A Realm Reborn is worth the investment for the rest of FFXIV's story

[Mendrox]

I use to like playing the game but after shadowbringers I couldn't deal with the grinding xp again to see through the story so I quit early. Did play all the others to completion though. Just can't handle the grind to do the lvl locked campaign missions anymore, just cant do it. I hate lvling.

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Grind? Which grind? I had to stop doing dailys or I would have wasted even more XP to 80 with my main class. XP is broken in this game and should take longer in my opinion.


Also FFXIV is the best FF in those last 15+ years easily. Shadowbringer is a godsend story, Heavensward is a classic Final Fantasy like the old classics and Stormblood is amazing for people liking japanese culture and awesome boss fights. It's a crime that they made it free till 60.

The dialogue drags, gameplay is slow and boring compared to WoW, which tries to copy, and the story is not thay good. I'd say it's only for uncondicional FF fans, and if you just want a good MMO you should play WoW instead.

The only REALLY good thing about XIV is the music.

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Having 3000 hours + in WoW I now realized after weeks of being back to FFXIV... WoW is way too toxic and boring. Not to mention Blizzards fails in regards to Warcraft lore and the story itself. Glad I am finally out. The worst thing was always Blizzards patch culture which they will fuck up with Shadowlands too. Only patch the necessary thing when people start leaving again..nice Blizzard.

The story not being good bahaha, it has the best story of any MMO I've ever played and I played good story MMOs like KOTOR. Lineage 2 with it's amazing lore. I don't even count Guild Wars 1+2. Shadowbringers had standing ovations for its story with a good reason.

 

[Augemitbutter]

don't play a MMORPG for story. Play a JRPG, read Manga or watch Anime. Watch Films or read a Book. Don't do this to yourself.

 

[Razmos]

don't play a MMORPG for story. Play a JRPG, read Manga or watch Anime. Watch Films or read a Book. Don't do this to yourself.

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This particular mmo does have a good story so... no

 

[Relix]

I am confused. I own ARR and HW on SE store. Does this mean I can play HW for free? I am halfway through HW and didn't have the time to finish but there are less games now and I have some time. I'd like to finish HW and jump to the expansions.

 

[Mik317]

The slog only becomes a thing during the second part (after the credits) because I was ready for the new content and then got hit with 100 quests of go here and then come back here...all while progression was basically gated lol.

 

[Augemitbutter]

This particular mmo does have a good story so... no

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yea, let's all start a MMORPG because there is no other way to get a good story.

 

[jon bones]

I finished ARR but stopped before getting to HW because it became a slog.

Maybe one day I will return to it, but I used a glamor to make my character look way different and I hate it.

 

[Razmos]

yea, let's all start a MMORPG because there is no other way to get a good story.

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Did an mmo kill your parents? Do you want to talk about it?

 

[Midnight Jon]

don't play a MMORPG for story. Play a JRPG, read Manga or watch Anime. Watch Films or read a Book. Don't do this to yourself.

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you do realize you can just say "i don't play MMOs" without threadshitting on everyone who does

 

[Augemitbutter]

Did an mmo kill your parents? Do you want to talk about it?

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dude, stay on topic lol.

 

[Augemitbutter]

you do realize you can just say "i don't play MMOs" without threadshitting on everyone who does

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threadshitting? I know FFXIV very well btw......

why so salty?

 

[MonadL]

I'm a weirdo who actually enjoyed ARR's story quite a bit. Great world building and I found the politics of it all pretty fascinating. Still need to get back into Stormblood.

 

[Wireframe]

My friends harass me at least once a week to start XIV. I played FF XI back in the day and I have no desire to play another MMO. It's a shame cause I hear so many good things about SB.

 

[Rotobit]

Everytime I hear/see someone consider buying the level-skips I just get a little bit sad. More than half the main cast is introduced there, and when they come back in later expansions they don't really take the time to explain who they are.

I also think it's generally a fun story - by the time Heavensward happens you're already a famous hero, I think it's important to get the set-up to that.

It'd be like skipping the entire first novel in a multi-part epic.

