Endwalker is pretty great

[VirusOnline]

• Endwalker's Story
  Not much left to say that hasn't already been said. Endwalker's MSQ put a very neat bow on the story so far, with highs only rivaled by Shadowbringers. WoW tried similarly to frame Shadowlands as the end of an era, and they failed miserably. Destiny 2 is currently trying to do the same, and it's looking like they'll soon follow in WoW's footsteps. It's difficult to overstate what a coup this has been.

While XIV does have the best story for an mmo out there, my biggest gripe is the storytelling. While the story didn't fail - it also didn't achieve anything in particular. Like ok, this happened but it didn't change how I view anything in this world that XIV has presented except to continue on with the idea that the scions are a mary sue.
Like HW challenged the ideas of xenophobia, classism. SB presented war, revenge, redemption. ShB challeneged what it meant to be a WoL, a play on the concept of light and dark (well ... as best as they could >.>). EW ...
I don't know if writers changed or if it was impossible to go back and edit things between the writers and the dev team, but it read like a YA novel on KU at some points.
An expansion that bases its writing on 80% exposition and denouement when the world is literally supposed to be ending is ???

At any rate...

The story I like in terms of thematic, but I don't think it was able to really reach a good balance between threat/urgency and otherwise more 'lighthearted' moments, which is where the base story for Shadowbringers really hit the nail on the head. For the most part, I attribute this to the simple fact that Endwalker was crunched into a single expansion, and Shadowbringers didn't really give an appropriate build-up for this. I think it was sort of obvious that the initial build-up was done with 2 expansions in mind. Had they had the proper build-up, it could have been better

When I reploayed on my alt, IIRC, there's a point where we've gotten the deal to take Ragnorak, Thavnair has just been through the gutter, and Y'shtola and the scions are like "let's go get some take out in Sharlayan" (girl what).
Once you hit the major climax/rising action/plotlines in a story you don't just downgrade the action. It's sort of an insult to the reader/player when that happens. Don't filler me when we're literally about to be badass.

There were no stakes at all, no real major decisions to create any type of conflict. And where there was conflict, it was easily solved when it could have created real world consequences. Imagine if the Forum said no the scions ? Imagine if Tataru suggested that the scions steal the Ragnorak knowing they'd face major consequences on return. Or they don't steal it and make a deal with Fandaniel/Zenos to get them to the edge of the universe (subplot here to even get to know Zenos more than the beloved 1D he is).

The message for EW could have been a way to ask the player "You need to save the world. You are the only one who can. If given a set of choices with equally disastrous consequences amongst them, which one would you take ?
Instead we got mary sue and I'm just

[Kaurhz]

When I reploayed on my alt, IIRC, there's a point where we've gotten the deal to take Ragnorak, Thavnair has just been through the gutter, and Y'shtola and the scions are like "let's go get some take out in Sharlayan" (girl what).
Once you hit the major climax/rising action/plotlines in a story you don't just downgrade the action. It's sort of an insult to the reader/player when that happens. Don't filler me when we're literally about to be badass.

There were no stakes at all, no real major decisions to create any type of conflict. And where there was conflict, it was easily solved when it could have created real world consequences. Imagine if the Forum said no the scions ? Imagine if Tataru suggested that the scions steal the Ragnorak knowing they'd face major consequences on return. Or they don't steal it and make a deal with Fandaniel/Zenos to get them to the moon (subplot here to even get to know Zenos more than the beloved 1D he is).

The message for EW could have been a way to ask the player "You need to save the world. You are the only one who can. If given a set of choices with equally disastrous consequences amongst them, which one would you take ?
Instead we got mary sue and I'm just

The Ragnarok point and the whole Ultima Thule were parts that I liked in terms of overall 'theme', in that the problem or threat was so significant as to supposedly force them to 'relocate' - I liked the idea of this. But beyond this, as you have said (and was my reference to, didn't get the balance right with threat/urgency and light-hearted moments) once the story was starting to climax/rise in action the story would take you away from it. Now, I don't want to scathe the writing/story for going for a steak, for example, or a burger because these are the most pitiful examples one could actually find - I don't mind this as much. But the whole Elpis storyline essentially took us away from that danger in Thavnair and overall on the source for an entire 20% of the story, which realistically could have been told in another way without necessarily coming at the expense of detracting from that immediate danger. - Elpis IMO only works in the premise where there are 2 expansions dedicated to the conclusion of the story.

If it had to be one expansion, then realistically to get that sense of danger... Shadowbringers would have had to end effectively on a quest like 'As the Heavens Burn' - e.g., where the 'danger' started to spread beyond just Thavnair (Making reference to that solo instance where Alisaie basically says Zenos will never get that rematch he pines for)

Again, to reiterate, I don't think there is any situation where Endwalker could have gone to that height many were craving for the conclusion when you take into account the build-up that Shadowbringers put forward in 5.1-5.5. Those towers either should have never existed in the first place or should have been concluded before Endwalker even started.

That said, even with these in mind, I don't think it was a bad story, but it did have the potential to be much, much better, especially so if it were split into 2 expansions.