Make it so the Current Expac MSQ doesn't level you

[Deejudanne]

if the msq didnt give any xp i'd be upset

[Malthir]

if the msq didnt give any xp i'd be upset

I'm not saying don't give any I'm saying so that you don't just get to 100 by following MSQ, while also reducing how big the MSQ is, spend the resources on the openworld/gameplay. So revamp how fates and side quests work giving them meaning, make dungeons have their own independent storyline again.

I could get behind decreasing the EXP from quests so that there are portions gated by needing to do side content, but the removal of it? Nah.

I don't entirely think massive lore-related info dumps should be relegated to side-content, otherwise you only inhibit the directions you can take the story, unless you really want to start confusing players, or create this whole idea by implied-mandatory side quests. This is a bad idea.

They don't need to get rid of cutscenes and lore information to sidequests. They just need to find more meaningful ways to tell that story which otherwise doesn't involve a cutscene but rather gameplay, e.g., solo instanced duties. This is the healthy medium for it. Putting lore dumps behind optional content only creates a mess. From memory there were a good 3-4 places not otherwise early on in the story that could have been solo instanced duties rather than a cutscene. You could have even created ones which don't necessarily resort to solo-instance combat but rather puzzle solving, or even just generally killing powerful monsters in the overworld which you need to use a key item on. Doesn't need to be novel, just needs to be another way of telling that particular part of the story.

Otherwise all we're doing is solving 1 problem by putting it somewhere else entirely.

You're right, I think removing all lore would be a bad choice. I just mean some of the less then relevant stuff when it comes to lore. That's on me for poor phasing, I mean they should prune the MSQ and far more selective on what NEEDS to be MSQ in particular with lore dumps for random tribes when it's not going to be story relevant again.

[Kaurhz]

I'm not saying don't give any I'm saying so that you don't just get to 100 by following MSQ, while also reducing how big the MSQ is, spend the resources on the openworld/gameplay. So revamp how fates and side quests work giving them meaning, make dungeons have their own independent storyline again.



You're right, I think removing all lore would be a bad choice. I just mean some of the less then relevant stuff when it comes to lore. That's on me for poor phasing, I mean they should prune the MSQ and far more selective on what NEEDS to be MSQ in particular with lore dumps for random tribes when it's not going to be story relevant again.

The thing is that lore dumps won't necessarily have relevance or reveal relevance until years or expansions later. This would require them to have a definite direction on the story, and in many instances all they will end up doing is directing it based on the subtleties here and there which people ponder about or discuss.

and if I am honest, again, it doesn't resolve anything. All you're doing is shifting the 'problem' from one facet of the game to another, whilst also creating additional problems as a result. e.g., confusion in the lore - or - "Man I wish I did that side-story for that optional piece of dialogue". They already had to mandate the Crystal Tower quests after the fact of what many people consider one of the best stories to hit the game in ShB.

Even if you want to talk about it resolving issues such as pacing - It really doesn't. You could prune everything irrelevant about this expansion, and pour those resources elsewhere in the story, and you would still have major problems, simply because a story-point such as Alexandria should've been an entire expansion alone, if not more. A story point such as rite of succession should have been post-story or a "meanwhile in...".

It was a fundamentally flawed way of telling/delivering the story, and the best way to resolve that is to just... Not do it and learn from your mistakes.