The story is great, but it blatantly gets in the way of the rest of the game

[IkaraGreydancer]

You truly think "if you don't like the MSQ, this game isn't for you?" is a valid reply?

Using myself as an example, I don't like XIV's story, but I've been around since ARR launch and beyond. I've also spent faaaar too much money on this game, which I think SE probably appreciates, but with that advice, I should have packed up 10 years ago and spent my money elsewhere.

MMOs have a lot of features, all designed to lure in different kinds of players. The MSQ is only a portion of what makes up this game. Now, for some people, hating the MSQ may be enough to make them go to another game, but for others, it's just a negative mark on a game they otherwise enjoy. It's going to vary by person as we all have different interests and expectations for a game. But to tell someone this game isn't for them solely because they dislike the story? That's just dumb.

No I think if story based mmos aren't his thing this isn't the game for him. If he finds it so bad skip cutscenes or buy a skip. There already are solutions to his problem. If those aren't enough ther mmos are out there. Call it dumb if you'd like. I don't need you to agree. After all it's opinions at the end of the day.

[Novae]

The MSQ gestapo is on the place I see.
Let's be honest here, the MSQ has really great moments yes, but it also has very boring and just bad written ones. It can be a gate for some people, and it is for all the players who couldn't make it to the end.
So yes, OP has a point. A point that forced, in the past SE to revamp ARR.
Why jumping on him like this then?

[Mirhd]

The MSQ gestapo is on the place I see.

Good grief, do you think before you type? It certainly doesn't seem like it. Gestapo? really? People talk about "shutting down criticism" (not even close to what's happening here, by the way), then the same people come out with this.

Snip

I already acknowledged other parts of the game. Really, you didn't read what I typed at all, did you? I certainly doesn't seem like it.

[Tychonius]

The new player experience in this game is made genuinely worse by the fact that you have to go through this bizarre hazing ritual of reenacting nine years of live service with all the waits between expansions through the story missions before you're allowed to actually play the game in its present state. Let's say you're getting into FF14 in 2022 and you're looking through the class list going "Huh, Sage looks cool!", but then it turns out you're actually several months of playing regularly away from being able to even touch the class. It's not a satisfying experience to basically be forced to play the game as it was years ago for hundreds of hours to be able to access things that may have been a selling point for you in the here and now.

If someone has played for years and has enjoyed the story at the pace at which it was being told I understand why they are fond of it. But why does a newer player need to be locked out of all expansion content until they have caught up on all of it? The newer player doesn't get several years to finish those missions at their leisure with long periods of time in between for exploring other aspects of the game. If they want to catch up they just have to sit down and power through them. It turns the story into an obnoxious gatekeeper stopping you from rolling the classes you find interesting, getting into difficult dungeons, joining high level activities or even just taking your time with the low level stuff if you don't want to be endlessly delayed instead of it being a fun aspect of the game you play when you feel like doing story missions.

It is a valid reply, and it applies to every hobby in life. Don't enjoy something for one reason or another? Stop doing it, otherwise you're just wasting your time and making yourself frustrated for no reason. What isn't valid is expecting the foundations of something to change because you don't like it. We aren't talking QoL or class changes, etc, we're talking "tear out the skeleton of the game and put something else in." That is absurdly arrogant and delusional, and it always baffles me that people think this is a reasonable approach for the devs to take.

Telling people to leave the game if they think the main quest shouldn't insist on itself so hard is absolutely not valid. It's completely hypocritical and here is why:

You're not jumping on the devs for putting PvP arenas or raids in the game. You're not complaining that there are levels and gear and materia harvesting and an auction house and a retainer system and player housing and costuming.

There are tens of thousands of work hours being poured into creating parts of the game that have nothing to do with the story. That exist entirely to appeal to people who enjoy other aspects of the MMORPG genre.

Why is it that a player should be considered wrong for wanting to enjoy those parts of the game freely, but the devs are somehow not wrong for creating those parts of the game with the clear intent that someone would enjoy them?

[OhNooo]

The new player experience in this game is made genuinely worse by the fact that you have to go through this bizarre hazing ritual of reenacting nine years of live service with all the waits between expansions through the story missions before you're allowed to actually play the game in its present state. Let's say you're getting into FF14 in 2022 and you're looking through the class list going "Huh, Sage looks cool!", but then it turns out you're actually several months of playing regularly away from being able to even touch the class. It's not a satisfying experience to basically be forced to play the game as it was years ago for hundreds of hours to be able to access things that may have been a selling point for you in the here and now.

If someone has played for years and has enjoyed the story at the pace at which it was being told I understand why they are fond of it. But why does a newer player need to be locked out of all expansion content until they have caught up on all of it? The newer player doesn't get several years to finish those missions at their leisure with long periods of time in between for exploring other aspects of the game. If they want to catch up they just have to sit down and power through them. It turns the story into an obnoxious gatekeeper stopping you from rolling the classes you find interesting, getting into difficult dungeons, joining high level activities or even just taking your time with the low level stuff if you don't want to be endlessly delayed instead of it being a fun aspect of the game you play when you feel like doing story missions.

I completely agree - there's a literal mountain of stuff to get through for new players and I think at some point SE is going to have to address that. As someone who doesn't play for the story but didn't want to buy a story skip, here's how I got through the huge wall of post ARR quests: pretty much wore out my mouse skipping through the npc dialogue and the ESC button was my friend for cutscenes. I just set aside the time to plow through everything and finished in a day. You could also level another job if you need a break from clicking all those dialogue boxes and running from point A to B. there's also Palace of the Dead where you can try out new jobs and also get exp. There's the Gold Saucer for some fun on the side too.

