Length MSQ from all the expansions - it is getting insane

[Boblawblah]

Not to state the obvious, but maybe FFXIV isn't for you?

[For_The_Forsaken]

That would be a great point, if you can find a majority of new players who are excited to spend a month completing a main story quest to reach the current content. I am almost certain that such a majority does not exist. Does that mean that FFXIV is not for them, or that there is a problem with the msq, evident in the mere existence of 'skips', offered by the creators of the game. If the creators of the game have not only admitted to the problem, but capitalized on it, do you still think that msq is not the problem, rather than the game just 'not being for you'?
Please don't think I am being rhetorical, as I would like to hear your response.

[Atelier-Bagur]

If you're playing alts, just buy the story skips. It's what I did for my characters. Although I have one of them doing the msq naturally since I wanted to relive some story beats and progression naturally anyway.

[Avoidy]

It would be cool if upon making an alt the game just recognized that you had a maxed out level 90 dude and let you skip the msq progression junk if you wanted to. But it doesn't even take 3 brain cells to see why that's not an option. Skips sell pretty well. And they wouldn't be able to sell skips if there weren't a powerful incentive to purchase them. Not even sure why people are dancing around this simple fact. Yoshi might be a real nice guy, but Square's a business and they only care about money and this is one way to get it. It's the same reason basic shit like eye color changes are locked behind a fanta.

[Shinkuno]

They will never, cause of story skips

Little history lesson: the first time they acknowledged the horrendous MSQ slog and promised a solution, that solution was paid skips. Never ever will they allow you skip straight to current expansion unless the sub numbers are shrinking

[Jeeqbit]

Since I am a veteran MMO player, played them since 2001.
I hate this hand-holding that this game has.

As a veteran MMO player that has no doubt seen new players come and go countless times, you surely understand why that hand-holding is necessary. Most new players quit the game (this happens with all MMO games). The hand-holding helps keep them there by reducing their confusion and guiding them through the game properly.

Also, the number of hours you have to spend to play through the ALL msq is just insane.

It is, but it is a Final Fantasy game and Final Fantasy games are about story, so the developers do not want to compromise on this and make it not about story.

I am the type of player who likes to have tons of alts and does not like the idea of having all classes on one character.

Bad news then. This game is designed around doing everything on one character. Most other MMOs were designed the way that you like with the class tied to the character.

The old republic has all quests voiced, maybe because the number of them is so much smaller than FFXIV.

There is also localization (translation to several other languages) and once they decide to voice something, they have to commit to never adjusting it and that is a big commitment because they have to be certain they will never need to change the text for any reason since it is voiced.

[Stormpeaks]

As a veteran MMO player that has no doubt seen new players come and go countless times, you surely understand why that hand-holding is necessary. Most new players quit the game (this happens with all MMO games). The hand-holding helps keep them there by reducing their confusion and guiding them through the game properly.

It is, but it is a Final Fantasy game and Final Fantasy games are about story, so the developers do not want to compromise on this and make it not about story.

Bad news then. This game is designed around doing everything on one character. Most other MMOs were designed the way that you like with the class tied to the character.

There is also localization (translation to several other languages) and once they decide to voice something, they have to commit to never adjusting it and that is a big commitment because they have to be certain they will never need to change the text for any reason since it is voiced.

Final Fantasy X for example had me hooked to the entire story, I loved every cutscene of that game, every single one, I even replayed it multiple times because its emotional and is an amazing game to re-play.

However FFXIV's story just does not feel engaging to me at all, I really find it quite boring, this is my personal opinion

[Kenarashi]

As a veteran MMO player that has no doubt seen new players come and go countless times, you surely understand why that hand-holding is necessary. Most new players quit the game (this happens with all MMO games). The hand-holding helps keep them there by reducing their confusion and guiding them through the game properly.

It is, but it is a Final Fantasy game and Final Fantasy games are about story, so the developers do not want to compromise on this and make it not about story.

Bad news then. This game is designed around doing everything on one character. Most other MMOs were designed the way that you like with the class tied to the character.

There is also localization (translation to several other languages) and once they decide to voice something, they have to commit to never adjusting it and that is a big commitment because they have to be certain they will never need to change the text for any reason since it is voiced.

Yes, after cataclysm 95% of my friends left wow and never returned.

Maybe, i said it in a wrong way. I am against hand hold per say, i am against tutorial/hand holding how it is done in ffxiv. On the other hand i love the idea of teaching players their roles. FFXIV has done it perfectly. It is not forced, you earn nice gear, you can see what may happened in controlled enviroment.
I also agree story is important if not most important thing in games but in ffxiv the quests are like this 1/3 are relevant and 2/3 are fetch quests that doesn't advance the story in anyway.
I wouldn't see why localization is a problem. In some single player games i noticed voice and text are not the same. There is no excuse for not do a voice over on a AAA game. Especially it is SE, one of the biggest games company in the world and FFXIV is one of most popular mmo in world.

[AngelCheese77]

My biggest gripe with the MSQ is so much is locked behind it. If they got rid of that, I think it would help.

[Kaurhz]

They do need to add better support for alts.

I would like to see something as simple as...

Once per service account, you can link 1 character to another. Doing so will share their achievements, purchased items with real currency (Mogstation), story progression, and personal housing. Heck, I would even pay for a character-linking feature similar to this.

Beyond this, functions as current.