Option to unlock content without mandatory MSQ

[SannaR]

For at least the optional dungeons, raids and trials that are the only real things locked behind the msq how would those taking this optional skip of the msq get the gear to be able to do those things? The only thing the msq keeps crafter and gathers from is expansion zones needed for quests. Otherwise most things unlock post the GC choice which is a lv 20 msq.

[Avidria]

I doubt they'd do it, but I'd like it if they did. I've had friends quit playing for exactly this reason - because you can't separate group play from the story. You have to do one to do the other no matter what, and you can't even access nearly any expansion content without doing the msq.

Not something I recall really encountering in any other MMO... unless swtor locked planets with the story but I don't actually remember that being a thing except maybe for the start zones and newer zones needing certain quests to get there? Idk it's been years lol

[Sebazy]

This is a pretty tough one TBH.

On one side of the coin, the ARR MSQ is pretty bad and highly protracted. There's little denying that it's quite the wall to get through. IMHO things get much better once you move into the HW era and beyond though.

On the flip side though, simply allowing people to skip the MSQ strikes me as a bad idea. The MSQ Duties and in world fluff at least force you to get somewhat used to your job and hotkeys. Allowing a player to jump straight into the end game with literally no clue what they are doing isn't something I'd relish for the good of DF. Things can get pretty bad as they are.

I do think that an MSQ squish is in order at least though, I think this is something that's been touched on in a couple of live letters?

[SannaR]

This is a pretty tough one TBH.

On one side of the coin, the ARR MSQ is pretty bad and highly protracted. There's little denying that it's quite the wall to get through. IMHO things get much better once you move into the HW era and beyond though.

On the flip side though, simply allowing people to skip the MSQ strikes me as a bad idea. The MSQ Duties and in world fluff at least force you to get somewhat used to your job and hotkeys. Allowing a player to jump straight into the end game with literally no clue what they are doing isn't something I'd relish for the good of DF. Things can get pretty bad as they are.

I do think that an MSQ squish is in order at least though, I think this is something that's been touched on in a couple of live letters?

They're aiming for an ARR squish for like 5.3 i want to say as that'll come out for when they give us the ARR NG+ part. That and there are so many people who either don't realize there are optional things or just don't care about it. I remember a thread back during the patch that came out around when Hells Lid got added and someone complaining about the ilv jump for I want to say the Tsukiyomi fight and they hadn't even unlocked Hells Lid which gives gear because they didn't even realize it existed even though the story was all hey Tataru you n Soroban go have some fun looking into Hells Lid while we go searching for Gosetsu.

[SamRF]

This is a pretty tough one TBH.

On one side of the coin, the ARR MSQ is pretty bad and highly protracted. There's little denying that it's quite the wall to get through. IMHO things get much better once you move into the HW era and beyond though.

On the flip side though, simply allowing people to skip the MSQ strikes me as a bad idea. The MSQ Duties and in world fluff at least force you to get somewhat used to your job and hotkeys. Allowing a player to jump straight into the end game with literally no clue what they are doing isn't something I'd relish for the good of DF. Things can get pretty bad as they are.

I do think that an MSQ squish is in order at least though, I think this is something that's been touched on in a couple of live letters?

Could this be remedied by requiring a mandatory solo instance for each role at certain levels that could act like a barrier? In this case you'd have to first prove being capable at your role before being able to use this option.

[SannaR]

Could this be remedied by requiring a mandatory solo instance for each role at certain levels that could act like a barrier? In this case you'd have to first prove being capable at your role before being able to use this option.

It wouldn't help as people somehow pass the solo instances for their jobs and are still clueless on not only how to play it, but also what some things are like stack markers. Or just simply don't care because they simply only want to put in the minimal effort. I mean the hall of the novice and the gld lv 15 fight both at least tell a tank hey please use these skills, but you still end up with fairly craptastic tanks at lv 80, We've asked for years for other higher level training simulators and so far Yoshida has been very iffy on them.

[Sebazy]

That's legitimately good to hear, whilst some of them are a bit baity, you've thrown out some legitimately interesting (and sometimes amusing) threads

[Leloa]

Play the game how it's suppose to be played and don't be lazy. Why do people refuse to do the actual story which is the reason for this game to exist...

[Stanelis]

Would it be feasible to add an option to unlock instances without making it mandatory to do MSQ?

Most MMOs don't have such a (long) main mandatory questline to unlock content and allow players to journey through the game however they like. People who don't care much for story will have a terrible time in FFXIV.

People who still want to unlock stuff through MSQ can continue to do so and unlock content that way. People who don't care for the MSQ can unlock the instances with this option and decide to perhaps do the MSQ another time.

I'm pretty sure this option would open up the game to (quite a lot) of new players who are for example only interested in combat/crafting/instances/raids/art and don't want to experience forced visual novel.

I would personally never use this option because I greatly enjoy the MSQ but I think this game is missing out on a lot of new players because of the MSQ barrier. Even with an MSQ skip they have to go through lots of quests (towards and at endgame) before unlocking content/instances and have to do so again with each patch.

Why would you be for or against this option? What needs to be taken into consideration?

------------------------------
Edit:
My response to argument concerning players at endgame who will have no idea about what they're doing and thus worsen DF experience:

Won't happen due to the story skip potion.

[Iscah]

The devs have a vested interest in keeping you jumping through as many hoops as the average player is willing to endure. You either pay your subscription (and time) for however long it takes you to get through the MSQ, or pay for a story skip to "fast forward" that process. Money goes into the game; character progress comes out.

Giving immediate access would essentially cost them money in time that you're not spending on their game.

Obviously people may just quit if it's too long, but they seem to be trying to balance that with things like the ARR re-edit to shorten it. And it's more about the large-scale average than keeping every single player.