MSQ

[WhiteArchmage]

The thing there (which would be improved by making them MSQ) is that the writers don't pretend something has happened if the individual player hasn't done the optional quest yet, so they can't rely on it as a previous event.

The exception with that approach is...

of course the Alexander and Omega raids (and CT at the time 5.0 released) but that's because of time convolutions meaning they don't need to have happened yet as long as they happen at some point in the future.

Oh, yes, that's what I meant. Much like how CT was made mandatory for 5.3; side-stories like The Warring Triad, Return to Ivalice, or Alexander, should be made mandatory at SOME point, even if there'd be more complaints about grinding the story to a halt if, say, 4.0 required you to complete all the MSQ up to 3.5 AND the Alexander quests (Gods know how loud people would get over being forced to do Ivalice, which while my favorite raid series, is VERY long).

Otherwise it's like "Well, we can't bring THAT plot point back, because new players haven't done The Four Gods..."

[Ilenya]

(Gods know how loud people would get over being forced to do Ivalice, which while my favorite raid series, is VERY long).

Considering you are forced to do it for Bozja (An NPC from Ivalice is involved), I don't recall many issues with it. Maybe just never looked in the right areas.