 

[Hasemo]

I should have specified going through the msq, not leveling as a whole. And I doubt the 5.3 changes will make it go much faster.

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It should be faster, I didn't catch the specific part during the patch notes reading that started 2 hours ago, but the complete notes for the patch including the rework contain this part:

An experience point bonus will now be granted when completing dungeons for the first time.

* Bonus will not be granted for dungeons with a level cap of 50, 60, 70, or 80.

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I think Yoshida mentioned, that the bonus will be significant. So all the dungeons that you go to as a part of the leveling process should get a boost.

 

[DNAbro]

don't play a MMORPG for story. Play a JRPG, read Manga or watch Anime. Watch Films or read a Book. Don't do this to yourself.

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Note, do play this MMO cause the story is worth it. Also it's gets incredibly fun too.

 

[Cirrus]

ARR has some good parts to the story and is essential for introducing characters and setting up the world. Heavensward is where the story really becomes really good, and Showbringers tops it.

 

[Augemitbutter]

Note, do play this MMO cause the story is worth it. Also it's gets incredibly fun too.

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yes, if you like this type of game the story will be a nice bonus. Don't force yourself because it's not worth it just for story.

 

[Deleted member 18021]

ARR is important so you can enjoy the MSQ Roulette memes in full context.

 

[iceblade]

I still think ARR is the best story among all of it (though I certainly liked the expansions as well) and don't really agree with most of these criticisms. Find them ridiculous—but guess I live in a bizarre reality where tons of people keep repeating them as objective fact. Oh well.

Ultimately, just hope the revamp gets people trying FFXIV more.

Gaius for best FF character 2021!

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Agreed. ARR has my favorite story so far. Heavensward is quite good too, but IMO the story isn't nearly as bad or annoying in ARR as people make it out to be. You can do the quests bit by bit, while doing other things, and it is a lot easier to do other things like level multiple classes, do dungeon runs, etc, once you've gotten to around level 30.

Getting ARR + HW for the free trial is a whole lot of content, and whoever plays through that can play for a really long time without subbing.

 

[Rotobit]

ARR is important so you can enjoy the MSQ Roulette memes in full context.

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Why is owo voice so similar to a Brooklyn accent

 

[mordecaii83]

I actually liked ARR's story... =/ I do agree though that it gets even better once you start Heavensward.

 

[Kunka Kid]

It's enjoyable but it's kind of crazy to me that the actual "gameplay" of the game is just the dungeons, trials, etc.

During the story, you're essentially just watching an incredibly long anime broken up by teleporting to a place and clicking on someone to talk.

 

[Meia]

ARR's story is good, it just gets clouded by all the MMO fapping about they have you do as you're leveling. Did you really need to do like 30 quests just to unlock a new primal in each patch of the 2.1-2.55 content? Pray return to the Waking Sands which doesn't have a teleport because of reasons? :p


HW is great, but I think it's also just shock coming out of ARR and not doing as much of that nonsense MMO grind. :)

 

[MrDaravon]

I started ARR earlier in the year and just finished HW (well the main MSQ for it) yesterday. I honestly didn't find ARR nearly as much of a slog as a lot of people say it was with the exception of one or two parts that seem like they'll be very ripe for trimming anyway. Things really pick up pretty much immediately with 2.1 and HW is great. This is the only MMO I've ever really played so that may (or maybe not?) have given me more tolerance for that kind of thing though.

 

[Rotobit]

I still think ARR is the best story among all of it (though I certainly liked the expansions as well) and don't really agree with most of these criticisms. Find them ridiculous—but guess I live in a bizarre reality where tons of people keep repeating them as objective fact. Oh well.

Ultimately, just hope the revamp gets people trying FFXIV more.

Gaius for best FF character 2021!

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I keep getting imposter syndrome because in retrospect I think I preferred ARR's story to Heavensward... and Stormblood and Shadowbringers to both. People seem to regard Stormblood as a disappointment but I liked it quite a bit. Shadowbringers definitely the best overall though.

