Option to unlock content without mandatory MSQ

[Raltar]

So like, while it can be enjoyable the first few times, the gameplay(dungeons, raids, trials, ect) is pretty lackluster in this game. The only thing that keeps me playing is the story. And I'm sure it is the same with most people that play this game.

[Reap00]

So like, while it can be enjoyable the first few times, the gameplay(dungeons, raids, trials, ect) is pretty lackluster in this game. The only thing that keeps me playing is the story. And I'm sure it is the same with most people that play this game.

Thanks for your opinion. I don't agree and I am sure most people that play the game feel the same way.

[VarkingRunesong]

Thanks for your opinion. I don't agree and I am sure most people that play the game feel the same way.

Yeah these opinions are going to be super split. Some people are here to do their mmo routine. Others enjoy the story. This game has some for everyone. I, personally, wish my EXP wasn't locked at level 50 until I finish the next two quests or so but it is what is it.

[Darkpaw]

Well you misunderstood what I meant with "true WoW competitor" and I also didn't clarify enough what I meant with it so my bad on that one. Elder Scrolls Online is also considered top 3 but it's not really a WoW competitor how I see it because it attracts a different playerbase than WoW. Players who like WoW won't be attracted to ESO combat and class system I think.

FFXIV seems to me almost a "true WoW competitor" because it's pretty similar in terms of combat. Still quite different but I'm sure players from each game will recognize enough and enjoy combat in both games. The only big difference that doesn't allow FFXIV being an easy and welcome alternative for WoW players is the fact that content is locked behind MSQ barrier.

For that reason I doubt FFXIV will ever surpass WoW in amount of players. Having such dedication towards MSQ however does probably provide much more stable community for FFXIV because of the Final Fantasy fans, so it's for sure a good thing for the game, but I wondered if there could be a compromise that would please both the Final Fantasy fans as well as players like WoW refugees.

Edit: also you should allow me to acknowledge your point and clarify myself before calling me a troll, a matter of respect.

There really isn’t a good compromise. Because it’s a matter of tearing the heart and soul out of this game to give us another bland, empty, MMO experience or stay true to what the devs created.

Sure this game is not for everyone. Every last one of us I’m sure has friends they wish they could play this game with but their friends just aren’t into it, and you know what. That’s okay.

Giving the option to skip the story any more than what is already available. Is a disservice to the community and the following this game has already created, and is a good way to alienate those who stuck with this game even after the 1.x disaster. It’s a sell out corporate move that would doom this game.

Much like Activision is killing Blizzard, or EA killed Bioware.

[SamRF]

There really isn’t a good compromise. Because it’s a matter of tearing the heart and soul out of this game to give us another bland, empty, MMO experience or stay true to what the devs created.

Sure this game is not for everyone. Every last one of us I’m sure has friends they wish they could play this game with but their friends just aren’t into it, and you know what. That’s okay.

Giving the option to skip the story any more than what is already available. Is a disservice to the community and the following this game has already created, and is a good way to alienate those who stuck with this game even after the 1.x disaster. It’s a sell out corporate move that would doom this game.

Much like Activision is killing Blizzard, or EA killed Bioware.

Yeah I understand now what you mean with "heart and soul" of the game and how the game would indeed perhaps start feeling like an empty MMO experience with implementation of this option. Having mandatory MSQ kind of forces you to play the game as intended so you will have to experience the quality of a worthy main series FF title, bringing justice to the series' reputation and becoming a more memorable experience when the story eventually ends. Good, I'm convinced.

[SamRF]

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I agree with what you're saying. However I don't think they are planning to keep this game going for another 10 years (with live updates). Story will probably end after about 2 expansions I would guess and we will get a whole new MMO.

Another suggestion I had made in a previous thread (which was also met with just as much criticism) was to treat this whole story from ARR till whatever next expansion will be as 1 saga and then continue the story with a completely new concept/threat without involving any of the previous story elements so people can safely level boost and story skip to that point and enjoy next saga story to the fullest, even though they didn't experience 2.0 till 6.0 . Potentially increasing longevity of this game.

My concern was that the endgame community would get smaller and smaller with each expansion because the MSQ keeps stacking up. Some players that are up to date with endgame MSQ will stop for whatever reason (bored, switching game, dying irl) while there will be less and less new players coming in due to the hundreds of hours of MSQ. Those new players may be enjoying old MSQ and get to endgame eventually, put it will take longer and longer with each expansion and I'm sure many will never get there because a couple hundred hours is a serious dedication, especially for casual players. It will take many months to get to endgame if you play casually and don't have that much time.

What also needs to be considered is the fact that combat will be getting more and more boring at lower levels with each expansion, as they lock abilities behind higher levels. Unless they change the system by next expansion. Keeping old MSQ instances relevant will also get harder (could be fixed by adding alternative solo instance by messing with numbers)

However after this thread I do get the argument for continuous mandatory MSQ, although I don't think the game can last many more expansions with current formula.

[linay]

I don't think the game can last many more expansions with current formula.

That's why there is the MSQ autocomplete potion. If they keep at the same price, you get to skip more expansion in one go the more expansion there is.

