Labyrinth Raid Required for 5.3 MSQ?

[Barachim]

Yes, yes, yes. I expected all of this fanboy nonsense when I posted my query. NOW I also find out that the ENTIRE Crystal Tower quest line, including THREE raids, needs to be absolutely completed before proceeding. I'm not sure if you boys realize this, but there are many older players out there (I know, a shock) that have jobs and kids and a myriad of life responsibility other than spending hours waiting for and participating in raids just to experience the story line (seriously... MrHappy, Meoni, Work to Game, Desperius, Lynx and the rest -- none of whom look like they have girlfriends aggroing them let only wives or kids). So, poo-poo me if you must, but I'm pretty much giving up on MSQ in FFXIV. Maybe when I'm MUCH older and retired and home bound.

Note: Just finishing 5.0 Shadowbringers was a Herculean task using strategies like waiting until EVERYONE was asleep to sneak in play time. I had to watch a lot of the cutscenes later on YouTube to fully enjoy the story as I simply didn't have the sit down time for it originally.

So how is attempting to clear the Crystal Tower storyline any different? Do you have 30 minutes to an hour to play every day? Good, that's all you need and you'd be done in like 2-3 days if you really barely have time to play.

[Balmung_Griffin]

Each one of the raids should take 30 min, tops.
And honestly, it's not our place to know or manage what a grown man do with his time.

[Stepjam]

If you have enough time to reach 5.3, you have enough time to do 3 30 minute (if that) dungeons and the questline that goes with it. You don't even gotta do it in one day, spread it out over a few if time is really that constrained.

[dangadget]

Yes, yes, yes. I expected all of this fanboy nonsense when I posted my query. NOW I also find out that the ENTIRE Crystal Tower quest line, including THREE raids, needs to be absolutely completed before proceeding. I'm not sure if you boys realize this, but there are many older players out there (I know, a shock) that have jobs and kids and a myriad of life responsibility other than spending hours waiting for and participating in raids just to experience the story line (seriously... MrHappy, Meoni, Work to Game, Desperius, Lynx and the rest -- none of whom look like they have girlfriends aggroing them let only wives or kids). So, poo-poo me if you must, but I'm pretty much giving up on MSQ in FFXIV. Maybe when I'm MUCH older and retired and home bound.

Note: Just finishing 5.0 Shadowbringers was a Herculean task using strategies like waiting until EVERYONE was asleep to sneak in play time. I had to watch a lot of the cutscenes later on YouTube to fully enjoy the story as I simply didn't have the sit down time for it originally.

This is frankly a nonsensical attitude.
Queuing for these raids is no more onerous than doing so for a regular dungeon, and each one can be cleared in well under an hour.
Even assuming a really limited game time budget of 90 minutes or so per day, this is more than achievable.

Your ageist response is also way off the mark.
40-plus year old player here with a full time job, wife, and kids.
This was not at all an issue for me.

[Infindox]

Yes, yes, yes. I expected all of this fanboy nonsense when I posted my query. NOW I also find out that the ENTIRE Crystal Tower quest line, including THREE raids, needs to be absolutely completed before proceeding. I'm not sure if you boys realize this, but there are many older players out there (I know, a shock) that have jobs and kids and a myriad of life responsibility other than spending hours waiting for and participating in raids just to experience the story line (seriously... MrHappy, Meoni, Work to Game, Desperius, Lynx and the rest -- none of whom look like they have girlfriends aggroing them let only wives or kids). So, poo-poo me if you must, but I'm pretty much giving up on MSQ in FFXIV. Maybe when I'm MUCH older and retired and home bound.

Note: Just finishing 5.0 Shadowbringers was a Herculean task using strategies like waiting until EVERYONE was asleep to sneak in play time. I had to watch a lot of the cutscenes later on YouTube to fully enjoy the story as I simply didn't have the sit down time for it originally.

Now I DON'T mind sounding rude.
First off, some of those people you listed have other jobs and people to attend to and aren't "always on" like you say they are.
Secondly, I used to work a 12+ hour a day job where I barely had a few hours to play xiv during the week and I STILL could get in a dungeon or two daily. Don't use the ageism (or the sexism, tbh). If you really wanted to do it, you'd find a way. Ask people to unsync it for you even.

[Zoten]

The only issue I have is that what was optional content is no longer optional.
Quite frankly, I just don't have any interest in participating in the Crystal Tower content, just like I have zero interest in the Hildebrand stuff. I don't think you should lock main content behind completing something that is optional.

[Stepjam]

Well its not locking content behind something that's optional since it's no longer optional.

Would you be mad about it if it had been mandatory from release? Probably not.

[Frizze]

The previous response shows that you arent actually reading any of the viable feedback youve been given, so this reply isnt for you OP. Unsub, throw a fit, do whatever makes you the most/least miserable. To anyone else who might happen to see this thread and be in a similar situation, this response is for you.

As someone who played the game for more then 50 levels, you already know that quests dont take a significant amount of time. And even if one did happen to come up on the end of your current play-session, you could always leave it unfinished and come back to it the next time you play. So the quest series of these raids is a non-factor. As for the instances themselves, they are much shorter then you might believe. A normal dungeon is 3 bosses with some trash mobs in between, while an alliance raid is 4 bosses with a couple packs of trash to wipe out(usually 6 or 7 encounters total). A good group will finish a typical dungeon in a bit under 20 minutes. A run of the first alliance raid(LotA) is usually about 18 minutes. A run of the second alliance raid(Syrcus) is usually about 15 minutes. The last one(WoD) is a bit longer, and usually takes 25 or so minutes. And those are typical times, so a good group can beat each of those estimates by a few minutes(ive seen syrcus done in 11 and change). And remember, there are 2 roulettes(on top of anyone who skipped them now catching up and anyone running them for exp) that feed into these ques so they dont typically take long to fill. Because the group composition is 3 tanks, 6 heals, and 15 DPS this ends up a case where going as healer or dps is a little quicker then tank, but not by a crazy amount.

[Demoniun]

Seriously if you made it to 5.3 in the msq, you have enough time to do the Crystal Tower raids.

Not if i don't give a shit about story and play for other things like raid and i've to do MSQ to unlock them.

[Doozer]

Faceroll or not, how is it any more daunting than all the other dungeons and trials required to progress the story?

Mate if you find the story-required content to be daunting, you may want to try an easier game. Maybe something with a "just give me the story" difficulty option.

I'm certainly no elitist, and I don't even bother with stuff like Savage because it doesn't interest me, but even I can see that dungeons, normal trials, and non-Savage/Ultimate raids are generally pretty easy. Once you step into the optional stuff (i.e. not required for the story), sometimes things can have a bit of a jump in difficulty (in the sense that you have to do more than stand there and spam attacks), but they're by no means 'daunting'. Unless you have a literal disability that makes things harder for you by default.

EDIT: Misunderstood, I'm dyslexic. Sometimes words don't go in the right way. My original point still stands, regardless of who it's directed at.