When are we as player going to demand from SE a better MSQ experience

[Souljacker]

Truthfully?

For me, right now. I finally got some time to sit down and play. So I'm just finishing up the 'intro' and getting to the 'new awesome place'. Never have I been more underwhelmed in my life. SE has completely lost the thread - they don't even make a compelling introduction anymore. A thoroughly predictable 'storm' in which we as players do absolutely no interaction, but get to watch as our WoL presses a button and a companion narrates how awesome she must be because of it. And then well, back to clear blue skies, because of course. It was just a storm because we're sailing, we HAVE to have a storm. And not one that has any actual consequence, just one because we're sailing and narratively it makes sense to have a storm.

What the in actual fuck did I just witness? This isn't even a relaxing intro - if they had put us all out sunbathing or something, that would have better fit the 'relaxing' aesthetic and I wouldn't have felt so... just bored as I'm waiting for the storm to show up.

I used to main a different game, and intros there are always very compelling. I'll never forget watching my king fall to his death declaring "for the alliance" - say what you want about the rest of the game, graphics light years behind SE, some questionable gameplay decisions, could benefit from the more brilliant systems here (although the XI team came up with most of them)... they know how to write a story. They know how to use their characters to their full potential.

The twins are still 13. We're babysitting the least compelling xpac character I've seen yet, and I really wanted to like her. But they made her this loudmouth braggart coward, like serious Harcourt Fenton Mudd vibes here. They never did that with their other characters, why this one? Who wrote this? She's not endearing, she's obnoxious. And I am seriously considering whether or not to even continue playing when there are so many other games out there to enjoy.

I love so many of the systems here, but Endwalker was lackluster, and I was expecting the 'off' expac to really knock it out of the park. Heavensward, epic. Stormblood, meh. Shadowbringers, epic. Endwalker, slightly above meh.

This....

Oh no.