Not being able to skip cutscenes...

[Mimilu]

You know you can see them at the Inn, right..? ^^

This
Or if you or your FC has the Unending Journey furniture item. :B

[MistakeNot]

The point of an RPG is to play a role. Not to be strung along on some long, drawn out, force-fed story. We should be creating our own story. I think obsession with the "story of the game" is kind of missing the point of why many of us actually play these types of games. I have literally no interest in whatever pre-fabricated story Square Enix has written for my character.

Then you are playing the wrong game for your tastes - the major draw of FFXIV over other MMOs is exactly the story from SE. The story is the point of this game. The actual gameplay is of merely average quality.

[Zojha]

The story is the point of this game.

If that is true however, then it being an MMO makes absolutely no sense.

Single-player games are vastly better suited to deliver a story than a MMO, as do movies and even visual novels. If the story is the point, they have chosen the worst possible format for it, one that requires excessive repetition with zero story reason, constantly throws you out of your immersion via other characters that act, look and speak in any way but lore conform, downright throws you out of duties due to instancing problems, completely disjoints gameplay and story flow by letting you move out and do your daily business while being "trapped" or threatened with immediate doom by the big bad and a slew of other issues that hinder immersion and simply don't exist in single-player games.

...then again, them having a penchant to do the worst possible implementation of an idea would explain some other features >_>

[RokkuEkkusu]

I'll bring up some stuff from a similar thread:

Most of my Main Scenario roulette runs do not have a single person. Ironically enough, we kind of enjoyed some chats about patches, story, gameplay, etc., during the cutscenes. In some other instances, I also check on my FC chat, linkshells, Discord, and other FFXIV forums.

As far as time spent on runs go, Castrum Meridianum isn't a problem in terms of time spent. It's still less than 30 minutes on average with a good group (faster than the most of my average Skalla runs.) Praetorium can be too long for repeated plays though.

YMMV on the return of poetic tomes and exp earned. The exp is satisfactory for me and I use poetic tomes for Shire Accessories to turn in to GC. I can get ventures, GC mats, food (for extra EXP and secondary stats), and various other items without breaking the bank (in this case, gil.)

[Mimilu]

Then you are playing the wrong game for your tastes - the major draw of FFXIV over other MMOs is exactly the story from SE. The story is the point of this game. The actual gameplay is of merely average quality.

That's fine but some of use have seen the same story for 4-5 years now... :B
That part of the story is just a choir we grind to get tomes/exp/gil/whatever now. We want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

[Belev]

One of the things I really like in FFXIV is that compared to other MMOs it takes the time of the players into consideration.
Even the hardest grind is related to more doing and less waiting.

Changing the cut-scenes on the MSQ so that they can not be skipped completely ruins the idea of this content being repeatable, because as some have mentioned, people have been watching for this for years.

MSQ roulette was the most efficient way to gather light for the level 50 relic, due to it being very easy with 8 people and giving exceptional amount of light when there are first-timers (which was almost each time).
Now that it takes nearly 1 hour it is completely useless as roulette option.

[Trensharo]

If that is true however, then it being an MMO makes absolutely no sense.

Single-player games are vastly better suited to deliver a story than a MMO, as do movies and even visual novels. <snipped>

Totally agree. This "story is the point of the game" makes since for games like Witcher 3, not an MMORPG, because MMO players spend most of their time in post-story content.

Players who care only about the story, don't stay subscribed. They play the story content, an then they move onto other stories to play through; returning only for the expansions and perhaps some large content patch - WoW itself is a great example of this.

"The Story is the point of the game," makes no sense in an MMORPG. It's basically a rationale for creating a disposable game that isn't worth paying month-to-month for.

[Wintersandman]

You know you can see them at the Inn, right..? ^^

Wait there is an Inn?

[Squintina]

Then you are playing the wrong game for your tastes - the major draw of FFXIV over other MMOs is exactly the story from SE. The story is the point of this game. The actual gameplay is of merely average quality.

Please do not assume that the story is the major draw for everyone. There are lots of players who have joined because of many other draws, and the story became something they learned to enjoy along the way.

Here are a variety of draws people I know have joined for:
- Hearing that crafting is more than just hit "synthesize" all
- Hearing that raids don't take 5 hours
- Hearing that there are no pvp servers or pvp areas that can be accidentally walked into
- Just trying out something new after being tired of playing the same thing
- Friends/family recommended it

I know people who've never even played another FF game and thus have no association with the idea that FF games have good stories.

And in MMO culture, the stories have often taken a backseat. If anything it's amazing that there are as many people as there are who do care about the story (in a good way!), especially when those people came from other MMOs where they skipped through all the text.

[MistakeNot]

People can join for a number of reasons - some good, some bad.
Why they stay (if they stay), is another question which often has a different answer.