Option to unlock content without mandatory MSQ

[sauc]

Not at all, completely got that the first time around, but the other part of that statement was free, and that is the part that I feel would be detrimental to the character of the game.
There is no demonstrable need to "widen" or "expand" the playerbase by appealing to those who do not actually want to play a Final Fantasy MMO

Are you saying that people who play the game simply because it has the final fantasy name would quit in droves if it was optional? Seems like a rather petty reason. Even if it did I doubt it would make the number of people who quit greater than the number of people the game would keep thanks to the msq. I don't think it's a secret to anyone that the msq and the extremely slow combat at the start are huge player retention killers. Those 2 things are among the most repeated criticism of the game.

But as I said already: potion skip. That alone likely tilts the pros over cons to square. Well that and they are likely unable to change it even if they wanted to.

[dangadget]

Are you saying that people who play the game simply because it has the final fantasy name would quit in droves if it was optional? Seems like a rather petty reason. Even if it did I doubt it would make the number of people who quit greater than the number of people the game would keep thanks to the msq. I don't think it's a secret to anyone that the msq and the extremely slow combat at the start are huge player retention killers. Those 2 things are among the most repeated criticism of the game.

But as I said already: potion skip. That alone likely tilts the pros over cons to square. Well that and they are likely unable to change it even if they wanted to.

No, what I am saying is that if the game lost focus on the story, and if the playerbase only increased significantly because of a large influx of players who don't care about the story, the character and nature of the game would change such that, yes, a large portion of the existing fanbase would likely leave

[sauc]

No, what I am saying is that if the game lost focus on the story, and if the playerbase only increased significantly because of a large influx of players who don't care about the story, the character and nature of the game would change such that, yes, a large portion of the existing fanbase would likely leave

It wouldn't lose it's focus, all of it would still be there.

[dangadget]

Agree to disagree.
If the story became entirely optional, freely and with zero investment by the prospective player, I believe that the game would start to lose focus on the things that make it special due to ill conceived attempts at catering to the other things the not-actually-a-Final-Fantasy-fans would want.

[sauc]

Agree to disagree.
If the story became entirely optional, freely and with zero investment by the prospective player, I believe that the game would start to lose focus on the things that make it special due to ill conceived attempts at catering to the other things the not-actually-a-Final-Fantasy-fans would want.

I doubt they would suddenly fire all of their writers or suddenly put them on designing murderhobo sidequests but I guess if you feel they might then there's not much left for us to talk about.