MSQ Needs Further Condensing

[Rosenstrauch]

When ascians have died after the white auracite method used in the 2.stuff times, where was it used to do so?

Against Igeyorhm and Emet-Selch.

[Ammokkx]

but I would like for someone I recommend the game to to be able to do something with me without me needing to make yet another alt, (I have a few and 2 accounts at this point) and burning through the msq yet again.

Uuuuh... buy a level skip or just use your main to do synced content with?

I'm playing through with a newbie friend right now and I don't have any problems syncing down my level 80 DRK to help them out with duties and FATEs. You don't need an alt to do content with a friend, and if you did want to do content at the same time, I'm not sure why you'd want to skip the MSQ...? The MSQ would be what keeps you at equal levels.

You're losin' me here, man.

Nah, that was all some one I won't mention, but he was the guy we wound up fighting anyway. He sucked them up in order to power himself.

No, no. Igeyorhm was destroyed by Auractie and Lahabrea by primal.

[Jirah]

at this point just make the game like AFK arena

[van_arn]

well, story and level skips are mostly there because SE knows people are gonna pay for them, that's it

on the concern of lenght, there's sometimes things i don't understand with the way they chose to ell their story, like, i come to some NPC, talk to me, trigger a cutscene, in wich he tells me to talk to the NPC sitting NEXT TO HIM wich triggers another cutscene... Was it really too hard to make 1 single cutscene during wich both NPC are sying what they have to say ?

i don't know, just sometimes ( for me at least ) the way MSQ is presented feels long and tedious for the sake of being long and tedious

This is an excellent way of showing how deleting steps can improve the experience.

Especially as the msq gets dramatically larger with each expansion, it becomes more and more important to trim the fat. Otherwise you’re going to end up losing people to skips or by quitting entirely.

[Reyketi]

This is an excellent way of showing how deleting steps can improve the experience.

Especially as the msq gets dramatically larger with each expansion, it becomes more and more important to trim the fat. Otherwise you’re going to end up losing people to skips or by quitting entirely.

The latest xpac, skips, and a subscription will cost a new player ~$115.

What will a new player think when they're told they can either play through hundreds of hours of required story just to catch up to their friends/get to the latest content

Or

Pay $115

It's outrageous to ask something like that from the player, and thankfully Square Enix have done trimming.

This trimming, when considered with the expedited MSQ leveling process is a clear sign that they see the length of the MSQ as a burier to entry for new customers.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

[DPZ2]

The latest xpac, skips, and a subscription will cost a new player ~$115.

What will a new player think when they're told they can either play through hundreds of hours of required story just to catch up to their friends/get to the latest content

Or

Pay $115

It's outrageous to ask something like that from the player, and thankfully Square Enix have done trimming.

This trimming, when considered with the expedited MSQ leveling process is a clear sign that they see the length of the MSQ as a burier to entry for new customers.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

Want to get to max level in WoW Shadowlands? Pray that you don't choose a class you dislike when you use the Boost you bought for that extra $20-$40 you paid for the higher tiers of the expansion (base is $40, without a Boost).

Why pray you don't dislike your class? Because every class requires you to create another character, and if you suddenly desire to play Hunter at max level, and your initial Boosted character was a Warlock, you'll end up paying an extra $60 each and every time. [Yeah, yeah, it's discounted right now, but so are job skips].

$50 for players who want to skip 5 years of story line to play 1 1/2 years worth of current is a bargain for those who really want to do that.

Personally, if it were my friends I was encouraging to play the game, I'd start an alt and play with them through the story line again. There'll be a good 3+ months of end-game prior to the next expansion, even if you go slow through the story.

[Kes13a]

The latest xpac, skips, and a subscription will cost a new player ~$115.

What will a new player think when they're told they can either play through hundreds of hours of required story just to catch up to their friends/get to the latest content

Or

Pay $115

It's outrageous to ask something like that from the player, and thankfully Square Enix have done trimming.

This trimming, when considered with the expedited MSQ leveling process is a clear sign that they see the length of the MSQ as a burier to entry for new customers.

Best Wishes

-Reyketi

you are assuming said new player only wants end game and isnt interested in anything else.

If that is the case, they may have picked the wrong game. unlike WoW for instance, where for the most part there is NO story thread, in FF XIV there is. it goes from your first story quest up to present.

if you are only interest in end game and dont care about the rest, then the price isnt too high since you are negating pretty much the full game. yes, everyone has different goals, but the journey in this game is important, maybe you just arent used to that.

[Masked-dingus]

you are assuming said new player only wants end game and isnt interested in anything else.

If that is the case, they may have picked the wrong game. unlike WoW for instance, where for the most part there is NO story thread, in FF XIV there is. it goes from your first story quest up to present.

if you are only interest in end game and dont care about the rest, then the price isnt too high since you are negating pretty much the full game. yes, everyone has different goals, but the journey in this game is important, maybe you just arent used to that.

well, you still have people, playing FF, and not liking the story acrually, i know some

[Sauteed]

I think keeping the raid mandatory is ok, just weird it wasn't made that way with SHB being introduced and left like it was for so long.. what bugs me is "streamlining" the msq then making the raid series mandatory so the "streamlining" which was absolutely necessary and needed enough according to SE themselves that they did it (so I don't want to hear "OH LOOK ANOTHER I'm too lazy/stupid/mouthbreather" issue from someone) got un-streamlined and now takes the same if not more time to complete before the update while leaving in little quests like watching Tataru trying to find her calling in life etc, which could easily be left out entirely or relegated to side quests for people that interested in seeing her do whatever. Along with 20-30 other quests that kind of fit in that same category of derp why um uh is that here.

Additionally, this issue just going to be out of control wild for people who join in future expansions, will they be streamlining other expansions instead of going back and refixing the fix of ARR? Again, glad they saw the issue at least and recognized it was an issue, but I hope they continue to see, there's an issue. Sure we had COVID-19 hammer on the community/dev team whoever/whatever else going on this year, but at some point this is a business, and a tenant of it should be pleasing customers. Paying customers. I've bought story skips for alts before, and one for a friend who had already completed the story, before ShB came out, and level skips etc, but as a paying customer, enough becomes enough at some point.

(also WAY glad we don't have the wait til JST Midnight stuff of XI going on. What a road blocker)

[Iscah]

what bugs me is "streamlining" the msq then making the raid series mandatory so the "streamlining" which was absolutely necessary and needed enough according to SE themselves that they did it got un-streamlined and now takes the same if not more time to complete

People keep making this argument and I don't get it.

For story purposes the alliance raids HAD to be made mandatory, even if they left 2.X as it originally was.

So your options are:

1. Full running time of the original 2.X MSQ plus mandatory CT

2. Condensed running time of the updated 2.X MSQ plus mandatory CT

You cannot possibly argue that the streamlining of the MSQ made no impact on the amount of time required.