Are y'all expecting too much from Dawntrail's story?

[Shaedhen]

The way I see it is this :
I wasn't expecting much. Low stakes things, funny little vacation and adventure and such. Uncharted, Indiana Jones and the likes vibes in FFXIV. Maybe some little shenanigans between the scions. I feel like that's how they advertised it.

What I got was not one but two very ambitious stories that tried to tackle various themes with deep potential in each of them, while having one new character being the point of focus of both these stories. A character that starts as the good-hearted but kinda dumb nice person and end as savior of the world (which means, will need lots and lots of character development).

Well, that's a lot for a single expansion and it requires some really really talented staff to pull it off. I think they're the ones that wanted to do too much rather than the players expecting too much.

[CNitsah]

The only thing I wanted is a story that got me hooked. In place I got a story that constantly told me I was a bother, that had to create artificial ways of getting me out. How do you want to feel involved in a story that always tells you it doesn't want you to be part of it.

[DoomRyder]

It is the first MSQ in ten years i have to force myself to play, but keep side tracking to doing fun things like fates and leveling and crafting classes.
I have literally no urge to finish it.

[jameseoakes]

It's because the marketing team knows full well who the players like.
If in the trailer, they gave Wuk Lamat the same screentime (%-wise) as she had in MSQ, people would start asking questions, immediately.

It still feels strange just how little she was in the marketing despite eclipising everything else in the story

[Amenara]

After finishing the MSQ I probably have a 1 of 1 opinion in that I think the first half of the story was better than the second half. I really liked the premise of following in Gulool Ja Ja's footsteps and learning about the people and culture of Tural as a good way to introduce an unknown area to us. I liked Wuk for the first half as it made sense she was the central focus since our entire purpose was to go there and help her win. The second half started off good as a lead in to Erenville and eventually Krille getting screentime but I think SE really flubbed it by making it focused on Wuk again whose character arc was complete. It felt like Sphene and Wuk's interactions were just a complete rehash of the first half of the story with them talking about how much they love their people as rulers. Erenville was criminally underused in at least the Heritage Found zone as that was his home and it felt like he had little screentime for the entire thing. I felt like there was no where near enough interaction between him and his mom for the entire thing and the whole surprise he learns in solution 9 about her felt like it fell flat on it's face immediately afterwards. The last zone should have just been Krille's story and focused on her parents and who they are/what they did and letting them have more than 5 minutes of bonding time. I think there could also have been some more moments between Erenville and his mom as they both deal with knowing how it was going to end. I really didn't feel any emotional attachment to the ending which is a shame because I actually enjoyed the first half of the story.

[LaylaTsarra]

People started threads back during EW launch too in order to drum up some praise. These forums have a habit of trying to counter any negative feedback being given.

Negative feedback? That is all this forum does are you joking? I would say just the opposite if anything positive is posted the negative crowd dumps on it full time.

[Gr1mwolf]

It really is just that bad.
I didn't expect it to be on the level of Shadowbringers or Endwalker after hearing they replaced the lead writer for it. I had even lower hopes after seeing how bad the 6.X stuff was.
But Dawntrail still managed to disappoint. It's literally the worst MSQ we've had since 2.0.
The writing, the voice acting, the characters. It's all terrible. Shockingly so.
I've heard a few people claim it gets better in the second half, but I'm legit wondering if they were just trying to gaslight, because if anything it gets significantly worse in the second half.
Getting through it has been a chore.

[Lady_Silvermoon]

It really is just that bad.
I didn't expect it to be on the level of Shadowbringers or Endwalker after hearing they replaced the lead writer for it. I had even lower hopes after seeing how bad the 6.X stuff was.
But Dawntrail still managed to disappoint. It's literally the worst MSQ we've had since 2.0.
The writing, the voice acting, the characters. It's all terrible. Shockingly so.
I've heard a few people claim it gets better in the second half, but I'm legit wondering if they were just trying to gaslight, because if anything it gets significantly worse in the second half.
Getting through it has been a chore.

