Does FF14 get faster?

[Jojoya]

Does it speed up? No.

Does the story get significantly better once you're out of ARR and into HW? Yes.

Does the amount of combat-based content within the MSQ increase? Not really, though most of the later solo duties are more interesting than the early ones.

If you're looking for something more combat focused with less story detail, there are other games out there designed for that. This game is designed for those who like a story-based experience.

If you're enjoying this game other than MSQ, skip the cutscenes and just do whatever your quest objective says to do next. I've met players who do that so they can get to level cap and end game content as fast as possible. Most of them also regretted it because they didn't have a clue what was going on in the instanced content and ended up starting a new character from scratch.

It's okay not to like the game and quit playing if you feel like you're wasting your time. It's not going to be right for everyone, just as there are other games I've tried and no longer play because they're not right for me.

[Ralph2449]

I just was hoping that the game gets to a point where 99% of the time isn't just quest-reading/cutscenes.

Then that would probably be classic endgame then with dailies, unlocks, gear grind etc but considering how long the story is it would take a while without the skips someone suggested.

I cannot imagine how long it would take to reach that since I ve been playing for almost week now and only now getting close to the end of ARR last patch, though I did take breaks to unlock stuff like all the extreme trials which can be a nice break from reading text too much xD

Though I assume that would depend on where you are, I ve heard that JP dc has more people queing for extreme trials like old primals compared to NA, playing in JP dc while progressing MSQ i ve pretty much managed to find groups relatively fast evening Australia/Japan time for most extreme primals outside of Thornmarch(Probably cuz it doesnt have a quest), not sure if the same applies to NA but you could try to unlock that as a break from msq.

[Hasrat]

What sort of content are you actually looking for that isn't questing story/lore? I mean. There's always trials/raids to unlock, but those aren't exactly huge time investments, unless you're trying to sync/min ilvl the old ones, or you're caught up to be progging the newest ones. Which, still, once you've got them on farm, you're just left waiting for weekly resets to keep riding the gear treadmill.

Other than that, there's..? Maybe if crafting/gathering catches your interest, or making some attempt at dominating the marketboards. But nothing's stopping you from starting out with that at any point concurrently with running story quests.

Idk. Just sorta sounds like you're asking for busywork. If that's all you want, just find a thing you want to do and do it? Go hunt those mounts/minions/cards. Throw yourself into the deep dungeons. Max out all the jobs. Go glamour hunting. Try PVP.

It's an amusement park game. If you're not having fun doing one thing, try another. MSQ still gates everything, so you might still feel the slog trying to get through to something else.

[van_arn]

Awful advice.

Jump potions were intended for veterans who want an alt, not for new players who want to pay to not play the game.

If you don't like the game, don't play it. Not everyone likes final fantasy's style, and that's just fine.

What’s awful advice is to say everyone should do the story from the beginning. Shadowbringers is an excellent starting point, and that’s by design.

If you’re going to quit if you have to play through hundreds of hours of cutscenes and mindless fights, I’d rather you skip them and enjoy the actual game instead.

Provided you do your gameplay homework. I also expect players to kick you if you haven’t done your gameplay homework.

I like the story myself; I log in at patch drop just so I can have everything done before spoilers hit. I have the presence of mind to realize not everyone is like this, though, and encourage them to play the game the way they like.

That means encouraging skips if that’s what it takes to get to the “fast bit” which is exactly what Shadowbringers is right now. They’re not going to get that until late Stormblood otherwise.

[Jeeqbit]

I understand and accept that FF is always story-driven. As I mentioned in the OP, I am not asking for changes.

I just was hoping that the game gets to a point where 99% of the time isn't just quest-reading/cutscenes.

While doing the main story, no, it'll be mostly reading quest text and watching cut scenes.

The main scenario spans ARR (1-50) and its 5 patches, Heavensward (50-60) and its 5 patches, Stormblood (60-70) and its 5 patches and Shadowbringers (70-80) and its 4 patches. That's a very long way to go and could keep you busy for months or years depending on your pace, and doesn't even touch upon all of the great sidequests and side content that also has this sort of story.

Of course, when you do finally get through it, there is high-end content like extreme trials, savage raids and ultimates, and the glowing relic weapon content.

You can do a lot of other content without being max level, such as dungeons, pvp (level 30+), the gold saucer (15+ I think), palace of the dead (17+), normal mode trials, normal mode raids, crafting, gathering, ocean fishing, open world content like treasure maps, blue mage and hunts.

Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium had these long cutscenes mid-fight and were obviously a mistake, so they didn't repeat it. That's the last it happens (beside coils but these are optional).

If you’re going to quit if you have to play through hundreds of hours of cutscenes and mindless fights, I’d rather you skip them and enjoy the actual game instead.

That means encouraging skips if that’s what it takes to get to the “fast bit” which is exactly what Shadowbringers is right now.