Realm Reborn is basic but that's not by default a flaw. Most of its issues come from the gameplay side of things (like the hike to the Waking Sands) than anything narrative-based, IMO.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Unfortunately I don't see myself ever playing through this and FF is my favorite series.

FFXIV has dated visuals, boring cutscene presentation (and all cutscenes are in-game), a monstrous UI, and a boring battle system. It doesn't offer anything that would push me to keep playing. The mandatory dull quests don't help, either.

I understand the need for MMOs for SE but fuck is this type of game really boring (especially presentation-wise)

 

[Deleted member 18021]

For the new players coming in:

I totally get the desire to be at endgame right this second, but FFXIV's structured in a way that you're not really missing anything by not being at endgame. It's like any other JRPG in that the journey matters more than the destination. Take your time and enjoy the MSQ, even if that means you have to pay for a couple of months worth of sub time to get through it all.

also super spicy hot take, but the endgame really isn't all that exciting after a week lol

I keep getting imposter syndrome because in retrospect I think I preferred ARR's story to Heavensward... and Stormblood and Shadowbringers to both. People seem to regard Stormblood as a disappointment but I liked it quite a bit. Shadowbringers definitely the best overall though.

Realm Reborn is basic but that's not by default a flaw. Most of its issues come from the gameplay side of things (like the hike to the Waking Sands) than anything narrative-based, IMO.

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I personally loved Heavensward, but a lot of people overhyped it and Shadowbringers in the honeymoon phase of the expansions, and that's typically what gets remembered. As a result, ARR became just slop that you had to grind through to get to the good stuff, in the eyes of many.

Stormblood's problems lie more in trying to do a bit too much narratively with the resources it had, imo.

 

[Razmos]

I like the plot of ARR because it sets up the politics and lore around everything. You wouldn't get much from the liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma by jumping straight into Stormblood, but if you'd played through everything its pretty satisfying.

 

[Lukar]

I just got to Stormblood last night and wholeheartedly agree. It took me a long time to get through ARR because of its pacing, but once I got close to Heavensward, the story picked up a lot and has been pretty consistently strong since then. In fact, Heavensward (and its story's conclusion in the post-release patches) has become one of my favorite pieces of Final Fantasy from any game, and one of my favorite stories from the series. I never expected that while playing through ARR. ARR is just the prelude to the true FF14 story.

People who have been thinking about jumping in absolutely should, especially now that a lot of the fluff and filler from ARR is being cut as of tomorrow's patch.

 

[DNAbro]

Unfortunately I don't see myself ever playing through this and FF is my favorite series.

FFXIV has dated visuals, boring cutscene presentation (and all cutscenes are in-game), a monstrous UI, and a boring battle system. It doesn't offer anything that would push me to keep playing. The mandatory dull quests don't help, either.

I understand the need for MMOs for SE but fuck is this type of game really boring (especially presentation-wise)

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I'm curious what your actual experience with FFXIV's cutscenes are. ARR often isn't special but some of the later ones are great. Also you can completely customize the UI.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

The quests between the end of the ARR MSQ and the start of the HW MSQ are like kind of a slog but they really give you so much context and work excellently as a framing device for the HW quests once you get there. So it's kind of hard because you never want to tell people to do something that's not very fun but my god it's so worth it when everything starts coming together.

 

[Voxy]

Heavensward is so good, I really enjoyed travelling with Alphi, Estinien and Ysayle looking for Hraesvelgr. That's was definitely one of my favorites moments. Estinien and Ysayle always criticizing each other was so fun.

 

[erd]

Unfortunately I don't see myself ever playing through this and FF is my favorite series.

FFXIV has dated visuals, boring cutscene presentation (and all cutscenes are in-game), a monstrous UI, and a boring battle system. It doesn't offer anything that would push me to keep playing. The mandatory dull quests don't help, either.

I understand the need for MMOs for SE but fuck is this type of game really boring (especially presentation-wise)

Click to shrink...

For what it's worth, the presentation also improves a lot in later expansions. The voice actors all get changed for the better, there's more voiced cutscenes and cutscenes in general become more dynamic and interesting. The visuals also improve. The expansion areas are much larger and prettier than the ones in ARR. It's still a really old game so it's never going to be cutting-edge graphically though.

