Story quests

[Donarudo]

Main Story is fine. I have all character slots filled on one server just so I can go back and do the story again. In fact love the story so much I am hoping that it is weaved into Main story in 3.0 as well....only hope it will be much longer and more drawn out. (side note) I am not even kidding. I love story driven MMO's.

[Aerowaffle]

The part of the main story-line that had me playing until the end of the ark was the first time you're in Coerthas Central Highlands.

When I got to that bit for the first time, I powered through it because I wanted to see that asshole, who was slandering us at every turn, get his face shoved in.

[myahele]

the scions need an outfit change. seriously, they look like low-level players. Especially if you consider graha tia and moenbryda to have significanlty better outfits the scions

[Nuinn]

Grinding gear, leveling crafts, doing dailies.... Yeah, it's fun if your own story is interesting enough. By that I mean - people you hang out with in Eorzea. The most memorable times from FFXIV will definitely not be anything in the main story line. So far at least nothing grasped me in such a way. Hell, I'll even remember Hildibrand more. It'll be the time spent with friends that will stick in my mind for years. It's a bit unrelated perhaps but still.... had to bring it up.

[Gillionaire]

- farm the same few endgame dungeons/raids over and over and over again, for gear that's gonna be obsolete in a few weeks (if it isn't already), just by the time you actually finish the set (also gear many of which is just a recolor or a reuse of a more common/special piece)
- farm the same ex primal(s) that literally do(es) not even have any story or lore to them, over and over and over and over again, for (overpriced glamour) gear that's gonna be obsolete in a few weeks (if it isn't already), just by the time you actually finish the set (also gear many of which is just a recolor or a reuse of a more common/special piece)
- farm hunts that literally do not even have any story or lore to them, over and over and over and over again, for overpriced glamour pieces that are already obsolete and nobody really uses them anyway
- do the relic questline that literally does not even have any story or lore to it beyond actually getting the weapon, but at least outright sends us back to old low level content, because we've not done those enough by the time we got to the relics themselves
- do the same 3-6 beast tribe dailies over and over and over again, to be able to spend a buttload of money on some mounts and minions
- spend even more money on / throw ourselves at RNG in crafting and gathering and in GS (for overpriced glamour pieces) and Sightseeing
- go back and level up other classes/jobs, rinsing and repeating basically everything that we surely have not yet done enough times, over and over and over again

...because all that is not boring and not bland and not all sorts of bad at all. Oh-kay...

That's what MMOs are.. If you're not in it for the grind, well, you might as well just play a good single player RPG because most of the time you'll find better storyline and more challenges in those games than in a typical MMORPG. MMOs have ridiculously low skill requirements, but relatively high skill cap for the true hard-core endgame contents (TBH FF14 really doesn't bring too much hard core end-game to the table compared to others, but I digress) and that design is what keeps people going for months on end, sometimes even years.. Doing the same rehash of raids/pvp etc..

I think the reason for this debate to even exist is because in FF14, we have the MMO players on one side, and Final Fantasy players on the other, and we have different expectations of the game. I do wish that the main story was non-linear and parts of it was skippable with a side quest instead of being tied into the linear MSQ.. (Like how the extreme primals are, I like that once I got to 2.0 I could pretty much just choose what I wanted to do.. Although it looks like 3.0 will force me to catch up on the story again..)

Give us the freedom to choose what content we get to partake in.. Let's be honest here, you can say all you want about why somebody would choose to limit themselves to specific content instead of experiencing everything the game has to offer, but we ALL have specific likes and dislikes

If you don't like gathering, you can skip that, if you don't like fishing, you can skip that too. If you don't like crafting, same deal.. If you don't like doing quests that involve going from A to B to A to B to C back to A. With nothing in between but to talk to people (i.e. click click click click), why don't we have the option to skip that?

[Aerowaffle]

If you don't like gathering, you can skip that, if you don't like fishing, you can skip that too. If you don't like crafting, same deal.. If you don't like doing quests that involve going from A to B to A to B to C back to A. With nothing in between but to talk to people (i.e. click click click click), why don't we have the option to skip that?

