Quote Originally Posted by MomoOG View Post
Yes I get that FF14 has a stronger emphasis on story compared to a lot of MMORPGs. I know someone without fail will show up in this thread and make a hyperbolic statement like "well if you don't like story content you should be playing a different MMO". However, even the biggest story enthusiasts have to agree that there is a large amount of filler dialogue crap that is not memorable and doesn't serve any purpose but to waste time.
A percentage of it is 'filler dialogue crap', but most of it isn't. The main issue in my mind isn't that FFXIV emphasizes its story; FFXI did the same thing. The problem is that SE made the rather stupid decision to chain storylines together, rather than creating parallel storylines. While there are certain advantages to longer, linked storylines, they are a very poor choice for MMOs, as we're seeing now.

Also, seriously, for players less interested in the narrative component of an MMO, there are vastly better options than FFXIV on the market.

Quote Originally Posted by Lexia View Post
Unless your friends only play like one day a week they could come back now and easily have the MSQ finished by the time SB launches.
Depends what point they're starting from. If they finished, say, 3.0, and are trying to push through 3.x, yeah, I'd agree. If they're starting from the end of 2.0, it's quite a grind, patience-wise as much as anything else. And if they're wanting to start a fresh character to ease back into things (which is what I did in January), finishing by the time SB releases would almost surely trigger burnout.