After the big graphic update is done, the next big side project shoud be...

[Avoidy]

I used to be really active in a CWLS for helping newbies stick with the game. Was like novice network but much smaller and more community oriented. Anyway, of the 40something sprouts we met, only like 5 of them made it through the plodding, poorly paced, unanimated, unvoiced slog that is the MSQ. And of those who quit? Yeah, most of them left during post-ARR. Because even with a ton of support and friends, people would just get sick of it and leave. Compounding this is the ARR gameplay, which -- like someone else already mentioned accurately -- is slow, repetitive, and boring. There are some people who love a slow burn, and they're going to pull up to this thread like they're in the majority, but for most people this game sucks until you sink like 200 hours into it. The combat doesn't start to feel okay until Stormblood imo, and the story varies in quality so much that it's honestly not consistently good until ShB. Was heavensward good storytelling? Yeah. But it came after post-ARR and was followed by stormblood being goofy garbage. Do you know how many people I knew who made it past post-ARR only to be so burned out by the filler fetch quests that they went into HW skipping cutscenes? So many. And a bunch quit too, because they were just fed up. Post-ARR actually damaged their trust in the writers so badly that they began skipping about 30 quests in and simply never stopped.

It's frustrating, because the devs will streamline the game in sooooooooo many other actually fun areas with the goal of helping new players out. That job you love is probably gonna get gutted in dawntrail so new people can have an easier time playing it. But here's a streamlining change they could make to the game that wouldn't take away from anyone's enjoyment, and do they do it? Barely. People will say "they've already cut down on ARR's story," but when you look at the scale of what they did and the amount still left, it's basically nothing. Instead of doing 100 quests in post-arr, now you only do 80! Everybody clap! Like, let's just be real for a minute. Post-ARR is this game's biggest "quit moment" and there should honestly just be an option to watch a cinematic version of it so you can move on to the fun part of the game that much quicker. ARR dungeons are a blight, everyone who gets them in leveling roulette wants it over as quickly as possible because the kit's trash. The story is giga-slow and I'm saying this as someone who read classic lit in uni, like I have the patience for a slow burn but this is absurd. People who love "playing" an mmo story, ie running in circles and clicking sparkly crap on a map for several hours straight, can still have the option to torture themselves if they want. Just give an option for everyone else to skip it because most just quit rather than put up with it and it sucks. Like, it really sucks trying to get friends into this game. You can't even really play the MSQ with them because 90% of it is just solo fetch quests. Great introduction to a game. Shocked nobody else ever brings this up. I'll watch Josh Strife Hayes on his "worst mmo" series crucify other games for doing this exact same stuff but then when it comes to XIV he just praises it relentlessly.

Ugh, I'm just tired. They keep simplifying the game in all these other areas for people who won't even make it past post-ARR. So stupid. And you know why they do it, right? To sell story skips. If the MSQ were actually streamlined, they wouldn't be able to sell you a solution. The fact that these things are in the shop is an admittance even from the devs that the story is something worth skipping. All you people saying "it's a story focused game," lmao, like if the devs actually cared about that principle they wouldn't let you skip their precious story for 20 dollars. Come off it. See what's right in front of you.