why i quit before reaching endgame (feedback from a new player)

[Cayalle]

(Newcomer here) I confess that really sometimes has a lot of cutscenes. But stopping to think even if you do not like to read, sometimes it's lovely to see your char always present in the scenes. Thing difficult to see in other games. I do not think cutscenes are a problem, as there are many other factors that make the game something incredible and different from the mmo's we see around.

[SerLuke]

(Newcomer here) I confess that really sometimes has a lot of cutscenes. But stopping to think even if you do not like to read, sometimes it's lovely to see your char always present in the scenes. Thing difficult to see in other games. I do not think cutscenes are a problem, as there are many other factors that make the game something incredible and different from the mmo's we see around.

Yes! This is my favorite aspect of the game!

[Mimilu]

Eh, I can see that the cutscenes can be a bit pace breaking.
Also, what is with all these otters?

[SilverObi]

Frankly if you got only half a level after 3 hours of partying in XI, something was grossly wrong. Even at a suboptimal side camp in a crowded zone three hours would get you at least one or two levels, more if it was during ToAU or WotG. That aside, while you did have to complete chunks of story to access endgame in XI, the quest levels were so spread out and some were even put in popular leveling regions that you leveled into the next quest or were already there in the zone to run to once you had an exp buffer. And the storylines themselves were divided to be standalone stories with their own level caps and side content (yes there was stuff to do at 30 50 60 70) that you could pick and choose to focus on depending on what content you wanted to get access to. And a lot of the repeatable endgame content wasn't just Sea and Sky but other modes that only required token progress in some stories.

That being said, I have no problem with XIV's story structure and don't feel it's "forced" but that's probably due to people having different mindsets and expectations of what they feel is worth doing and focusing on. Should XIV change? Big Maybe, but I hope not.

[SerLuke]

Frankly if you got only half a level after 3 hours of partying in XI, something was grossly wrong. Even at a suboptimal side camp in a crowded zone three hours would get you at least one or two levels, more if it was during ToAU or WotG. That aside, while you did have to complete chunks of story to access endgame in XI, the quest levels were so spread out and some were even put in popular leveling regions that you leveled into the next quest or were already there in the zone to run to once you had an exp buffer. And the storylines themselves were divided to be standalone stories with their own level caps and side content (yes there was stuff to do at 30 50 60 70) that you could pick and choose to focus on depending on what content you wanted to get access to. And a lot of the repeatable endgame content wasn't just Sea and Sky but other modes that only required token progress in some stories.

I can't tell you the number of times people would either come and try to take over a camp, or a healer/tank would leave and we'd have to spend freaking 30 minutes not only trying to find a replacement but waiting for them to get to said camp, not to mention stuff like people MPKing others by dragging mobs like goblins to the Kazham zone.

[SilverObi]

I can't tell you the number of times people would either come and try to take over a camp, or a healer/tank would leave and we'd have to spend freaking 30 minutes not only trying to find a replacement but waiting for them to get to said camp, not to mention stuff like people MPKing others by dragging mobs like goblins to the Kazham zone.

MPK would usually happen by accident (remember Garlaige entrance camps?) and if you include the LFP process into that three hours then I could see your point particularly if you were a less desired job like thf or drg. While it was annoying when things happened, it usually encouraged communication within the party. Unless they were an ass someone would let the party know if they were leaving within 30-60 minutes. Man I miss talking in parties lol but I digress. XI was/is very much a product of its era but for each thing it did wrong or poorly, it did a lot more right. Same could be said for XIV honestly. I don't understand the sheer outrage and extreme takes in so many of these threads.

[Physic]

I can't tell you the number of times people would either come and try to take over a camp, or a healer/tank would leave and we'd have to spend freaking 30 minutes not only trying to find a replacement but waiting for them to get to said camp, not to mention stuff like people MPKing others by dragging mobs like goblins to the Kazham zone.

this is a side discussion, but you know what, every person i know who played ffxi at that time understands and relates to the same stories you are talking about. The infamous goblin smithy wiping people. The time you were struggling hunting X item, and someone, or group helped you. The time you made the dangerous journey as a low level to jueno for the first time.

yeah it was rough, but its goal was to create this shared and compelling experience. For some that experience was nightmares, for others it was glory, for others, comedy. But it achieved its goal.

ffxiv is definitely a different beast, it focuses more on being accessible, and being able to be consumed in smaller blocks, but the story locks are blocking that accesibility for some players.

And my point is you can't make everyone happy, by doing the things proposed here it will make people that are happy with how the game currently is very unhappy, it comes to a point where demanding these changes is unreasonable and would require rebooting the game again like they did from 1.0 -> 2.0 if people don't like how this game does they story they have options, they can either skip the cut scenes. pay for jump potions to skip to Stormblood/level 60 though this will probably be skipping to Shadowbringers/70 soon, they can skip the cut scenes, of they can go play something else.



Sometimes they would say in advance and I would be able to find someone, sometimes even if they say in advance it wasn't possible to find someone in time, ,many other times someone would just leave.

they can satisfy both by having an optional way to unlock content.

they can even break the unlocks into smaller chunks, and require some extra adventuring.

like an optional boss in satasha after you kill main boss, who gets you access to up to level 20 content, something at 20 that unlocks up to level 30 content etc.

[Lemuel81]

If FFXIV didn't have much of a story and cutscenes, I would probably lose interest very quickly. It can be a little overwhelming for new players, but the game was meant to be done over time. There is an option to skip it but you do it at a cost. Whenever a friend has an interest in this game, I make it clear that this is a story driven game that unlike most mmos, it is harder to plow through it. If that is what someone desires, FFXIV is not the game for them.

[TarynH]

If FFXIV didn't have much of a story and cutscenes, I would probably lose interest very quickly. It can be a little overwhelming for new players, but there is an option to skip it but you do it at a cost. Whenever a friend has an interest in this game, I make it clear that this is a story driven game that unlike most mmos, it is harder to plow through it. If that is what someone desires, FFXIV is not the game for them.

The thing is, is that the story in XIV is basically the game. Like, it is the content. Other than repeated dungeons and raids, there is very little to do at the "end." The content side of the game is rather shallow and doesn't require a large investment in time. Mainly because the gear can be replaced in a matter of months by simply waiting for the next patch. The biggest time investment is relic weapons, and even that is optional and replaceable. People joke about glamour being the true endgame, and they're not far off.

This is why I don't understand why anyone new would want to skip the story. I get it for someone doing alt characters, but I don't understand new players wanting to skip it all. It's like buying a game where you can just click "skip to end" at the start menu, and fight the final boss to see the credits. No context. No journey. No story. Just skip to the last/latest fight, and repeat it.

That said, I can agree to the OP's complaint to some degree. There are a lot of unnecessary CSs in the game. For instance, I tend to skip the dungeon flyover CSs. I'd rather just see the dungeons as I'm going through them. Almost everything can be skipped though, so it's not a huge deal. And there is an option to never see them again after the initial first time. I don't get wanting to skip them all, but to each their own.

[Skivvy]

Who exactly is billing this as a story-based MMO?

Take a look at the SE shop and see how they describe each expansion.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/a_realm_reborn/system/
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/heavensward/
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/stormblood/

Advertised just like any other MMO - highlighting all the various types of content it has to offer (with story being just a part).

If someone can give me a quote from the Almighty Yoshi confirming that Story should be everyone's main focus and enjoyment, I will concede this point.