Dawntrail MSQ: Where Do We Go From Here?

[GutiGhost]

Me and my gf are almost finished and it seems we've enjoyed it more than most players we talk to. That being said, I'd like to articulate some of our gripes in hopes of future improvement and discussion:

First and foremost, I often wonder if SE or CBIII have a common understanding or goal as to what audience they are attempting to appeal to. The game has shown itself to be at it's best when a balance is struck between serious/relatable themes and an accessible/joyous Fantasy aesthetic. So why does it seem that a significant amount of the dialogue is being written with a pre-teen audience in mind? It's not only irritating to have every emotion, thought, and lesson spelled out for us with all the nuance of a 9 year old who just learned what empathy is, it is unimmersive and frankly jarring when juxtaposed with the recurring atrocities or disasters we face every expansion. This game is 10 years old and requires a monthly subscription so I'd say it's pretty safe to assume most players are at least old enough to have their own debit card. I'm not asking for an existential dilemma at the level of the Ea with every expansion, just a general awareness from the writing team that a ven diagram of this fanbase and Bluey's would not be a perfect circle.

Secondly, coming off Endwalker's 6.0 MSQ, I think many of us were under the impression that Main Story Quests would feature more active participation from the player. We were shown CB3's potential for creating interesting gameplay scenarios within the confines of an MMO with Metal Gear Thancred, Freaky Friday Zenos, and numerous instanced battles to break up the monotonous "talk to _____" objectives. Yet, for some reason, we've taken a BIG step back here in terms of player input. No longer feeling like the culmination of long built up plot threads or rewards for our efforts, XIV cutscenes now suffer from Kingdom Hearts Syndrome, where each fade to black becomes a repetitive obstacle to our enjoyment. With no previous lore to build on this time around, a more streamlined story that paved way for novel gameplay opportunities would've done a better job of putting us in the shoes of the "adventurer" Yoshi P & Co. clearly want us to feel like post-Endwalker.

Finally, we are officially stuck in the past, folks. We have a highly marketable cast of characters in the Scions, and SE clearly doesn't want to do away with them. There is, in my opinion, an unfulfilled promise in the disbandment of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. What are they doing here? What exactly has changed since their supposed separation? How are we adding to our relationships with them? I can't think of a single bit of exposition any of them contributed to Dawntrail that I wouldn't rather have heard from Wuk Lamat, Erenville, or any of the plethora of characters who have an actual attachment to the places, people, and history of this new land we've set foot in. Why cheapen these characters with continued purposeless presence?

[GutiGhost]

Don't wanna be overly negative or anything. I enjoyed many parts of the expansion. The Zones are probably the best they've ever been. The graphics update takes everything to a new level visually. The more engaging gameplay in normal difficulty dungeons and Trials was much needed. And I actually feel rather positively about where the game is headed. The technical foundation of FFXIV is better than ever and an approach in writing can always be altered/improved upon with time.

I also want to elaborate in regards to my point about the Scions. I'd still like to see them every once in a while, but I think the dynamic should be massively different. For example, I would've loved to run into Estinien during Dawntrail and have him join us. It fits his character, plays to his strengths, and would give us an opportunity to learn a little more about this stoic fan favorite. I also think it'd be lovely if we got an expansion where we set out on that big adventure we promised Graha Tia in Ultima Thule! I just don't see the point in having the whole gang get back together as if nothing had ever changed when they don't really have any personal investment in the story's conflict like they used to.

[Tsumdere]

The majority of the Scions need to be retired. We should be collecting a new group of characters to travel with for the next 10 years of expansions.

There is no more character arc to be had with them and they do not offer anything to the story. The only Scion I think should stick around at this point is Krile. She is still severely underdeveloped after a full expansion with her as a travelling companion lol.

Moreover, the player base WANTS new characters in the mix. Erenville is a shining example of how the player base is VERY receptive to new companions.

[Raikai]

I'd love to see Krile being the only one moving forward, there's so much blank space to develop her, also being so young. It would be nice to see Krile learning and enjoying to be less serious "scholarly" for example. Erenville there too, of course.

I don't mind the old cast appearing here and there, or spearheading side content.

[Daralii]

I'd love to see Krile being the only one moving forward, there's so much blank space to develop her, also being so young. It would be nice to see Krile learning and enjoying to be less serious "scholarly" for example. Erenville there too, of course.

I don't mind the old cast appearing here and there, or spearheading side content.

I'd be fine with Estinien hanging around too, but I wish the rest(especially G'raha) would go away unless they have an actual reason to become plot relevant again.

