Request: I don't want to solo the main scenario

[Majidah]

Blarg... The forced grouping of the main story was one of the things that finally drove me away from XI.

Took me a month of begging, pleading, and shouting just to clear Rank 3, and once I had to take a break from the game shortly after CoP came out... getting Dynamis done (which I never did) was like pulling teeth because everyone else had already done it. and getting past rank 5... yeah never did that either due to very few people doing rank missions and if they did it was usually with their LS. I wound up getting locked out of the story because I wasn't hitting the new missions at the height of their popularity.

Making the central plot line dependent on other people being willing to help was just annoying. Same with the AF being as tied to grouping (good luck getting anyone to help with BRD gloves and Justacorps with out serious bribing, stupid ghost mob, past mobs with true sight/sound, and the dang coffer being at the BOTTOM of castle Zhval). I like being able to just log onto XIV and say "I think I'm going to do story missions today" and I can, without waiting pointlessly, and begging for help.

I'm not saying I don't want "Challenging" content, I would just rather they reserve that for other things and not lock people out of the main story because they came to the game to late and it's no longer the hot thing to do thus finding a group to do it nearly impossible.

<insert everything I said in the post above this one>

Plus: There are... 4, 5 ,6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2, 13, 13-4 that many final fantasy titles that don't require for you to play with other people and that let you get on and just do what you please on your own.

First of all, the main scenario isn't FFXIV. I'd say its the least important thing about FFXIV. You can do everything in this game without even touching it. Its just something else that's there.
You don't go around complaining you need to find people to do end game content. Why would you complain about the main scenario requiring the same? Why would you cheapen it in such way?
Second of all, this is a MMORPG. The main elements of this game SHOULD require PEOPLE to be beaten. They SHOULDN'T allow players to solo through things. What are other players in an MMORPG? Just more intelligent NPCs to occupy the background?

It seems to me the only issue people are bringing up is "its hard to find people to do the missions"; that's not a good reason for a MMORPG to half ass itself.
In any case I'd be asking: could they implement something to find people who to play with more easily?

Yes they can, content finder. Come 2.0.

[Pandastirfry]

<insert everything I said in the post above this one>

Plus: There are... 4, 5 ,6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2, 13, 13-4 that many final fantasy titles that don't require for you to play with other people and that let you get on and just do what you please on your own.

First of all, the main scenario isn't FFXIV. I'd say its the least important thing about FFXIV. You can do everything in this game without even touching it. Its just something else that's there.
You don't go around complaining you need to find people to do end game content. Why would you complain about the main scenario requiring the same? Why would you cheapen it in such way?
Second of all, this is a MMORPG. The main elements of this game SHOULD require PEOPLE to be beaten. They SHOULDN'T allow players to solo through things. What are other players in an MMORPG? Just more intelligent NPCs to occupy the background?

It seems to me the only issue people are bringing up is "its hard to find people to do the missions"; that's not a good reason for a MMORPG to half ass itself.
In any case I'd be asking: could they implement something to find people who to play with more easily?

Yes they can, content finder. Come 2.0.

ahhhh the old canard of "It's an MMO, you should HAVE to play with other people, if you want to solo play an offline game"

NO! I CAN play with other people, I don't HAVE to, nor should I be REQUIRED to.
Other people are there to accomplish their own goals, if they line up with yours, GREAT!, if they don't I shouldn't have to annoy them with my constant begging. Other players aren't in game for your benefit, they have their own things to do. Sometimes, I have no desire to group up, maybe I just want to chat with my LS and do other stuff, that other stuff should not be relegated to a handful of side quests with no bearing on the story, grinding leves, chopping trees, or grinding a craft, I should be able to actually accomplish something, even things that are important.
Not being able to find people for endgame content... you want to talk about optional, haveing 7/7 ifrit/garuda/moogle/gooblotz, whtever weapons, THAT'S optional.

And no the Main Story is FFXIV, it is what gives structure to the whole thing, What is Eorzea, why am I fighting, who are these imperial jokers...Why do I care at all that they're invading? answering those question is what makes it a RPG
the primal fights and dungeons slot nicely into the main story, they supplement it, the greater context however is to be found within the main story. You cut players off from that because they can't find a group for anything other than the next big NM fight or primal, then the game becomes a hollow shell full of instanced raids and disjointed combat (I thought you wanted this game to have a more FF feel)...Hell even WoW has an over arching main story if you take the time to read quest text.

and even with a content finder... if no is looking for that content anymore, then no one will be on the content finder, and there is the attendant problems with "challenging content" and pick up groups.


and fun fact....I have pretty much hated every Final Fantasy besides XI(with many caveates) and XIV...

[Majidah]

ahhhh the old canard of "It's an MMO, you should HAVE to play with other people, if you want to solo play an offline game"

NO! I CAN play with other people, I don't HAVE to, nor should I be REQUIRED to.
Other people are there to accomplish their own goals, if they line up with yours, GREAT!, if they don't I shouldn't have to annoy them with my constant begging. Other players aren't in game for your benefit, they have their own things to do. Sometimes, I have no desire to group up, maybe I just want to chat with my LS and do other stuff, that other stuff should not be relegated to a handful of side quests with no bearing on the story, grinding leves, chopping trees, or grinding a craft, I should be able to actually accomplish something, even things that are important.
Not being able to find people for endgame content... you want to talk about optional, haveing 7/7 ifrit/garuda/moogle/gooblotz, whtever weapons, THAT'S optional.

And no the Main Story is FFXIV, it is what gives structure to the whole thing, What is Eorzea, why am I fighting, who are these imperial jokers...Why do I care at all that they're invading? answering those question is what makes it a RPG
the primal fights and dungeons slot nicely into the main story, they supplement it, the greater context however is to be found within the main story. You cut players off from that because they can't find a group for anything other than the next big NM fight or primal, then the game becomes a hollow shell full of instanced raids and disjointed combat (I thought you wanted this game to have a more FF feel)...Hell even WoW has an over arching main story if you take the time to read quest text.

and even with a content finder... if no is looking for that content anymore, then no one will be on the content finder, and there is the attendant problems with "challenging content" and pick up groups.


and fun fact....I have pretty much hated every Final Fantasy besides XI(with many caveates) and XIV...

See? That's just a misconception.
People think that they are entitled to do group activities on their own with the same ease as they would be with 7 more people.

Sure, if you are level NINE THOUSAND.

But if you are just level 50, you are going to have a hard time. And you should. You aren't as strong as eight people.

If you don't want to fight the battles just look up the cut scenes on youtube.
Why would we sacrifice strategy and actual gameplay because you want to breeze through the game as if nothing mattered?

This isn't a book, its a game. A MMORPG for that matter. Game play shouldn't be the side dressing.
If you want to play on your own, you better be as strong as 8 people. Not ask for negligible content.

[Pandastirfry]

See? That's just a misconception.
People think that they are entitled to do group activities on their own with the same ease as they would be with 7 more people.

Sure, if you are level NINE THOUSAND.

But if you are just level 50, you are going to have a hard time. And you should. You aren't as strong as eight people.

If you don't want to fight the battles just look up the cut scenes on youtube.
Why would we sacrifice strategy and actual gameplay because you want to breeze through the game as if nothing mattered?

What is a misconception, that I think seeing a story shouldn't take 8 random yahoo's but killing a god should? Weird, I thought it was misconception to think getting the questions of why I should care about the fate of Eorzea should require 7 other people.

Not everything, not even every important thing needs to be group content. And saying "it's an MMORPG" is not a justification it is a crutch for lazy design and artificial challenge in the form or requiring the user to wait until the star align and they luck into other people with the exact same goals.