Quests hell

[Whiteroom]

they already said that 4.0 will not require any major story quest to be completed to access the new expanson, so clearly they realized the mistake they have made, story aside, this game can be played soley for the gameplay just as it can be played soley for the story, its an either or situation not a "if you hate the story, dont play it at all" type of thing,and i feel locking out heavensward zones beside the MSQ just didnt work. alot of people want to get to the max level ASAP to do endgame with friends that asked them to play..or other players playing an alt, etc etc.so SE did infact change this

I thought they only said it will not require the 3.0 Heavensward story completion.

[ququrama]

I don't hate the story, I saw it on YouTube, short and fast and yeah FF has always been a game about story, but any MMO is a game about competition, any game where there is one more person in 90% of the competition, so why should I play alone 2 or 3 months in an online game, I feel that this is not the right approach.

And I don't against quests as a way to gain experience, but when you have to do about 100 things for which give less than half a percent of level, it is weird

[EveK]

Interesting. It seems as if we have a very different understanding of what going through these story quests actually entails.

The format is ABSOLUTELY NOT that you do a bunch of story quests and then when you complete them you do a bunch of battles. They are completely intertwined. As you level up and as you go through story quests, there are many battles - many of which you CANNOT do alone. Anyone that you want to play with is completely capable of not only joining you at any point along the way (granted, there are some small pieces that you really do have to do alone, but they are the exception rather than the norm), but they have many incentives to do so. For instance, if it's your first time completing a duty, all present get a bonus reward.

And please don't be discouraged by the sentiments of "if you don't like story, get out." It's totally okay to like certain aspects of the game more than others. That said, if you truly do find them "hell," yes, please stop torturing yourself and move on.

[HPDelron]

I don't hate the story, I saw it on YouTube, short and fast and yeah FF has always been a game about story, but any MMO is a game about competition, any game where there is one more person in 90% of the competition, so why should I play alone 2 or 3 months in an online game, I feel that this is not the right approach.

And I don't against quests as a way to gain experience, but when you have to do about 100 things for which give less than half a percent of level, it is weird

Just because you like games about competition does not make all games about competition. Your personal tastes are not some objective truth to which reality must adhere. Heck, MMOs in general are far more a cooperative genre than anything.

It's a story heavy game, with a slow dialogue heavy presentation. You might not like the approach but the game is what it is, it might be good to simply get out before you dedicate more time to something that is not and never will be what you're looking for. (If what you're looking for is a no story or story-lite competition-focused game).

It's not like the world is lacking for zero story, competition-focused games. Play what you enjoy.

[Niwashi]

any MMO is a game about competition

There are some MMO's that focus on competition. This isn't one of them. Its group content is mostly cooperative, not competitive. But it certainly is focused a lot on group content. Its not possible to play solo for long in this game, like you can in many other MMOs.

why should I play alone 2 or 3 months in an online game, I feel that this is not the right approach.

Then why would you play alone? Looking at just the level 50 content (since it seems to be the level 50 quests people complain about), there's:

Dungeons:
Castrum Meridianum
The Praetorium
The Wanderer's Palace
Amdapor Keep
Pharos Sirius
Copperbell Mines (Hard)
Haukke Manor (Hard)
The Lost City of Amdapor
Halatali (Hard)
Brayflox's Longstop (Hard)
Hullbreaker Isle
The Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard)
The Stone Vigil (Hard)
Snowcloak
Sastasha (Hard)
The Sunken Temple of Qarn (Hard)
The Keeper of the Lake
The Wanderer's Palace (Hard)
Amdapor Keep (Hard)

Trials:
The Chrysalis
The Steps of Faith
A Relic Reborn: the Chimera
A Relic Reborn: the Hydra
Battle on the Big Bridge
The Dragon's Neck
Urth's Fount
Battle in the Big Keep
The Bowl of Embers (Hard)
The Howling Eye (Hard)
The Navel (Hard)
Thornmarch (Hard)
The Whorleater (Hard)
The Striking Tree (Hard)
Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Hard)
The Minstrel's Ballad: Ultima's Bane
The Howling Eye (Extreme)
The Navel (Extreme)
The Bowl of Embers (Extreme)
Thornmarch (Extreme)
The Whorleater (Extreme)
The Striking Tree (Extreme)
Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Extreme)

Raids:
The Labyrinth of the Ancients
Syrcus Tower
The World of Darkness
The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 1
The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 2
The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 3
The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 4
The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 5
The Second Coil of Bahamut - Turn 1
The Second Coil of Bahamut - Turn 2
The Second Coil of Bahamut - Turn 3
The Second Coil of Bahamut - Turn 4
The Second Coil of Bahamut (Savage) - Turn 1
The Second Coil of Bahamut (Savage) - Turn 2
The Second Coil of Bahamut (Savage) - Turn 3
The Second Coil of Bahamut (Savage) - Turn 4
The Final Coil of Bahamut - Turn 1
The Final Coil of Bahamut - Turn 2
The Final Coil of Bahamut - Turn 3
The Final Coil of Bahamut - Turn 4

PvP:
The Fold (Light Party)
The Fold (Matched Party)
The Borderland Ruins (Secure)
The Borderland Ruins (Slaughter)

And that's not even counting the fact that all the earlier dungeons are also still available, and in several cases include loot that's desirable at any level, so that adds another 12 dungeons and 4 trials. Plus it only lists instances, not open world content, though the Hunt is usually done in groups as well.

Along with all this wealth of group content, there's also quests, at least some of which can be done solo, others of which require one or more of the group instances. But unless you focus mainly on crafting and gathering (which are the only other major source of soloable content), there's far more group content than solo content, no matter where you are in the game.

The presence of a few soloable quests does not make the whole game solo. And there's nothing wrong with an MMO providing, or even requiring, an occasional brief tidbit that people can do on their own. You're still going to be playing in groups the vast majority of the time unless you're actively trying to avoid it (and a significant amount of the time regardless of whether you try to avoid it, since a lot of the group content is required).

[Powe]

And I don't against quests as a way to gain experience, but when you have to do about 100 things for which give less than half a percent of level, it is weird

Yea I will agree that the side quest do need a exp boost, but at the same time I do think they do this so you'll do dungeon, roulettes and such more so you'll get used to doing things that could be difficult for someone who doesn't try them often, and also so people who already finished them can help new players finish that certain thing ( Roulette will have you do different dungeons and trials over and over again to get tomes)