MSQ Needs Further Condensing

[Ammokkx]

I am not sure that you have any grasp of my stance. So, I'll summarize it for you.

The MSQ was condensed, and SE is soon to release another expansion, adding more content to the already lengthy, and mandatory, MSQ.

The addition of this expansion is going to undo the progress they made on reducing the length of the MSQ.

At a certain point, this process of going through the mandatory MSQ becomes unreasonable excessive. Or, in Blizzard's case, the leveling process, which they overhauled their entire game to remedy.

I understand that you, or others might enjoy playing a 500 hour game, but not everyone has the time for that, some might not be all that interested in the MSQ, which turns them off from the game.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

First off, this is not a reply to arguments. This is just you stating your stance with no evidence again. You have made it abundantly clear what you think. We disagree. Now start replying to us in earnest if you actually want us to be convinced you have a point and that you're not just some raving madman rocking back-and-forth in a restraint jacket muttering "condense msq... condense msq... condense msq..." to themselves over and over again.

Second, as Iscah has pointed out, the MSQ is not one whole. It is 4-8 chunks, depending on how you view it, which have been chained together to form one whole. It is like reading a serialized book series. You don't just randomly start cutting out chapters of a book because the entire series has become too long of a read.

I have also pointed out before that there is very little you can change in the MSQ without affecting the integrity of the storyline. At most you can make a few more quest tasks streamlined, or take out a grand total of maybe 5 quests, in an expansion. That isn't going to magically make the MSQ an arbitrary number of hours like you seem to wish it will. Even if they did that, it is an immense amount of work to go back and do this literally every time a new expansion comes out. Is that payoff worth it to SE? You seem to argue "yeah, obviously" but if it was so obvious then why haven't they done so in full yet? Why have they only briefly and delicately touched select parts of the game and not the expansions as a whole?

Let me give you a hint.

Because an isolated part of the game was a problem case and not the game as a whole. People drop off at 50 not because they can't get to endgame, but because level 50 is boring as all hell compared to what comes after.

And also, I understand that you, or others, might not enjoy playing a "500 hour game" as you put it (which lol I've put far more hours into this game than that on everything but the MSQ) but that begs the question...

Who's experience is more valid? Yours or mine? Who, of us two, should SE listen to and cater to?

Neither. Neither is the answer. They should stick to their core philosophy when designing this game, extremely carefully consider any feedback from the community, and keep going on mostly the same waters they've charted so far.

Why, you may ask? Because that's what's currently gotten them an ever-growing MMO with success comparable to WoW's monolithic status. FFXIV is an absolutely beloved game by those who play it and for some, yes, I'm sorry to say, it's because of the 666 hours of story content. Not for all of us, certainly not for you. But clearly for enough people that they think it worthwhile to add more high-quality story each expansion, and certainly enough for the lead writer of Shadowbringers to get a standing ovation merely for mentioning the fact she was the lead writer of Shadowbringers.

But go on, please, do go on, about how most players don't care about the story. I'd love to see the statistics you have to back this up. So far you've only been picking out choice quotes from the odd person hopping into this thread saying "i agree with you reyketi!" when people who are against it outnumber you at least three-to-one, if not more. First page says this too: Your post has only about a third of the likes of TaleraRistain's post. People are disagreeing with you en masse and yet you're still pushing your stance as being the correct one for a majority of the playerbase, when the majority of the playerbase seems to want the exact opposite of what you're suggesting.

Now, here's the million dollar question: Are you actually going to address the foundation of my points as I have done for yours, or are you going to continue ignoring my arguments in favor of pushing your one narrow view despite everyone telling you you're wrong and finding new ways to do so? Because if there is one thing I'm tired of, it's people making unsubstantiated claims from an ego-centric perspective that they claim is representative for other people when all they're doing is going "My way or the highway."

[Rinhi]

Now, here's the million dollar question: Are you actually going to address the foundation of my points as I have done for yours, or are you going to continue ignoring my arguments in favor of pushing your one narrow view despite everyone telling you you're wrong and finding new ways to do so? Because if there is one thing I'm tired of, it's people making unsubstantiated claims from an ego-centric perspective that they claim is representative for other people when all they're doing is going "My way or the highway."

their lack of actual arguments throughout the whole thread should have made it obvious that they're just a troll who periodically bumps his own thread with the same post to get people to respond to them

best wishes

-rinh

[Ammokkx]

their lack of actual arguments throughout the whole thread should have made it obvious that they're just a troll who periodically bumps his own thread with the same post to get people to respond to them

best wishes

-rinh

I won't deny the possibility of them being a troll, but I'm very conservative when it comes to labeling people as such. At the very least, MPK and Titanman are a lot more obvious in their attempts, as they have a much more varied repertoire.

[Iscah]

A better approach, would be, in reality, to simply summarize the MSQ, up until the current expansion in a series of logs, or still-frame cutscenes, and offer a one time boost, like many other MMORPGs.

Again, optional.

The game does not seem to be able to do "optional" like this. Note that the ARR alterations are not optional but have permanently overwritten the original.

[SturmChurro]

Apparently, the game cannot do anything, and the devs, apparently, can't do anything with the game. Why do we discuss anything ever, nothing can be done about anything!

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Apparently, the game cannot do anything, and the devs, apparently, can't do anything with the game. Why do we discuss anything ever, nothing can be done about anything!

More like "changing the core fame to be completely different is frowned upon" but keep reaching with those arguments. Makes work go faster.

[SturmChurro]

More like "changing the core fame to be completely different is frowned upon" but keep reaching with those arguments. Makes work go faster.

Reaching what? I was actually speaking in general, as it was written.

The length of the msq is clearly a design problem, and the devs have acknowledged it as such with the edits.

I suspect the true purpose of ng+ is to permit a more drastic skip than what we got with the msq edits, but we won’t know until a future expansion is revealed. Long ago back in beta, they acknowledged the msq length would be a concern they’d eventually need to consider, and retiring level ranges might be necessary.

Now that the ascian saga is over, and now that the gigaprimal arc seems to be coming to a close, it may be time to shelf the entire storyline and only introduce players to a new arc. Maybe not this upcoming expansion, but certainly the one after.

A new arc would be a great place to start players fresh, in some way.