Quote Originally Posted by LyraKuroneko View Post
I tried it the other day with only 2 explansion on it. And several cs was "forced" onto me when I stepped in a zone.

It was weird for some part because I could do all at the same time, not knowing who was who ans behing introduce to some of the NPC later while I know them in another xpac.
Forced CSs you say? XIV wouldn't know anything about that....right? *coughMSQROULETTEcough*

XI does handle their CSs in an odd way as they will automatically start if you are at that step of the quest. This is also a very old game, and it's outdated in many ways - but that's a moot point as I've not asked XIV to emulate XI in every way.

Anyhoo, with XI, they did not lock the new content from each expansion behind the full MSQ being completed, and every last story from previous expansions. You could choose to continue after a certain point, but it wasn't a necessity for most things. This would be what I am referring to when bringing up XI. I know this forums tends to hate on most things XI, so another game as an example would be GW2. It also has a rather massive story - but it's also not forced on you.

I feel like SE could find a way to keep the story congruent while also not making it 100% required if that's not your thing. This game also does love it's gate-keeping though, and keeping it mandatory is just another way to stretch content out.