Nah, they weren't attempting to gaslight, they are just using a specific definition of "better." The first half was so boring I fell asleep in my chair during a cutscene at five in the evening. The second half kept me awake even if what kept me awake was wondering who greenlit this ridiculously contrived conflict.

Queen Sphene: I must do what's best for my people and for that I need aether.
Wuk Lamat: Okay, we'll help you get aether.
Queen Sphene: Well, my servers only run on LIVING aether, so I need to kill people!
G'raha: Hmmm, that doesn't sound like a sustainable power source, perhaps we can help you find a different one.
Queen Sphene: Uh...no. Even though my people have discovered an ore capable of converting any kind of aether into another, the servers can only be run on people. So I'm going to delete my memories (the thing I most wanted to preserve) to become evil so you will have no choice but to put me down like a rabid dog.
WoL: Wait...no...stop...

Whoever they hired off Upwork to write this story should refund their money because this is ridiculous.

[Aneshda]

I remember when I saw the first trailer for Dawntrail and at first I didn't like the music at all. Everyone said it was just the unfinished trailer, just wait, there's more to come. Then came the first quest series with Wuk Lamat as a little prelude to the next expansion. For me it was the same feeling as with the trailer, Wuk Lamat didn't make me excited.
I didn't care about her from the very first moment.

So I went to the forums and took part in some discussions where my opinion was portrayed as "negative", cause I didn't liked what I saw in the Trailer.
I then made my Signature and was immediately condemned with a shitstorm.
The next trailers came and to me they all looked the same.
The expansion was announced as a vacation, which I assumed it would be sun, sand, beach and so on, with a great story.
Then pictures were shown of Solution 9, some dungeons to hype the people. The actual story, those who appear in the story, were only mentioned briefly in passing, and a few pictures were shown here and there in the live letter. They didn't want to spoil anything for us.

Friday, June 28th came - early access to Dawntrail. So I checked all my jobs, changed my glamour a bit and recolored it. I got on the ship heading for vacation. At least that's what I thought, because that's how Yoshi P wanted to sell it to us.

Every quest is Wuk Lamat, every no we say is interpreted as a yes and we always have to go somewhere with Wuk Lamat by our side. We stand by and smile like some senile idiots in every possible Cutscene.
I'm now a level 99 pictomancer, explored half of the first map, the second map completely, and can't fly yet. Only done the first new dungeon, I am on the third trial for Wuk Lamat's throne story and there's no vacation in sight for me.
Or did Yoshi P mean by vacation "you've got a really bad story here" now cancel your subscription for the next 2 years?

So I'm rating what I've seen so far.

The first two Maps 9/10
There are no places that you can explore, where you can experience something. Fates alone don't bring places to life.

The first Dungeon 10/10
I didn't want to beat up the second boss, he's too cute.

MSQ 1/10
Wuk Lamat - Voice unbearable, the look could have been done much better.
This insecurity, this naivety and then the next moment a complete idiot who acts thoughtlessly. (I just want to cry into my pillow when I see Wuk Lamat).

Music 1/10
Jazz is absolutely not my thing, and somehow it doesn't fit.

Atmosphere 1/10
Somehow the choice of music doesn't put me in the mood at all. What's the use of a nice Map with bad music?

I think SE should apologize for this bad written Story and give all Players who bought the Expansion at least 30 Days Free Gametime as compensation.
If Yoshi has more Quests with Wuk Lamat, then trash them and let others write something new. Cause 2 - 2.5 Years with this Story is not acceptable.

[genuine_stranger]

Music 1/10
Jazz is absolutely not my thing, and somehow it doesn't fit.

Now that you mention it, I can't remember any music from the songs, except the chill beats from the 2nd hub city and espescially 2nd trial, that one is probably one of the best themes they have made.