This story is really underwhelming - it's opened to mixed reviews.

[Anger]

It pains me to say this about a game I love so much but this is a very underwhelming story.

The argument that "It's a new story arc after we've ended a ten year long one" is not a good excuse. That isn't going to keep the average player invested, coming back, or subscribed. Those are important things in an MMORPG.

The game needed to keep or maintain the momentum it had built in Endwalker. While this would be hard to do it is far from impossible.

Giving up momentum is a very bad decision.

[DarkCobalt]

I'm giving it some slack since they did say it would be a slow adventure-type story, but after about 10 hours it's really hard to stay engaged with it at all, even just as a sightseeing experience. The culture and tribes are kind of bland? Dare I say uninspired? I don't really know how much they thought people would find like bartering or crafting as a super unique and fun cultural thing, we've seen it a dozen times over in every other major region of the game. I feel like if you've played some of the beast tribes, you've seen all there is to offer in the opening segments of Dawntrail, which isn't exactly what I was hoping for when I heard them saying it was a laidback story. It's a little TOO laidback.

[Rhysati]

I have to agree, at least so far. It's VERY early yet for me, having only gotten just past the first dungeon...but so far the story has been like watching paint dry. I could not possibly be more bored and uninterested in what is happening. It feels like the beginning of some jank RPG from the 90s that nobody would remember today...only instead of our character being the hapless teenage hero who is running errands and realizing how immature and uneducated they are....we're the experienced mentor that has to follow them around and tell them what they're doing wrong.

If this was FFX, we'd be Lulu. The story isn't about us. We aren't a main character. We're the annoyed adult who has to waste their time dealing with children.

I'm sure it'll get better(it almost has to), but man this has been a brutal few hours of a slog so far.

[Edelgarde]

[MINOR SPOILERS]

I too am very cheesed off with how the main scenario quest is doing. Currently at MSQ lvl 86, and the main turning point of the story has only just begun.

So this is looking to be similar to the reception Stormblood had on launch. So much people hated the story, there were two arcs, they hated Lyse to the point where it became comical, but it had the best postgame/endgame content.

Dawntrail is similar in a sense where there are two arcs, but they don't get mixed together. You spend the first half doing this competition filled with chores and exposition dump while dealing with Wuk Lamat's bullshit. Then the developers have the audacity to throw you into another filler story even after suffering through that slogfest (the one I'm in at the moment) while you know the real villain is cooking up their evil plans to actually bring us to that second arc where shit actually hits the fan and things become interesting. It was predictable. I knew exactly how the story was going to be structured. First half is basically a nothing burger that has a seed planted to bring us to the second half which is the actual story that helps branch us into future expansions.

I wish they didn't do that. Because the story they told in the first half should of been post Endwalker story. That was a humungous nothing burger. Went as predicted and was very formulaic. Did not have a good time at all and I just regretted not skipping the story just so I can get my ass to Solution 9 as quick as possible, because that area was the only thing I was excited about Dawntrail. But I came this far dealing with the unbearable boring slog and skimming through unvoiced dialogue. So I will suffer through to the end with you guys. The climax of this better be worth it, I swear...

It's another Stormblood situation again where I think the main attraction of it is not from it's MSQ, but from the really good postgame/endgame content we are getting in future patches. I have hopes. I did stop caring about the story after 6.0, and I care more about the actual PvE and PvP content we get in Dawntrail.

[Turtledeluxe]

Dawntrail is the most boring expansion story wise for me so far, even over STB. Mainly what's keeping me interested are visuals and music. Otherwise I'd be asleep.

[Somnolence]

I am just entering 99 level quests and story is still mid, remains to be seen if last zone will manage to improve this, story using way too generic JRPG/anime tropes, usual friendship winning over everything crap for Tuliyola part, ant Solution 9 does not make sense to me yet, feels artificially inserted into overall plot.

[aky_05]

Yh its straight ass all the way through. Worse expansion by far imo.

[ZephyrMenodora]

I finally finished the level 90 quests and just started the 91 quests. So many hours being bored to death.

This is worse than StB. No one I'm hanging out with is interesting. Even Alisaie who out of this cast I'm stuck with might be expected to lend some excitement or personality has been pushed down to irrelevancy.

It doesn't sound like I have a Hien/Yotsuru to even look forward to later in the questline, from what I have read.

This is testing my patience through and through, and I was eager for Dawntrail.

This is going to be hard to get through....I'm actually more bored by this than the early levels of ARR lol.

[Rhysati]

This is going to be hard to get through....I'm actually more bored by this than the early levels of ARR lol.

Having gone through ARR again recently, this is very true. I keep wondering if this is intentional because we are saddled with boring side quests gathering things and talking to people like the first half of ARR.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Having gone through ARR again recently, this is very true. I keep wondering if this is intentional because we are saddled with boring side quests gathering things and talking to people like the first half of ARR.

This is even worse because we aren’t weakling and fledging adventurers. None of the antagonists are intimidating and when one threatens us I am not sure why we just don’t give the smack down and be done with this farce. It’s all so nonsensical - it already feels like our MCs have no real point in being there. Oddly solving all of Wuks boring problems as a foreign savior while she accepts credit and praise.