I mean, this is the Final Fantasy brand published by Square Enix. What makes you think they listen to fans?

Quote Originally Posted by Kailea_Nagisa View Post
the new story is great, and its the start of a new adventure
If you dont like the new story, all I have to say is, you have missed what Yoshi has been saying this whole time...
Dawntrail is the BEGINNING of a NEW STORY
Great cope! I love seeing this from nearly every single person who tries defending this game without actually saying anything positive. I dare you, say something good about the story. You won't, because you can't. You have a dozen posts lambasting critics without actually saying why they're wrong. Should fans really be expected to spend $40 for the chance to spend another $40 in three years to play the real expansion? And I thought that WoW's expansion plan was insane!

As OP said, this isn't about the story but the gameplay of the MSQ. But you conflate the two because there is no gameplay for the most part. The only thing that's here is the story. Shadowbringers and Endwalker worked as visual novels because the story was good. But without a good story, you need gameplay. That's why ARR was a success: despite being derided as having the "worst plot", it had far more gameplay content than any other expansion including 16 dungeons, 7 trials and 5 raids on release day. You cannot sell a visual novel without a decent plot or an MMO without gameplay, and yet that's what Dawntrail is on launch. Square Enix failed, and yet again, it has to pick up the pieces after the fact. I fully expect plenty of groveling from Yoshida unless he's learned from his Square Enix mentors, in which case he'll say nothing as the company continues to flounder.