Hot Take: The MSQ grind is too long and its harmful to expanding friend groups.

[Deceptus]

News flash:

Trying to accomplish years worth of story in weeks / a month isn't a good idea. This game is famous for it's great story.

[Alxyzntlct]

I started playing this year and my experience has been the exact opposite; I’ve been in no hurry to get to “end game” because to me the whole game, the entire world, is all part of what I want to experience. And based on that, I’ve been absolutely enjoying playing through everything I can, including every aspect of the story.

I think others have said it well in this thread and others; the point of this game is the story, so it’s unlike a lot of other MMO’s out there. And I for one am immensely grateful for that.

[Adeacia]

This game is all about the journey, not the destination. Don't rush to cap, enjoy the ride to get there.

[LianaThorne]

- Final Fantasy in general is story based and story focused. Getting through some sort of story to hit end game is a requirement.
- Post-ARR has already been nerfed to remove all of the non-necessary story elements. Whether or not they nerf the other post's is something that I don't think has been discussed.
- Story skips are available up to current expansion if the story is not to your liking.

[LisSquid]

Easy fix: Let people do the MSQ together. Stop making us drop parties every five minutes.

FFXIV packages itself as the story MMO, but the skip is there for those who want it. NG+ has been incredible for playing through the game with my friends who have joined; for once not having to reroll another character to do so (You can argue that I could just wait for them to get a dungeon, but that's isolating for a lot of people. Not exactly a solution). You also have so much content at 50, 60, and 70 to do with them that I have to soothe and assure people that you do not have to book it to 80 to feel like you have content to do. In fact, playing in a group helps alleviate that feeling of FOMO.

However, the MSQ feels too much like a solo experience. The way it is designed feels like it is actively hostile to doing it as a group. I'm tired of discussions about chucking the MSQ away or herding new players to the Mogstation for the sake of not driving people away. I want to talk about how the MSQ can be friendlier to friends enjoying the experience together.

[Kes13a]

a couple things...

the only part truly grindy I found, that seemed to last forever, was pre heavensward slog. the rest seemed to fly by, but then, I was in it for the journey, not the goal of getting to cap asap.

and something to consider, maybe its not the game for them? not everyone is going to enjoy FF, especially when end game isnt as much a thing as it is in WoW. in WoW you might as well skip because, really, any level prior to cap is almost a waste of time since you arent powering up their latest expansion trinket. FF is a completely different in that yeah, they have end game things, but its not a huge focus.

different people enjoy different things, how happy will they be to story skip and then be bored because the massive amounts of content they expect at end game isnt there?

[PartyBarn]

As others have said, skip potions are designed for what you are talking about. But I have to say, there are things in the Chronicles of a New Era storylines that should not be skipped, because each opens up new dungeons, trials and raids. And some are required for later content. Such as the Ivalice raids in Stormblood, and of course, Crystal Tower for MSQ progression post-Shadowbringers. Just food for thought.

Totally, I agree with you, which is the struggle for me and my friends.

I think a lot of replies didn't really read what I was saying here either. Fully skipping is bad because it requires you to sit in an inn or a house and watch everything with no gameplay, and playing it legit gives you gameplay but a lot of it becomes tedious. Middle ground is really what I'm after here. Anyway, I dont think Square would take the time to do this regardless, as its probably a lot more work to design a whole new system for this problem that they (and a lot of the responders here) probably don't think is a big problem (yet). I do think though that as the game gets bigger and more story content continues to get added, both the problems with skipping and not skipping become more pronounced.

[PartyBarn]

Easy fix: Let people do the MSQ together. Stop making us drop parties every five minutes.

FFXIV packages itself as the story MMO, but the skip is there for those who want it. NG+ has been incredible for playing through the game with my friends who have joined; for once not having to reroll another character to do so (You can argue that I could just wait for them to get a dungeon, but that's isolating for a lot of people. Not exactly a solution). You also have so much content at 50, 60, and 70 to do with them that I have to soothe and assure people that you do not have to book it to 80 to feel like you have content to do. In fact, playing in a group helps alleviate that feeling of FOMO.

