MSQ Needs Further Condensing

[Kamatsu]

Also, even if the 250-hour story was condensed down to something like 150, you sound like you'd still be complaining about what was left of it.
(For the record, 100 hours is a length that would be seen as a selling point for a single JRPG, and FFXIV is essentially four of them back-to-back at this point.)

You can see this is true with a reply from someone else after your post was made, where they refer to the MSQ as the 'padding' to the game. This basically implies that they view the MSQ as pointless drivel that they have to get through to get to the 'real' game (that is how I interpret these comments).

So yes, even if SE did cut the story in HW, SB & patches between to reduce total time-to-complete from say ~250 hours down to ~100-150... these same people would continue to make these threads demanding the MSQ be further butchered and cut down and made into side-content / non-existent / ignorable.

These are the same ppl who are now complaining that WoW forces ppl to do story in their latest expansion, rather than letting them skip it all to get to the endgame raiding.

That's exactly the issue with asking for large-scale trimming of the story. You trim something back to "the bare minimum needed to understand the plot" and you lose everything around it that builds up the characters and makes the plot richer.

You can't just pull entire events out of the plot and say "we're doing this for the sake of some people who don't enjoy the story anyway so they want it to go quicker".

Makes real sense right - lets butcher the story for ppl who do not like the story, and don't want to play the story, who will continue to ask us to butcher the story so they can skip the story. Also, sorry to the majority who like the story... but we've butchered the story for ppl who don't want the story in the game, even though they are a vocal minority.

[SturmChurro]

You can see this is true with a reply from someone else after your post was made, where they refer to the MSQ as the 'padding' to the game. This basically implies that they view the MSQ as pointless drivel that they have to get through to get to the 'real' game (that is how I interpret these comments).

Did you actually read the person's reply? To me, they didn't say the MSQ itself was padding, or imply it as "pointless drivel". They were referring to the walking back and forth, as they say:

One of the big problems with the MSQ, especially early on, is how much running you do. There is a severe disrespect for the players time. There are so many quests, that are literally 'run for 10 minutes, get one line of dialogue, run back for 10 minutes'.

To argue that even half of those quests are indispensable to the story is pretty laughable. ALL of those quests, especially early on, should auto complete instead of making you go back to the original quest hub. Any MSQ that has you running back to the original NPC, only to then run back out to the area you were just in, should just issue you the next quest in the series when you complete the previous one. That alone would cut the time it takes in half.

It's fairly obvious, that the MSQ was designed, at the time, to pad the game. That padding is certainly no longer needed, it's a real barrier for new players trying to get into the game. The biggest problem for retention for new players in this game, is how rudimentary the combat is early on, combined with how much time you spend literally doing nothing but running. This game still makes a horrible first impression.

[Driavna]

Did you actually read the person's reply? To me, they didn't say the MSQ itself was padding, or imply it as "pointless drivel". They were referring to the walking back and forth, as they say:

It's a recurrent problem with MSQ (and quest in general) in FFXIV. Gameplay between cutscenes is usually nonexistent till a solo duty, dungeon or trial is unlocked. The last 24m raid related quest all had my doing was going from A to B and use an emote.

[SturmChurro]

It's a recurrent problem with MSQ (and quest in general) in FFXIV. Gameplay between cutscenes is usually nonexistent till a solo duty, dungeon or trial is unlocked. The last 24m raid related quest all had my doing was going from A to B and use an emote.

Yeah, and no matter how much cutting they may or may not do, this aspect will never change. Unfortunately. Like I said, a lot of archaic systems in place. It would be nice if we could just automatically just get the next quest in the series without running back and forth.

[Driavna]

Yeah, and no matter how much cutting they may or may not do, this aspect will never change. Unfortunately. Like I said, a lot of archaic systems in place. It would be nice if we could just automatically just get the next quest in the series without running back and forth.

Yes. That's why I will like this area to keep improving in the future.