Can we start getting serious about having ARR restructured?

[MoofiaBossVal]

It's relieving to hear that they will be compacting ARR, but I'm worried as to what they might cut. There aren't any "filler" arcs, every arc builds up the story, and every arc has filler.

You can't just wholesale cut out the Company of Heroes arc. It introduces Riol, one of the more prominent Scion NPCs, and finding Drex (the Imperial soldier stranded outside of Wineport) and seeing that he was a perfectly normal guy just like everyone else really helped humanized the Empire, especially when even still, after all this time, the Empire is still portrayed as an overall one note cartoon evil empire. Plus, Shamani was one of the most memorable ARR NPCs as well, was nice to see him pop up every now and then. Yes, keep the part with Trachtoum.

In fact, now that I think about it, you can't cut out a lot of sections either because those seemingly minor NPCs come back to have a big impact on the story, such as Laurentius, Yuyuhase, Alliane, Meffrid, and so on. It's just really great to meet these seemingly inconsequential NPCs earlier and then see them come back in a big way. It makes the world feel alive, like there are people doing things outside of the main cast.

The Garuda arc could be heavily edited down, the only thing that really needs to stay is Cid's explanation of how to breach the barrier, as that comes back as a plot point later. Otherwise, the whole fetch questchain could be eliminated in it's entirety. "Go to the guild and ask if they have a corrupt wind crystal". "Sorry, we don't have corrupted wind crystal, go to this guy out in Drystone and ask him". "Oh hey, go get this thing from me over there". "Thanks for the thing! Oh wait, you're looking for a corrupted crystal? Well this thing isn't it. Go over there and get one!". "Oh, you came back? ... Oh, you wanted a corrupted WIND crystal! Well you ACTUALLY need to go over there to get one!"... etc. I'm sure the Grand Companies have at least one so it'd be as simple as having Cid ask a Twin Adders NPC to go get one from the quartermaster. Boom, done. It'd retain the sense of urgency that Garuda threat poses. Passing out soup before the final battle kinda takes away the urgency.

The post 2.0 Primal segments could definitely be edited down so that they aren't as intrusive. No, I don't need to spend an hour running back and forth through Sahagin territory whilst pulling aggro from everything we pass by. Just let me find the priest, raft the two ships together and fight Leviathan. Yes, keep the part with Trachtoum. No, I don't need to spend an hour running through the Sylphlands chasing an NPC whilst pulling aggro from everything I pass by. Just let me get straight to the comedy bits with the Archons and meet Ramuh.

[Enkidoh]

Not to mention the whole point of the Company of Heroes arc is completely lost on most players, that the reason you're doing all that busywork is because the Company of Heroes paid a huge price in human life taking down Titan the last time (before the Calamity), and the guilt weighs heavily on their conciences, thus they want to be absolutely sure you're really capable of facing the Lord of Crags like you say you are. Talk is cheap in Eorzea so soon after the Calamity and, even though you already faced a Primal once before and lived to tell the tale, mind and soul still intact, they want to be able to know you can walk the walk as well as talk the talk, beyond all reasonable doubt. And if you failed still, at least you would have had a nice last meal!

Also, it was mentioned exactly what you were getting in for when you first signed up at the Adventurer's Guild: that adventuring is usually seemingly trivial assisting the commonfolk with their problems, and that it is rarely "of realm shaking importance", but you're building rapport with the people of Eorzea, who are mistrutful of foreigners as a result of foreign interference causing the Calamity. And all that comes back to help you when you need it the most lore wise, at the end of 2.55

when you're accused of assassinating the Sultana no one in Eorzea believes it for a second, despite the claims of the Brass Blades and the Crystal Braves, because it makes no logical sense, why would the person who bends over backwards for the small man and woman in the street and helps them with their problems kill Ul'dah's beloved ruler?! No, this is clearly just another evil Monetarist plot! Even after Lolorito's hasty hatchet-job to conceal the truth when the player escapes custody, no one gives the player up and actually cover up your tracks to protect you.

Showing just how much Eorzeans end up respecting the Warrior of Light, and not just because they crush Primals and defended the realm from the Garleans. Because they're altruistic and humble, and put others before themselves.