The gameplay also gets faster and more fun once you get more skills and once you get to dungeons/trials with interesting boss mechanics.

I don't know if the improvements are big enough to make you enjoy the game, but it does get better.

 

[Kito]

Thank you for making this thread. My girlfriend started with the free trial a couple weeks back, and re-subbed for the first time since Heavensward to ease her in. It's been a huge struggle since the majority of quests in ARR are tedious garbage and the combat has no flow until later levels, so she's been really bored and struggling to go on.

I'm not even sure that cutting 13% of the fat of ARR is going to be enough. She looked her progress on the ARR quest list when she hit 35 and her heart dropped when she saw how many damned quests were left before she was cleared for Heavensward. It's honestly ridiculous how much crap a player had to do to get to the good stuff, and I don't even think cutting 25% of ARR MSQs would be enough to keep most players chew through without losing steam before the end.

This thread may help her press on, because there's so much reassurance that it's worth it, even though the idea of having to invest 50+ hours into a game for it to get good should never be a requirement in any game ever.

 

[Grudy]

Knowing how much this forum loves the game, I decided to give it a try this year and I honestly don't get it, story wise at least. It's great as an MMO, and I love my dragoon and the raids. I have a measly 300-ish hours in the game now I think which is not much by MMO standards but I'm making my way through ShB now. I genuinely believe this forum overhypes this game so much, particularly HW to a degree. I enjoyed HW a ton, but in getting there I had to endure ARR and some of its worst parts (that stupid party) and the 100 quests afterwards and all I feel at the end is that it wasn't worth it. I wish I skipped straight to HW with a boost or something because making that shit mandatory is just horrible. Dun Scaith was the high point HW for me personally and it sucks that I have to wait in 50 minute queues to play it sometimes but oh well :P

I know the 100 quests are getting trimmed, but onto that point, Stormblood was a freaking bore as well. The whole thing was so forgettable that I didn't remember who some of the characters were when I went back two weeks later to fo the 4.X quests to get to Shadowbringers (these quests were so much better).

Now I have a big problem with the way the story is delivered in the game, with the way everyone speaks and how they sometimes slow the pace into a crawl as characters talk and basically just react to what the baddies are doing most of the time. I think I got used to it though. I'm still 20 or so quests into Shadowbringers and I'm believing the hype so far. It's like night and day between it and stormblood's story pacing and quality.

All in all, I still can't really recommend the game to anyone who doesn't love or at least is used to MMOs. I'm not sure how someone would feel about Shadowbringers if they just boost to 70 and so far I can't justify the grind there (pre patch).

 

[Zen]

I've been playing FF14 on and off since 1.0
I start, I have a blast (the music is SO GOOD), but I get bored.
I have no friends who play so I'm soloing, or joining a random group for any dungeons or quests that require that - which is sorta a crapshoot on being a good or horrible experience.

I have been in the Scholar universe for classes, and levelling the 2nd class with that etc has just taken me forever to do. There are tons of fetch quest things all over, but I never feel like I'm making fast progress. I really, really, want to get into this game, and get past the ARR stuff but I just don't know if I will ever do it at this point. I think I tried again 4 months ago and played for maybe 10 days and had fun, then just got bored again and stopped.
It's also pretty overwhelming. The whole crafting class aspect, levelling multiple jobs for your person, the sheer number of quests all over, inventory which to this day still confuses me as I have all this crap I no earthly idea what to do with (unless it's gear)....Great value for sure, but maybe so much going on that I get overwhelmed and then sorta lonely just plugging away by myself that I give up.

You really have me wanting to try again though damn it!
I think I only own Heavensward though - I don't own the later expansions and don't want to pay a ton of money for them.

Click to shrink...

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of content, this thread might be of some use to you. Also feel free to check out the OT if you have any questions. Right now there's a 24 hour maintenance happening to implement patch 5.3, it goes live tomorrow. It's going to be a bloodbath trying to queue into the game, but the rework should expedite the leveling process for ARR, as well as add a teleport crystal for the Waking Sands and reducing the steps in some of the more egregious story quests.