Probably because the dungeons, raids, and trials are directly tied to the story. Asking to skip part of the story to get to the end would be like asking to skip crafting levels 20-30 while leveling up crafting to 50.

[Eul]

My opinion (spoiler)

Too much betrayal that makes me... cringy.

I only do it for free Savage Might IV >_>;.

[Linnaete]

The lore on offer is rather unparalleled for an MMORPG, that's for certain. The way the story is told however, unquestionably leaves a lot to be desired, that's for certain. I generally remember that long lull in the 2.0 storyline prior to Titan when the story simply ceases and just trolleys the player around in a long wild goose chase to find the supposed Company of Heroes as well as organise a banquet. Such moments simply had me wishing that the time could have been spent allowing us to learn a lot more about Gaius as a person and the characters of his Tribuni behind their helmets. The latter especially come off as a bunch of undercooked eggs, sans Nero's later CT side story.

The story scenario has certainly improved from subsequent patches. There is an irritating tendency to open up a litany of new plot threads without properly resolving any (haven't done the Patch 2.5 story content yet, so things might have changed), but I'll be lying if I say it hasn't kept me engaged. Thoroughly reading through text naturally comes to me as a life long RPG player, but recent patches have been able to sustain genuine interest from me as I'm reading. It's a welcome bonus. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for most of my friends in the game. They neglect to even read or watch the cutscenes. To them, it's a "non-story" not worth dedicating a minute through when they could be unlocking and tackling a new story dungeon or Primal that arises from the Main Scenario. Their loss, I suppose.

Somewhat related, but I recently discovered that there are players who skip through ALL of the Manderville cutscenes just to unlock the 3 trials on offer and the Expert Roulette. Do some people just eschew fun?

[Gillionaire]

Probably because the dungeons, raids, and trials are directly tied to the story. Asking to skip part of the story to get to the end would be like asking to skip crafting levels 20-30 while leveling up crafting to 50.

Well, technically speaking.. Getting your pre-relic is also directly tied to crafting.. But you can bypass it by having somebody else meld the materia for you.
Considering that in the game, you are the ONE AND ONLY, where would you get the materia melded from in terms of the lore?

Besides, the story being tied into dungeons are only that way because that's how SE designed the game, it doesn't necessarily have to be that way, like many of the sidequests. They could've made the journey to Ishgard a side quest endeavor just as easily by changing little bit of the story (like they did with the extreme primals), but they aren't going to because it's not part of their game design philosophy and that's the point I'm getting at..

Somewhat related, but I recently discovered that there are players who skip through ALL of the Manderville cutscenes just to unlock the 3 trials on offer and the Expert Roulette. Do some people just eschew fun?

I would be one of those people I don't eschew fun, I simply don't find the dialogues and running around town to be very engaging.. But I do enjoy grinding dungeons.

On the same note, I can also speak of people who get to level 50, finish Ultima's Bane then make a new character just to start over fresh to play the story quest again instead of going into the end-game grind. Do those people eschew the fun of MMO that is the endless grinding wheel?

[nuyu11]

I love the stories, it's not that good but I liked it. I like Cid character, combination of Biggs & Wedge are fun, Papalymo & Yda are cute pair.
Tataru character more appealing to among Scions member in my eyes, She is said to be a keen judge of character, which makes her perfectly suited for deciding who is to be allowed to enter the Scion's base.
F'lhaminn... no comment.
I wish Minfilia are more appealing with the tactical characteristic or badass fighter, she just plain beautiful leader with some secret.
After Scion got kidnapped all I think is how dare you kidnap my adorable Tataru and I couldn't care less about Urianger and others.
Still not complete all yet but I will do, just done with Bahamut t5 and Syrcus tower.
Gonna continue with the Hildibrand Quests later, many people recommend me to complete that first.

But I love how SE made me look like a Hero and others as sidekick hahahahahah...