Dev team, please do not remove the importance of the MSQ

[TalosEscher]

how would the "removing story requirement" thing works in practice? wouldnt people still be able to access those story parts? cus if not then no, they shouldnt do that.

[Vanitas]

If anyone here thinks they'll remove the story elements from any portion of a F I N A L F A N T A S Y game just because it's an mmo or any other stupid reason is going to set themselves up for utter disappointment (and another reason to complain more (because they really like to complain about anything)) so don't worry OP.

[Tremara]

Honestly to remove strict MSQ requirements would help the game more than it would hurt... Players that are interested in the MSQ will do it anyway and players that aren't would probably do it if SE would give a shiny achievement for completing the MSQ.
Because we have to keep in mind that FFXIV only remains a success if SE can attract new players. There will be enough new players that wouldn't mind questing through all MSQ but I bet the bigger part would get turned off by it - either because they're used to skip from other games or because they don't care about the story or because they wan't to play with everyone else ...
Imagine how many new players will start with Shadowbringers that have no clue that the product they bought is not accessable unless they quest for around 3 weeks or pay even more money. We will lose a lot of potential new players - players that might have gotten be your friends but will never be because of the unneccassary grind.
With adding New Game+ players that want to relive the story (or do it for the first time) will do that. But SE should give new players the possibility to start in an expansion like the veterans (without paying twice for it). And to be fair it doesn't effect our gameplay if dungeons, trials or raids get gated behind MSQ or not - most of them are already hidden in side-quests independant from MSQ.

[Berret_Snow]

I won't mind a SWTOR thing, where if you reach the new contents level you can skip the old content and the choices are defaulted depending on your class.
FFXIV doesn't have choices so the story won't change.
Personally I would skip ARR and the patches since they had so much padding, especially the 2.x patches. They were really one of the worse MMO experiences I had.
HW's story is amazing so I can easily see myself running it again on alts.
HW's classes are another thing, sure they start at 30 but you'll need to go through hell of the patches in order to even get to them.

You can tell that I'm not a fan of half of ARR and the patches , I won't mind if they cut half of the filler quest out...

[Awha]

Personally I would prefer if they made all story content optional, I know it will not happen due to the skip books on the mog station does not mean I have to like or appreciate the fact that SE is milking money off those that enjoy the endgame / social experience over the story. I get how it may impact their revecune as a company, but I still do not see how making the MSQ optional as any negative impact on the players. I do not see how it cheapens or devalues ones personal enjoyment and connection of the story SE has crafted.

[AnnaRosa]

Personally I would prefer if they made all story content optional, I know it will not happen due to the skip books on the mog station does not mean I have to like or appreciate the fact that SE is milking money off those that enjoy the endgame / social experience over the story. I get how it may impact their revecune as a company, but I still do not see how making the MSQ optional as any negative impact on the players. I do not see how it cheapens or devalues ones personal enjoyment and connection of the story SE has crafted.

So you suggest a new feature so to speak so they would skip the MSQ and just do from there lvl upfront well it would not impact in a negative way no actually the more options the game offers the better for their business.
More money the better, not sure breaking their traditional way of doing things might get veterans and fans of FF on their nerves thinking FFXIV is going to turn into the WoW version 0.2.

But find a lil strange too because in WoW there was storyline too to introduce the lore and the blizzard product...

[LyraKuroneko]

MSQ optional .

MainSQ optional.

Nothing's chocking you there?

[Awha]

So you suggest a new feature so to speak so they would skip the MSQ and just do from there lvl upfront well it would not impact in a negative way no actually the more options the game offers the better for their business.
More money the better, not sure breaking their traditional way of doing things might get veterans and fans of FF on their nerves thinking FFXIV is going to turn into the WoW version 0.2.

But find a lil strange too because in WoW there was storyline too to introduce the lore and the blizzard product...

In the end I do understand outside the business aspect the main reason behind making the MSQ optional baffles many since it is a FF game, I know it may seem odd of someone playing a final fantasy game for raiding and social experience, but those are my reasons for playing. I know SE will keep the current status quo since the books do sell, I mean half my raid group bought story and job skips before the sale on mog station.

Though I do think outside the money aspect only reason people seem against the idea is because for some odd reason they feel making the story optional will detract from the importance SE puts on the story, and I do not think that would necessarily has to be the case. I do think SE writers are skilled enough to craft a story that has the same impact but is fully optional. Overall my stance comes from the fact that I tried to play FFXIV before job and story skip were an option and could not do it, I am mainly an endgame player. I am glad they came out with story and job skips since I do enjoy endgame in FFXIV, especially the optimization aspect for endgame content. Never been much of a healer fan, but I must say I have had the most fun healing in this game then any other. Ast and Sch and truly wonderful jobs to play.

While I do not like the pay wall to skip the story I deal with it, and I even bought many for my friends to come and try FFXIV, though anecdotal it baffles people some would rather not have new players come in and find another game to play because some find the MSQ gate too much to bare.

MainSQ optional.

Nothing's chocking you there?

This is a FF and not your random sandbox F2P game. Remember that.

Story isn't optional in this series wether you like it or not. Story shouldn't be optional because you don't like it.

If people don't like the way FF games are around story, maybe those persons should consider other games really.

Don't try to change a series because it isn't to your liking ty.

FFXIV may be a final fantasy game, but it is also an MMO. Are you saying I should take my money else where because story is not for me? I enjoy many aspects of the game, the story just so happens to not be one. Am I playing the game wrong or something? I am not asking to take the story away from you, just for an option to skip what I view as mindless fluff to pad playtime.

I understand why it is a thing from a business standpoint, but I do not understand why from a community aspect people make it seem like making the MSQ optional detracts from their own enjoyment. Unless they are worried if SE make it optional they would not give it the same love and care as they have in the past. Which I do not think is much of an issue if the story is just a core aspect of FF I am sure they could make it work if they so desired.

[Rufalus]

Options are good. They aren't trying to take our story away, just asking for a more personalised game which allows players to opt in to the content that they want to see and bypass things they don't. It probably won't happen in FF XIV because we're deeply rooted into this linear structure MSQ gating all other content, but I think they should reevaluate their design next mmo because series should evolve.
I want heaps of lore too but I'm not going to force somebody to digest a huge story if they just want to say access a new zone for fishing. You're allowed to have preferences, and embracing those different play styles is conducive to retaining players.