The feeling of beeing Home ...

[Hurlstone]

Do people really think Endwalker wrapped the story up just to get reactions from streamers and sales? Not that they decided to finally close the current story arc after almost ten years to start afresh? I get the expansion was not what everyone wanted (Kinda surprised how many people wanted an expansion-full story based around Garlemald) but I thought it did a decent enough job wrapping things up. Could have got the ball rolling in a few more areas, but I expected worse. Plus, we may still see stories based around the Ilsabard area or the Grand Companies (I for one would not mind seeing Ul'dah burst into flames n and have to being anew from its sea of corruption…) but I am excited to see some fresh lore.

I cannot help thinking comparing Endwalker to Cataclysm is overkil, then again my favourite WoW expansion was Mists of Pandaria so what do I know…

[CrownySuccubus]

There's no reason whatsoever that they should worry about keeping you specifically over anyone else.

[aveyond-dreams]

You're absolutely correct in that I am not the sole priority in this situation. The multitudes who have left this game for others due to disappointments with the story, gameplay, and content are. I just happen to form part of that group. My time in FFXIV now consists of clicking on an npc to turn in things for gil at the end of the week, because there's nothing else to do.

At least give me a story worth looking forward to. We shall see what the patch trailer next Friday brings with it. So long as the Scions are involved however, I have a feeling I can probably predict the patch's MSQ to the point where I don't need to bother playing through the whole thing:

-We regroup in Thavnair
-Cid appears to give us a new gizmo to let us go into the Void for the dungeon
-We're short a tank and a healer, so we go back to the Scions yet again instead of adding new characters
-We go into the Void, can't find the dragon at the end of the dungeon, Y'shtola offers a lore explanation, and we turn to leave
-Zenos's voidsent appears to us alone and stares at us for several seconds. It then leaves without a word
-We go back to Thavnair and listen to Y'shtola talk more

Am I really supposed to get excited for this?

[CrownySuccubus]

You're absolutely correct in that I am not the sole priority in this situation. The multitudes who have left this game for others due to disappointments with the story, gameplay, and content are.

And the multitudes that have joined or continue to play counteract that.

Again, feel free to leave, but there's no reason that anyone has to feel bad about it.

Am I really supposed to get excited for this?

You may or may not get "excited" for anything. Your feelings are your own.

[Jeeqbit]

Am I really supposed to get excited for this?

The .1 and .2 patches are usually relatively boring like this.

In Heavensward the most exciting thing we do is with the antitower. Otherwise we just find Thancred and meet the Warriors of Darkness. Seeing them for the first time is about as exciting as the dungeon we're about to get.

In Stormblood we just help clean up the lochs and get Ala Mhigo and Doma some finances to fund their new democracies.

In Shadowbringers, we just sort out eulmore's future and learn about souls for the obvious return to the source in 5.3. Since we know that's where it's heading, the first 2 patches are not very exciting.

But all of them get better from the .3 patch.

[aveyond-dreams]

The .1 and .2 patches are usually relatively boring like this.

But all of them get better from the .3 patch.

This is hardly a defense as to why the quality of .1 and .2 MSQs should be like this. The playerbase deserves better.

[Jeeqbit]

This is hardly a defense as to why the quality of .1 and .2 MSQs should be like this. The playerbase deserves better.

Perhaps, but it's what SE do. They want to create a sense of calm before the next storm and making it boring is their way of achieving it. They seem to want to tidy up the political future of every nation we interfere with even though politics usually bores people. Maybe it's just a loose end in Yoshi-P's mind that he always has to settle. We could probably just get a reference a few patches later that says how they solved all of their political problems instead of getting us to do it. It even happened with Radz where we had to tidy up their political problems.

[kaynide]

This is hardly a defense as to why the quality of .1 and .2 MSQs should be like this. The playerbase deserves better.

The 0.1 and 0.2 patches have historically been the ones that were story-lite because they introduce other big things in the expansion, such as Eureka or Bozja. With their time and energy being used to make sure these launch as successfully as possible, other content might take a hit. Only so many man hours they can put into the game, after all.

In addition, if every single MSQ bit is a high point, there would be no lows...sometimes you need to just deal with cleanup.

To be fair, while I'm not a fan of where the story is going 6.x, I appreciate the effort put into it.

[aveyond-dreams]

Well if word of mouth isn't a concern, I suppose not. However given the state that the game is currently in, I no longer recommend it to people both irl and online. How am I supposed to convince any of the guys I talk to play a game where G'raha is right there front and center in the spotlight? I can't. It's embarrassing. He's not exactly a great hit with the women I talk to either, who are in agreement that there's something off about his face. In Shadowbringers we had a high quality fantasy adventure that knew what it was going for, even if the main party wasn't particularly exciting, but in Endwalker I struggle to define what FFXIV is trying to be.

[CrownySuccubus]

Well if word of mouth isn't a concern, I suppose not.

Your word of mouth does not count for more than anyone else's.