Option to unlock content without mandatory MSQ

[Packetdancer]

I mean, I think the bigger problem is that unless I've wildly misunderstood, the OP defined the feature not just as making MSQ wholly optional but also not spoiling the story. So that you could, for instance, sign up, skip right to the Eden raids and go into savage raiding, and then go back and play the story later when you had more time... but not have the Eden raids have spoiled you on any of the MSQ.

Even if mechanically they were willing to make the MSQ optional, that has implications for the MSQ narratively.

It's easy to say "oh, if the MSQ was optional and folks could just go right to Eden raiding out of chargen, that wouldn't affect anyone else's enjoyment of the story". But if SquareEnix were to constrain themselves such that no piece of non-MSQ content could reference things from the MSQ (to avoid spoiling the MSQ for folks), at that point you've changed the nature of the storytelling and the pieces don't all interlock. And changing the nature of the storytelling itself does impact how other people will enjoy the story.

Whether or not I care about someone else skipping the story of not, I would find the game a lot less compelling as a player if the story didn't build on past bits of story; if nothing in the MSQ was ever referenced in any non-MSQ content, I'd feel less like it was a tale of a world and more just a collection of disjointed individual events. And personally, that would interest me less.

Would I stomp off in a sulk because people could skip the story? No.

Would I probably lose interest in the story and wander off to something with a story I found more compelling instead? I know myself well enough to say, "yeah, probably."

And while I don't know how many other folks who are here for the story would say the same, I'm fairly certain that the total quantity is greater than 1.

[SamRF]

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If you're talking about me (OP) you have indeed misunderstood me and I also wasn't too clear on my intention in those replies. Here are some previous replies that acknowledge some things from your post:

Tbh that is kind of a good point. I'm not sure actually how my relationship with MSQ would change if this option is implemented. While I'm pretty sure I would never use this option, it could be that I'd enjoy MSQ less because I'm seeing it as something redundant instead of a mandatory/crucial part of the game.

The story of previous content will also get spoiled (same when you unlock the instances without MSQ I guess, but likely to lesser extend).

I would definitely not want instances to be spoiler free, I personally like the fact that they are (crucial) parts of the story a lot. I just think that there's a difference between spoiling a whole narrative and spoiling by showing an enemy that is part of the story. Except for Castrum Meridianum there aren't any instances that will explain the narrative and context for the fight, you will just see the enemy you are fighting.

It is indeed still a spoiler, but imo not a deal breaker if you were to start MSQ at later time. While if you had to forcefully start with Shadowbringers MSQ narrative without having done any of the previous stuff, I feel like that would spoil too much and make it much less appealing to go through the old MSQ. I could be wrong though since it's very subjective.

[Enla]

Trimming is not necessarily making MSQ optional to unlock content. It's shortening what is in the MSQ, which I support.

At least, that's from what I can gather. We'll find out more details when they're ready to tell us.

This.

And shortening a part they've gotten complaints over for years. A part where the story literally stops and says 'hey let's ignore the story and take you to this area because our team didn't quite understand how to meaningfully get the player through each set piece organically at the time'. To the tune of over 100+ quests where nothing of value would be lost if they were condensed because that was just how badly the story was integrated. No one I've met has demanded that HW and onward be trimmed down because none of the subsequent expansions have that problem. People's issues with ARR wasn't that they wanted it to be optional or that it took too long but that it took too long for literally no reason and was basically the equivalent of a 700 page novel that could safely be edited down into 200 pages without losing a single narrative beat. With that issue apparently slated to be fixed there is unlikely to be any retrofitting going forward.

If people think them doing basic editing work on the story is some hint or proof that SE is going to suddenly make the story optional then they've drunk a bit too much of their own koolaid and aren't paying a lick of attention to the reasons why that change is being implemented. Also, again, SE is notoriously greedy. People are out of their minds if they think they'll integrate story skips for free when that is a solid source of revenue for them to profit of people being impatient.

[Elladie]

I have no issue with anyone skipping the story or skipping the grind to level their chosen job or skipping both. They can already do all of those things.

I do have an issue with changing the way the story progresses through the expansions to accommodate that. Elai is who she is because she experienced Sastasha as a scrub, saw the people in the Waking Sands murdered by the Garleans, killed Nabriales with hatred in her heart because of Moenbryda, wept over Haurchefant, pitied Yotsuyo, and empathised with Emet-Selch even though she knew she had to kill him. The progression through the MSQ is the core of this game, your character's relationships with the NPCs is the core of this game, your emotional investment in this game is a consequence of that. The whole reason Shadowbringers was so highly acclaimed is BECAUSE OF THE STORY.

You may not play for the story, and that's fine. But the vast majority do play for the story even if they aren't articulating that as specifically as I have done. Their progression through the story is why they are invested in the game. Take that away and all you have is another WOW or TESO. I play both of those, but only for a few days a couple of times a year, because I have no connection with them, they're just a bit of fun once in a while.

