Maybe a Side Content Warning...?

[Tsiron]

The fact they can't reference or outright include characters and events from side content in the main story severely limits their options and just leads to bizarre moments like

only getting the option to tell Zero about Cylva long after we've left the First

, it sucks.

Unfortunately, making the Crystal Tower Raids mandatory back in 5.3 was (apparently) so badly received (not to mention made the Alliance Raid Roulette borderline unusable) that they swore they'd never do it again, so what are their options at this point?

I can only really come up with either A) continue ignoring side content, to the detriment of the story, or B) assume it's all been done, even if it hasn't (and glossing over things that would be impossible if it hasn't e.g.

Gaia being the verifiably non-haunted person she is post-Eden, or Unukalhai being in the First etc.

).

They could just include a pop-up (akin to the several cutscenes one) that says something like, idk, "The following quest assumes the events of [insert side content here] have already occurred, if you'd like to experience that storyline for yourself this is your chance to back out"... not that i think many would choose to do that, but it would be... courteous. An attempt.

i don't know, i just think they need to do something, it's a huge shame to let interesting characters and story beats languish in side content jail forever...

[SamuraiMiqo]

I could see something like a pop up working. You know how when you use a job skip and it goes to that screen with the prelude theme? Could do something like that when you're heading to a new expac and you didn't do the raids or job quests. Like 'On your travels through the First, you aided Ryne and a woman from another world named Gaia bring life back to the realm via the Eden ship. You will meet Gaia within the next storyline."

[Underscore]

That's what I'm saying! Instead of making things mandatory they should start writing the main story with the assumption that the player has at least done the raids and major side content. Anyone who knowingly skips a raid series like Eden probably doesn't care much about the story anyway, so they're not gonna care about not knowing who Gaia is.

Another feature that could help is something similar to the recommendations tab, or perhaps an expansion of the existing feature. Once you reach level cap for an expansion it could point you towards important side content, providing information like the unlock quest location, the patch it was added in, and whether it'll be important to the MSQ later and should be done before a certain patch for the best experience (e.g. you should do 'Worlds Apart' from Eden before 5.3's MSQ).

[RedLolly]

Wow, I literally JUST suggested this in the thread about putting CT in the MSQ roulette.

I additionally added that a good idea would be to add a teleport to where to start said side content since plenty of players would want to get it done instead of being lost in the MSQ.

Wanna do the CT raids for context of the next storybeat? Then click here and you'll poof directly in front of the NPC that starts that series. No? Are you absolutely sure? You are? Okay, here's the next MSQ quest, and you're welcome to go back whenever.

[Jeeqbit]

The fact they can't reference or outright include characters and events from side content in the main story severely limits their options and just leads to bizarre moments like only getting the option to tell Zero about Cylva long after we've left the First, it sucks.

Typically, things like this are minor and they don't make them a big deal. Yes, for those of us that did the storyline with Cylva, it's been exciting every time there's been a relevant update, such as the update to the Warring Triad and the MSQ looking more into the 13th, but it is ultimately minor and only intended to satisfy the excitement that sidequest players would feel, without affecting MSQ-only players.

Unfortunately, making the Crystal Tower Raids mandatory back in 5.3 was (apparently) so badly received

No, it was not badly received. In fact, players petitioned for them to make it mandatory because it wasn't, and they merely complied with that popular request.

The reason it was not badly received was because we always got Crystal Tower in the Alliance Raid roulette prior to that change. It didn't fundentally change anything about that, because it was always the most common one to get. Regardless of whether it was due to 1 out of 24 players being below level 60, or due to people intentionally reducing their item level, Crystal Tower was always the most common then.

they swore they'd never do it again

If they swore they would never do it again, then I did not see where they said this. Rather, they were reluctant to do it in the first place, which is why they didn't do it to begin with. However, they couldn't deny its fundamental relevance to the Shadowbringers story, so they gave in that one time. It's unlikely they would do it again, but it's not impossible if there is some side content that they later want to build the MSQ around.

Most likely another reason for the delay though, was that if they put an extra requirement on completing Shadowbringers on release, their support desk would have been overwhelmed with confused players that don't know how to find or do this sidequest and they dodged all that.

They could just include a pop-up

They could and maybe they will. They have added popup QoL recently to explain certain other things (and it's retroactive), such as invisibility in society quests, running with an object, NPCs following you and things like that.

[Aco505]

Yes, a pop-up giving a warning would be good. It was a mistake not to do this for the 6.x Void storyline considering the importance of Cylva and Unukalhai and also how Gaia was left out until the very end in a single cutscene in which even she remarks not to leave her out of it next time.

For Crystal Tower specifically, I'm fine that it's forced since it'll also mean unlocking the Alliance Raids roulette for the player involved. The main reason why we all loathe CT raids is because syncing to 50 feels bad and then the lack of variety in the roulette itself because of the game not trying to promote unlocking content more, even when something like Ivalice is required before being able to go to Save the Queen areas.

[Asari5]

well, they could put a message at the start of an expansion saying you might miss context without having done this or that side content

this way people can chose if they wanna do old questlines to enjoy the msq fully without actually making it mandatory.

i personally think its a missed opportunity if they just ignore any side content and the npc's in it. it makes the world feel less connected.

thats my opinion for quite some time thank you for bringing it up

[RagAndBoneLady]

No, thank you.

I'd like it to remain if I don't choose to do them, it didn't happen. Like the awful EW raids.

[Daralii]

A lot of people deliberately don't unlock that content because they want to keep their roulettes fast and simple, so having some indicator beyond the "feature unlock" quest markers would barely move the needle.

[Wasselin]

I think they should just add active time lore or whatever it was called from FFXVI. It's basically an ingame wiki so you could easily see a brief backstory on each character you come across. If you hadn't done the content yet, the active time lore could have spoiler tags indicating what content you would need to do to remove the spoiler tag, but you could also choose to reveal the backstory anyway.

That would help people who have poor memories, probably serve as a great resource to the devs themselves, and it would help people who don't have the time or inclination to do all the side content.

We can't go on like this with characters locked behind side content. It's going to make the side content irrelevant to the main story, which just doesn't work.