Quote Originally Posted by vetch View Post
You are trying to compare dissimilar design philosophies to make points about pacing instead of simply looking at the pacing. I am a new player, I started in patch 5.3, and FF14 maintains the same rushed pacing, it's just obfuscated because it's running on the parallel track of being an MSQ-driven game instead of a story-optional quest-hub game.

Sure, if you drop quests in WoW as soon as you qualify for a new xpac, then it seems like you're speeding through the game. But the FF14 equivalent would be skipping cutscenes and mashing through dialogue, and that goes through the game just as fast. In both cases you're refusing to take an interest in the plotlines, exploration, worldbuilding, NPCs, etc. that the quests offer.

Both communities rush people to endgame, too, albeit for different reasons and by different ways.
I, too, started when Patch 5.something was current. Really, what you're saying is that players rush themselves and other players to the end game.

There's nothing in the game itself that makes or requires you to speed through it; there's nothing in the game that prevents you from stopping to smell the proverbial roses. I cleared maps of every little side quest marker as soon as they popped up. I made it a point to do all the optional x0 dungeons before moving on to the next expac. I was still working my way through post-ShB when Endwalker dropped, and I was at peace with that.

The only thing you miss out on is going into a dungeon or trial with a full party of first-timers who know nothing of what to expect, but that's unavoidable short of organizing your life around when patches drop.