Length MSQ from all the expansions - it is getting insane

[Rithy255]

I think the msq would be more fun if you had more content that wasn't either "find this NPC", "fetch a NPC a Apple" ect.
Needs honestly more Dungeons and trials, I know with the amount of MSQ you did in-between the dungeons/trials and even solo duties, just wasn't enough compared to all the filler content in-between the MSQ.

I doubt we will get more dungeons/trials in 7.0 my expectation is the standard 6 Story ones, I can imagine if it was like 9 or something to break up those slower moments in the story it could actually make the msq more fun and interesting to play through.

[Atelier-Bagur]

There isn't enough things people can do with each other while progressing MSQ. Even though roulettes make good use of dungeons and such, the story can be very lonely experience to some people. Not to mention the combat takes forever to get off the ground, it wasn't this bad in HW or even SB, but it has gotten progressively worse with bloated potency and lack of buttons.

Did you actually had to work to getting the exp necessary to continue the msq by doing side content or did you just meant that because combat was more subtstantial and bloated in HW and SB that it excused the poor quest pacing because thats still pretty bad in my eyes.

[Kyrj]

I don't mind the story, what I do mind though is side content being locked behind the MSQ. Eureka, Bozja, Zadnor, Eureka Orthos, etc. all locked behind a massive MSQ wall. There's nothing good about telling our new players "Yeah you can't have fun with us in Bozja tonight because you're still doing Post ARR stuff and have to go through all of HW, Post HW, Sb, Post SB, Do the SB raids, then all of ShB. I get that they like to tie everything together in the story but jfc at some point the story is doing more harm than good.

[Nitelancer]

Imagine spending hundreds of hours going through MSQ and almost never experiencing any challenge. Imagine the story building up to primals and other bosses that just melt in the duty finder. Imagine playing for hundreds of hours with no thrill. Because of this, I can't recommend this game to new players. FFXIV would be better as an anime.

[Atelier-Bagur]

Imagine spending hundreds of hours going through MSQ and almost never experiencing any challenge. Imagine the story building up to primals and other bosses that just melt in the duty finder. Imagine playing for hundreds of hours with no thrill. Because of this, I can't recommend this game to new players. FFXIV would be better as an anime.

Personally feel it would be more satisfying to keep the game niche rather than trying to appeal mass audiences. But this is such a jaded viewpoint on my end and I cant deny that their efforts to casualize the casual of this game has proven the most profitable and successful in the long run.

[Fyrebrand]

FXIV is a Final Fantasy game and a story-based JRPG first, and an MMO second. Always has been, and it's not a secret. The MSQ is not a "problem" that needs to be solved, it's THE GAME. I get that people like different aspects, like hardcore endgame raids or crafting or whatever, but those are niche activities and not the main focus. You're never going to be able to JUST raid, or JUST craft, or JUST do PvP, by default. You have to do the story, that's what the game's about. That's what gives context and narrative meaning to anything your character does. I'm not saying those other things aren't important, but they aren't primary.

Maybe you're only interested in a certain 5-10 percent of the game, and don't care about the rest. Okay..? Maybe you don't like FFVIII and only want to play Triple Triad. Maybe you don't like FFX and only want to play Blitzball. Should you get to click a button to skip the entire game and create an endgame save file, just so you can do those specific things? Or should you maybe, I dunno, find some other CCG or sports title and give that a try rather than expecting a fantasy RPG to cater to your specific demands?

At the end of the day it's old and irrelevant content.

The MSQ will never be "irrelevant," just like previous books in a fantasy novel series don't become "irrelevant" when a new entry is published. It's all just content you've done, or content you haven't yet done. It doesn't matter how old it is or how many people have done it before you, if it's new to you. My whole experience playing FFXIV, I wasn't thinking "Oh man, all this stuff I'm seeing is so irrelevant, it's not what's happening right now." No, it IS happening right now. It's happening TO ME. I'M THE ONE PLAYING IT. If everybody else has already done it, WHOOP DEE DOO. Who cares?

There needs to be an option to skip MSQ for new players, just straight to the level grind where everything just automatically unlocks at the appropriate level.

Now this comment just doesn't make any sense. So you want to delete the MSQ, but you still want people to level grind through all the old zones? Nobody would enjoy that at all, and it solves nothing. Not to mention, you lose out on all the MSQ xp, which is basically all you need to level anyway. Just skip the cutscenes and be happy with the free xp, dude. If you want to manually grind quests and FATEs in the overworld, you have alt jobs you can do that with.

I don't mind the story, what I do mind though is side content being locked behind the MSQ. Eureka, Bozja, Zadnor, Eureka Orthos, etc. all locked behind a massive MSQ wall.