Cutting out all those minor quests means a lot of that context is completely lost, so I'm a little concerned about this latest news. I just hope Yoshi and the writing teams treat the story respectfully so that narrative context is preserved, as it would be detrimental to the game if it is not.

[Hezzlocks]

I don't think anyone is saying the company of heroes aren't important. What isn't important is all the back and forth chasing after the perfect wine. THAT could easily be shortened.

As mentioned every arc has filler, but some have more filler than others, and some of that filler could easily be delegated to a sidequest without impacting the main story at all. Examples include: The back and forth wine making pre Titan, some of the part gathering pre Garuda, Sunken Temple of Qarn and Hard mode Ifrit/Garuda/Titan post ARR, and some of the quests related to the Domans like playing hide and seek and sniffing the Chocobo.

Much of this could become a sidequest without impacting the main story. I mean, it's not like the Hard mode primals are developing a character or anything, like Titan Hard did in the post-HW story with Alisae. They're just there to make people do the Hard mode primals to keep their queues alive, something that isn't necessary anymore with the DF roulettes.

[Jeeves72]

Unfortunately a lot of the extra flavor from the Seventh Astral Era quests is already lost on most players who tune out during it. I am normally a vocal advocate for not skipping cutscenes/dialogue, and even I succumbed to skipping through large swaths of that section of MSQ until things started to pick up again. If it was dull enough to cause me to skip, it was doubtlessly dull enough to cause thousands of others to do the same, if not unsubscribe outright.

I have full confidence that they can drastically shorten what's there while still hitting the important notes (yes, that includes driving home the fact that the WoL is humble), and thanks to improved pacing, more players will actually absorb that part of the story. Whether they remove some quests entirely, dovetail some quests into others or keep them cutting down on the busywork between cutscenes, I'm sure that they will do it artfully, and the story will be better off for their efforts.

[JeroenXP1]

As a new player or well i lvled to 31 about half a year ago and picked up the game now and actually playing with a friend now. Anyway in short we are at the part we try to do the quest chain leading up to heavensward (about 60 out of 100 done now in 4-5 hours...). And although we have some big laughs on our own i can say the content is laughable. We understand that story is a thing in this game but both of us don't really care about it cause there is 0 challenge and mostly just fetch quests as in like talk to person A and then B. Would it not just be better giving an option too follow the quest line for those who love the story. And another option to to just give all the rewards or simplified it by a few quests with a warning that you miss out on the lore ?

I read that they are working on it but as said I do not wish they just scrap a big chunk of the story for those actually liking to play for the story. But I can see a lot of people will drop the game at this part, we are not giving up though

[Wanzzo]

I totally agree with Enkidoh!

I love the story in each part of it. All this feeling of being small to the world and slowly getting a place in everyone's heart in a well made telling story.
But I agree that Company of Heroes's part is REALLY a waste of time not because of the context or their motivations, but in the execution. Let's imagine if each one have only 1 to 2 quests for us to do in order to prove our worthy for them. in order to do that, we just:

- forget and erase out of our lives that roegadyn that pretend to be one of the member of the company of heroes (he took us for a fool at least 8 times). This guy doesn't add anything to the lore or to the feeling of accomplishment after Titan. He just waste our time.
- reducing each Company of Heroes member's quest to 1 ~ 3 quests each, but more challenging or meaningful to their intent. They could be focused in less ingredients to the feast or give us direct tasks in order to get all them. So, no more talk to a guy in a cabin, then kill flies, then talk to him again, then kill coeurls, then talk to him again, then leave the coeurl stuff to a guy in the far away place then talk to the first again, then kill a gobbue, then go talk to the far away guy again, then kill something near the river, then talk to the cabin guy again, then talk to the far away guy again then watch a cutscene and then get 1 freaking of those ingredients... in a context that you ran equaly for each other 4 pieces for this freaking feast before and have at least one more to go... =/

I believe there is a way to short things up without removing the sensation of being tested by them and the feast could happen with your effort before throwing yourself inside the Titan's lair to die miserably or to become another Titan's Bane.

I love the way your reputation improves after that part to everyone in Eorzea (attracting more than just common folks as we see later). You do an important step to become recognized as a Defender of Eorzea since Titan. I mean, I know how important is this part to the story, but I agree that part can be shortened, prunned without disrupting this feeling specialy to new players. They can change it with balance in mind: speed of completion and lore meanings.