Quote Originally Posted by Vickii View Post
I think comes down to spoilers
SHB making a big deal about the identity of the exarch for it only to be a minor character that the majority of players didn’t meet. By making those mandatory just before his reveal he’s fresh in everyone’s mind and no one is going to complain they didn’t get the full benefit of the plot because they didn’t do some old level 50 quests.
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As a general rule I’m actually surprised they don’t just make all alliance raids mandatory. It helps with queues and it’s usually some of their best content that they put a ton of effort in. Most are cleared as easily as a dungeon is.
I'll actually be surprised if RtI at least doesn't become mandatory at some point, given that Bozja is locked behind it and there are some references to Ivalice sprinkled through the MSQ. It's also an excuse to keep Matsuno writing scenarios for the game, which I'm REALLY not against.