Although I personally encourage enjoying the story, especially as the content's mechanics is inspired by the story, if you really can't get through it then skip packs are definitely an option for some people. Once you've skipped, you can use New Game+ to slowly re-experience the story quests when you can be bothered, whilst still having access to max level areas and content.

[Realism_Snide]

What’s awful advice is to say everyone should do the story from the beginning. Shadowbringers is an excellent starting point, and that’s by design.

If you’re going to quit if you have to play through hundreds of hours of cutscenes and mindless fights, I’d rather you skip them and enjoy the actual game instead.

Provided you do your gameplay homework. I also expect players to kick you if you haven’t done your gameplay homework.

I like the story myself; I log in at patch drop just so I can have everything done before spoilers hit. I have the presence of mind to realize not everyone is like this, though, and encourage them to play the game the way they like.

That means encouraging skips if that’s what it takes to get to the “fast bit” which is exactly what Shadowbringers is right now. They’re not going to get that until late Stormblood otherwise.

Here is the problem with skipping: Its not just skipping important story beats. Its also skipping the chance to get used to the pacing of ffxiv that will keep going after the skip. They still have to go through the entire Shadowbringers and post Shadowbringers content, which consists mainly of cutscenes, dialogues, and boring fetch quests. Its still going to be a long while before they reach the "fast bits", and new expansions and patches are just going to add more and more until they reach end game.

The other problem with skipping is that now you spent an extra 50$ or so on a game that you have a hard time logging in to go through the story that you find to be a slog, and can't enjoy it. Skipping is not a cheap thing.

The best suggestion I can give, really is to tough it out until you reach Heavensward. Or buy an ARR skip (its only 11$) to see if the Heavensward story is good enough to motivate you to play a bit more. There isn't really anything important that happens between the place you're currently at and the start of Heavensward (other than 1 major event that happens in 1 or 2 quests before Heavensward starts) So, your not left too confused about what is going on in the story, but there will still be some confusion. A lot less than skipping to Shadowbringers, completing it, and then meeting a bunch of characters that were previously introduced in the past, and being left completely confused about who they are and why they are so important.

[AnotherPerson]

HW is where the expansion really takes off in terms of story telling. However, if you skip the whole ARR, you won't really get as much of an impact that Heavensward gives.

They recently changed the storyline in ARR so the main story scenario quests are more streamlined. On one hand, they removed a lot of fluff from it (fetch quests included). On the other hand, some things that got removed actually helped build character developments and insight on the way they live if you like to learn about the world and the NPCs involved. Some dialogue was actually funny when playing through it for the first time (the scions and the Truesight Scalebombs for example, if you were to talk to each one of them during the story and during each part of the quest, they mention some funny tidbits about how they view their friends). However, because the quests were shortened and removed, some of that impact of the initial scene was really blunted. Subtle nuances about characters were removed in favor for a short description of the events that actually happened that doesn't really capture the whole picture and makes it feel like a quest just for the purpose of moving the storyline forward. As a player who replayed ARR 2.0, those cutscenes really didn't feel impactful as before but I at least understood the joke and implications because I remember what happened there. This is not to say the changes were bad, but it's just different. The impact is very different as the main character isn't as involved with the quests on a personal level anymore. You won't really notice the changes if you haven't interacted with most of the characters to to get a feel of their life as you progress through the MSQ. This is really apparent in ARR and HW iirc. Once you start Stormblood, a lot of the quest journal flavor text and NPC flavor text doesn't update as often as before or just get cut out entirely.

Does the game get better? - From a storyline standpoint and gameplay standpoint, yes since you have more access to skills and bosses start picking up speed at which mechanics fire at you. The story also stops feeling like you're a bystander and you feel more involved than before. Does the gameplay get faster? Your GCD is still 2.5 seconds, but you get skills you can use between GCDs so it does feel 'faster' but the overall speed is relatively the same.

[MPK]

You can pay like 25 bux to skip the story line. 100% worth it imo

[gumas]

if you are talking combat speed... it will get faster later, but not because the combat speed, because you will start doing skill weaving a lot later on, so it will feel faster (by miles)

as for story/quest pacing speed... it depend... i guess? if you are not into story thing

vanilla (ARR) story pacing definitely the slowest, because its the starting point so they need to introduce you a lot of things. also the "danger" plot didnt reach you until somewhere 3/4 of the ARR storyline so before you reach that point, everything feels like your standard "adventures / slice of life" story which can be boring for some people. but i give some leeway for ARR story because its the first one so i cant be mad about it.

HW is where things getting interesting, starting HW you will notice a lot of less "filler" and more focus on the main plot, it still has some "relaxing / why we doing this?" part, but at least its not as much as ARR

SB is a step down for me, the main plot is interesting but the way the presenting it.... its basically ARR 2.0

SHB? sit down, have a good drink beside you and some snack, and get ready for a wild ride. you are basically playing another FF within FF lol