MSQ

[Infindox]

They tightened it up a hair but potential players still bounce off the 100+ hours of mandatory story before endgame (and that's only if they're skipping cutscenes). I certainly do not recommend XIV to anybody but the most hardcore story fanatics and even then I'm very explicit about the amount of story grind there is.

Story gating instances is just as bad as instance gating story and this game has both in spades.

Wow now this is a hot take. Then why is it that I know more then a handful of people who play this game and enjoy it (they have been playing for years) yet they don't really give a lick about the story?

[Sotaris]

Ya know, when I sign up for the MSQ roulette, all I get is two 8 main raids? Despite the whole plethora of MSQ groups I've done?

You're meant to. It's for the two 8-man dungeons.

[DPZ2]

Hey everyone. The OP has been a member of this forum since 2013.

They certainly know why there's an "MSQ Roulette" and why there were 100+ quests right after 2.0.

My conclusion is that they're trolling, since there's no reason this couldn't have all been said back in 2015.

[Iscah]

Seeing how many plot points come out of THOSE "side stories"

Unukhalai's entire existence, the backstory of the Thirteenth, the Dalmascan Resistance which cameos in the MSQ and returns in Bozja, the whole Alexander and Omega storylines which become relevant in the Twinning and as such are relevant for ShB backstory... Heck, Eden itself follows MSQ by responding to the events of 5.2 and 5.3.

I feel the MSQ would benefit from acknowledging them instead of trying to write around them.

The thing there (which would be improved by making them MSQ) is that the writers don't pretend something has happened if the individual player hasn't done the optional quest yet, so they can't rely on it as a previous event.

The exception with that approach is...

of course the Alexander and Omega raids (and CT at the time 5.0 released) but that's because of time convolutions meaning they don't need to have happened yet as long as they happen at some point in the future.

[WhiteArchmage]

The thing there (which would be improved by making them MSQ) is that the writers don't pretend something has happened if the individual player hasn't done the optional quest yet, so they can't rely on it as a previous event.

The exception with that approach is...

of course the Alexander and Omega raids (and CT at the time 5.0 released) but that's because of time convolutions meaning they don't need to have happened yet as long as they happen at some point in the future.

Oh, yes, that's what I meant. Much like how CT was made mandatory for 5.3; side-stories like The Warring Triad, Return to Ivalice, or Alexander, should be made mandatory at SOME point, even if there'd be more complaints about grinding the story to a halt if, say, 4.0 required you to complete all the MSQ up to 3.5 AND the Alexander quests (Gods know how loud people would get over being forced to do Ivalice, which while my favorite raid series, is VERY long).

Otherwise it's like "Well, we can't bring THAT plot point back, because new players haven't done The Four Gods..."

[Ilenya]

(Gods know how loud people would get over being forced to do Ivalice, which while my favorite raid series, is VERY long).

Considering you are forced to do it for Bozja (An NPC from Ivalice is involved), I don't recall many issues with it. Maybe just never looked in the right areas.

[VelKallor]

Ahem one further comment re the Ivalice raids, I submit to my fellow Warriors of Light that perhaps that content will be more...relevant, shall we say, in the near future?

We all know how much Yoship and the team play it close to the chest..so call it a hunch, a gut feeling if you will.

[BlitzAceRush]

Though they've already kind of did it this patch without telling anyone.

A certain farther of all dragons was conspectus by his absence when you went to wake his daughter, and even more that no one commented on his lack of appearance.

[Iscah]

Though they've already kind of did it this patch without telling anyone.

A certain farther of all dragons was conspectus by his absence when you went to wake his daughter, and even more that no one commented on his lack of appearance.

Kinda sorta.

Just not mentioning him at all is rather different to specifically discussing that they can't talk to him because he's currently unavailable.

[BlitzAceRush]

Kinda sorta.

Just not mentioning him at all is rather different to specifically discussing that they can't talk to him because he's currently unavailable.

That's kind of my point though, he really should have been there, but there is a reason why, but it's in a side story that only makes sense if you've done it, so they just act as if he doesn't exist. Without the side story there's zero reason for him to not have made some form of appearance especially given it was speaking with her and you that finally got him to fully lend his support to you, but nothing, at the very least no one noticing this only adds to it.