Quote Originally Posted by ZedxKayn View Post
No? They can absolutely keep the game MSQ-centric while allowing players to skip it would they wish to, it could literally function like the other skips work, I really fail to see how people having a choice to forego the story and have everything gated behind the MSQ unlocked right away would affect people who do not wish to skip it.

I'd LOVE to be able to skip the MSQ and I'm ready to bet I'm playing the game a lot more and partaking in a wider breadth of content than the people adamant about it needing to remain mandatory. The MSQ is not the whole game, very, very far from it. It gives a meaning to content, but if the content is fun in the first place, a meaning isn't a necessity, it's just a plus. I want to skip the MSQ, but that doesn't make XIV a game that isn't for me, far from it.
I'm going to assume, based on your join date, that this is your first expansion launch in XIV. I'm curious about the "wider breadth of content" that you're referring to.
Two dungeons/two extreme trials at lvl 90, leveling alt jobs (combat/crafters/gatherers), ranking up zones by farming FATEs, doing early hunts for uncapped tomestones, leveling up trusts. Some would consider a few of these examples to be stretching what could be considered content in the first place.

The things you're likely referring to:
Normal raiding, savage raiding, capped tomestone/expert roulette, new treasure map dungeon, new PvP mode. The first not being available until two weeks after the official launch, the following three releasing in the first week of January, and the last one being a feature for 6.1 or later.


Also making the MSQ optional would definitely alter the game's development. While a part of the playerbase would be content with going through the MSQ at launch, another part of the playerbase that ends up skipping the MSQ would likely not be content with what's available at the endgame during launch. Those players would then complain to SE, and ask for them to release more content for them at launch. This would set a precedent where the development focus could easily shift from being mainly focused on the MSQ, to moving resources away from the MSQ, to develop more content to appeal the ones skipping the MSQ.