Give MSQ skippers a SKIP IT ALL button already

[Valence]

Then keep enjoying the producer going about trying to balance out what they put inside the msq between story enjoyers and story skippers and telling us that they may not improve the experience everywhere because of the latter I guess, if you believe so strongly that everybody should be forced through the story for whatever reason.

[StormChase]

How's that functionally different than selling msq skips and allowing people to mash esc key to skip 99% of all cutscenes?

You can't trick people into caring about something they don't. If they care, they follow the story.. if they don't.. they won't.

IIRC Paid MSQ skips don't include the current expansion, and skipping cutscenes is still more involved than pressing a button that takes you to the dungeon.

[Kahnha]

they shouldn't sell story skips those should be free or at least account wide I'm very sure this won't be taken into account because square needs money but it is the most sensible thing to do.

That said because the game is marketed as a story driven MMORPG you shouldn't be able to just buy a skip of the current MSQ the only ones asking for that are like 1 - 5% of the active player base most people want the story to be better or are just indifferent (Fine with how we skip story atm).

[Sunhwapark]

Would be nice if the books could also skip the current expansion, If it did that and we only had to do the current .x patches then I'd probably consider buying one if I wanted to make a character in another server or something.

[brinn12]

This might sound harsh but if you have zero interest in the story then you shouldn't be playing a role-playing game.

That's a very short-sighted view. Live service MMOs (should) offer more than just a story. If those who enjoy the game exclusively for other reasons were to leave, it would be worse for everyone.

[Bryson]

IIRC Paid MSQ skips don't include the current expansion, and skipping cutscenes is still more involved than pressing a button that takes you to the dungeon.

correct. My preference is what wow does.
Expansion launches. Hit max level however you want.

I find it weird that people who enjoy MSQ, prefer I mash the esc key and skip all the cutscenes.. as opposed to you now.. just hitting max level however I want.

[Avoidy]

Knowing players won't give future MSQ the time of day doesn't exactly give them an incentive to improve their writing.

Their incentive to improve their writing should come from wanting to sell a product that people will buy. These writers aren't children. They won't fall apart if people don't like their work.

My free time isn't infinite. Nobody's is. When I choose to spend my time viewing or reading something that someone has written, I'm trusting them with my time (and in this case my money) to provide an enjoyable experience. When that trust is let down multiple times by god awful writing that insults the intelligence and the good will of anyone exposed to it, then I'm well within my right to stop trusting them with my free time, and the ball's back in their court to earn it back. All I'm asking for here, in agreement with the OP, is for a way to do this easily. I'm going to skip regardless. Just let me do it easily.

Post-ARR being such a notorious slog does the same thing btw. People go through like 80+ fetch quests, and in many cases it's so bad that they quit the game entirely; in some cases, like mine, they enter Heavensward exhausted and burnt out and not really trusting the writers to do right, so they're tempted to skip even then. But you know what? At least it has the banquet scene; at least there's a good payoff. And at least it leads into heavensward kino. The writers effectively said "hey, thanks for hanging in there, here's a sign of our intentions going forward," and most people saw that and hung on and were rewarded by HW being a banger of a story. That's how you win people back after a slog. What payoff is at the end of dawntrail's hot mess? Nothing but more panicky backpedaling. More story that feels made up as they went along. More uncertainty: "uhh-- uhhhh... here's a cute kpop looking antagonist...! uhhh p-please dont be mad, h-here, look, the Ascians are back!" like bruh, c'mon now. It's obvious that the writers have lost faith in their abilities. Maybe some lead writer left? I don't know. It's not my business to know. I just know that I'm no longer trusting it with my time. Forcing me to slog through more of their bad writing to preserve their own ego ("they won't want to improve unless you're forced to endure their dogshit writing!") is not the solution. I'm still going to skip. I'm just going to do it manually.

This on top of just selling story skips because not even the guys running the show really care on a fundamental level if you skip, as long as you pay them. If they truly believed that the MSQ was a valuable experience imperative to one's enjoyment of the game, they wouldn't let you skip it for 10 dollars or whatever. But they do, because even they're tacitly admitting that it isn't worth doing by providing you a way out of it even on a fresh account with no prior clears. The writers don't care enough to provide a quality experience, as seen by DT which felt like a rough draft that desperately needed editing. The big money execs at the top don't care as long as you pay them to skip. Why on earth should I feel bad? Gonna be honest, your post sounds like you care more than literally -any- of the staff do, which is sadly where we're at now with this company. I've been feeling that way for a while, albeit about other elements of the game that I won't get into. It just feels like the fans care more than the people who're being paid to care, and it's sad as hell. Because of that, I don't think this is a hill worth dying on. You're not going to be the one to convince me to give 7.4 a shot. That's on the writers, and it seems like they don't really care atm.

And the funniest part of all of this is the reason we won't get what OP is asking for, is because it'd affect their ability to sell story skips. If you could skip the story without a cash shop option, why would you pay for one? That'll be the reason we never see something so basic, not even for accounts with a character that's cleared the msq already. This entire thread is a waste of time. OP won't get what OP wants, because there's money standing in the way. MSQ fans won't persuade skippers to give the story a chance, because that job is for the writers, who don't care and haven't for a while. We're all just wasting time in here, so I'm going to go, but good luck.

[Sad-Panda]

As someone with 4 characters, I'm slogging through the msq for a fourth time.
I would totally be for having a “I’ve seen this before, let’s move on to the end” button.
BUT only for those accounts that have actually completed the msq once already.

[Stasya]

This might sound harsh but if you have zero interest in the story then you shouldn't be playing a role-playing game.

This might sound harsh but there is no roleplaying in this game especially msq. There is even no branching in story based on "choices". Entire msq is worthy being watched on youtube, nothing else.

If anything this game needs account wide msq progress so it becomes alt friendly.