Final Fantasy XIV isn’t like other MMOs that are multiplayer-focused. It is primarily a single-player, story-focused JRPG with some multiplayer content at the end. Your primary focus in the game is to read through text boxes and cutscenes to see the story. Many people deeply appreciate the story focus of this game, and a lot of players only subscribe to read the story. And that’s fine! We all love a good book every now and then.

The developers decided that the Hildibrand storyline was important for raiders to experience prior to entering the next raid tier with the BiS weapon. That’s their decision, and quite frankly, I think many of us are pleased with it. It’s a quintessentially FFXIV-esque experience.

For people who want an MMO that’s focused on multiplayer, there are other games. World of Warcraft: Dragonflight comes out on November 28 with a plethora of new raids and other multiplayer content. You can also play the base game through level 20 with a free trial. Most of the players do multiplayer content, so I recommend this if you want to experience an MMO with other people.