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

[Kiryuin-Satsuki]

Considering how story-driven XIV is and the fact that we're very soon going to be three expansions deep without any change being made to core formula of how new content has been implemented thus far, I don't think you have anything to be concerned about.

[MsMisato]

and thats why SE has MSQ skips, those silly books to level up instantly. This can all be found in the mog station for a some money of course.

[linay]

I don't mind if they want to restructure MSQ so that the basic story is still being told, but people can go through it faster.

What I don't want is to make it optional/nonexistent so that dungeons and trials and raids can be entered just by reaching the right level and item level without them being tied to the story

I also don't want it broken up so you can skip parts of it and then come back and redo them later. Unless your story is about time travel, it should flow linearly and be experienced in that same order. If you use a boost, then your character should have done all of the quests leading up to the point where your boost takes you. Something like the inn or new game+ is a fine way of experiencing what you missed without affecting the actual progression of your character in the story.

Essentially, I want story and gameplay to support each other as much as possible instead of ignoring each other for the sake of convenience.

[AnnaRosa]

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts lately with people saying the story requirement be removed from raids and duties. Please don’t do this. This is one of the main reasons why I play the game, I love how everything is connected, I love seeing story elements all the way back in 2.0 still be relevant for the game today, I love going into dungeons and raids and trials and participating and having an active role in the events of the story. This is one of the main draws of the game for, please don’t take it away.

Ofc the MSQ is the way to know the MMO lore and is a way to publicize the FF games to remove would take the chance of one player to know the fantasy world and decide if they should continue or not its where you decide if is yours kind of MMO or not.

They even introduced a New Game + feature to allow high level players to redo all MSQ quests with the lowest levels characters of their player friends so to give them same chance to know the story.

[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.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Yeah! 150 hours? It’s almost like we’re playing a Final Fantasy game with 2 full sizes expansions or something! I would never buy a Final Fantasy game expecting it to be as long as a Final Fantasy game!

Especially in the grand scheme of things. My character has over 14000 hours of playtime, and I'd estimate only 10-15% of that is afk, as I don't leave the game on for long stints when I'm not around.

150 hours is nothing, pretty much only 1% of that total

[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.