MSQ Needs Further Condensing

[Ammokkx]

Can you address us, and our actual arguments? Who are "these people" you are referring to?

I mean he did quote a post that specifically mentioned Vickii's quote.

Not that Vickii has proven themselves to be much of a reliable source of opinion.

[Taikugemu]

Patch MSQ is a problem.

When you are at the end, patched MSQ is really welcome and enjoyable.

When you are behind and blasting through the expansions, patch MSQ is an inconvenience and makes it a slog.

They need to provide content that people at the endgame can enjoy, while being skippable or something to come back to for people who just want to progress.

Not saying they shouldn’t have MSQ but a lot of the patch stuff is filler. 5.4 for example, besides the closing scenes you aren’t missing much of the overall story if you don’t do it. There’s no reason the limsa stuff couldn’t have been additional sidequest content as at least currently it appears only to add extra context to things rather than be a crucial addition to the story.

5.4 was filler? Finding the cure for tempering and trying solving Eorzea's major problem by coming together with the beast tribes was filler?

Are we playing the same game?

[Garnix]

5.4 was filler? Finding the cure for tempering and trying solving Eorzea's major problem by coming together with the beast tribes was filler?

Are we playing the same game?

I wanted to say the same thing, but thinking about it further, a major part of the 5.4 Limsa quest is about pirates and how they are impacted by the current situation with Garlemald.
It also provided a bit of character development for Merlwyb, which I am not sure was really needed for the main scenario yet, as much as I liked getting it...
I think this is what made it feel like 'filler' to some people, not the cure for tempering itself.

[Ammokkx]

I wanted to say the same thing, but thinking about it further, a major part of the 5.4 Limsa quest is about pirates and how they are impacted by the current situation with Garlemald.
It also provided a bit of character development for Merlwyb, which I am not sure was really needed for the main scenario yet, as much as I liked getting it...
I think this is what made it feel like 'filler' to some people, not the cure for tempering itself.

I'm not sure it's really a "major" part at all.

It uses that small substory to bridge "We have a cure" and "We apply the cure on Kobolds" to make way for the peace between beast tribes and Eorzea. That, and Limsa has always been the aggressor in their particular feuds. It needed to get over that hurdle first. The conflict between how pirates used to live and live now is all of two cutscenes, the rest is spent on how the one pirate crew raided kobolds and how we can use this to our advantage to lure them into a trap.

[Malia_Chan]

The condensing of the MSQ by Square Enix is greatly appreciated, but it is not enough.

With ARR, HW, SB, and ShB, it is getting quite lengthy, even with the reduction.

The game suffers greatly from trying to be both an MMORPG, and single player story focused RPG.

The fact is this game is an MMORPG, with a large focus on end-game content, that being trials, raids, gearing, ect.

The game should not be putting new players in a state of perpetual catch-up, having to choose between skipping all of the cutscenes, and missing all of the story, just to play with their friends, and not be dead-weight, or taking their time, and spending an eternity going through the now-slog of a narrative.

To Square Enix, I ask: What is the length at which you will consider the content gap 'too large'?

If, Square Enix, you intend to preserve the JRPG style narrative, will you set a standard of time for a fresh character to go from 1-80 or 1-90?


Possible Solution Proposal


Introduce a new metric: Time-To-Cap (TTC) (Level 1 to max level)

Standardize the time is takes to reach level cap.

Apply this to every expansion that increases the level cap.

Shape the presentation of the MSQ around this time with questing, and cutscenes (perhaps still frames, with narration) bridging the gaps.

Of course, this should be OPTIONAL, thus allowing players to level in the manner of which they choose.

Unabridged, and abridged.

The Unabridged MSQ condensing nothing. The Abridged MSQ always conforming to the standardized TTC.


Best Wishes

-Reyketi

The MSQ doesn't anymore condensing. Seriously, its fine as is.

[Reyketi]

The MSQ doesn't anymore condensing. Seriously, its fine as is.

I don't think so.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

[Ammokkx]

99.9% of gamers are not going to want to do that.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

And 84% of statistics are pulled out of thin air.

Also please tell me at which point I generalize and extrapolate my experience as being emblematic of everyone who plays. I'd love to get that quote.

It's like you're *trying* to ignore the point that everyone plays games differently and that one idea won't be representative of the playerbase at large *because* of those differences.

[coolskill]

Definitely 1000% no. Users pay money for this game. Removing content is removing what we pay for. Length is not an issue. The longer the content, the more you get what you pay for. The issue is quality. Removing content that was previously there in order to streamline things is not a very good solution. As some users have mentioned some of the content that was removed was quite good and important. What should have been done is to take a look at the content, and polish it. Whether keeping the length of the content or not, as long as it's an improvement in quality is what is important. The quality of the campaign has absolutely nothing to do with catching up. Specific users who want to catch up to friends should not be catered to in a way that affects the general user base who want to play an enjoyable campaign without caring about end game.

For late gamers or those who just want to skip the main content to catch up to higher friends, there are methods available for doing so. And maybe does need improvement. But for the general user base, larger amount of quests of good quality = more value for what you pay for. And definitely should not be removed or streamlined to cater to late gamers who are more concerned with end game content. What needs to actually be improved is quality of the content progressing towards late game. And cutting/reducing it is definitely not necessarily an improvement. But can screw the game overall even more.

[Reyketi]

Length is not an issue.

Maybe not to you, but to SE's bank account, it obviously is.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

[Ammokkx]

Maybe not to you, but to SE's bank account, it obviously is.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

If you want to be taken seriously, you might want to actually address people's arguments. Y'know, instead of taking out a small snippet, plastering on a snarky comment and then pretending like you have a point.