Quote Originally Posted by PyurBlue View Post
In the case of a game that changes over time it might not be so easy to pin down what exactly is being paid for. There is also a difference between researching a game and playing it, even with thorough research.

Putting that aside, at the end of the day "story focused" and "many mandatory hours of unvoiced cutscenes" have nothing to do with each other. Making the MSQ required content does nothing to improve the story. If anything it I'd wager it makes it worse.
There has been no change from the story being required to unlock features from Day 1 of ARR, aside from them later selling a story skip for those who want it.

I have no skin in the game if SE wants to develop a patch-story skip they can sell to people who can't be bothered to skip through the story manually.

As far as "research vs. playing" there is a free trial that covers 2 expansions and the base game. If you don't understand that story unlocks dungeons/trials/raids after that much playtime, then I don't know what to tell such people.