This game needs less solo content.

[Jojoya]

I agree, I mean you have tons of FORCED solo content through the MSQ. Even dungeons can be done solo with the trust system. I wish I could play the story with my friends but alas.

Except you can. I've done it with a friend. We made alts and leveled them together thru post 5.0. The only parts of the MSQ we could not do together were the solo duties and the solo duties are a fairly small part of the MSQ. Otherwise every quest, dungeon and trial we did together.

The only reason we stopped is my friend ran into RL time conflicts so he no longer had time for the alt, only his main. The time conflicts, more often than not, are going to be what keeps friends from doing the MSQ together. Maybe one can be online 4-7 but the other can only be online 6-9. That single hour of overlap doesn't allow much progress together, and the slow rate can end up frustrating.

Having the option to do something solo does not make it forced solo content.

[Kaurhz]

I'll reply to the parts most relevant to my experiences.

1 - I half-agree, but in the same vein if they can add more of a communal aspect to this piece of content, then I do not think they should shy away from it - Granted, they can just iterate on Island Sanctuary itself, but Island Sanctuary is still in many respects a fundamentally flawed piece of content, IMO. - Island Sanctuary in a properly refined developed form would've had the potential of exceeding Restoration content.

2 - I can agree on this, but in the same vein, exploratory content does lose a lot of communal aspect as the content goes on. Bozja did in some ways alleviate this by reworking how levels worked. But I would say they should also be looking at content to act as this successor more than anything else. There is beyond a point where doing this content is a chore, and a certain point where, regardless of whether you call it an NM (Notorious Monster), or a Skirmish, they're still just FATEs. - You can just take a look at something like the Delubrum Reignae steps, these steps struggle to actually function without going pre-made or relying on external factors such as organized discord groups, and yes whilst it does help - I don't think it should be the expectation to use these tools.... - The experience of doing it on-patch is vastly different to doing it now, especially for those more communal steps. - This is not to say they shouldn't consider how it functions on-expansion, but they do need more consideration for how it functions long-term.

Shared FATEs and Criterion - Both of these need a fundamental change IMO. Remove the fixed-yield rewards that you trade for items, and change it into lockbox-esque rewards that you can trade in to get various other rewards - This would allow them then to also significantly increase the reward pool IMO, rather than having it be so small - In many respects the same would apply for FATEs. Random chance might incentivize people to actually try for stuff such as the Wivre, but these are always in a sticky situations.

Restoration-esque content - I agree, but I don't think it should be expansion-after-expansion. It was good but still needs innovation IMO. Diadem gets incredibly tedious after a while. Expert recipes are decent, and does add some aspect of uncertainty or thinking. It was nice because it had that novelty factor to it, unless they can maintain or innovate to add further novelty factors then it's something... Questionable... I have always said that Island Sanctuary and Restoration content could very easily borrow ideas from one another.

'Private Workshops' - I don't like it myself, but they would be better looking at the rewards and why people are doing it, and seeing what they can do about that as opposed to outright removing it - Functionally, private workshops are not a bad idea, really. But the whole accessory vendor sale does make it an easy outlet for exorbitant amount of passive income, that only ever really gets exceeded by 'patchmas'. - It does require upfront investment.

Dungeons - Mechanics are not the problem, and neither is the absence of them... As far as I am concerned, dungeons should ideally (IMO) prioritize exploration more than anything... That isn't to say mechanics aren't important, but they don't address the fundamental problem with the content... IMO they could gut the dungeons for all I care mechanically, but they're desperate for something more than just 3 bosses and a few corridors. If they could borrow the hostage rescue component from CLL, that would be a great asset. I would say exploration lends itself to a better MMO than what mechanical complexity does... Whether a boss does or does not have a particular mechanic does very little to encourage anything... IMO. Well bar learning of course, but those opportunities are still there all the same... - Mechanics would be nice, but it's hardly the biggest issues with dungeons, since IMO they need an additional difficulty tier rather than just stepping up the story element. (I do want to iterate, this is not to say everything should be easier, but rather there should be other priorities... Whether they are met is a different question, obviously)

I will only add to say that functionally FFXIV is not a magnificent game in the MMO aspect, it has never really been great in this regard IMO, as there are a lot of fundamental systems which make it the opposite of actually having an MMO-feel to it... - It's a great game don't get me wrong, but if I had to say great in MMO context... Idk

Sorry for the long post LOL

[Volgia]

Except you can. I've done it with a friend. We made alts and leveled them together thru post 5.0. The only parts of the MSQ we could not do together were the solo duties and the solo duties are a fairly small part of the MSQ. Otherwise every quest, dungeon and trial we did together.

The only reason we stopped is my friend ran into RL time conflicts so he no longer had time for the alt, only his main. The time conflicts, more often than not, are going to be what keeps friends from doing the MSQ together. Maybe one can be online 4-7 but the other can only be online 6-9. That single hour of overlap doesn't allow much progress together, and the slow rate can end up frustrating.

Having the option to do something solo does not make it forced solo content.

Well I thought it was self-evident that I was talking about the solo content in the MSQ that FORCED you to disband your party and participate in it alone. You don't have the option to experience it with your friends.

The game feels more and more asocial as times goes on. Most of the story quests and my leveling experience has been just bouncing back and forth between NPCs without little to no gameplay, and the times that I get to play I do it alone. I didn't even start making new in-game friends until I started PFing in savage content around 200 hours down the line.

[splinter1545]

We can have both. However, none of the group content is interesting either. Majority of it is just incredibly easy, boring to actually play like dungeons, and, aside from 8 mans for the first few weeks, the rewards/gear aren't worth it unless you want to glam. They just need to eventually overhaul their design philosophy when it comes to group content, cause the reality is there are just mostly face rolls with terrible rewards. Who wants to keep playing that, when you can chill on Island Sanctuary which actually allows you to see your island progress visually, and you get some nice exclusive rewards?

Make group content actually fun to play and rewarding to do, and more people will want to do it. Otherwise, players are going to just play solo content that they can do casually whenever they want and at least get good stuff from it.

[BRVV]

Except you can. I've done it with a friend. We made alts and leveled them together thru post 5.0. The only parts of the MSQ we could not do together were the solo duties and the solo duties are a fairly small part of the MSQ. Otherwise every quest, dungeon and trial we did together.

Wouldn't you also have to wait for the one who reads slower? For cutscenes to play because of different load times?

Well I thought it was self-evident that I was talking about the solo content in the MSQ that FORCED you to disband your party and participate in it alone. You don't have the option to experience it with your friends.

If you start with the free trial you can't make your own party. So you have to ask another player everytime to make one for you.