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

[Malthir]

No, actually. I found the Tam-tara quests boring but was far more forgiving of them because it's the very beginning of the game. I expected things to be slow since MMOs usually are. Now the hard mode was good but that's more due to the story surrounding Edda being a massive surprise. Very few dungeon unlocks have anywhere near that level of storytelling. Regardless, what you're suggesting remains arbitrary. It won't suddenly make Dawntrail a better MSQ if we're constantly getting side trailed or level lock. It'd feel worse for the reason I initially cited: I'm doing busywork to then return to a boring story. And if said busywork wound up being more interesting than I'm all the more annoyed at the poor writing from the MSQ. Case in point, it actively bugged me how the Leatherwork Wachumeqimeqi managed to tell forklore stories for all the races in both a concise and interesting manner yet the MSQ felt like a boring slog with the exact same races.

Both Shadowbringers and Endwalker had issues with a lack of gameplay. The difference is they kept you engaged through good storytelling. Granted, Endwalker does drag in the early quests too--Thavnair in particular. Just nowhere near as much as Dawntrail. That tells me the bigger issue is bad writing. While I'd like more actual gameplay, the main reason I was so bored going through the MSQ was because Dawntrail couldn't keep me engaged so I noticed the lack of it far more than I did previously.

Right almost as if the other part I suggested, take most of the lore out of the cutscene heavy MSQ and make it part of side content. Ultimately I'm asking for 2 things, a reduction of scope for the MSQ and an increased focus on gameplay. I cannot see anyway of them being able to do this without bringing in a reduction of MSQ exp. I'm all ears to other ways they can make changes, but just saying, write a better story is not really useful nor viable, while DT is objectively poor from a creative writing perspective, there will be other Expac that are not poorly written but just not something a player may enjoy, tying the games future on this is dangerous.