However, the MSQ feels too much like a solo experience. The way it is designed feels like it is actively hostile to doing it as a group. I'm tired of discussions about chucking the MSQ away or herding new players to the Mogstation for the sake of not driving people away. I want to talk about how the MSQ can be friendlier to friends enjoying the experience together.

Totally this. Dig this line of thinking.

[Rokal]

Personally, I wish there were a way to either solo the forced group dungeon portions of the MSQ, (even if it gave minimal/no loot/xp... just so long as I can enjoy the story and advance), or skip only those parts, but not the entire MSQ.

I like playing healers & tanks in MMOs, and that used to be because I enjoyed those roles in groups.

After many, MANY years of vitriol and invective, finger pointing and blame on me/healers/tanks for wipes, I'm done with grouping.

Certainly sometimes it was my fault I admit, but not even close to most times, (I'm actually a pretty good healer/tank) ... and even when it was my fault, or anyone's specific fault, that kind of response is uncalled for.

I still play healers/tanks because I like the survivability, the animations, gear, etc, and yes, aiding players out and about who may be struggling with a mob or group of mobs, with a timely heal or taunt.

But not in groups anymore.

Not only do I not want the negative asshattery common in groups towards healers/tanks... honestly? I don't want the added stress & responsibility of those roles.

I have enough stress &responsibility in RL, certainly don't need it in a game which is supposed to be fun & relaxing, (yes, I know... the challenge of those roles in a group is what some consider to be fun, and I'm very thankful for them).

The option to play a DPS, (who in my experience are the actual cause of most wipes that could have otherwise been prevented... get out of the red/yellow, don't expect me to heal you through it... throttle back your DPS so you don't grab aggro from the tank...), is not a valid option because I don't want to play/level a DPS, to take part in dungeons.

I'm not sure yet whether I'll story skip, or take my chances in a MSQ PUG.

Meh, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it, lol.

[Lium]

Personally, I wish there were a way to either solo the forced group dungeon portions of the MSQ, (even if it gave minimal/no loot/xp... just so long as I can enjoy the story and advance), or skip only those parts, but not the entire MSQ.

I like playing healers & tanks in MMOs, and that used to be because I enjoyed those roles in groups.

After many, MANY years of vitriol and invective, finger pointing and blame on me/healers/tanks for wipes, I'm done with grouping.

Certainly sometimes it was my fault I admit, but not even close to most times, (I'm actually a pretty good healer/tank) ... and even when it was my fault, or anyone's specific fault, that kind of response is uncalled for.

I still play healers/tanks because I like the survivability, the animations, gear, etc, and yes, aiding players out and about who may be struggling with a mob or group of mobs, with a timely heal or taunt.

But not in groups anymore.

Not only do I not want the negative asshattery common in groups towards healers/tanks... honestly? I don't want the added stress & responsibility of those roles.

I have enough stress &responsibility in RL, certainly don't need it in a game which is supposed to be fun & relaxing, (yes, I know... the challenge of those roles in a group is what some consider to be fun, and I'm very thankful for them).

The option to play a DPS, (who in my experience are the actual cause of most wipes that could have otherwise been prevented... get out of the red/yellow, don't expect me to heal you through it... throttle back your DPS so you don't grab aggro from the tank...), is not a valid option because I don't want to play/level a DPS, to take part in dungeons.

I'm not sure yet whether I'll story skip, or take my chances in a MSQ PUG.

Meh, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it, lol.

I don't want to de-rail this thread, but I find it odd you're getting that kind of verbal abuse in this game. Yes, it happens, but I can honestly say that in the five years I've been playing FFXIV as my main game, I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen blame hurled at a tank or healer. And it's usually the tank or healer casting the blame on each other. I should also mention I play a healer at max level. Two of them, in fact. And I greatly enjoy healing in this game.

The added stress and responsibility is something I can totally identify with, as that's the primary reason I don't play a tank in groups. I leveled DRK through mostly squadrons and trusts. But that isn't because of group toxicity. It's because I just don't want the responsibility.

FFXIV is quite strict about verbal abuse. If this were some other MMO I could see where you are coming from, but I just haven't seen that here. Not to a high degree, anyway.