Should I insist in the game?

[kadriel]

So, after dropping the game a couple years back, I decided to give it another go.

I enjoyed the combat (it starts slows but gets better as you get more powers), the aestethics... but, around the time of my tenth "run half way across the world to talk to some guy just so he can tell you do go back all the way and talk to the other guy" kind of quest, I pretty much gave up on the story. I decided to just watch a video or something and try to rush it to reach with my friend who have more time to play and finished arr quest to unlock jobs.

I am currently lvl 42, doing the lvl 28 msq, and I am pretty much burnt. I can't handle the fetch quests, I missed most of the story, and find myself in the same spot I was the first time I dropped the game (coincidently I checked and my character was 37 at that time, so probably around the same place in msq).

Long story short is: if I get a story skip potion, will I be able to enjoy the game? Do the quests after ARR change from the unbearable fetch quests? Or is this game just not for me?

From reddit it seens even though most people thing arr msq can be quite dragged, a lot of them also say that this is a story game and If I am not enjoying it so far it might not be for me. And I don't want to dish even more money on the game if I am past the point of enjoying it.

[KageTokage]

The questing experience does get more stream-lined and has less filler and fluff post-ARR, but if you find it totally unbearable I doubt you'll enjoy the expansions, especially if you're not particularly invested in the story or lore.

Then again, there are some people who just skip through literally everything because only the actual gameplay in dungeons/raids/trials appeals to them.

[StriderShinryu]

It's pretty much generally accepted that once you get into Heavensward content proper the game not only improves but feels a little more streamlined in it's questing/presentation.
Also, the early game material is supposed to be updated with the next major patch (late July, maybe?) so if you really are interested in the early material but just want it presented in a more streamlined manner you could wait for that.

So, yeah, you could skip or just wait a little longer (or push through it as it is right now).

Now, all that said, it's still an MMO. You're always going to be getting quests to "go talk to that guy way over there and come back" or "go there and kill 5 things then come back." FF14 does a pretty reasonable job of dressing them up and not throwing too many there and back quests in your face (without at least giving you good reason). It's always going to be do some busy work-ish questing, do a dungeon/boss fight, get some story, repeat to some extent. So if it's the MMO formula that's bugging you then maybe you should cut your losses. FF14 is a great MMO, but it's still a fairly standard MMO.

[kadriel]

I come from DDO which is a complete instance based MMO (Just dungeons, with lore either included in the dungeon or given by the quest giver), that I enjoyed quite a bit. Might explain some of it.

I think I would be ok with fetch quests every now and then, but from the responses I am guessing they make up most of the content of the game, so yeah, maybe I should cut the losses

[SamRF]

Only thing potentially interesting about the questst in this game, is the story. The objectives will be very streamlined and boring throughout the whole game, they take your hand along every step of the way and nothing exciting happens, even when you're about to face an enemy they will almost always give a purpe indicator warning to put the final nail in the coffin on your immersion. There's also usually very little variance in quest objectives, although it does get better with later expansions. Only time something exciting happens is during cutscenes. Solo instances you come along the way for some quests can be nice, but all quests and gametime considered, there are very few of those.

So yeah, only thing making the quests worthwile is the story. If that doesn't interest you, you'd be in for a long grind for many hours even when you skip every cutscene. Buying a story skip could perhaps be worth it if you're strictly interested in high-end raiding, other than that I really wouldn't bother since this game is kind of lacking in endgame combat content for casuals, especially if you skip all story.

[TyrTry]

So, after dropping the game a couple years back, I decided to give it another go.

I enjoyed the combat (it starts slows but gets better as you get more powers), the aestethics... but, around the time of my tenth "run half way across the world to talk to some guy just so he can tell you do go back all the way and talk to the other guy" kind of quest, I pretty much gave up on the story. I decided to just watch a video or something and try to rush it to reach with my friend who have more time to play and finished arr quest to unlock jobs.

I am currently lvl 42, doing the lvl 28 msq, and I am pretty much burnt. I can't handle the fetch quests, I missed most of the story, and find myself in the same spot I was the first time I dropped the game (coincidently I checked and my character was 37 at that time, so probably around the same place in msq).

Long story short is: if I get a story skip potion, will I be able to enjoy the game? Do the quests after ARR change from the unbearable fetch quests? Or is this game just not for me?

From reddit it seens even though most people thing arr msq can be quite dragged, a lot of them also say that this is a story game and If I am not enjoying it so far it might not be for me. And I don't want to dish even more money on the game if I am past the point of enjoying it.

