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

[Krotoan]

hello

i tested this game for 2 weeks now, reached level 60 and quit the game during the dragonsong quests. most annoying game of all time. this is my experience:

go to npc -----> cutscene -----> accept quest -----> cutscene -----> make quest -----> go to npc -----> cutscene ------> accept new quest -----> cutscene -----> go to next npc -----> cutscene
-----> do quest -----> cutscene -----> go to npc -----> cutscene -----> accept dungeon-quest -----> cutscene -----> enter dungeon -----> cutscene -----> arrive first boss -------> cutscene
-----> arive next boss -----> cutscene -----> arrive last boss -----> cutscene -----> defeat last bos -----> cutscene ------> go out of dungeon ------> cutscene-...................


WTF. from 2 weeks of playing i watched at least 1,5 weeks cutscenes without doing anything than watching. i quit this collection of cutscenes yesterday. i don't want to watch cutscenes for weeks just to be able to play the game i paid for! i love good lore and dont have a problem with some cutscenes, but this is absoluteley ridiculous.

So.. what did you WANT to do? What would have been the optimal experience for you to stick around?

[Alucard135]

So.. what did you WANT to do? What would have been the optimal experience for you to stick around?

Fetch quests.

[Krotoan]

Fetch quests.

LOL ewww..

Seriously though the OP told us what they didn't like which is useful... but not what they want to see which would be very helpful.

[DBriggs304]

Only difference is the story is continuous in XIV? No, XIV forces you to complete 100% of the MSQ if you wish to be playing current battle content. Or maybe you just like exploring new zones? Have to keep up on that MSQ! Want to try new jobs? Hope you have access to Kugane...which requires full ARR/HW MSQ. There is a better way of handling this, and simply telling players that XIV isn't for them if they don't like the story is the wrong response.

XI let you complete most of the story at your own pace. Yes, you would at times need to complete up to a certain point, or have a certain rank, but the completion was left up to you after you unlocked whatever job/content it was you wanted. The story is not congruent in XI, but that's something that could have been improved upon with the release of XIV WITHOUT forcing it on players in-full.

At this point though, I'm going to tap out. I'm not trying to pull the "I'm gonna have the final word and will listen to nothing else!", but the last time this topic was around (last week or two?), it just goes around in circles and is a bit pointless.

Which was the entire point. Its FF and its story driven even in the MMO format, hence the amount of cutscenes. Fortunately, as some have mentioned, you can skip most and watch them later (though the original raid in arr being unskippable is very annoying at times, but I see why they did it)

Regardless, there is still plenty for players to do.

[Kaedan]

Why not just skip the story if you're not interested in it?

There's always the story skip potions as well if skipping the cutscenes isn't fast enough for you.

[xxvaynxx]

OK, last reply (maybe. lol). I'm quite the professional when it comes to skipping dialogue and going through the quests. I've been around this game since ARR launched, and I'm still here (albeit with breaks), even though I haven't read the story. I've also dumped far too much money into this game through subs and cash shop items. But with your reasoning, I shouldn't be in this game because I don't like the story.

Does that not seem a bit off to you?

Well no because you can actually take it, the OP can not.
You like the game enough to actually skip through the story and still keep playing, the op is telling us all he's quitting because the story.

I have quite a bit of friends that just skip the story so maybe I shouldn't have worded it the way I did but my and mostly everybody else point still stands that the story is a big part and there is a lot of it.

People here have pointed out there are lots of things to do to break up the flow.

The op said he finished the dragon song war, so he can do void ark 24man, crystal tower, unlock the side dungeons, Alexander, coil and Primals (Sophia,Sep,zervan), work on your relic ARR or HW version.

If the op is still here, you can try doing that. I came off as hostile so sorry about that, but you said you liked the gameplay so you can try that stuff to break up the flow. You have about a month until ShB, no need to rush.

[Melichoir]

hello

i tested this game for 2 weeks now, reached level 60 and quit the game during the dragonsong quests. most annoying game of all time. this is my experience:

go to npc -----> cutscene -----> accept quest -----> cutscene -----> make quest -----> go to npc -----> cutscene ------> accept new quest -----> cutscene -----> go to next npc -----> cutscene
-----> do quest -----> cutscene -----> go to npc -----> cutscene -----> accept dungeon-quest -----> cutscene -----> enter dungeon -----> cutscene -----> arrive first boss -------> cutscene
-----> arive next boss -----> cutscene -----> arrive last boss -----> cutscene -----> defeat last bos -----> cutscene ------> go out of dungeon ------> cutscene-...................


