Unlocking Content

[Dicejss]

Alright let me explain why I think the story is mediocre. Firstly the story itself is filled with quests that have nothing to do with the main plot kind of like filler just to beef up the number of story quests you have to complete. THis is because as I understand it that they want players to be able to get more experience from doing the main story. However if you don't remember the story doesn't even really begin to get into primals and your "hidden" power until like halfway when you fight Ifrit for the first time. Then when the story does get interesting they throw in stupid things like hey let grab ingredients for this party that has nothing to do with the main plot once again. I'd say more than half of the story quests you do have nothing to do with the primals, saving Eorzea, or the Scions for that matter. I DO agree though that yes as far as mmorpgs go the story is much better than others out there that doesn't make it great. Just one more thing someone pointed out if I don't like the story I should go back to WoW, which is quite funny because you know first I never played WoW, second whoever plays an mmorpg for the story is seriously playing the wrong game, and thirdly mmorpgs are about gearing and gameplay not about watching a CS everytime you do a dungeon or fight a boss.

[kyuven]

Alright let me explain why I think the story is mediocre. Firstly the story itself is filled with quests that have nothing to do with the main plot kind of like filler just to beef up the number of story quests you have to complete.
THis is because as I understand it that they want players to be able to get more experience from doing the main story. However if you don't remember the story doesn't even really begin to get into primals and your "hidden" power until like halfway when you fight Ifrit for the first time. Then when the story does get interesting they throw in stupid things like hey let grab ingredients for this party that has nothing to do with the main plot once again. I'd say more than half of the story quests you do have nothing to do with the primals, saving Eorzea, or the Scions for that matter.

This isn't anything new when it concerns MMOs or even RPGs.
See, MMOs with a story have a pretty big conern: They need to tell the story as you're leveling and continue to have content for you as you do so.
XIV 1.0 actually didn't have this. The MSQs were structured like the current job quests are, with no fluff in-between.
ARR took SWTOR's approach and gave you enough MSQs that pointed you in the right direction to get the leveling you needed done so they caps are not apparent.
I think part of the reason you "hate" it so much is because of this required pacing. People who like it seem to see the story and gameplay as separate entities, which is a thought process that actually comes from playing a lot of those old RPGs where most of your time was spent dungeon diving or grinding to get to the next story point.
WoW actually took this approach too, with WotLK actually really embracing it to the point of adding a new system of phasing just to show it off, something pretty much every MMO uses these days, including XIV and ESPECIALLY ESO.

whoever plays an mmorpg for the story is seriously playing the wrong game, and thirdly mmorpgs are about gearing and gameplay not about watching a CS everytime you do a dungeon or fight a boss.

There are many players who would disagree with you, especially those who take advantage of Star Trek Online and Neverwinter's custom content, or SWTOR's main selling point of having actual interesting stories as you level up (pretty much the only thing they did right.)
And yeah it's not about watching the CS every time. It's about watching it the first time.

[Allyrion]

There are many players who would disagree with you, especially those who take advantage of Star Trek Online and Neverwinter's custom content, or SWTOR's main selling point of having actual interesting stories as you level up (pretty much the only thing they did right.)
And yeah it's not about watching the CS every time. It's about watching it the first time.

Or FFXIV, which story locks almost everything but guildhests.
It's funny Dicejss is saying we're playing the wrong game when FFXIV is clearly story driven.
Discussing the quality of story is irrelevant anyway, it can't be denied that this is a game that integrates the story deeply into the gameplay experience rather that the story being this side thing you find out about once in a while.

I can't think of many things that don't need a quest to unlock.
The new expansion requires you do all the main story to access the new areas or classes.
If the OP doesn't like the story locking that happens from level 1, then it's pretty obvious who's playing the wrong game.
Personal motivations for playing the game don't matter, you can take the story or leave it.
But they make it clear that lore trumps gameplay and accessibility in many cases.

Not saying SE is perfect at it or anything, but if you're gonna whine about story locking in this game, you've got an uphill battle.
The OP is acting like the players are playing the game wrong, while also whining because the game doesn't fit his mold.
You can't tell the game and people to change because it clashes with what your expectations, of what an MMO should be, is.

[Sapphic]

second whoever plays an mmorpg for the story is seriously playing the wrong game, and thirdly mmorpgs are about gearing and gameplay not about watching a CS everytime you do a dungeon or fight a boss.

Yet Final Fantasy has ALWAYS been about the story and it surprises you that they continue in the same vein as, not just every single player Final Fantasy, but their earlier MMORPG FFXI. Which, if you had played would know that the main content for the expansions are heavily story and cutscene based. Or even had any background experience with Final Fantasy games.

Someone playing a FF MMO and NOT expecting it to be heavily story driven is playing the wrong game. There are plenty of bland no story Korean grind MMOs you can play, this isn't one of them. So either deal with it or realise Storycentric MMOs aren't for you.

