is such a waste of resources.

They should spend their time:

-Separating SCH and SMN entirely so there are no more issues there.

-Adding GNB and DNC glamour.

Q54:
Do you have any plans to add crafted primal weapons for gunbreaker and dancer?
A54:
Sorry, we don't have the free resources to account for this at the moment. The character team might slowly work on it between patches, but I can’t say "we’ll do it."

-Fixing Castrum and Praetorium

-Making other things better like combining the 2 zones for Ul'dah, Limsa, and Gridana

before working on fixing something that isnt broken.

Its possible to complete the ARR quest line in 3 days with the road to x0 bonus.

Plus the story is fun and unique. Sure 5.0 was better, but there is no way they are making 2.0 as good as 5.0 just by "condensing" it.