Forcing players through MSQ content makes it un fun.

[Dererk]

Actually yes it will. Imagine the burden on new players when that day arrives.

Eventually this will strangle the game's ability to grow. Not yet, but it will only take one more expansion for that moment to be there.

The wiki on this game claims it had 4 million players around this time last year. 5 million now (*). WoW by contrast is now down to between 5 and 6 million. This game is actually on track to be WoW's replacement. But that will only occur if it is accessible enough. It is, right now. But it won't be within 1 expansion unless a very quick way for new players to catch up arrives.[/url]

It was said some where that you won't need Heavensward completed for the next expansion so your argument is invalid.

[Ksenia]

Having just completed MSQ and now stand in the face of a 110 quest grind to the now dubbed, hellsward.
50K exper though.. yea. And gear that doesn't convert... yea. I do understand the reason they gimped the exper. I'd be 60 on 3 classes by the time I plowed through this if they had kept the experience graph in place and gave me 32,000 per.

[RikuShieran]

*SPOILERS BELOW!*

The reason why it's okay for 4.0's content to not require 3.0's is because of how Heavensward's plot is designed. If the player does not advance the story past Sohm Al, then for all they know Nidhogg's dead. The biggest threats in the story can be considered fixed at about 30% of the actual plot. Even Thordan can be dismissed by the player because they have no reason to suspect he'll do anything wrong (for now) until near the end.

*SPOILERS OVER*

Ishgard's gates opening were wholly contingent on the player character having experienced the events of the 2.x main scenario.

I understand that the problem isn't that the game has story but rather that the quests themselves past level cap aren't fun to perform. But for Twelve's sake, adjust your priorities. If you were expecting grand emergent gameplay, maybe you should have been playing something different, and if you can't hack it through cutscenes in RPGs, go play a sport instead. It's healthier.

[Ksenia]

Ishgard's gates opening were wholly contingent on the player character having experienced the events of the 2.x main scenario.

I understand that the problem isn't that the game has story but rather that the quests themselves past level cap aren't fun to perform. But for Twelve's sake, adjust your priorities. If you were expecting grand emergent gameplay, maybe you should have been playing something different, and if you can't hack it through cutscenes in RPGs, go play a sport instead. It's healthier.

"Don't play this game" isn't good advice in the long term. You might find a lot of people will take that avenue. Every Sunday and Monday I set aside two sessions to babysit this trash content, leaving the rest of the time to actually enjoy the game. It doesn't make it any better that I need to do this so I can go to HW, forget everything I need to do there.

[RygaenYuui]

Look at it this way, OP:

Whether or not you technically force rushed or the game mechanically forced rushed your progression, they nerfed it REALLY hard especially just for players like you - believe it was under the guise of allowing new players to enjoy the game.

How ironic.

[Aamalthea]

What needs to happen is on akin to what SWTOR did. The main story quest will easily get you from 1 to 50 without having to do ANY side quests. It\\'s quick, there aren\\'t many fetch quests and you just get it done. That is what ffxiv needs to do. Get people through to Ishgard asap and leave the side quests for your alts because you are really going to need them. I came back to ffxiv not knowing that I had to go through the process of all of 1.0 (although I did a lot before I left) and it was frustrating to me and some friends who decided even after buying it to not play. I just put my head down and slogged through it even though all I wanted was to be a machinist (stupid me).

[kazeandi]

What they could, and probably should do, is streamlining the MSQ.
You can tell it was a distraction put in like this in ARR, to buy time.
Cut out the fed-ex stuff, let the story develop at the same pace it did up to 50 and add appropriate XP.

Spending the same time to get 4800xp out of the mandatory MSQ while i get the same for 3(!) mobs in a dungeon feels like punishment.

I'd not change the fact the quest have to be done, or the inner logic of char progression will collapse.

Being promoted to ninja only to have them enter the world at a much later point would make Yugiri and her story not only pointless. Players would feel like SE made fun of them.

[Morningstar1337]

What they could, and probably should do, is streamlining the MSQ.
You can tell it was a distraction put in like this in ARR, to buy time.
Cut out the fed-ex stuff, let the story develop at the same pace it did up to 50 and add appropriate XP.

Spending the same time to get 4800xp out of the mandatory MSQ while i get the same for 3(!) mobs in a dungeon feels like punishment.

I'd not change the fact the quest have to be done, or the inner logic of char progression will collapse.

Being promoted to ninja only to have them enter the world at a much later point would make Yugiri and her story not only pointless. Players would feel like SE made fun of them.

Tactically I'd think I would just retool the filler quests into side quests instead of removing them outright, but this does seems like a solid idea.

[Phyroks]

I really started to hate main quest when it hit lvl 50, up to this i did follow it to most degree but it did change soon after because you are most of the time doing useless tasks that anyone could do instead of you, there is no rush to save anything... There had to be 1 guy making the main plot and 9 others thinking "how can we make this take as much time as possible?", I would really love to hear the plot that the 1st person was making and ignore the 9 others. So I dont really remember at what point it did happen but I just started skipping all the things I could, I was fed up with 9 others bs and I no longer cared to find out if the next conversation would be the useful and important part that was made by the 1 guy who actually mattered, the rest poisoned the well and I no longer cared.

(& wth 1000 characters max post??)

[Phyroks]

When there was some battles to come having gear that was way better than the original design makes the dungeons, trials and battles rather boring. I dont know what they were really thinking, It would be ok if you would get the ilvl gear of the dungeon you just did as reward so you dont have to grind it all over again, but handing you gear in advance to faceroll everything just made the more fun content rather sad to watch.

Overall the more I think about it, I cant find a single good thing behind this main quest planning for new comers. When I think about the changes you made to make it faster, you did it wrong. And the parts you should have paid more attention you did nothing.