Real talk; the lack of Job-specific STORY content is really hurting my excitement...

[Barwara]

For me it depends on the jobs. I really enjoyed the DRK, RPR, DRG quest lines for exemple and wouldn't mind having more quests centred them, but I didn't really care for the rest. And when abilities are locked behind job quests, they feel like a chore. But I agree that the stories went on long enough that it was fine to conclude them in SHB.

PLUS, I really enjoyed all of the role quests in SHB. In a way they let you explore other aspects of the world building, as well as other characters. In EW we get to check in with the head of the states which is also really nice. And seeing as 99% of the game's sidequests are just fetch quests, I find the current role quests to be some of the only engaging quest content available right now...

[Pixieh]

I for one am glad there's no more annoying job quests to go through that hinders the leveling process. Good riddance.

[VeyaAkemi]

One thing I will say is that a problem behind Job quests is that it tends to lock NPCs, and they can't be used in ways that would change their status quo.

The biggest offender of this is Widargelt, y'now, the man whose whole thing is his dedication to salvation of Ala Mhigo to the point he attempted to go full evil at one point just to hope he'd have the power to make a change? the very same man who was completely absent in Stormblood despite the freedom of Ala Mhigo being a major point for that expansion? the level 80 MNK quest did its best to attempt repair things, but the fact that Widargelt had to stay away from Stormblood, not even as a cameo of "Yeah I joined the Resistance and I am working on certain things off-screen but you can see me around Rhalgr's Reach between quests" deal, is the biggest example of the problem with Job quests to me.

Likewise, I appreciate deeply that Oboro has a cameo in Bozja, I remember when I first dropped his Notes, and I had a moment of "Oboro? our Oboro?", then I paid closer attention and noticed the man himself standing right next to me, having a brief conversation after the Skirmish was done.

Yes, there are exceptions, like Estinien in StB's DRG, but those are still exceptions and Esti is a major exception in general, but I would rather have the chance of coming across Sid in a future story segment or sidequest, than have him obediently waiting for me to get up a few levels so we can get down to more shaninegans, even if it also means seeing him less.

[Midareyukki]

One thing I will say is that a problem behind Job quests is that it tends to lock NPCs, and they can't be used in ways that would change their status quo.

The biggest offender of this is Widargelt, y'now, the man whose whole thing is his dedication to salvation of Ala Mhigo to the point he attempted to go full evil at one point just to hope he'd have the power to make a change? the very same man who was completely absent in Stormblood despite the freedom of Ala Mhigo being a major point for that expansion? the level 80 MNK quest did its best to attempt repair things, but the fact that Widargelt had to stay away from Stormblood, not even as a cameo of "Yeah I joined the Resistance and I am working on certain things off-screen but you can see me around Rhalgr's Reach between quests" deal, is the biggest example of the problem with Job quests to me.

Likewise, I appreciate deeply that Oboro has a cameo in Bozja, I remember when I first dropped his Notes, and I had a moment of "Oboro? our Oboro?", then I paid closer attention and noticed the man himself standing right next to me, having a brief conversation after the Skirmish was done.

Yes, there are exceptions, like Estinien in StB's DRG, but those are still exceptions and Esti is a major exception in general, but I would rather have the chance of coming across Sid in a future story segment or sidequest, than have him obediently waiting for me to get up a few levels so we can get down to more shaninegans, even if it also means seeing him less.

I had the same thought with Rostik. He originally appears in the GNB quests to ask Radovan if he wanted to join the resistance. Radovan says he's not tied to Bozja anymore, so Rostik goes off.
Then he appears again in the Bozja quests.
And then again in Ala Mhigo, and he's the one who takes Thancred to disable the Garlean comms tower.

To those who didn't play GNB or Bozja, they'll just be met with a random Hrothgar dude.

Which is why I personally prefer if they did have further quests to sort of migrate them away from just the questline and integrate them into the story proper. Have the story start treating old content as done, at least in terms of the Job Quests. Again, not really a questline, but at least something at the end.

[Dzonathan]

I dont know man.

Sometimes I feel like the writers are just afraid of going bonkers with introducing alternatives to MSQ plot elements.
WAR could've a plotline where we visit Gorge's village and learn of a legendary warrior who could fight primals on his own and resist their tempering.
We dwelve deeper into the story and find out at the end that the inner beast is in fact the ability to burn up your Aether to such a strong astral state that the umbral state of the eikon corruption simply can not take hold.
The legendary warrior who slew Primals was simply too angry to be tempered because he was tempered by his own anger. Sounds warrior enough?
The cap reward would be Primal Rend learned thanks to burning up your aether to such a degree. Fitting that the warrior who could resist Primal influence would have the very ability to put them down.

[Payadopa]

ARR & HW are especially problematic for this since there's new quests every 2-5 levels and the majority have skills/traits, some of which have extremely high impacts to your kit locked behind them. Especially these days when you level so fast you're being stopped every 20mins to go do a new job quest.
Wanted to just mindlessly spam dungeons? Well too bad, you're inting your group if you don't kill that momentum and go do the job quests for skills that will speed up the runs.
About to do the final MSQ of SB? Well too bad, unless you got very lucky with item drops, you likely don't meet the ilvl for the 70 trial/dungeon since it was designed with getting the AF gear from the 70 job quest in mind. SB's was even worse given that only the final quest had any reward attached to it, meaning someone was much more incentivized to put them off considering it was a slog until you needed the 70 ability.

