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

[Mawlzy]

Man, "In from the cold" was such a memorable quest and entire storyline for that... Truly one of the best ever in this game... And yes, we need more "gameplay" quests like this... And others where the player has to "do" or "fight" stuff...

And "This is Thancred" I was thinking of this exact one also... Like why isn't there anything at all like this in Dawntrail? Honestly they could have added HOURS of extra content to Dawntrail just by adding some engaging gameplay quests... We need more of this stuff, much more, not less.

Memorable, but also incredibly polarizing. Some maintain it is a gripping duty, full of tension and excitement, and the best in the game. Others regard it as completely implausible from a plot point of view, tedious, poorly explained, and the most unpleasant experience they had in MSQ.

That kind of polarized reaction to required content means SE is unlikely to repeat it. Consequently, those who enjoy such instances would do better to lobby for them as optional content.

[ovIm]

Memorable, but also incredibly polarizing. Some maintain it is a gripping duty, full of tension and excitement, and the best in the game. Others regard it as completely implausible from a plot point of view, tedious, poorly explained, and the most unpleasant experience they had in MSQ.

Its polarizing because Square Enix spent the last 9 years making sure that you do not need to actually play the game in order to watch the cutscenes.

So many solo duties can literally not be failed at this point that every time a duty can actually fail, people are complaining. Story progress is always granted, in a way.
As already written by other people in this thread, other Final Fantasy mainline games do blend actual gameplay and story, and unless you actually play the game, you will be unable to see what will happen next.

Granted, FFXIV is an MMORPG and needs to do some things differently (as expected because of the genre of game), but it begs the question if there is not a different kind of solution here.

[Mawlzy]

Its polarizing because Square Enix spent the last 9 years making sure that you do not need to actually play the game in order to watch the cutscenes.

So many solo duties can literally not be failed at this point that every time a duty can actually fail, people are complaining. Story progress is always granted, in a way.
As already written by other people in this thread, other Final Fantasy mainline games do blend actual gameplay and story, and unless you actually play the game, you will be unable to see what will happen next.

Granted, FFXIV is an MMORPG and needs to do some things differently (as expected because of the genre of game), but it begs the question if there is not a different kind of solution here.

I'm not sure it was polarizing because it was difficult. I recall at the time some people claiming the excitement was in part driven by what terrible things the WoL's body might do to the Scions, while others pointed out Y'shtola would "see" the ruse in a nanosecond and just say something sarcastic.

However, I think you've hit the nail on the head in that a different solution is needed to incorporate engaging gameplay in the MSQ. And to me the most underutilized part of the FF14 assets is the open world. We have these incredible maps which are visually striking and topographically deep, and yet we keep walking across an aetheryte plaza to ask a local if they need any poo gathered.