This is a fair point. As I said, FFXIV is an MMO second, but second place is still important. A lot of people pick up an MMO expecting to be able to play with their friends. I like that everything in the game has story behind it and is woven into the plot, but at the same time it does present a barrier to entry for some types of content. It might be neat if there were a Bozja-like zone that anyone at any level could pop into. Not sure how they would handle level-scaling, I guess make everyone max level as long as they're in there? Might be pretty disorienting for new players to suddenly have access to their job's entire endgame kit, but on the other hand it gives them a preview of what's ahead. Although, having something like that would probably make Eureka and Bozja almost completely irrelevant.

As for Eureka Orthos, I actually haven't been in there yet, but isn't that just Deep Dungeon? Low level people can do Deep Dungeon, it would just need to be Palace of the Dead or Heaven on High. I don't see why some ARR newbie needs to be let into Eureka Orthos, specifically.

[EverQuest]

Luckily for you the game is optional and you don’t have to play it.

And you can skip everything if you don’t care it doesn’t take 30 days

[CaedemSanguis]

just give a free skip potion (xp&quests) for new players, and put a quick 2.0-6.0 resume in a CS before Starting Dawntrail

[CaedemSanguis]

FXIV is a Final Fantasy game and a story-based JRPG first, and an MMO second. Always has been, and it's not a secret. The MSQ is not a "problem" that needs to be solved, it's THE GAME. I get that people like different aspects, like hardcore endgame raids or crafting or whatever, but those are niche activities and not the main focus. You're never going to be able to JUST raid, or JUST craft, or JUST do PvP, by default .......... You have to do the story, that's what the game's about .......... Maybe you're only interested in a certain 5-10 percent of the game

im just doing raids, im fine

No I dont need to do the msq to enjoy FF14 a lot

TOP prog = 100hours, its like EW+SHB+SB+HW MSQ, MSQ is 5% of the game

[Troxbark]

FXIV is a Final Fantasy game and a story-based JRPG first, and an MMO second. Always has been, and it's not a secret. The MSQ is not a "problem" that needs to be solved, it's THE GAME. I get that people like different aspects, like hardcore endgame raids or crafting or whatever, but those are niche activities and not the main focus. You're never going to be able to JUST raid, or JUST craft, or JUST do PvP, by default. You have to do the story, that's what the game's about. That's what gives context and narrative meaning to anything your character does. I'm not saying those other things aren't important, but they aren't primary.

Maybe you're only interested in a certain 5-10 percent of the game, and don't care about the rest. Okay..? Maybe you don't like FFVIII and only want to play Triple Triad. Maybe you don't like FFX and only want to play Blitzball. Should you get to click a button to skip the entire game and create an endgame save file, just so you can do those specific things? Or should you maybe, I dunno, find some other CCG or sports title and give that a try rather than expecting a fantasy RPG to cater to your specific demands?

The MSQ will never be "irrelevant," just like previous books in a fantasy novel series don't become "irrelevant" when a new entry is published. It's all just content you've done, or content you haven't yet done. It doesn't matter how old it is or how many people have done it before you, if it's new to you. My whole experience playing FFXIV, I wasn't thinking "Oh man, all this stuff I'm seeing is so irrelevant, it's not what's happening right now." No, it IS happening right now. It's happening TO ME. I'M THE ONE PLAYING IT. If everybody else has already done it, WHOOP DEE DOO. Who cares?

This is what I don't get about you lore lovers, why do you get offended over people wanting to go straight to current content? Make the MSQ optional, square enix gets the players who don't give a shit about it and you get the players who do. It's a win-win and making the grind extra boring and tedious because "THATS HOW FF GAMES ARE!!!!!!!" is a childish reason.

The same with screaming to just buy a level boost. I'd wager new players more interested in endgame would rather learn how to play through naturally leveling instead of learning who all the useless scions are and what boohoos they need to fix.

Now this comment just doesn't make any sense. So you want to delete the MSQ, but you still want people to level grind through all the old zones? Nobody would enjoy that at all, and it solves nothing. Not to mention, you lose out on all the MSQ xp, which is basically all you need to level anyway. Just skip the cutscenes and be happy with the free xp, dude. If you want to manually grind quests and FATEs in the overworld, you have alt jobs you can do that with.

Where did I say to delete the MSQ? You even quoted me and still lied about what I said, lmao. *Make the MSQ optional*, as you level you unlock the dungeons/raids that you'd typically unlock while trudging through msq. This prevents new players from being gate kept by garbage so they can play with friends faster.

Why do you care so much about new players skipping story they are not interested in?