Can't say I agree. I love the fact that you get an ability in the end. Bonus points if it makes sense in the story. This is a story-driven game after all. But I prefer 5 good ones as apposed to 19 or so shallow ones that all blurr together.

[Deceptus]

For capstone MSQ fights there needs to be BOTH a minimum and a maximum so people don't go strolling into the lvl 80 fight with lvl 70 gear despite the game literally giving you a free set.

[Terin]

I agree entirely. I'm just filled with dread that if we were to get more Job questlines, that means Paladin would get more Job quests.


Part of the problem imho is that Paladin's thematics just... Do not fit into Ul'dah culture whatsoever.
Several of PLD's abilities either outright namedrop or reference Halone, 'holy light,' and general concepts such as chivalry and guardianship. In addition, the concept we're introduced to of 'The Free Paladin' is a roaming, chivalrous hero protecting the commonfolk and being their shield against the forces of evil and foul banditry.
Comparatively, Ul'dah's patron deity is Nald'thal, who is generally a darker and more fiery-aspect entity that represents Death & Taxes. And on top of that Ul'dah's culture is the epitome of cutthroat, murderous capitalism, to the point that it's still a relevant plot beat that multiple members of the Syndicate were actively trading with Garlemald until Garlemald imploded. And despite trying to thrust the aforementioned concepts of 'Free Paladin work' onto us, we're given to start with a floundering mess of bodyguards as our job representatives (who are very bad at their job, like atrociously so - except for Papashan, who I agree should've been 100% more relevant at all levels) who are easily given the run-around and corrupted by the aforementioned Syndicate.

The entire job is thematically at odds with the city it's positioned in, and sprouts from a starting class that's basically perfect for the city it's positioned in - Gladiator, the flashy and flamboyant fighter in the bloodsands, fighting for cash and glory and the love of the audience.
Who doesn't actually get any Gladiatorial showings until, ironically, Paladin's 60-70 quests.

oh lord it's just a mess.

I just had to reply to this, because it's just such an excellent post. Not meaning to throw shade or anything, but you're absolutely right about "Paladins" being pretty at-odds with Ul'dah, and even the "Gladiator" class from which the job stems.

Perhaps it's time to cut ties with Ul'dah for the Paladin quests, and instead explore the notion of connecting with some long-forgetting spirit of "Light" or Holy power? Maybe have the Paladin traveling to Garlemald, truly becoming a hero to a people who have little and even less faith in anything left. Really play into the idea of them being "a light in the darkness". Where the Holy See of Ishgard was always steeped in all the potential corruption of a powerful church, maybe exploring the idea of the good a single person can do, inspiring people a bit more. Perhaps connecting it to Ul'dah, only in having your character showcasing the importance of being a Paladin, maybe even having one of the Monetarists involved in the story, who after seeing the good you're able to do, away from the callous nature of Ul'dah, starts to have a change of heart?

I dunno, it seems like there is plenty of potential for the Paladin to have a good, emotional, powerful story. But you're absolutely right, it could stand to distance itself a bit from the Gladiator pit and Ul'dah, and focus more on the "Holy Knight" angle.

[AvalonBright]

I feel like the "Oh, there's so many Jobs now, we can't support quests for so many" is a cop-out when the game is doing so well. It's a mark of SE's refusal to give the game the staff that's needed, when they could easily trial new writers to handle new Job quests. And they don't *need* to rely on old questgivers either, not that I wouldn't love to see some of them again. But I gotta say, role quests have kinda missed the mark a lot, and the missing Job quests with no lore explaining any of your new abilities is really just...bland. A lot of people handwave it as "The WoL taught themselves this ability" but even then, a story *centered* around that fact would be nice. Like, SMN especially, we just suddenly master proper Summoning with no explanation. Is it because of what happened with the loporrits? Did we pick up Creation Magic and "pure" summoning from them? Are the 90 versions just "Mega Egis"? I don't know!

And having just done the RPR quest recently, it seriously missed the mark. We just meet this woman and she's calling us "FAMILY" faster than a drunk Vin Diesel after a flashy heist. The entire meeting, major antagonist, and conclusion of the RPR story was ridiculously quick due to shoving it all into the space of so few levels. Really fell flat, honestly. We need a return to Job Quests, and SE needs to hire people that can handle them. I'm tired of the results of this game doing so well being the complete opposite of what we should be getting--MORE content, not LESS.

[NekoMataMata]

I miss it too, but at least they all seem to tie together in the end now, assuming you do them all.

Although, DoL/DoH got the short end of this deal. I remember feeling annoyed during the level 1-70 quests at being sent all over the place for what would inevitably end up being a simple turn in quest, but I did enjoy the story and it was something to do, compared to the Crystarium/Studium Deliveries just being well, simple turn in quests with movies attached.

There also isn't anything special or necessary about Crystarium/Studium Deliveries. DoW/DoM at get gear freebies at their end of their role quests(or the ability to dye said freebies), but you don't really get anything besides the ability to buy housing items from the scrip shop? Those items are market prohibited but that doesn't really matter with housing items sooooo... DoL/DoH might as well have got nothing from those.