MSQ Needs Further Condensing

[SturmChurro]

You can see this is true with a reply from someone else after your post was made, where they refer to the MSQ as the 'padding' to the game. This basically implies that they view the MSQ as pointless drivel that they have to get through to get to the 'real' game (that is how I interpret these comments).

Did you actually read the person's reply? To me, they didn't say the MSQ itself was padding, or imply it as "pointless drivel". They were referring to the walking back and forth, as they say:

One of the big problems with the MSQ, especially early on, is how much running you do. There is a severe disrespect for the players time. There are so many quests, that are literally 'run for 10 minutes, get one line of dialogue, run back for 10 minutes'.

To argue that even half of those quests are indispensable to the story is pretty laughable. ALL of those quests, especially early on, should auto complete instead of making you go back to the original quest hub. Any MSQ that has you running back to the original NPC, only to then run back out to the area you were just in, should just issue you the next quest in the series when you complete the previous one. That alone would cut the time it takes in half.

It's fairly obvious, that the MSQ was designed, at the time, to pad the game. That padding is certainly no longer needed, it's a real barrier for new players trying to get into the game. The biggest problem for retention for new players in this game, is how rudimentary the combat is early on, combined with how much time you spend literally doing nothing but running. This game still makes a horrible first impression.