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

[DPZ2]

You don't really have to rewrite the story, just not gate things behind the story. It's not hard to do and really wouldn't ruin peoples experiences of the story specially if it was made optional. It's really dumb the way people don't think the game should cater to a better new player experience while they are literally reworking the trust system in every expansion to cater to players that prefer a single player experience.

Considering the fact that the purpose behind the creation and continuing development of this game is the story, with dungeons and trials contributing to that story (not separated from the story like so many other MMOs), you are asking the developers to abandon the basis of the game in order to satisfy some supposed 'new player' experience.

Do you ask that of every game you play? Completely abandon the reason the game is different in order for it to better conform to what you think the game should be?

[Skivvy]

Considering the fact that the purpose behind the creation and continuing development of this game is the story, with dungeons and trials contributing to that story (not separated from the story like so many other MMOs), you are asking the developers to abandon the basis of the game in order to satisfy some supposed 'new player' experience.

Do you ask that of every game you play? Completely abandon the reason the game is different in order for it to better conform to what you think the game should be?

Story is not the only thing that people play this game for. If that were the case, most people would simply unsub once they've gone through those tiny story-patches we get every so often. There is a lot of other content in this game that draws people to XIV, and I'm failing to see how making that more easily accessible could possibly be a bad thing for the game as a whole.

It is possible to keep a heavy story going in the game while allowing people options on how/when they jump into it. Yes, story skips exist, but IMO that's a cheap fix for SE being short-sighted in how they've handled the intertwining of the MSQ.

If we're looking at things that have been poorly implented in-game, I would rank the forced-MSQ up there with housing and Viera/Hroth.

[DPZ2]

Story is not the only thing that people play this game for.
...
If we're looking at things that have been poorly implented in-game, I would rank the forced-MSQ up there with housing and Viera/Hroth.

While story isn't the only reason that people play this game, it is the primary reason the game was developed in the first place. It's what makes the game part of the Final Fantasy franchise.

Incorporating dungeons and trials into the story is another differentiator between this game and a lot of other MMOs. I can level without every hitting a single dungeon instance in so many other MMOs. I do not desire this game to be turned into one of the "so many other MMOs" since all of them are currently not experiencing anywhere near the same success as this one.

[Skivvy]

While story isn't the only reason that people play this game, it is the primary reason the game was developed in the first place. It's what makes the game part of the Final Fantasy franchise.

Incorporating dungeons and trials into the story is another differentiator between this game and a lot of other MMOs. I can level without every hitting a single dungeon instance in so many other MMOs. I do not desire this game to be turned into one of the "so many other MMOs" since all of them are currently not experiencing anywhere near the same success as this one.

My only real experience with the world of FF would be XI and XIV - both of SE's MMOs. I understand that storytelling is huge for the franchise, and I think there is even a quote from Yoshi floating around where he mentions wanting the story to play a big part (majorly paraphrased from a poor memory...I'd have to look it up), but they could have designed it in a way that allowed more freedom and choice for the players.

XI managed this by having mostly self-contained stories for each expansion. XIV took a different approach with its overarching story, but at the very least, I wish they would let people pick which expansion they start in so they can get to the content of their choosing quicker. Maybe something akin to NG+ where you can pick an expansion to play at any given time, while saving your progress if you switch to another story (NG+ does NOT save progress if you swap). That would mean some people are playing the story out of order, but I think that would be an OK decision to leave up to the individual players. It may be worth it for some people to get into current/whatever content they want quicker, while also having the option to go back to the start and enjoy the story from the beginning when it suits them best.

[IdowhatIwant]

Considering the fact that the purpose behind the creation and continuing development of this game is the story, with dungeons and trials contributing to that story (not separated from the story like so many other MMOs), you are asking the developers to abandon the basis of the game in order to satisfy some supposed 'new player' experience.

Do you ask that of every game you play? Completely abandon the reason the game is different in order for it to better conform to what you think the game should be?

I wouldn't say its a reason this game is different. Maybe you don't play a lot of MMO's but they also have stories with dungeons, trials contributing to that story. They also have ways to not have to do it multiple times on alt characters, or developed long enough to allow players to hop in and progress the way they choose. I think we are at that time where that should be allowed. And I never said to abandon the basis of the game, I said make it better for the new players. If you can't attract and retain new players, the game will eventually die. These changes don't affect me at all it simply helps new players. Sorry if I don't believe they should have to pay $50 to do that SE milks enough money from the rest of us off this game.

