I tried but its not the game for me

[DeafJohn]

Only issue I somewhat have with your take is that you automatically label FFXIV's story as 'bad' just because it isn't to your taste, like.. you honestly think thousands upon thousands are just blowing smoke when they say things like HW and ShB are amazing?

This isn't what I meant to imply in my OP, so I would like to answer you with an analogy if you don't mind.

A neon lime green Ford Mustang drives by. (example link)

I see that and think its hideous and nobody is going to buy it. The guy next to me thinks its amazing and wants one. Everyone else is somewhere in-between from 'drive it if I had one' to 'drive it if I had to'.

Now imagine neon lime green is the most popular color option in the world, with 95% of all cars sold are now this color.

I'm sitting here scratching my head thinking WTH? It makes no sense. I recognize its a popular color because everyone has one. But its neon lime green man.... Its neon....lime...green....

As another poster already mentioned, if I don't get it by now I am not going to get it. You can fill this thread with posts until carpal tunnel sets in and I still wont get it.

Its neon lime green.

[VirusOnline]

As another poster already mentioned, if I don't get it by now I am not going to get it. You can fill this thread with posts until carpal tunnel sets in and I still wont get it.

I need you to at least understand your OP.

People keep saying how amazing the story is, just so many people keep saying that ...

Gave up half way through ARR and bought the story skip from the store then just ground out the levels in Fates ...

If you bought skips for crafting, do you know what would happen ?
You'd lose valuable experience gameplay wise of both the mundane emptiness and the sweet excitement that is crafting.

You've ruined your own experience. You set yourself up for failure. The story all builds upon what was before. But you had no before, because you skipped it.
You bought that skip potion, excited to get rid of the boringness, but instead found yourself probably lost in another story. Not only now are you lost, but now you're completely detached from the story. I can tell you're lost because you decided to grind fates! Grinding fates would bore anyone to death, hardcore XIV player or no. It's like grinding out World Quests. Why ? Why would you grind out world quests when there are zone quests in Revendreth that are far more entertaining ?

WoW doesn't require worldbuilding or storybuilding. You can skip here and there and miss not a thing. Perhaps this was your expectation.
In XIV, if you skip, you won't understand the story or why you are doing the things you are doing in the MSQ.

But maybe you're right. I already have carpal tunnel. RIP my beloved Ulnar Nerve.

Edit: to add upon this, even when I boost up my alts I feel detached from them. I even had this feeling in WoW. For me a character is a very personnel thing and experience. You had that in crafting and somehow it didn't translate well in the leveling experience. Take your break fren and mayhap you find your way back.

[Gabadabs]

I need you to at least understand your OP.




If you bought skips for crafting, do you know what would happen ?
You'd lose valuable experience gameplay wise of both the mundane emptiness and the sweet excitement that is crafting.

You've ruined your own experience. You set yourself up for failure. The story all builds upon what was before. But you had no before, because you skipped it.
You bought that skip potion, excited to get rid of the boringness, but instead found yourself probably lost in another story. Not only now are you lost, but now you're completely detached from the story. I can tell you're lost because you decided to grind fates! Grinding fates would bore anyone to death, hardcore XIV player or no. It's like grinding out World Quests. Why ? Why would you grind out world quests when there are zone quests in Revendreth that are far more entertaining ?

WoW doesn't require worldbuilding or storybuilding. You can skip here and there and miss not a thing. Perhaps this was your expectation.
In XIV, if you skip, you won't understand the story or why you are doing the things you are doing in the MSQ.

But maybe you're right. I already have carpal tunnel. RIP my beloved Ulnar Nerve.

I find that a lot of players just don't play this genre for an epic msq, they want other types of content to fill out the experience, and to mostly ignore story.
I think that more people could appreciate xiv if they would actually stick with it's story.

[Claviusnex]

To each their own. If everyone's taste in MMO's was the same there wouldn't be so many options available. Overall I like the way FFXIV handles the story and would say for me it is between this game and ESO.

ARR can drag but keep in mind this game is modeled on WoW where I remember never ending quests to go kill something and bring me back 10 of those. You then go out and kill 30 somethings to get your 10 of those. Having left WoW after the WoD fiasco I went back to try it for Shadowlands and didn't bother to renew my one month subscription. I found the story more like an outline rather than a fleshed out script and still driven entirely by go kill something and get me 10 of those. Then again the whole genre is more or less based on the Hero ingratiating themselves to the locals by completing menial tasks for them. I don't know how you flesh out a story in any MMO without those menial quests as there are only so many hero things for a hero to do in the open world.

