The MSQ defeated me

[Atreides]

Most of the FFXIV community digested the story in small chunks during the patch cycle, new players currently have to go through all that in one huge session, I can see how that is exhausting.
SE plans to add options to skip the first ark once 7.0 releases so you can start as new adventurer at this point and decide to do the old story another time, how they are going to do it that it makes sense however I cannot tell.

[Atelier-Bagur]

There's a lot of content between every expansion, that has been dead since we moved from that expansion.

Says you. Stuff like Eureka and Bozja still have people around. Heck theres an entire dedicated discord community that runs Baldesion Arsenal almost daily.

[Snowdove]

If you're trying to bum rush endgame because you think you have to, then please take a moment to stop and explore what's available to you now. There is far more to enjoy and explore than jut level 90 content.

The problem is, all that feels like stuff you do once you finish the MSQ. You're on such a rail, it feels wrong to get off of it.


idk how FF14 can address that. Probably can't.


But Oh My Gosh they can not be so ignorant of the fact that the crushing MSQ is what frightens off a whole lot of people. Imagine how much more popular FF14 would be if it wasn't for that Olympic-style hurdle.


Maybe including a story-skip with purchase would be a good idea. Then people can choose to go back and play the story later if they want to.

[Azuri]

Another problem is approaching the MSQ like one might for WoW or another MMO where endgame is the only game, which simply isn't true. There is a lot of content between every expansion and tons of side content with all different kinds of objectives to go after. BLU content, Gold Saucer, past endgame bosses (level 50, 60, 70, 80), Deep Dungeons, Eureka, Bozja, Treasure Maps, Crafting/Gathering, Leveling other jobs, and now PVP is actually thriving.

If you're trying to bum rush endgame because you think you have to, then please take a moment to stop and explore what's available to you now. There is far more to enjoy and explore than jut level 90 content.

Gentle reminder that when you were doing that 50/60/70 content you were doing it as endgame, with a fully functional job. The state of most jobs at those levels now is an absolute travesty. It's really not hard to understand that some might not enjoy doing content that is entirely irrelevant to their progression besides the story itslef while playing a third of a job.

[ty_taurus]

The problem is, all that feels like stuff you do once you finish the MSQ. You're on such a rail, it feels wrong to get off of it.


idk how FF14 can address that. Probably can't.


But Oh My Gosh they can not be so ignorant of the fact that the crushing MSQ is what frightens off a whole lot of people. Imagine how much more popular FF14 would be if it wasn't for that Olympic-style hurdle.


Maybe including a story-skip with purchase would be a good idea. Then people can choose to go back and play the story later if they want to.

The MSQ situation is not a problem to be fixed, just an aspect of the game that you personally do not enjoy. It's a story driven MMO first and foremost, and letting people skip the most recent selection of content would be antithetical to its design. If you don't like that, then that's fine. Not everyone has to enjoy it. However, there are ways to help manage your progress through the MSQ rather than trying to swallow all of it in one go, and if you can't be bothered to do that, then that's not on the game; it's on you.

If you need help breaking up the story, then try doing it in segments based on zones. Complete one zone, then take a break and do something else.

Gentle reminder that when you were doing that 50/60/70 content you were doing it as endgame, with a fully functional job. The state of most jobs at those levels now is an absolute travesty. It's really not hard to understand that some might not enjoy doing content that is entirely irrelevant to their progression besides the story itslef while playing a third of a job.

It's definitely a different story trying to experience older content now than it was when it was current. That's not wrong; however, you absolutely can find groups of people willing to experience it with you or help you experience it. It might not be as easy as throwing up a PF and expecting 8 people in 5 minutes, but there are many discords of people dedicated to more niche forms of content like Eureka. Instead of creating a thread complaining about the MSQ's length, create a thread asking for discord links to groups of people interested in min ilvl runs of past content, hunt trains, deep dungeon groups, etc. Or ask your FC who would be interested in doing other pieces of content. If you're not interested in doing old endgame content, note that I did include bunch more options then just min ilvl runs of old content.

[Broken_Wind]

But Oh My Gosh they can not be so ignorant of the fact that the crushing MSQ is what frightens off a whole lot of people. Imagine how much more popular FF14 would be if it wasn't for that Olympic-style hurdle.

WoW used to have a leveling process that took a casual player several months.
It had great retention.
They instead made leveling super fast to funnel people to endgame faster, before they grew attached tot heir characters
It no longer has great retention.

Obviously, there are other factors at play in WoW, but in general games that take longer to get to 'endgame' have better retention

FFXIV is also the only MMORPG that i know of that has continued to grow for this long. Its only the second MMORPG to sustain 1mil subs

Maybe it is in spite of the MSQ process, or maybe its also because MSQ gets a lot of people more engaged with the game world and they stay longer

Its an indirect impact and we will never know the answer. Theyve worked to improve the process but its far from clear if making MSQ optional would be good or bad for the game. There are without question some players that it would attract. But would it be enough to overcome what it would lose in the long run? i don't know the answer to this, no one does. But if Im square enix I think twice about changing it.

That said, I think the duty support focus and the codex are signs they *maybe* are going to let people start at 7.0

[ty_taurus]

WoW used to have a leveling process that took a casual player several months.
It had great retention.
They instead made leveling super fast to funnel people to endgame faster, before they grew attached tot heir characters
It no longer has great retention.

Obviously, there are other factors at play in WoW, but in general games that take longer to get to 'endgame' have better retention

FFXIV is also the only MMORPG that i know of that has continued to grow for this long. Its only the second MMORPG to sustain 1mil subs

Maybe it is in spite of the MSQ process, or maybe its also because MSQ gets a lot of people more engaged with the game world and they stay longer

Its an indirect impact and we will never know the answer. Theyve worked to improve the process but its far from clear if making MSQ optional would be good or bad for the game. There are without question some players that it would attract. But would it be enough to overcome what it would lose in the long run? i don't know the answer to this, no one does. But if Im square enix I think twice about changing it.

That said, I think the duty support focus and the codex are signs they *maybe* are going to let people start at 7.0

I believe they did mention something along the lines of letting people start from the new arc by choice. Perhaps they might create a volume system of sorts where, when you begin, you can choose to open with Volume 1 or Volume 2, but when you start from Volume 2, you won't have access to HW, SB, ShB, or EW story content. Just the zones are open, but nothing else.