I am also very sure SE knows all this and has no intention of changing things. The MSQ in ARR had a lot of bloat because the game was new then, and there was nothing else for people to do then. They haven't repeated that bloat in later expansions, and they are sensibly cutting most of the bloat in ARR in a couple of months time.

I don't like telling people to go play another game if they don't like this one, so I won't. But please stop asking SE to change the game most of us do love into something else entirely. If the story became something you could go back and do later - especially if side content such as raids had to NOT spoil that MSQ content - the game would lose its entire heart.

[SannaR]

As I've said before you'd have to have a way for the few who'd take the option to skip the msq to get geared up so that they could unlock and actually enter the end game things. So it wouldn't also be asking SE give a free story skip, but also ask them to give away for them to at least meet min ilv requirements. As they wouldn't be gaining gear from doing the msq or getting the huge amount of gil that you'd get from doing the msq. If we're strictly just asking for the msq to be optional and you know not get any of the rewards from it. That is to say that those poor people somehow haven't dropped from having to grind their faces off to reach max level due to the xp they'd again be missing from opting out of the msq. Which I mean you'd be asking them to make it all work like how a paid story and level skip work and I really don't see that happening.

[kujoestars]

I think OP has a valid question, even if I agree with everyone saying no. And it's understandable if they're someone who either cares only for gameplay or is an alt-oholic. [EDIT: forgot to check how many pages a thread has a again and ended up reacting to first page comments, oops]

That said though, the whole point of this game is to get into the lore and actually learn about the world the devs put so much effort into building. This isn't WoW where you can just bumble your way around while knowing jack squat (and even WoW only unlocks pugging for specific dungeons after you progress a zone's story to that point; of course you can still just waltz in through any dungeon entrance if you find them, iirc). FFXIV isn't WoW though and I appreciate it making everyone do the story so there is little to no confusion on the lore at all. *shudders at every Alliance vs. Horde debate that happens because of few people being both minimally biased AND having the full picture*

So, no, it wouldn't be feasible at all because the FFXIV team WANTS you to experience the story properly. The level skip potions are mainly for people with alts who don't want to have to repeat everything they've already done, but if someone wants to skip story badly enough to fork actual cash they're not stopping them either. But you are paying extra if you want to "cheat" and not play the game as it's intended to be played.

[TheMightyMollusk]

The only thing I would like to see is not being stuck behind the MSQ in order to go from a starter class to a job (Arcanist to Summoner for example). If you did the necessary starter class quests and are the right level, the choice to change should be available.

Arcanist/Summoner is the only class/job change that's gated by the MSQ (since you have to have beaten the primal before you can summon its egi). The rest only require clearing all of the class quests to unlock the job quest. You'll still have to walk to wherever the job trainer is, but you'd have to do that anyway. I had dragoon unlocked before fighting Ifrit on an alt.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Trimming is not necessarily making MSQ optional to unlock content. It's shortening what is in the MSQ, which I support.

At least, that's from what I can gather. We'll find out more details when they're ready to tell us.

The Whole Trimming thing is to Shorten the Post ARR Vanilla MSQ.
Its to shorten the storyline of The Seventh Astral Era leading to Heavensward, because its a LONG F-ing Drag that people have complained about.

[SamRF]

Just read a recent Reddit thread on Reddit.com/r/MMORPG that is somewhat relevant to this thread, and saw a comment that imo offers a very interesting perspective.

Comment from u/Hikari_Netto https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/comm...m_medium=web2x :

I think this huge point of contention with FFXIV—why you see veterans and new players having completely different attitudes about the game so often—really just boils down to the fact that new players experience everything in one go, but longtime players have experienced content bit by bit as its released. I think this is a crucial difference that's frequently overlooked by the community and makes for a much different impression of the game.

If you're like me and have been playing since the 1.0 days or ARR's launch then you're probably a lot more fond of the game overall having seen its growth firsthand. For me, half of the fun of MMOs (especially FFXIV with its strong emphasis on story) is anticipation and speculation. There's a lot of excitement in seeing where things go and having that time in between patches to really digest the content, discuss, and speculate. What's going to happen in the next patch? What primal would make sense here? Wouldn't it be cool if they brought in these bosses from this other game? New players completely lose that meta experience playing it all in one go, and I do think that's unfortunate. Burning through the game all at once seems to kill the magic a bit, but it's certainly not the case for everyone. Without being able to watch the game unfold in real time it takes a very particular mindset to appreciate things in the same way, and plenty of new players, particularly those that love JRPGs, seem to do just fine with the "slog" simply because they tend to join the game with said mindset.

The whole Reddit thread in general is a pretty interesting read to get perspective from MMORPG fans (it definitely isn't the first one regarding newcomer FFXIV experience).

Btw this is not meant as criticism against the pro mandatory MSQ, cause you will find in that thread many to be in favor of MSQ like most here. Just some interesting points and insights.

[Stepjam]

You can't actually get your job crystal until after Sylph Management, which is a few quests after ifrit normal