[KDSilver]

Story is bad if you compare it to other games, don't worry. Compared to WoW, it's an amazing bestseller!

It's not even compared to other game in industry.
There are some japanese cliche indeed, and it might look a bit long and tedious to follow sometimes, but it talk about politics, how to learn to live with others, learning from your own mistake, how to trust others, the weight of killing... it's only a small portion of what the game actually tells. And there are definitly some immersive and rich moment to experience in the story.

So anyone calling that "bad" either just didn't read or didn't understand or wouldn't understand because he disliked it.

[Feron]

Longtime FFXIV players have been talking about this problem for a very long time. The fact that the MSQ is so long and also so mandatory for so much of the game is an inherent design trap. After a base game and three expansions it is an enormous barrier and the only solution SHOULDNT be to slog through it OR buy a story boost (which you also need a level boost for first).

With a huge influx of WoW players we're just collecting data to confirm what we all already know: they NEED to find a way to make the MSQ less of a burden for people who aren't interested in it but want to do current content with friends. They've started "pruning" MSQ a bit, but their first efforts have been pretty...well, paltry. Always hoping things improve in the future.

[TaleraRistain]

It's fine if you don't like the story but this

Port to this place talk to a guy port another place talk to a guy, enough already.

is basically exactly the same thing you do in WoW. I played it for 10 years and even after they put in quest hubs, it was go here, talk to this person, go there, talk to that person, go collect bear asses in this area, go turn them in, etc

The piece you describe having issues with is pretty standard to MMOs.

[TaleraRistain]

I don’t think it’d change the game for you that much if, say, the MSQ wasn’t mandatory for game progress.

It would absolutely change the game if they did that. One thing that keeps gear from getting insanely out of range between hardcore and casual is that everyone needs to be on even footing for the MSQ. So raid gear for a tier is better, but not by much, and by the beginning of the next expansion, everyone is on almost equal footing again.

Not to mention that the person who said 90% of the story is irrelevant is completely incorrect. The MSQ dungeons relate directly to what's going on in the story. A lot of the optional content has tie-ins as well. They are not designed to just be soulless instances to run for gear.

XIV breaks away from some of the current MMO trends and for many of us who choose to play it, that's a good thing. We've played the games like the others out there and we want something new. XIV gives that to us.

[Thaciscokidd]

It would absolutely change the game if they did that. One thing that keeps gear from getting insanely out of range between hardcore and casual is that everyone needs to be on even footing for the MSQ. So raid gear for a tier is better, but not by much, and by the beginning of the next expansion, everyone is on almost equal footing again.

Not to mention that the person who said 90% of the story is irrelevant is completely incorrect. The MSQ dungeons relate directly to what's going on in the story. A lot of the optional content has tie-ins as well. They are not designed to just be soulless instances to run for gear.

XIV breaks away from some of the current MMO trends and for many of us who choose to play it, that's a good thing. We've played the games like the others out there and we want something new. XIV gives that to us.

I don't see how it would do that. It's not like skipping content would get you ahead of the current content curve. It would be that with no MSQ, the people who opted out would reach the end faster than people who sat back and ran with the story.

Its no different than someone who just skips all the cutscenes now. It might even hook in more of those who don't want to worry about the story and and beneficial for alts. You hit a certain level you go here and so on and so forth.

[TeraRamis]

It's fine if you don't like the story but this



is basically exactly the same thing you do in WoW. I played it for 10 years and even after they put in quest hubs, it was go here, talk to this person, go there, talk to that person, go collect bear asses in this area, go turn them in, etc

The piece you describe having issues with is pretty standard to MMOs.

No, not really. WoW has quest hubs. You approach an NPC, pick up a quest or two, then hit the NPC next to him. Snag all the quests in one area, work on them at the same time (the required mobs/pickups/whatever are all generally in a halo around the hub), return, get sent somewhere else just a little ways away.

FFXIV - particularly in ARR, but even as recently as the latest MSQ stuff - has you porting all over the world, often for as minor a reason as to talk to some random person. It's absolutely not equivalent to WoW.