Don't let anyone here make you feel bad or wrong for not liking the story. People enjoy the game in different ways; some people just like to do crafting/gathering and hate having to step foot in a dungeon or trial. Some people just like the challenge of Ultimate raids. Some people literally just play for the story and then unsubscribe until the next part of the story comes out. Enjoy the game the way you want!

[Jojoya]

The new player experience in this game is made genuinely worse by the fact that you have to go through this bizarre hazing ritual of reenacting nine years of live service with all the waits between expansions through the story missions before you're allowed to actually play the game in its present state.

That is your problem. You're approaching the game with the wrong attitude and expectations.

All that prior story is part of the game in its present state.

This isn't WoW, where the previous expansions don't matter to the latest iteration of the dev team. Here what came before matters to the present. You need to stop viewing it as a separate piece of content. The game is one long journey.

If that's not your style, that's fine. It's not going to appeal to everyone. But don't expect the game to change just because you want to skip to get to what you think will be the good parts.

By the way, where are your "friends" in all of this? You know they could be joining you as you play through the MSQ. That's possible here between New Game+ and level sync in instanced content, no need to create a new character to play through the same content that you are.

If they want you to be playing with them in side content, one would think they'd be helping to make the entire experience more enjoyable for you by keeping you company instead of abandoning you to do it alone. Are you certain they're really your friends?

[MagicalChase]

That is your problem. You're approaching the game with the wrong attitude and expectations.

All that prior story is part of the game in its present state.

This isn't WoW, where the previous expansions don't matter to the latest iteration of the dev team. Here what came before matters to the present. You need to stop viewing it as a separate piece of content. The game is one long journey.

If that's not your style, that's fine. It's not going to appeal to everyone. But don't expect the game to change just because you want to skip to get to what you think will be the good parts.

By the way, where are your "friends" in all of this? You know they could be joining you as you play through the MSQ. That's possible here between New Game+ and level sync in instanced content, no need to create a new character to play through the same content that you are.

If they want you to be playing with them in side content, one would think they'd be helping to make the entire experience more enjoyable for you by keeping you company instead of abandoning you to do it alone. Are you certain they're really your friends?

This basically, I mean do you play pokemon hurrying to get to the battle frontier or do you take your time getting to the gyms?

[IdowhatIwant]

Frankly the story is hindered by the quests themselves. I love the plot and story of this game but holy hell does the thought of doing MSQ make my skin crawl. I was literally screaming during the second half of endwalker how bad it was with the pointless mindless chores. I was literally thinking "please god shake your head WoL I beg you to turn down this stupid pointless request."

It doesn't help when the quests are mostly go talk to x, walk with y, follow z. EW was the first expansion as well where I skipped every cutscene in an entire zone, because how can prepping supplies for people to go to the moon be interesting. At least the other expansions had more frequent interesting duties involved in questing.

That is your problem. You're approaching the game with the wrong attitude and expectations.

All that prior story is part of the game in its present state.

This isn't WoW, where the previous expansions don't matter to the latest iteration of the dev team. Here what came before matters to the present. You need to stop viewing it as a separate piece of content. The game is one long journey.

If that's not your style, that's fine. It's not going to appeal to everyone. But don't expect the game to change just because you want to skip to get to what you think will be the good parts.

This being said though, it as unfriendly to new players for the opposite reason of WoW, where there is a lot of stuff that players have to do to reach the end game content to play with other players. I actually do expect the game to change because if it is not new player friendly, new players are not going to join. They need to have a second starting point after EW in all honesty, which is why they need to move away from the scions ASAP so that new starting point can begin.

[Broken_Wind]

It doesn't help when the quests are mostly go talk to x, walk with y, follow z. EW was the first expansion as well where I skipped every cutscene in an entire zone, because how can prepping supplies for people to go to the moon be interesting. At least the other expansions had more frequent interesting duties involved in questing.



This being said though, it as unfriendly to new players for the opposite reason of WoW, where there is a lot of stuff that players have to do to reach the end game content to play with other players. I actually do expect the game to change because if it is not new player friendly, new players are not going to join. They need to have a second starting point after EW in all honesty, which is why they need to move away from the scions ASAP so that new starting point can begin.

For all that is said about how new player unfriendly FFXIV's setup is, and I don't necessarily disagree with that, they are the only MMORPG in the last decade that has a steadily growing population. New players generally stay here, while they don't in other games, especially WoW.

I am not convinced that a more seemingly newbie friendly approach (other than what they have already been doing with the pruning) would actually be beneficial.

[Jojoya]

This being said though, it as unfriendly to new players for the opposite reason of WoW, where there is a lot of stuff that players have to do to reach the end game content to play with other players. I actually do expect the game to change because if it is not new player friendly, new players are not going to join. They need to have a second starting point after EW in all honesty, which is why they need to move away from the scions ASAP so that new starting point can begin.

Again, this isn't WoW where prior content becomes obsolete. All the old content still has purpose even to a level cap player. You don't have to be at end game to play with others.

It's a very new player friendly game in that respect compared to WoW where long time players won't give you time of day until you're busting out high RaiderIO scores.