Why are some people "disappointed" by the 6.X patch story?

[Amh_Wilzuun]

I've been playing since 2.4 and it's definitely the worst it's been. It's worse this time because of a number of factors, imo. We have no exploratory zone. We have no relic grind. We have no sub stories or major plot points to ruminate on. No build up, nothing to look forward to. We had no trial story separate from msq that would allow for some variation in story that wasn't the same "I wanna manifest in this world and die" plot that BOTH of the storylines we got this patch featured. There are way fewer dungeons recently and while yeah zzz dungeons big deal, but I'm really missing the lack of variety. People are bored of the 2 minute meta. IS is solitary and unimpactful and the only reason I'm doing it is for the glam rewards NOT the content itself in any way shape or form. Criterion dungeons are not incentivized enough, are hard enough that they require the same amount of coordination and interpersonal planning as a savage but with no rewards. Not to mention the savage mode having stupid arbitrary healing limitations and identical mechanics to criterion. The loot system is garbage.

Sure every patch has suffered from one or two of these missteps and plenty of their own but it's just been a constant barrage of compromises and half-baked ideas. and to top it all off we saw the imo underwhelming conclusion of 2 storylines that set nothing up, demystified and narrowed the world building that the game has spent 10 years establishing. It's very dispiriting.

This person was talking only about the actual MSQ itself and you went on a tangent about other endgame content… doesn’t really disprove thejr points. I agree that the past expansion patch MSQ wasn’t much different

[ReynTime]

I started playing in the ARR open beta back in 2013, just never bothered joining the forums until SB.

As for the individual post patch stuff, as an example I think SB actually had the best for me. It was focused on the politics of Doma and Garlemald, Eorzea and Garlemald, as well as Garlemald's internal politics which I liked. It had the conclusion to the Yotsuyu story, the return of Zenos, and we meet Emet Selch and learned more about the Ascians. It gave us Gaius and his hunt of the Ascians and also started the soul sucking of the Scions to the first so we were figuring out what was even going on with them.

Obviously it's all a personal opinion and I am just a fan of what SB did in the post patch story.

Stormblood's patch MSQ was a lot better than the MSQ itself, even.

[OgruMogru]

This person was talking only about the actual MSQ itself and you went on a tangent about other endgame content… doesn’t really disprove thejr points. I agree that the past expansion patch MSQ wasn’t much different

Yeah but I was trying to point out the context for why the story was viewed as disappointing by some and I'd argue that it's made worse by the general discontent overall. A weaker story wouldn't have had such a negative impact if the rest of the game wasn't also disappointing. Also see my comment about how the choices the writers made for the 2 main storylines we've had for the past 2 years were very similar in our "antagonists" aims - both wishing to use us or the world at large to end themselves, and the ramifications that has on a lot of the lore and worldbuilding the game has spent years establishing.

[Myon88]

I can kinda relate to that, the post-Shadowbringers lull was similar for people who didn't enjoy field exploration zones. This was smack in the middle of news about the covid delay, as well as the announcement of the cancellation of SHB's second ultimate. If you didn't enjoy Bozja you had almost nothing to do.

In SHB, jobs like summoner were beginning to see the writing on the wall for what the continued efforts to streamline job design would mean for them too. It was a pretty dark time for the game for people in the raiding crowd that I know.

[sindriiisgaming]

i can give a handful of reasons why the void mini ark left me feeling bored and annoyed.

firstly. i had wanted to see the void since i started playing in shb. being a real filled entirley with darkness, the very asthetic was already appealing to me (and tbh they did not disappoint on that) but they did on almost everything else
secondly, the lore is extensive, going back even to 1.0. voidsent and the void had such long detailed lore, its warriors of light, its higherarchy, its state of affairs and the wol who fled it.. to see essentially NONE of this developed... it was saddening
lastly is zero herself. when first i saw her i was soooo excited for this character. mysterious, alluring and a reaper! finally representation.. oh wait no... shes a pld now.. her unique gear? gone... her? gone. left behind as if she never existed in a rushedly ended arc that felt like it had been delayed for better things, or to pad out EW>DT

cyella, unuqualhai... completly ignored and unused.. and that also saddens me..
golbez? hes hardly developed .. we hardly see any mention of him.. his redemption doesnt feel legitimate or deserved.. i cannot say any of this left a good taste in my mouth. i hope when next we return to the void.. the story will actually explore the contramemoria and its diverse lore

perhaps the biggest crime.. is that nothing in this patch evoked any emotion in me.. when i remember stb/shb patches i remember crying over the losses of the characters, and remembering that feeling that life and death were taken very seriously in the story.
it is not the case im numb to ff, i was VERY moved in endwalker.. the story was genuinly gripping. the writing was not confined to the build up, it built itself up, it made you think, it made you feel. and it made you WALK in every agonising emotion those people felt before they gave up. i feel personally the void just deserved better after 10 years of lore building

[Arzalis]

I mean, I know why the story is kinda mediocre for 6.x. It's the first time it has no relation to anything. Up until now patch stories have always been a continuation to resolve lingering things from the x.0 story and charge full force into the next expansion.

This whole patch cycle is quite literally filler content and is super rushed because they have to both start it and resolve it all in a fraction of the normal time. Not to mention they had always had lore and characters here and there related to the void, some of which were interesting, and basically used none of it. Likely due to lack of time.

[Turtledeluxe]

I mean, I know why the story is kinda mediocre for 6.x. It's the first time it has no relation to anything. Up until now patch stories have always been a continuation to resolve lingering things from the x.0 story and charge full force into the next expansion.

This whole patch cycle is quite literally filler content and is super rushed because they have to both start it and resolve it all in a fraction of the normal time. Not to mention they had always had lore and characters here and there related to the void, some of which were interesting, and basically used none of it. Likely due to lack of time.

Except it is about the voidsent of Zenos and their feelings on his actions as well as their journey to self actualization. It's about the saving of a reflection that was caused by Venat's sundering from an Ascian plot that plunged its world into darkness and led to generations of mindless indulgence.

Acting like it has nothing to do with anything is a stretch. I think you and many others are suffering from the effects of time. I think the patch story would feel differently if maybe you were able to play the parts closer together directly after Endwalker.

[iVolke]

Except it is about the voidsent of Zenos and their feelings on his actions as well as their journey to self actualization. It's about the saving of a reflection that was caused by Venat's sundering from an Ascian plot that plunged its world into darkness and led to generations of mindless indulgence.

Zero spoke about Zenos like twice throughout all these patches. That plot point meant very little.

And for the 13th being such a mess, we fixed it pretty easily. There were zero stakes and nobody loss anything.

This has been the worst story so far. The Pandemonium SIDE quests were infinitely better than the MSQ.