I tried getting into the game last year, and while I enjoyed the game for the most part, it was incredibly easy, to the point where combat seemed like something that got in the way rather than something to be enjoyed. I had healing spells, but I didn’t need them, and I was never at risk of dying. Doing any side-quests at all made me seriously over-leveled for story quests, and I wasn’t even getting into the story. I know you can just pay to skip the story, which doesn’t sound at all like a good idea (paying extra for less game?)
If they do something to make the game more interesting and challenging for newer players, I would gladly check it out again. But is this something that’s actually in the works?
I think a lot of folks who push the MSQ are doing it through rose tinted glasses. A lot of MSQ advocates did the story as it came out so the time spent in MSQ was much less. I just helped a buddy through the ARR MSQ and he swore to me he would quit if he didn’t buy a MSQ skip. So he did and now he is much happier. He had a lot of issues going through Endwalker MSQ because he didn’t care about the story but overall he didn’t quit so that is a major win for me. To get his first job to 90, add in some crafter leveling, and the ARR MSQ+Endwalker MSQ he still has over 185 hours in the game and JUST hit 90… THAT IS A LOT OF TIME TO GET MAX. Compare that to WoW where you can have a max level character in 10-20 hours and it just shows how much there is to do sans MSQ.
At this point the MSQ doesn’t need reworked. The MSQ needs to be completely optional up until the current xpac. 500+ hours of MSQ content is such an unreasonable ask for a new player. It’s like telling a new anime watcher that they have to watch all of One Piece before watching any other anime. Sure One Piece is an amazing anime but most people see the length as a daunting task to overcome.
Look at Asmongold. He really enjoyed the game but quit around Stormblood. That is the typical experience for a new player.
They just need to do what I wish anime studios would do with filler episodes: cut the bullshit. If there’s a fetch quest that is totally unrelated or marginally related, get rid of it or make it a side quest! MSQ is filled with so much fluff, even passed ARR.
I doubt they’ll rework MSQ. It was an intentional design decision to make MSQ extremely accessible to people new to MMOs. It’s not until level 30 or so that dungeons and trials begin to present challenges, and even then it’s generally very easy until max level. FFXIV is a story-driven game, and the MSQ is the vessel for that. Gameplay really only exists in MSQ to teach you the very basics and get you from point A to point B. Any content that’s required to progress isn’t going to ask much of the player.
The real challenge is in the optional content. Extreme trials and savage raids can be very difficult, especially on release. You’ll generally need a preformed group to communicate for these, or all know the strategies beforehand. Extreme Trials tend to take a few hours to learn and clear blind. Savage raids can take anywhere from hours to weeks. Then there’s Ultimates, which are some of the most difficult content in all of MMOs. These can take months of dedicated effort to clear.
As you progress, you can unlock side content every 10 levels from 50 onward. If you’re looking for a challenge, that’s where you’ll find it.
It’s disappointing, I guess. I keep hearing that ff14 is the best mmorpg of all time, and there’s a lot I like about it and could like about it…but the idea of playing an MMORPG and paying a monthly fee just for a story (that I was already not very interested in) is not appealing to me at all. I’m not sure why it’s an MMORPG with a monthly fee in the first place if the main reason to play is just to watch the story.
The story is the main draw, and worth experiencing IMO, even if it takes forever to get going, but it’s still a good MMO. I don’t know if I’d call it “the best of all time,” but I’ve enjoyed my time with it. The reason I keep my sub between story patches is because I like hanging out with friends and being in the world, which is what an MMO is all about.
I don’t really have the time or interest for the super challenging content it offers, but I level jobs, I do treasure hunts with friends, I do Deep Dungeon, I obtain cool outfits, and I hang out at a friend’s RP bar.
Like any game, though, it’s not for everyone. If you like tab-target MMOs, WoW has better combat I think.
They also offer paid story skip stuff right now too, which I’m sure is profitable.
I do wonder if they will finally gut the base classes. They are a pretty old remnant from og XIV that still feel jank.
Yeah, the base class/job stone system is kind of pointless now. The fact that you even have to equip your job stone doesn’t make sense anymore, with the exception of Arcanist, but hopefully some day SMN and SCH will be separated.
Last time I said this people pushed back a lot, but personally I just want level sync to scale down your damage/healing potencies instead of removing skills. Maybe make it an optional tick in the duty finder and call it potency sync. Slowly learning skills as you level is nice to help you get accustomed to the job, but once you’ve been level 90 for a year it’s really hard to do Sastasha in leveling roulette without falling asleep. Having all this extra utility would hurt the balance of older dungeons, but older dungeons are already unbalanced so I don’t think it’s a very strong arguement.
That would be nice. I do like how certain skills kind of behave like that, namely stone. But yeah it would also really help folks learn their classes better too. Nothing worse than your hot bar being half useless in a dungeon.