I actually liked ARR's story... =/ I do agree though that it gets even better once you start Heavensward.

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I actually really love ARR. It's game systems are definitely circa 2013 though. And tab target was already old by then haha

 

[Doc Kelso]

don't play a MMORPG for story. Play a JRPG, read Manga or watch Anime. Watch Films or read a Book. Don't do this to yourself.

Click to shrink...

I know you caught a temp ban for this but FFXIV has a better, more nuanced story than 90% of the JRPGs I've played, manga I've read, or anime I've watched. ARR is kinda mediocre (though it does a lot of world-building that's pretty important) but the remainder of the plot is super solid. Especially the Dark Knight quests. The fact that DRK goes into

Spoiler

The fact that your character has PTSD due to the sheer amount of bullshit the game puts you through and poor coping mechanisms, so their mental health literally manifests in the form of another person to make you figure your shit out.

The game's story really begins to shine when they take away the fact that your character is meant to be a player stand-in and instead opts to make them a main character that you have minimal input over. The game really plays with the fact that your character is the hero and what that means for them as a person in a way that a lot of media doesn't; At least not without getting all edgelord.

It also avoids the gratuitous amount of T&A fanservice that a lot of the media you spoke to makes me deal with.

Thank you for making this thread. My girlfriend started with the free trial a couple weeks back, and re-subbed for the first time since Heavensward to ease her in. It's been a huge struggle since the majority of quests in ARR are tedious garbage and the combat has no flow until later levels, so she's been really bored and struggling to go on.

I'm not even sure that cutting 13% of the fat of ARR is going to be enough. She looked her progress on the ARR quest list when she hit 35 and her heart dropped when she saw how many damned quests were left before she was cleared for Heavensward. It's honestly ridiculous how much crap a player had to do to get to the good stuff, and I don't even think cutting 25% of ARR MSQs would be enough to keep most players chew through without losing steam before the end.

This thread may help her press on, because there's so much reassurance that it's worth it, even though the idea of having to invest 50+ hours into a game for it to get good should never be a requirement in any game ever.

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The amount of quests being trimmed isn't incredibly high, but they're doing a ton of QOL to make some of those quests take a lot less time. It seems like they're getting rid of a lot of the filler/time-to-travel to the filler quests and that's the main problem with ARR. The journey your character goes on feels pretty important to the main thread.

 

[GoldStarz]

ARR's story itself is honestly fine (and the patches stories are honestly pretty good, please stan Moenbryda), the problem is there so much filler (partially to establish the world, but it's still tedious) that it's incredibly obnoxious.

 

[antitrop]

Humble beginnings make the journey feel more meaningful. I wouldn't want to play ARR again, but I valued my time with it in the end.

 

[alphacat]

The dialogue drags, gameplay is slow and boring compared to WoW, which tries to copy, and the story is not thay good. I'd say it's only for uncondicional FF fans, and if you just want a good MMO you should play WoW instead.

The only REALLY good thing about XIV is the music.

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i played wow for years, tried shadowbringers and now can't go back

 

[Zularti]

It's so much fun. The new demo has got a few of my friends interested in trying it. The biggest worry is the slow combat especially coming from WoW.

What stinks is the combat is really good at max level with all your skills. Some of the DPS is better than any WoW rotation. It is truely a slog at low levels waiting to get your fun skills though ha.

My friend is astrologian but like all of their good skills are 60-80 so your just a kinda lame healer till then. Obviously gaining skills as you lvl is a normal MMO thing but some of the classes truely suck at low levels. It just stinks how awesome they are at max lvl and getting people to suffer through.

 

[mordecaii83]

It's so much fun. The new demo has got a few of my friends interested in trying it. The biggest worry is the slow combat especially coming from WoW.

What stinks is the combat is really good at max level with all your skills. Some of the DPS is better than any WoW rotation. It is truely a slog at low levels waiting to get your fun skills though ha.

