I believe I finally understood why some people have issues with Dawntrail

[genuine_stranger]

Rolequest also have too much of Hildibrand writing, I get people asked for more Hildibrand but not to be included in the MSQ.

IMO, the role quests encapsule the theme of what this whole expansion should have been like. A more lighthearted palette cleanser in which we go around and solve small local problems, some more serious, some on the sillier side.
Instead, we got yet another potential world ending threat that we have to deal with. What an outstanding summer vacation! ������

[FuturePastNow]

When talking with friends about MSQ, we've identified multiple problem:

• Pointless padding that could be replaced with something much more interesting
• Hildibrand writing spilled onto the MSQ, annoying jokes
• Lacks of diverse activities, fetch quest, trailing a NPC, spot something
• Wuk Lamat has good point but is sometimes written as a dumb, joyful shonen protagonist

Rolequest also have too much of Hildibrand writing, I get people asked for more Hildibrand but not to be included in the MSQ.
Also, the conflict that would "split" the scions? Just a meaningless interaction.

It works in Hildibrand imo because those quests make the protagonists and antagonists both ridiculous with the WoL in the middle. The role quests only have absurd antagonists with everyone else (for the most part) serious, and that just makes them pathetic instead of funny.

[Neft]

ill say this.

with everything seemingly planned out FAR in advance, they could honestly do better with quest design and possibly even more, even area design in some cases could be better, like yes the area looks nice, but traveling through some of them is just an arduous annoying pain without flying, some maps i found myself hating just because of random cliffs i couldn't jump off because of invisible walls for really no reason?

like why would it matter if i jumped down from many fires to dock poga - it wouldn't, it shouldn't its an open world MMO.

but it does and is treated basically as two maps in one because of this divide even though you need currents and quests across both parts to get flying.

WoW does the same thing with some areas - some areas are really really nice to travel on the ground such as shaaloni where as others just feel like a pain.

but with this the devs also find issues where "all of our maps are just fields" which while theres tons of variations of fields and designs to do to keep things unique and interesting topography is added.

basically what im saying is for the devs even if they do have time and resources their likely taking the safe road to appease a majority of the playerbase, while still finding areas and ways to make the game enjoyable or fresh.

so yea corners get cut occasionally due to deadlines, old things get thrown in and re-used to save time.

but would you rather them experiment and try a new system every expansion which might cause FAR more dislike than necessary or keep to the same road thats been enjoyable.

just try to think of why you play XIV, what makes XIV enjoyable for you?

as for DTs writing - honestly some parts could have been better with a bit of a re-worded scene or something else entirely, i also found it a bit jarring going from primitive tech to sci-fi, seeing halo spartans pop in and start murking people was a little what the heck for me.

[Zakuyia]

I mean goid try on op part. We have various issues from quest, to how boring, to the mundane, to the voice direction, to the voice actors its just way too much. Just glad DT didnt get nominated for an award. It really doesn't deserve it. Even if you like it a vast majority don't so yes I'm glad it dodnt win.

[ReynTime]

The story would still be boring and infantile, which is still the main issue with Dawntrail.
XIV's quest design has been bad for multiple past expansions. The only reason the topic has been hot lately is because the MSQ is so bad more players are paying attention to gameplay flaws that were always there.
XIV's engine isn't fit for elaborate minigames. Even Gold Saucer minigames feel "off" because of how the game has to tightly script everything OR have this sluggish delay to it (fall guys).

[Arzalis]

I think, given how FFXVI turned out, it's pretty safe to say this team just doesn't have the chops anymore. Both games have the same problem with everything being so safe and formulaic.

As far as the story: I'm only guessing as to why, but I think Ishikawa's overall lack of influence shows. The lead writer for DT literally tried to do a lot of the same story beats she did, but seems to not understand what made them land so well. Instead of giving a reason, they'd much rather just tell you how you're supposed to feel. Over and over and over.