IMHO SE should stop making extensions and switch to expansions. As it is, Heavensward and Stormblood just continued the story, extended it. All of the previous MSQ stuff was required for the new stuff. With the current business model and content/patch cycle, FFXIV is an MMO first and a "story game" second. Every sprout in our FC has complained that it takes far too much time and effort to be able to do content together which is meaningful and relevant for everyone. This will get worse as more extensions to the story are added. Unl€$$ mon€y and $kip potion.

I personally stopped following the story around the time clergy in robes started doing backflips to rooftops. I rolled my eyes, went "yyeaaahhhh..." and started abusing the skip option. I might watch some scenes here and there to have some idea what's happening and why. But usually the line-emote-line-emote presentation is so poor that I won't watch the whole scene. Why do I play this game then? Because the gameplay is solid and enjoyable for a tab-target MMO. I'd actually argue that this game is not much of an MMORPG, more like a coop-RPG a la Guild Wars 1, but that's a topic for another thread.

What purpose does a mandatory and heavily gating storyline serve if the end results are either a) people like the story and continue playing or b) people NOPE out of the game? Making the story optional would remove outcome b. I see only negative aspects in a story that blocks things and restricts players freedom (compared to an optional one). When I rolled my BLM alt I bought a story skip potion but no level skip and WHOA, that was the right combination for me. I had much more freedom to proceed as I wanted because the story wasn't restricting my options.