My friend is astrologian but like all of their good skills are 60-80 so your just a kinda lame healer till then. Obviously gaining skills as you lvl is a normal MMO thing but some of the classes truely suck at low levels. It just stinks how awesome they are at max lvl and getting people to suffer through.

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The combat is only slow at the beginning because they stripped away most of the abilities from the early levels in the name of streamlining. Once you get past 50 (or maybe as early as 40 depending on the class) things ratchet up a LOT and combat becomes much more interesting.

 

[Doc Kelso]

It's so much fun. The new demo has got a few of my friends interested in trying it. The biggest worry is the slow combat especially coming from WoW.

What stinks is the combat is really good at max level with all your skills. Some of the DPS is better than any WoW rotation. It is truely a slog at low levels waiting to get your fun skills though ha.

My friend is astrologian but like all of their good skills are 60-80 so your just a kinda lame healer till then. Obviously gaining skills as you lvl is a normal MMO thing but some of the classes truely suck at low levels. It just stinks how awesome they are at max lvl and getting people to suffer through.

Click to shrink...

They severely broke the leveling experience in Shadowbringers as far as gaining skills goes. You don't have anything that even resembles your full kit until 60+ for most jobs. It blows. It's the biggest blow against the game imo. Once you get your full kit the game's combat has you pushing a button every 1-1.5 seconds depending on the job.

 

[mordecaii83]

They severely broke the leveling experience in Shadowbringers as far as gaining skills goes. You don't have anything that even resembles your full kit until 60+ for most jobs. It blows. It's the biggest blow against the game imo. Once you get your full kit the game's combat has you pushing a button every 1-1.5 seconds depending on the job.

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Yeah, I cringe every time I get a low level instance for my daily, it feels terrible to have so few skills.

 

[Bricktop]

ARR is definitely weaker than any of the expansion content and is loaded with filler quests that add nothing to the story. It's bloated with typical MMO fetch quests as well. The 100+ quests between the end of ARR and Heavensward were also designed for people who were done with ARR before those patches hit, which meant they'd be split up into easily digestible chunks as opposed to having them all at once. They're easily the worst part of the game.

FFXIV has the best story of any FF in a couple of decades, but unless you are into MMOs I don't think it's worth the investment to get to the good parts. Once they restructure all the pre-Heavensward content it will be a different story, but until then if you've already waited this long you are better off waiting a little longer.

 

[Xenosaga]

ARR was a terrible, terrible experience... at least when I played it when 2.0 just came out.
But I heard Heavensward onward is quite good?

 

[mordecaii83]

ARR is definitely weaker than any of the expansion content and is loaded with filler quests that add nothing to the story. It's bloated with typical MMO fetch quests as well. The 100+ quests between the end of ARR and Heavensward were also designed for people who were done with ARR before those patches hit, which meant they'd be split up into easily digestible chunks as opposed to having them all at once. They're easily the worst part of the game.

FFXIV has the best story of any FF in a couple of decades, but unless you are into MMOs I don't think it's worth the investment to get to the good parts. Once they restructure all the pre-Heavensward content it will be a different story, but until then if you've already waited this long you are better off waiting a little longer.

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So you mean tomorrow right?

 

[B.K.]

I'm not even sure that cutting 13% of the fat of ARR is going to be enough. She looked her progress on the ARR quest list when she hit 35 and her heart dropped when she saw how many damned quests were left before she was cleared for Heavensward. It's honestly ridiculous how much crap a player had to do to get to the good stuff, and I don't even think cutting 25% of ARR MSQs would be enough to keep most players chew through without losing steam before the end.

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It's not just cutting 13%. They're shortening quests, too. They had a rule back during ARR that quests should take around nine minutes to finish, to pad the game out because they were short on content and they hadn't really figured out the quest design yet. They're going to shorten the quests that they don't cut so they get to the point.

 

[Anoxida]

I tried once before playing FFXIV but since I was more interested in the story than actually playing an MMO the pacing felt incredibly slow and bloated so I quit. I read that this patch removes a lot of content for a smoother and quicker journey through the realm reborn campaign so I I think I'll jump in.