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

[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?

[Nyvara]

You do you. If people want to start at a more recent era, without needing to waste their time with 150+ hours of teleporting FedEx quests, then mind your own business and they'll skip it if they want.

I almost never agree with anything you say. How ever in this case /agree

[Souljacker]

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.

Why? What benefit does this offer? Does this make the player somehow better at the game?

The story isn't great. There, I said it. Most of it is derivative (wait til you see shadowbringers! We've totally never seen this concept before!) and some of it is downright offensive. I remember one of our buddy npcs saying something like "I want to stay here and learn more about these people" and I was literally screaming at my monitor "I don't!" But I had to, because SE deemed it important for me to play through the storyline of a sexist faction in this xpac. I gained absolutely nothing of value from that story and it only served to deepen my disdain for the dev team's stance on a lot of things in general.

Really, historical story should be optional. There is nothing so crucial to playing the game in there that there is any reason to gate future content behind it.

[LyraKuroneko]

Really, historical story should be optional. There is nothing so crucial to playing the game in there that there is any reason to gate future content behind it.

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.

[AxlStream]

Not like new game + is coming for those that would like to relive the story... or that used a jump potion...

[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.

[XenociderOmega]

Sounds like ppl are trying to bring WoW bs here

[Skivvy]

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.

How do you explain XI in that case? Last I checked that is also in the Final Fantasy series, and they didn't force the entire story on you.

[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.