And if it ends, then I'll look forward to a new Final Fantasy/SE MMORPG for more stories and adventures.

[Packetdancer]

Another suggestion I had made in a previous thread (which was also met with just as much criticism) was to treat this whole story from ARR till whatever next expansion will be as 1 saga and then continue the story with a completely new concept/threat without involving any of the previous story elements so people can safely level boost and story skip to that point and enjoy next saga story to the fullest, even though they didn't experience 2.0 till 6.0 . Potentially increasing longevity of this game.

I can see where you're coming from, but if you just come up with a new relatively-isolated story arc still involving the established cast... well, at that point, isn't that basically Shadowbringers? Even though the story stands on its own a lot more than Heavensward (for instance) did, it still builds on all the things that came before. People who story-jump right to ShB and still want to enjoy the story are like, "Wait, who is this person? Why am I supposed to care?" And the impact of things you learn lore-wise is greater because of all the previous history with the Ascians and how Hydaelyn and Zodiark's conflict has been portrayed previously.

I'd argue that even 2.0—itself a 'let's start a new saga'—suffers from this a bit; I've had friends start playing recently who are like, "I get that this 'Louisoix' person was important somehow, but what the heck did he do? What was this 'Circle of Knowing' anyway?" or "Who the hell was this 'Nael van Darnus'?" and so on; folks familiar with the 1.0 storyline, meanwhile, have the context.

This isn't to say you can't find ways to mitigate that, but it takes a not-insignificant amount of time. And to separate it out entirely—to get rid of all our current characters like the Scions, Raubahn, Pipin, the Elder Seedseer, Aymeric, Cid, Wedge, Biggs, Nero, Shadowhunter, Estinien, etc.—feels to me like at that point it's less "the next expansion" and more like when a successful television show turns into a franchise and cancels one show while a new one launches. Sure, they took place in the same universe, but not everyone who liked "Star Trek: the Next Generation" moved on to "Star Trek: Deep Space 9". And not everyone who loved DS9 moved on to Voyager. Not everyone who enjoyed Voyager moved on to Enterprise. And no one enjoyed Enterprise.

(I kid. Mostly.)

Plenty of people played the Secret World despite the objectively broken combat system solely because we enjoyed the story, and I have no doubt there's a similar chunk of FFXIV players who play the game solely for the story and don't care much about savage endgame or fine-tuning their combat rotation. (And then there's people who care about both things, like me.) We have no way to know what percentage of the playerbase that represents; I don't know that even SquareEnix necessarily knows. And we don't know what SquareEnix's target playerbase size is; sometimes you don't want a game to expand too much beyond a target level because the resources necessary to maintain the playerbase become too high.

(Presumably SquareEnix does know their target size. Or else they need to have serious words with some department of the company.)

That said, I do think that catering too heavily to any one niche of a game's playerbase at the expense of others is unwise. If alienating the story-driven playerbase is almost certainly a bad idea for a game like this, I don't think alienating the endgame chasers and hardcore raiders is a great idea either; I'd argue that the in-game economy around any given patch is driven by those chasing the new glamour items (witness how much the Rebel Coat went for when 5.1 hit, and how much the Dalmascan stuff is going for right now) and those chasing gear for raiding (witness how much the Neo-Ishgardian stuff went for initially). But catering too heavily to one smaller target, such as making your entire focus the diehard raiders...

Well, as I said in another thread, press F to pay respects to WildStar.

If the playerbase is at or near the target size right now, and 65% (hypothetical number) of the playerbase are casual players who are here for the story 30% are diehard raiders and endgame chasers solely here for endgame content who don't care about the MSQ, while 5% are here solely to gather/craft and play triple triad... well, if you restart the story—effectively launching a new 'show'—maybe not all of those 65% follow you. I know a lot of people—me included—who eventually drifted away from SWTOR after they basically went "Okay, and now... entirely new story nearly entirely unrelated to all previous story! *jazzhands*" (Despite the fact that I really did enjoy the addition of Theron and Lana to the companion group.)

If the playerbase is way below their desired the target size... well, then maybe it makes sense for them to examine options to get more folks in who don't care about the story.

But without access to numbers that only SquareEnix has—assuming anyone has an accurate census of the playerbase's interests and motives for sticking around—I expect it's really hard for anyone to know whether a massive shift in story like that would be a wise decision or a really ill-advised one. So I imagine that for now, carrying the story onwards (for the story-focused folks) while providing jump potions (for those who want to hop right into the content) is their way of hedging their bets.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

No. This is a Story Driven MMO.
Many of those Instances you do and go into are Tied to the Story.
If you wanna unlock content in this game, you need to invest the time and effort to do it.

As unpopular as it may be to some groups of people.....if FFXIV isn't your type of game. Or your type or speed of MMO, then play something else.

[BloodRubyXII]

Can't think of an MMO I've played where a large portion of end-game dungeons aren't locked behind MSQ progression apart from games that aren't in the traditional tab target/action combat style ie runescape (and even that has a large portion of it's endgame bosses locked behind individual questlines - and then that has some of it's top bosses locked behind questlines that are like 15 years old.