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

[Penthea]

Most post expansion/ARR content is designed that you do a few hours of story per month. The balance is totally off for new players coming into the game at this point. There is a reason story skip sells well. However, i dont think they make more money in the long term by having people who dont like story delivery/gates choosing between annoyance, pay, or quit.

Does it really sell well? I only know of two people who have used it. And unsurprisingly they both quit the game...because they didn't have much investment in a game they paid to not experience. They couldn't understand why HW was praised so much because they didn't understand why anything was pivotal.

when you start skipping cutscenes and text, it becomes literally just busy work for no purpose. Which is how a lot people handle it, but thats not an optimal game design/user design. What you are saying is, hey man, why cant you just spend 40-80 hours literally doing nothing but running from npc to npc clicking buttons just to get past them?

No of course it's not optimal design because the game isn't designed with players not caring about the story in mind. There are options for those who don't care, but the optimal experience is designed for those who follow the story.

Just like how WoW isn't designed for in-depth story-telling so someone who loves lore won't have an optimal experience due to reasons such as a lot of the story taking place in older games, novels, comics and the majority that is presented in the game is in giant walls of text without any animations or cutscenes accompanying them. But someone who doesn't care would just breeze through.

It's almost as if different games can cater to the different needs of different players! Crazy isn't it? You could...omg, play a different game if you don't like one of the primary elements of FFXIV :O

[Sevrenichi]

Bye forever~ :3

[RokkuEkkusu]

Let's put it this way, the Dragonsong quests in level 60 are shorter than the post-ARR quests by a mile. If you can get past the post ARR quests at level 50, then the level 60 ones shouldn't be much of an issue. For the latter, more is invested in the story and instances than the fetch quests.

As far as endgame goes, don't rush into endgame yet at this point when most are waiting for the new expansion to be released in a little over a month. If you are still playing, experiment with other roles, try side quests, and try to socialize with some people to be prepared for endgame should you choose to pursue higher-end content.

Rushing things just to get things done and try to get to higher-end content tends to burn people out to the seventh hell.

[SereneShiverthorn]

This sounds like myself lol I would just skip everything if youre not enjoying it. Maybe you'll one day run through it on an alt like I did. Or perhaps you've burnt out

[xJimmehx]

Another thing to note is that back in 2.0 I remember running a few (like 5?) dungeons just to be able to unlock the next MSQ. Most of the time, completing the MSQ did not give you much exp and most often you would be gated from the next quest until you were a certain level. (10, 12, 14 15, 20, 25, etc) Now, I wouldn't be surprised if you level a few times from the earlier quest. I can see how you could do so many quests that you'd level up and start on the next set of quests in a loop. If that's the case, It will slow down drastically in Stormblood. I 'think' I remember getting roughly 15-20% of an exp bar for doing a dungeon on my 68 dragoon. I believe the intention was that they wanted it to be fast and easy for new players to catch up. Chances are you are just going to have to power through it. End game is fun imo. (i don't know the less important parts of the story and it hasn't hindered my play what-so-ever)

[Insertcoins]

I feel for you, and you'll have a better response (maybe) from the subreddit as they aren't quite as die-hard about the whole "THIS IS A STORY DRIVEN MMO, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT??!" bs. It's an MMO, with a forced story. That's it. It's truly a shame that they ham fist it down your throat as it does turn away people (like yourself).

I skip the story myself, and I would say that if you can get past the obscene amount of MSQ items, you may find things you enjoy on the other side. Perhaps just take a break from the slog and come back to it to see if you feel any different. Just prepare yourself for a lot more of the same, at least until you're caught up on the MSQ.

Eh... to be really fair here, Final Fantasyhas always been about it's story plots and lore. It's unfair to say SE force feeds you the story. Like that's what a good chunk of people - who play the other games- come here for. It's one thing to say you didn't like it.. but to say SE should not do what they were always known for is a bit... mean. It may be an mmo.. but at is' core it's a JRPG first with mmo aspects. You said it yourself... everything is locked behind the MSQ, to me it's no different then being locked out of endgame thur dungeons like most other mmos. But those are MMOS first... and most aren't JRPGS.

[RubyCirha]

to be honest i want to have sympathy for your plight but this is a story bassed game also what the hell is the point of playing a game without story to me there isnt one story driven games are where its at at least imo

[Duskane]

ive recently made a Alt and really did hate the ARR stuff and it doesn't even get interesting till you meet Cid and post ARR is just absolutely terrible
once i got to HW i was so glad
then i remembered aethercurrents

[savageink]

ive recently made a Alt and really did hate the ARR stuff and it doesn't even get interesting till you meet Cid and post ARR is just absolutely terrible
once i got to HW i was so glad
then i remembered aethercurrents

what is the deal with aethercurrent hate? I honestly liked them better when they were first released and totally invisible and stuck to the side of a chasm you had to jump on a cliff from above to get. Now they are bright glowing green and totally easy to find especially at night and they mostly just sit next to the road. the others are pretty much tied to the msq and show up as you go. It's not WoW where you need 7 endgame reps at max and have to sacrifice a live chicken to get flying.

[Jojoya]

The ability to skip cutscenes is there for those who don't want to watch. If it's the only objection you have to the game, it's not worth quitting over.

Not every game is right for every player. The OP has evidently found a game that isn't right for them.

It is the right game for others. A friend and I are leveling up new alts together. We've been watching every cutscene as we go through even though we've seen them before. We're having a good time because we're not trying to rush through the story by skipping over what tells a large portion of it.

Exactly. And if we could remove the ARR Tataru errand boy part, that be great

Agree that should be removed from the MSQ though they should be retained as side quests. Taturu's behavior in the Four Lords quests would seem extremely out of place if you hadn't witnessed her earlier efforts in those MSQ quests.