Dawntrail's laid back story is similiar to ARR

[Starlord]

To me both expansions starting points of the story was merely laying the groundwork for future expansions.

ARR and DT both is less about the world and more about the simple adventure(s) you have. Whether you like or not like the DT both ARR and DT serve to lay the groundwork for the respective story arc that was in ARR and is for DT.

Thats just in my opinion of course.

[Swordsman]

To me both expansions starting points of the story was merely laying the groundwork for future expansions.

ARR and DT both is less about the world and more about the simple adventure(s) you have. Whether you like or not like the DT both ARR and DT serve to lay the groundwork for the respective story arc that was in ARR and is for DT.

Thats just in my opinion of course.

That's sorta true too. There was a LOT of dilly-dallying early on in the ARR MSQ as well.

[DrForester]

Also introduced a LOT of new races and cultures that necessitated some pretty big lore dumps.

[ZodaSoda]

Except ARR Had inter city Turmoil, The Syndicate, The Pirates, various Beast Tribes friendly and unfriendly, Ascians, Primals, Garlemald, Mhach Ruins, Amdapor Ruins, Qarn, Sil'dah, Gelmorrah, It established all of these and the took their stories where it felt like.

So far Tural has been the most sparse landscape lacking intrigue and mystery outside of the main Golden Carrot. The Yok Huy Empire that is constantly talked about can barely be felt in the first 3 zones which is wild considering you barely walk around Eorzea without walking into ruins older than the Yok Huy.

[koko-on-da-forumz]

Also introduced a LOT of new races and cultures that necessitated some pretty big lore dumps.

True, honestly. If I didn't know that the reskin Vanu farmed reeds and that their primary export was reeds and they value reeds very highly, I would not understand the plot or the world around me. The four hours I spent watching characters get an alpaca saddle was integral to the lorebuilding.

[Starlord]

Except ARR Had inter city Turmoil, The Syndicate, The Pirates, various Beast Tribes friendly and unfriendly, Ascians, Primals, Garlemald, Mhach Ruins, Amdapor Ruins, Qarn, Sil'dah, Gelmorrah, It established all of these and the took their stories where it felt like.

So far Tural has been the most sparse landscape lacking intrigue and mystery outside of the main Golden Carrot. The Yok Huy Empire that is constantly talked about can barely be felt in the first 3 zones which is wild considering you barely walk around Eorzea without walking into ruins older than the Yok Huy.

If I recall most of that was sorta was piggybacked from the 1.0 era. I haven/t finished 7.0 yet but it was something I noticed as I got done the first 2 areas of the game, it just had that vibe.

[ZodaSoda]

If I recall most of that was sorta was piggybacked from the 1.0 era. I haven/t finished 7.0 yet but it was something I noticed as I got down the first 2 areas of the game, it just had that vibe.

It doesnt matter if it was piggy backed, that not an excuse to not plan ahead better with Tural, Literally cannot find any areas in the maps that doesnt explicitly serve the MSQ, there's NOTHING else going on. This has been a problem that's been getting worse since ShB, They're forgetting to actually fill out the lore better and set themselves up for things later on. We didnt get to do anything with Pharos Sirius until 2.1, but you know what, it was there, we could see it, we could talk to people about it and we as fans could speculate about what was going on in there, Tural's first 3 zones, nothing but MSQ service areas.

[DontReadThis]

Remember those quests in ARR right before each primal that all felt like pointless filler content? That's what this entire expansion feels like.
They took a paper-thin plot, stretched it out as much as they could with tons of padding and useless cutscenes where characters either comment on the obvious or endlessly repeat themselves, and it keeps on like that until near the end after you do a literal filler zone with a mini plot that has nothing to do with anything else.
The plot just didn't have enough going on in the first half to be able to be the sole focus of an entire expansion, and it's incredibly obvious with all the pointless filler designed to stall for time.

Even ARR had more going on, and it had enough stuff happening to keep me invested. In this expansion the story never made me want to keep going to see what would happen next, at least until the end, and it was just so predictable too.

[Starlord]

It doesnt matter if it was piggy backed, that not an excuse to not plan ahead better with Tural, Literally cannot find any areas in the maps that doesnt explicitly serve the MSQ, there's NOTHING else going on. This has been a problem that's been getting worse since ShB, They're forgetting to actually fill out the lore better and set themselves up for things later on. We didnt get to do anything with Pharos Sirius until 2.1, but you know what, it was there, we could see it, we could talk to people about it and we as fans could speculate about what was going on in there, Tural's first 3 zones, nothing but MSQ service areas.

Never my intention to make excuses, only that the vibes are similar in comparison.

[Boblawblah]

eh, I'm not seeing how it's similar to ARR really at all. The main villains for an entire decade were starting to be developed, the setup started for our character being the WoL, and a number of other important plot points where as DT gave us..what, a single macguffin in the city of gold key towards something more and another area that we consider allies?

I can't see how this is going to end up playing a similar role to ARR, unless the 7.x patches go really hard/fast towards setting something big up. I'll be thrilled to be surprised though, I really hope they're not looking towards 8.0 as the REAL reset.