Quality of Life Improvements and MSQ Gating for New Players

[TwistedTea]

...What NPCs are you thinking of, exactly?...

eg:

Idyllshire and by extension Shire gear. At the start of HW, main class was already past 60,so any fear of steamrolling HW content was not valid : blocked by MSQ

Ishgard: Can be reached from ARR cities by airship: blocked by MSQ.

Kugane: Can be reached from Limsa via docks: blocked by MSQ

Really, these areas/maps and more,blocked purely for 'story' reasons. Hypothetically, being able to go to those areas, would only break "story immersion" for the individual player.

Interestingly, Shirogane is not blocked by MSQ. As long as you have either a friend or FC with housing over there(estate teleportation). In some ways, I consider that to be breaking "story immersion" even if housing areas are not part of the 'main story'.

[Adeacia]

I have a different view on the main story. People complain about having to do it more than once, or even once at all, while I plan to eventually make an alt just to do the story again.

No side stuff, simply to go through the MSQ one more time. Once the story is finished, that way I can enjoy the entire thing at once instead of waiting months between parts.

I'll still have my max level main to do endgame stuff with.

[Science66]

MSQ is skippable through the cash shop, which means it will never be changed.

I think a fair thing to do would be to make people go through MSQ with their first character (because it’s actually very good, if a little long), and alts would be able to bypass MSQ entirely. But again, alts are basically a way to look different, and looking different is a cash shop feature. Ergo it’ll never happen.

[Vhailor]

MSQ is skippable through the cash shop, which means it will never be changed.

I think a fair thing to do would be to make people go through MSQ with their first character (because it’s actually very good, if a little long), and alts would be able to bypass MSQ entirely. But again, alts are basically a way to look different, and looking different is a cash shop feature. Ergo it’ll never happen.

I don't even think this is fair, because barring changes, this situation is only going to get worse. I mean, let's look down the road a couple of expansions. As of the conclusion of Stormblood (4.0, nothing from 4.1+), we're at over 500 Main Scenario Quests. We'll be at roughly 600 required MSQs to access the next expansion, whatever it may be. Closing in on 800 required MSQs to access the one after that. This simply isn't sustainable.

SE is going to have to make a choice: do they want to change course and stop requiring players complete every prior MSQ before starting the next expansion, or do they want to significantly discourage new players from sticking around? There really isn't a middle ground, from what I can see.

[Krotoan]

SE is going to have to make a choice: do they want to change course and stop requiring players complete every prior MSQ before starting the next expansion, or do they want to significantly discourage new players from sticking around? There really isn't a middle ground, from what I can see.

You are still assuming the majority of new players don't want to do the MSQ. While I don't argue that people will join wanting to ONLY do the new stuff, it's not a guarantee that all either: won't care about story, won't want to do pre-expansion content.