Please let me skip MSQ

[Franny]

Final Fantasy XIV is and has always been a game that is heavily focused on the story and requires the completion of the story before reaching end game content. That will never change.

But why? What is the benefit to this approach?

Really there is nothing stopping your friends from joining you. If you skip dialogue/cutscenes, the MSQ's time to completion is very, very minimal.

I did 5.0 to 5.55 by skipping everything and it still took me several days of monotonous grind to get through it. Is Endwalker faster than that? Doing these quests already burned me out.

Also I already do the daily leveling dungeon with my friends but doing MSQ together is kinda pointless since 90% ist just boring running around and talking anyway.
Also I only have a healer at 80 which makes fights and these solo instanced quests a real pain. Most of the time I let the NPCs kill me at the start so I can select the easier difficulty. That speeds it up a little but it's still super annoying and time consuming.

All of this wasn't an issue when I had time during Lockdown but now it feels like a chore that's keeping me from enjoying the parts of the game I like. And I have to endure it for no other reason than "it has always been like this".

[ArkenaeuxBelmont]

But why? What is the benefit to this approach?


I did 5.0 to 5.55 by skipping everything and it still took me several days of monotonous grind to get through it. Is Endwalker faster than that? Doing these quests already burned me out.

Also I already do the daily leveling dungeon with my friends but doing MSQ together is kinda pointless since 90% ist just boring running around and talking anyway.
Also I only have a healer at 80 which makes fights and these solo instanced quests a real pain. Most of the time I let the NPCs kill me at the start so I can select the easier difficulty. That speeds it up a little but it's still super annoying and time consuming.

All of this wasn't an issue when I had time during Lockdown but now it feels like a chore that's keeping me from enjoying the parts of the game I like. And I have to endure it for no other reason than "it has always been like this".

If you're skipping all cutscenes, the actual running from point A to point B isn't very much. The dungeons/trials are another thing, but your friends can join you for those. EW is VERY cutscene-heavy.

Solo duties can sometimes be a pain, but there's thankfully not that many of them.

SE has never offered a content skip for current MSQ content, the chances of them doing so will be very very small.

[Skiros]

If you're skipping all cutscenes, the actual running from point A to point B isn't very much. The dungeons/trials are another thing, but your friends can join you for those. EW is VERY cutscene-heavy.

Solo duties can sometimes be a pain, but there's thankfully not that many of them.

SE has never offered a content skip for current MSQ content, the chances of them doing so will be very very small.

It takes like 10-15 hours to complete the MSQ + complete aether currents.

It's a significant time-sink still if you don't have too much time to play.

[ArkenaeuxBelmont]

It takes like 10-15 hours to complete the MSQ + complete aether currents.

It's a significant time-sink still if you don't have too much time to play.

10-15 hours is not a lot of content. That's what, a week tops if 2 hours of playtime is done a day? Barely?

That is not exactly a significant time sink.

[Lexis]

But why? What is the benefit to this approach?


I did 5.0 to 5.55 by skipping everything and it still took me several days of monotonous grind to get through it. Is Endwalker faster than that? Doing these quests already burned me out.

Also I already do the daily leveling dungeon with my friends but doing MSQ together is kinda pointless since 90% ist just boring running around and talking anyway.
Also I only have a healer at 80 which makes fights and these solo instanced quests a real pain. Most of the time I let the NPCs kill me at the start so I can select the easier difficulty. That speeds it up a little but it's still super annoying and time consuming.

All of this wasn't an issue when I had time during Lockdown but now it feels like a chore that's keeping me from enjoying the parts of the game I like. And I have to endure it for no other reason than "it has always been like this".

Then at this point I have to ask... why are you even playing this game? It's clearly not an enjoyable experience for you given that the main focus: The Story, does not interest you. There are so many MMOs out there that would be far more enjoyable given your play style, why pick the one Story-Focused game and complain about its focus on the story?

You can still do most daily roulettes with your friends if they're the only reason you play the game, but perhaps your limited time would be best invested doing something you actually enjoy otherwise.

[Franny]

If you're skipping all cutscenes, the actual running from point A to point B isn't very much. The dungeons/trials are another thing, but your friends can join you for those. EW is VERY cutscene-heavy.

I guess I'll play a bit further then and see if it's faster than the end of Shadowbringers. Quth queues I maybe have 30-60 minutes of playtime each day so seeing the amount of msq felt like a huge mountain I didn't even want to tackle further after the first few quests I did.

Then at this point I have to ask... why are you even playing this game? It's clearly not an enjoyable experience for you given that the main focus: The Story, does not interest you. There are so many MMOs out there that would be far more enjoyable given your play style, why pick the one Story-Focused game and complain about its focus on the story?