WTF. from 2 weeks of playing i watched at least 1,5 weeks cutscenes without doing anything than watching. i quit this collection of cutscenes yesterday. i don't want to watch cutscenes for weeks just to be able to play the game i paid for! i love good lore and dont have a problem with some cutscenes, but this is absoluteley ridiculous.

You are playing the game yo paid for. That being said, good luck to you and your future gaming experiences.

[Valderen]

First, I love the MSQ, some parts less, some parts more...but in general I love it, and I think it's a great feature that makes FF14 what it is.

That said the MSQ is a huge barrier to entry, although if my personal experience, the people I know who quit have done so for other reasons, although for a few the MSQ was the nail in the coffin. They might have stuck longer, but would have quit at some point for another reason. All the people I know who love the fundamental mechanics of the game have stayed with it even though they are not fans of the MSQ.

The issue is also having to do it all at once if you start late. If you play it as it comes out it is far easier to get through if you don't like that much.

[Kalise]

The story is a major part of XIV's identity and what differentiates it from its competitors.

WoW does end-game content better (Though, gear upgrading is pretty bad) but is not even close to XIV in terms of story.

ESO does open world content the best of any MMO on the market. But it's story is a bunch of independent storylines, there's no deep overarching plot, just a lot of little stories (There IS an overarching plot, it's just not particularly interesting or deep)

BDO does combat very well and arguably the best of the MMO's on the market (Though, it has literally the worst gear progression ever devised in the history of video games) but the story is very minor and completely ignorable (You only get like, a bag out of doing the entire thing and maybe a couple of platinum...)

Blade and Soul does better combat with an okay-ish story (Also, much better PvP) but can kind of lack end-game content (Outside of PvP)

Star Wars: ToR does a comparably good story. But lacks the "Multiplayer" part of "MMO" by having absolute trash dungeons/raids.

XIV's thing is it has a very good story, with a lot of depth and some interesting characters and some... Not so interesting characters *Cough*Minfilia*Cough*, alongside some adequate gameplay.

Now, for the most part, it's pretty good with its cutscene distribution, however, there is a notable part around the end of ARR and beginning of HW where it gets a bit obnoxious with its quests... With lots of trivial fetch quests, lots of cutscenes for things that could have just been said over the Linkpearl you were given not even 5 minutes prior...

That said, if you can't stick it out through the story and the plethora of cutscenes, then it sucks but this won't be the game for you. Do you NEED to watch all the cutscenes? No, you can play the game just fine by skipping everything. Can you enjoy the game without the cutscenes? Sure I guess, I just think that such a person who'd rather skip the cutscenes might be better off playing another game that focuses on their preferred aspect of an MMO game as opposed to skipping XIV's main feature and only interacting with its, average at best, underlying systems.

As such, good luck Sir and hopefully you find a game that suits your needs. Perhaps take a perusal at one of the ones I've mentioned above to see if any of them tickle your fancy?

[xJimmehx]

I skip most cutscenes. I started skipping nearly all of them since roughly 2.6/2.8. My wife watches them and informs me of anything that I SHOULD view. She watches them all anyways. (i dont force her XD) The story is terrible imo. Sure its "good" for an mmo. Mmo stories as a whole are bad imo.
Its nothing compared to single player story games. (FF6/7/8/9/x/12/Chrono Trigger/Grandia/Tactics/etc)

I think talking to people who tell me exactly what i just watched is pointless and stupid. Picking up some ladies coins in Ul'Dah, was pointless and stupid. A lot of these quests ARE fetch quests. Except the Job Quests and some of the MSQ. Especially the moogle stuff. OTL Even as i finished Stormblood, I found them to be so plentiful.

I prefer things like job quest(the DRK story is good) and quests that dont gate content. I also prefer quests that do not ask me to teleport all over the place. The cutscenes dont help at all. They use generic emotes to animate them. Using better cutscenes would be a definite plus. Though that would likely mean less content made overall, per patch. Because SE likes money too much to give a little back to the game.
I actually prefer Runescape for its questing design. Much like ESO, they consists mostly of mini stories that are optional and each tells an interesting, well thought out, story. Some are intertwined with one another and some are just tales of random villagers and where their lover disappeared to, or they need to find out why the villagers are all sick, theyre hearing random noises under the church and people are constantly being attacked at night, etc.

Substance matters in story telling. Final Fantasy is a name that should never be associated with fetch quests. At one point in time, they were heralded as the series that made the most impressive games for both visuals and story. Most of the world has caught up now and honestly many have beaten XIV at this point. (ESO graphics and quests are far superior, imo. I chose XIV because ESO doesnt have chocobos or that Final Fantasy atmosphere. That and the classes and combat systems are all bad. ESO also doesnt have much to do in comparison to XIV. XIV has the better game play)