Dawntrail's MSQ story is a disaster and waste of potential. [full spoilers]

[CuteBucket]

So what happened? I think it's one of these things, or some combination of parts of all of them.

1) Management asleep at the wheel
For whatever reason this team was given way too much freedom to run wild with little to no oversight except for the occasional "yeah how's the MSQ going?" and they could reply with some basic plot beats and bullet points that, isolated out like that, all looked pretty good and got the green light from the high-ups, who were way too busy working on other things now that CBU3 is developing two other games in addition to running FFXIV. Because at a stripped down level, the story of Dawntrail isn't all that bad. It's in the details and execution of that plot where all the Bad comes in. A lot of this writing feels like the rough draft that needs some editing passes to polish it up. So many of the little things that add up into big problems like inconsistent character voice, unclear character motivation mixed with other character motivation shoved down our throats at every turn, characters describing to WoL what literally just happened on screen, etc., could be cleaned up in a few editing passes. But they never were. No one caught any of these consistent problems and flagged it, or if they did, they were ignored.

2) Bad communication and/or breakdown of communication. Someone locked these writers in separate rooms and didn't let them talk to each other or anyone else for that matter. Or they didn't want to talk to each other. Or the time they had to talk together each day was very limited. Or there was some social factor that made everyone communicating clearly with one another way more difficult than it had to be. I can keep trying to make up reasons, the point is, people aren't talking to each other and it's leading to problems, because there's no clear style guide on how to write each character and an agreement on what the themes and mood of any given scene should be, hence it shifting rapidly from scene to scene, especially in the last two zones.

[Turtledeluxe]

So what happened?

I share similar suspicions. Mine are:

1. Management is busy with other projects. CS3 is also handling two new console games.
2. Communication, specifically a seeming reluctance for anyone to say "hey, this isn't up to our standard of quality".
3. Over reliance on surveys/corporate meddling. I think it just speaks for itself, along with what you said. People who have no idea how to make games pushing for things based on trends.
4. Budgetary shortfalls. With SE in the state it's in, spreading itself so thin, this kind of quality might be the new normal for XIV. Maybe the budget, time, and creative desire just aren't there anymore. Stressful work environments can hamper creativity as well.

It's very possible that all of the "next 10 year" talk was just empty rhetoric and SE anticipated a decline, secretly plans to sunset the game long before that.

[DonutSteel]

It's very possible that all of the "next 10 year" talk was just empty rhetoric and SE anticipated a decline, secretly plans to sunset the game long before that.

Whenever I read about the "10 more years" for XIV, I think back on the original Phantasy Star Online 2 and how the director about 6-ish years back talked about celebrating a 10 year anniversary. This ultimately coincided with the disaster that was Episode 5 which irrevocably damaged the game to the point where Sega chose to move onto New Genesis after Episode 6 failed to salvage 5's damage, which from what I've heard is even worse. Though I guess in the end the original PSO2 did get to enjoy a 10 year anniversary... In maintenance mode.

[Turtledeluxe]

Whenever I read about the "10 more years" for XIV, I think back on the original Phantasy Star Online 2 and how the director about 6-ish years back talked about celebrating a 10 year anniversary. This ultimately coincided with the disaster that was Episode 5 which irrevocably damaged the game to the point where Sega chose to move onto New Genesis after Episode 6 failed to salvage 5's damage, which from what I've heard is even worse. Though I guess in the end the original PSO2 did get to enjoy a 10 year anniversary... In maintenance mode.

I was thinking of Destiny. Either way i think we know how that goes. XIV was frankly blessed to reach it's maximum output at the end of its original 10-year run. I felt like saying I had another 10-year run was a little delusional and perhaps even dishonest because this seems like the kind of team that would already be cooking up something new after an arc like the one we experienced. My secret delusional fan theory was that the 10-year thing was a lie and that they were developing Final Fantasy XVII which would be the next online MMO.

One of the thing that worries me is that not only the MSQ was bad, it doesn't seem to leave a lot potential for further development that I feel would interest me.

Same. I don't find the concept of the relic and traveling to reflections interesting at all. I don't care about any of the DT characters that much. The next xpac is an all or nothing deal for me. I suspect for many others as well.