I'm playing the game because I enjoyed the story when I had more time and I wasn't the super chosen one. I actually enjoyed ARR and HW the most. After that it became quite boring imo. I brought in my friends and now they only play this game so quitting is not an option as long as we don't move on.
Also I don't mind this game being story focused. I'm just annoyed that it is required to play through it. I don't want the game to change I just want a skip.

[Lexis]

I'm playing the game because I enjoyed the story when I had more time and I wasn't the super chosen one. I actually enjoyed ARR and HW the most. After that it became quite boring imo. I brought in my friends and now they only play this game so quitting is not an option as long as we don't move on.
Also I don't mind this game being story focused. I'm just annoyed that it is required to play through it. I don't want the game to change I just want a skip.

Even in ARR we always were the chosen one, aka Hydaleyn's chosen warrior, we just didn't have as much widespread recognition as we do now. Getting into a lore debate wouldn't be a very productive use of our time right now, so let's move on to the more important point.

As I mentioned, you can still play with your friends through daily roulettes, just not Expert roulette until you finish the MSQ and unlock the two lvl 90 optional dungeons. You can still get through the story in somewhat of a timely fashion if, as a few mentioned above, you skip through the cutscenes and just zoom from objective to objective but it will not be an enjoyable experience. So the question you need to ask yourself: Is it even worth doing it? Are you really intending on doing end-game content with your friends? Will they even be interested in doing so by the time you get there and gear up? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then I'd recommend doing some roulettes with your friends when the time allows and otherwise spending your time playing something you'll actually enjoy.

[TaleraRistain]

I don't want the game to change I just want a skip.

You DO want the game to change because you deny one of the core ideas of it. We're all required to go through the main story questline. This is the catalyst of everything in the game. Even the stories to unlock optional content are usually related somehow to the main story questline. That's why it's required to unlock them. They give the option to skip cutscenes and dialogue so we can engage with the story to the amount that we want, but we all have to engage with it in some manner, at least for the current content. It would change the structure at a base level if they just let you skip the main story questline entirely. This is not an MMO where the highest of the high stuff is the only important thing and that's why many of us play it.

[Tranquilmelody7]

Then at this point I have to ask... why are you even playing this game? It's clearly not an enjoyable experience for you given that the main focus: The Story, does not interest you. There are so many MMOs out there that would be far more enjoyable given your play style, why pick the one Story-Focused game and complain about its focus on the story?

You can still do most daily roulettes with your friends if they're the only reason you play the game, but perhaps your limited time would be best invested doing something you actually enjoy otherwise.

FF14 is the quintessential "Theme park" MMO.
There are many potential reasons someone may enjoy playing this game.

The moment to moment gameplay isn't especially engaging, but there are multitude of areas and encounters that make this game special to me.
I'm a pretty hardcore player myself by a metric of money and time investments, but I hardly pay attention to the story at all.

If my feelings were to ever change and the storytelling of this game were to pique my curiosity, I have a strong gut feeling I would find it preferable to digest a no commentary walkthrough of the cutscenes and dialogue on the internet as opposed to ingame.

MMOS plots are frankly just too timeconsuming to follow through, for me to enjoy their innate form of storytelling with all the busywork breaking up the plot and character expositions.
Currently I am simply reading up on quick and concise synopses to have a general idea of the locations and fights I experience, which has been adequate for me to appreciate their settings
.

Regardless of my own musings, Yoshi P himself has stated that he plans to "spare no expense going forward" concerning the ongoing development of ff14.
I feel the game's current model is more than sustainable for the game to flourish... but mandatory MSQ completion remains one of, if not the biggest impediments to potential players attaining and sustaining interest to an MMO.

At the very least, I would strongly advocate for further condensation of ARR, as I am aware of plenty of people excited to partake in the zeitgeist of the current expansion, only to find themselves unable and/or unwilling to commit to even the mandatory progression of the base game.

[DPZ2]

But why? What is the benefit to this approach?
...
And I have to endure it for no other reason than "it has always been like this".

Progression through the story is the approach the developers of this game have taken. Given that every single Final Fantasy game over the last 25 years has been this way, it is not unreasonable to expect it with their MMOs as well.

The benefit? Fans of the games are familiar with how this goes.

Yeah, it's a pain for folks coming in from other MMOs, where story is told in books and comics, or just not told at all, but those other MMO producers aren't underwriting this game.

Also, early mornings are the best for leveling through the MSQ (which should have XP suitable for advancement without doing too many FATEs, etc), since you don't waste an hour or three waiting in queues.