While story isn't the only reason that people play this game, it is the primary reason the game was developed in the first place. It's what makes the game part of the Final Fantasy franchise.

You can lie to yourself and say this, it was developed for steady profit to fund into other projects. I would not be surprised if after EW the funds allocated to FFXIV are cut in half and more money is funneled to other projects as the story is now complete. It will just be a passion projects like FFXI. That being said it can still have a story... you act as though allowing other people to not do the story, your story experience is going to suffer. I don't see why it hurts you or others to allow players to level the way they want up to the current expansion. I never said anything about skipping the current expansions MSQ that should still be gated behind the MSQ for obvious reasons. I am just saying don't charge people to skip, give them options, it just makes for a better game over all.

[DPZ2]

You can lie to yourself and say this, it was developed for steady profit to fund into other projects.

Pfui. You should be well aware of the fact that the statement "games are developed for steady profit" is already assumed in any discussion about the direction of a game.

Please let me know if you, personally, never make that assumption when discussing the reasons games are not all designed the same way.

[TaleraRistain]

I never said anything about skipping the current expansions MSQ that should still be gated behind the MSQ for obvious reasons.

Herein lies the problem. "You let me skip all the MSQ up to this point. Why do I have to do it now? I don't care about the story. I just want to get to the 'real game' doing raids and stuff."

The story being a structure that all other content grows from is something unique to this game. And degrading that structure by allowing it to be bypassed without a price tag will damage that structure. They have said they may consider a new starting point at some point in the future but they will need to be careful they don't de-legitimize the importance of story as the root of the game and I imagine that factors into why they don't make it easier to skip.

[Garnix]

Maybe you don't play a lot of MMO's but they also have stories with dungeons, trials contributing to that story. They also have ways to not have to do it multiple times on alt characters

I don't play a lot of MMOs (only played Ragnarok Online, but that's a different kind).
How do they handle leveling alts then? Because, if you skip all cutscenes on your alt, I always assumed you could get to max level in no time, and the MSQ was really just free xp in this case...

[IdowhatIwant]

Herein lies the problem. "You let me skip all the MSQ up to this point. Why do I have to do it now? I don't care about the story. I just want to get to the 'real game' doing raids and stuff."

The story being a structure that all other content grows from is something unique to this game. And degrading that structure by allowing it to be bypassed without a price tag will damage that structure. They have said they may consider a new starting point at some point in the future but they will need to be careful they don't de-legitimize the importance of story as the root of the game and I imagine that factors into why they don't make it easier to skip.

Story being a structure all content grows from is definitely not unique to FFXIV, that is how most games work. You won't be degrading any structure in anyway shape or form that doesn't exist already behind a bs pay wall. It will not way de-legitimize the importance of the story or root of the game, by giving players an OPTION to not partake if they choose. This would in no way affect anyone that does not choose this option so, it really does not matter. As far as why they would not be able to skip the current expansions story, is self explanatory, because it is current, same reason you cannot buy a skip for it.

I don't play a lot of MMOs (only played Ragnarok Online, but that's a different kind).
How do they handle leveling alts then? Because, if you skip all cutscenes on your alt, I always assumed you could get to max level in no time, and the MSQ was really just free xp in this case...

WoW gives you options of selecting which expansion you want to play through when leveling 1-50. After 50 if you have completed shadowlands you can choose not to go through the story again, and just do dungeons, side quests, or world quests to level.

Lost ark allows you to pay gold to skip certain story segments that you have already completed on another character.

[DPZ2]

WoW gives you options of selecting which expansion you want to play through when leveling 1-50. After 50 if you have completed shadowlands you can choose not to go through the story again, and just do dungeons, side quests, or world quests to level.

'

Oh yeah, 18 years of great story across multiple expansions have been reduced to leveling on an island and going directly from there to BFA ... the best of the best of the best of expansions ever, with no context whatsoever about who these people you see in cutscenes are and why you should care. If that had been my initial 'experience' playing WoW 14 years ago, I'd have gone through that much of the 'free to play' (the island) and quit, rather than staying subscribed for 10 years.