[Randomer169]

To paraphrase a questionably wise man, how can I miss you if you never go away? Striking out on your own while the twins see to Garlemald, Urianger hangs out on the moon, Y'shtola and Thancred seeing to the First etc would be a refreshing change, but I think it's to do with our place in the narrative. A lot of it would go over the head of the WoL with political intrigue, cutting edge multiversal science and threats to reality itself, when narratively our place in the team is to beat down the biggest enemies. They need to give the main character more impact on the direction of the narrative for that to happen.

[Striker44]

Some thoughts come to mind:

This game is 10 years old and requires a monthly subscription so I'd say it's pretty safe to assume most players are at least old enough to have their own debit card.

Hard to say. Just because the game has been around for 10 years doesn't mean its players will have been around for that long. There are a significant number of new people that have joined since ShB, for example. The primary demographic for MMO's today has definitely shifted from the teenager/college kid/young adult that it was 20 years ago to those same "people" today who are now adults with families and full-time careers. But I wouldn't be surprised if we started seeing an increasing number of younger players getting involved - namely the kids of those adults in the primary demographic (I remember being part of a guild in WoW back in the day that had several entire families involved). This is one of those places where I kinda just acknowledge that SE will have far more information on it than any of us will, and given that at their core they are a corporation relying on this game to make money, if they're pursuing a certain direction, they likely have data to back it up.

There is, in my opinion, an unfulfilled promise in the disbandment of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. What are they doing here? What exactly has changed since their supposed separation?

This is the one part that still boggles my mind when I hear it, because after mentioning "disbanding", the very next sentence in the same cutscene straight up and explicitly says the "disbanding" is not for real, and then goes on to explain exactly why. In practical terms, the Scions did not in any way, shape, or form disband or change at all. The entire reason for "officially disbanding" is just to get the nations of Eorzea off the Scions' backs so Eorzea stops relying on them, precisely so the Scions can go back to doing their own thing (as a group - together) in peace.

The majority of the Scions need to be retired. We should be collecting a new group of characters to travel with for the next 10 years of expansions.

This I think goes back to the OP's remark about who the primary audience is that SE is appealing to. That target audience loves the Scions. They're not going anywhere. Period.

[Boblawblah]

What I dread is that they'll go from expansion to expansion, with little to connect them into a cohesive narrative like ARR - EW did. I was hoping DT would be a reset, but what it looks like it's a one off story instead with a bit of a connection to something more.

[aTanpopo]

If they do want to keep the scions around they have to at least commit to giving them meaningful story arcs. I wouldn't mind having a future story setting with Y'shtola and Estinien getting some good character development, but with how they kinda botched their attempt at doing that for Krile, I'm a bit uncertain how it will work out.

Until we see where they take post-MSQ I guess we won't know how the writing is looking as a whole. Not many hints for future story points other than "this child does not want to be king of a nation (his dad murdered people and they don't like him)" and "Erenville tries to find out why the animals in Texas are so angry (they hate trains)." Oh, and not forgetting "what's the deal with this funky hourglass?" but that could be the story for the next god knows how many expansions.

We don't even know if those will be MSQ or side story content. Will they even have a trials storyline this time? Or will they put it in MSQ again like post-EW? I wanna be excited but the amount of issues the MSQ had writing wise is not helping...

[Alchemii]

It's hard to say where we go from here. Issues need to be addressed before we end up with another WoW Shadowlands situation on our hands.

For those of you unaware of what I mean. WoW Shadowlands was horrible, but it was just the Exposed tip serious of unaddressed bad decisions and designs that never got properly addressed and corrected internally. So they kept the same people on, making the same bad decisions, also pushing the blame else where and never correcting design decisions. Or when they did address it, it's usually just the one thing that had massive outcry against it, and never the smaller things that are just overshadowed by the bigger more massive problem. These small problems, added up. Things like inconsistent writing (which we're getting right now), retcons that make no sense, characters not acting like themselves in order to justify the story (again starting to see this), lack of engaging gameplay (starting to see some of this too), to much focus on the top 10% M+ raiders or bottom 10% degens and completely disregarding anyone in between. These were all issues WoW has that eventually lead to their worst Expansion because they were never addressed, and we're starting to see some of these issues beginning to show their signs here.

Where we go though. Well ideally I would like an actual vacation expansion, not "Wuk's Magical Friendship Adventures", or move to a new world. Not like the 1st where all we got was Norvrandt, but like a full world that can be added to across multiple expansions as we see the difference between it and our own. I mean there's like 6 or 7 worlds remaining, counting the void. We know what the source is like, along with the 1st and 13th. So we still got 3 to 4 more FULLY intact worlds we could explore.