Albeit I will admit putting such long cutscenes during the 2.0 MSQ final dungeons was a mistake on SEs side. Whereas the main CS should be at the end so you can watch it at your pleasure.

[GenJoe]

Yet Final Fantasy has ALWAYS been about the story and it surprises you that they continue in the same vein as, not just every single player Final Fantasy.

You can assume what you want but I played all of FF games for the gameplay, I do know the general storyline for most of them, probably know it quite well for a few of them but really, for me RPG has always been about the sidequests and grinding to get that lv 99, 255 stats, etc.

I however, do realize that I am in the minority. But that still doesn't stop me from voicing my opinion when I feel like the issue could be so easily* addressed without even breaking the lore down.

We don't live in a Utilitarian society, and even if we did, there would need to be a way to quantify the harm vs. good.

Comparing the annoyance a majority of the player base may feel as a few jobs being released ahead of the lore to the annoyance (tad more than an annoyance imo) a minority of the player base will have in having to complete MSQ to 2.55 to access the expansion content.. That is not easily quantifiable and you really can't just play the numbers game using the number of people involved.

*Again, this is an arguable point because some people value lore far more than others. But in my personal experience, I've yet to see anybody say they'll be quitting the game due to the lore being inaccurate at points, but I have seen people quit because of the MSQ restrictions (usually in the crafting scene)

[nuyu11]

Snip

Yeap agreed you have your right to voice your opinion...
Some people only think that their thoughts are wisest and others are wrong.
This also happen to pro raider who belittle some player who prioritize their crafting as their main gameplay.
You're not a minority here dude, I've met plenty of player who don't know anything about the lore,
mainly they just skip it and not bother to watch them back at Inn, but they never forced me to skip it.
Most of them are hardcore player.

[Mugiawara]

Most of them are hardcore player.

You're probably right. I'm not hardcore, I'm in the middle
but me and my friends [Who are all ranges] skipped the story
solely because it's boring as hell.
Edda, Hilde, LEVEL 40 Scions MSQ, a few unlockable quests, CT and the ending MSQ are the most notable ones
I've watched. I rather play the game and not read into this games bland story telling.
I hate the Scions with a passion and

hope they are dead...Not Yda and Papalymo though. Seriously, team us up
with Lady Iceheart, Alphinud and Eienstin [SP]? I seen him in the trailer so who knows...I want new people.

Actually...most things that have to do with the Scions bore me to tears because they are so monotonous.

The Roe, I forgot her name who was lively dies in 4 like scence's...sucks.

[kyuven]

*Again, this is an arguable point because some people value lore far more than others. But in my personal experience, I've yet to see anybody say they'll be quitting the game due to the lore being inaccurate at points, but I have seen people quit because of the MSQ restrictions (usually in the crafting scene)

Actually some people have. If the story doesn't grab them, and they're playing for the story, they usually leave.
They just don't tend to make as big a deal out of it because, again, they're not in it for the mechanics and many understand that you can't just rewrite a story to fit your needs.
But people who like the mechanical stuff DO believe that the mechanics, no matter what they are, can always be changed.
Which in some cases is true (like raid drops) and some cases just isn't going to happen (like "true" sandbox gameplay)

[Owatatsumi]

Yet Final Fantasy has ALWAYS been about the story and it surprises you that they continue in the same vein as, not just every single player Final Fantasy, but their earlier MMORPG FFXI. Which, if you had played would know that the main content for the expansions are heavily story and cutscene based. Or even had any background experience with Final Fantasy games.

Someone playing a FF MMO and NOT expecting it to be heavily story driven is playing the wrong game. There are plenty of bland no story Korean grind MMOs you can play, this isn't one of them. So either deal with it or realise Storycentric MMOs aren't for you.

Albeit I will admit putting such long cutscenes during the 2.0 MSQ final dungeons was a mistake on SEs side. Whereas the main CS should be at the end so you can watch it at your pleasure.

Give this person a cookie!

[Kit-Kat]

I hit 50 on this character like 3 or 4 days ago and I'm still unlocking things lol. Queues aren't even a problem as I got friends to queue with (I'm healer, they usually go tank), but it just takes too long doing hundred of quests teleporting, running everywhere, then running dungeons/trials and sidequests plus gearing yourself to meet itlvl for said unlocking runs. It's the downside of having so much content in the same level because we get bored between patches, newbies have so much stuff to do to catch up it's overwhelming sometimes. I hope someone posts on forums where did they get to with lv50 quests experience post-3.0, that'd be fun to know xD.

About lore behind content, I don't mind it. Final Fantasy series is famous because of its story on every game, FFXIV is no different than the rest, even if it's an online game. If you get rid of lore, you would have another grinding and boring, frustrating game like korean ones.

^ With this beign said, I don't think they should keep sidequests lore have influence on 'endgame'. By 'endgame' I meant trial roulette for example (if we could call it endgame 'farming'). Not everyone enjoy Hildibrand quests, but they're forced to do a sidequest to unlock trials so they can farm tomes on roulette for their endgame. This is just an example of unlocking things.