It seems you already have your mind made up. I can't tell you if you will or won't enjoy the game simply by buying a skip potion. The primary elements will stay regardless of whatever expansion you end up playing just with tweaked mechanics and aesthetic changes.

TLDR; you get a quest, you complete that quest, and you get exp or money. Do the fetch quest get significantly less in later expansions? Absolutely, but they're still present. Does the story "get better" in later expansions? Depends on who you ask.

If the story is not for you, then there is plenty the game has to offer other than the story elements; you just have to slog through the story to get many of those offers available to you.

[LalafellDown]

The story gets better with HW, drags on in SB and gets to the point in SHB. A lot of fetch quests in between though.

[SamRF]

Now, all that said, it's still an MMO. You're always going to be getting quests to "go talk to that guy way over there and come back" or "go there and kill 5 things then come back." FF14 does a pretty reasonable job of dressing them up and not throwing too many there and back quests in your face (without at least giving you good reason). It's always going to be do some busy work-ish questing, do a dungeon/boss fight, get some story, repeat to some extent. So if it's the MMO formula that's bugging you then maybe you should cut your losses. FF14 is a great MMO, but it's still a fairly standard MMO.

Other MMOs usually have much more interesting quest design. Just looking at other major MMOs like WoW, GW2, ESO. Quests there are much more interesting and they give you more autonomy and variance. They don't feel as much of artificial step by step triggers like in FFXIV. There's also extremely low amount of combat in FFXIV quests, you usually won't be required to kill more than 3 mobs per given quest, not even sidequests, which makes you long for any combat at some point.

Let's take WoW quests for example, from excort missions on vehicle to litteraly turning into a flying elemantal and killing a giant boss on top of a huge volcano I was astounded by fun I had with quest objectives in that game compared to FFXIV (I played FFXIV first).

Examples:

• There could be a quest in which you have to collect 10 items by killing mobs, then combine the items to perform a ritual for example, then after you do the ritual a huge demon spawns. This all as 1 objective which you can all do without interacting with anything specific which makes it much more immersive and gives you a feeling of having autonomy.
• A quest you sometimes get on your own without the involvement of an npc, you might have to investigate a crime scene or something and you keep going further on the investigation (which you accept and complete on the go).
• Quests in which you have to talk to npc's in which you can choose dialogue that can turn the NPC against you.
• Small bits of parkour
• Converting mobs and making them follow you and help you with ongoing fights.
• Having to escort NPC's, going to fight some kind of boss together with your questgiver.
• Having to steal a key from guards to open the locks of prison crates to free your allies (and in return they help you fighting for example).
• Quests in which you transform in some different entity in which you travel and fulfill some duty
• etc, probably other stuff as well since there seems much more possible in terms of variance.

Things like this are unheard of in FFXIV. Compared to this, our quest objectives feel incredibly boring imo. Likely has to do with the instanced nature of this game, scripting and engine that may make it impossible to have too much variance or mechanics in open world content. You can see that there's an attempt to introduce more variance and interesting quest mechanics in later expansions, but they feel and play kind of awkward imo.

I took WoW as an example, but the other major MMOs and others might have even more interesting quest design. ESO is a pretty unfair comparison I guess since it's basically an Elder Scrolls game disguised as an MMO.

Bottom line imo is that FFXIV is notably lacking in this aspect.

[Lersayil]

...

I guess some people care about it, but a quest is a quest is a quest. MMO mechanics are generic, hard scripted and boring no matter how much frosting you plaster on them. I'm actually thankful that FFXIV (usually) doesn't pester me with clunky mechanics in the quests and focuses on writing. It's almost refreshing that they don't try to dress up quests as something interesting when really, they aren't. I'm also guessing that many of these mechanics would turn out even clunkier than usual with the spaghetti engine.

Maybe ESO is different though, didn't play that one.

As for the OP: Personally I would advise grinding it out to HW (which is admittedly a lot to ask for) and see if you like it or not from there. Buying a skip potion is arguably quite the gamble if you don't know what you're in for. Unless the skip price counts as negligible to you, in which case go for it.

The story is a sizable draw to most people, so if you don't like or care about it, you are purely betting on the mechanical and social enjoyment. Both quite subjective.

[LaylaTsarra]

ARR is getting significant trimming in 5.3 so the long fetch quests will be a thing of the past most likely. They are also adjusting the xp earned so you don't run into story blocks which are pretty common in ARR questing. For those coming back prior to the update you have to still slog though a lot of the quests that simply won't be there very soon.

Flying is coming in 5.3 to ARR so getting around the zones will be a lot quicker although I do believe you need to finish the initial story through Praetorium.