When Does It Get Good?

[Sovereign Rage]

I'm a level 28 Marauder, just began the Fire in the Gloom Story Quest, and just recently finished my first dungeon as well (honestly, a bit overwhelming). That said, I've been dredging through the game so far, swapping from WoW for the time being and am looking for a simple answer. People keep saying the game becomes AMAZING by the point of "MSQ", but I have no clue where it is, or when I can get to it.

I am legit feeling swarmed by the stuff I'm introduced to, only to be pushed forward by a - at times - staggering 206% Experience being earned. I just get to level 17 Quests, only to find I just turned 28! Admittedly, I have finding my time REALLY boring too, often just spam-clicking through Q's because either the story or dialogue just does not interest me, and that is why I am becoming concerned as to whether or not this game is worth the investment.

Note, I mean no issue or criticism to the game, or the community. God knows the things I've heard - downright hesitant to express any opinion to anyone in-game .

TL;DR: When/Where is MSQ and all the other stuff people keep raving about in the game?

[Tara]

As far as I know the MSQ is supposed to get really good after ARR.
Also just skip side quests. You will overlevel so fast. You get by by just doing the main quest fine and progress much faster.

[Seera1024]

First thing I would recommend is at least paying attention to voiced cut scenes if not slowing down and paying attention to all of the story especially as you progress through it.

ARR is a lot of world and character building that pays off in the future.

Where it gets good however is subjective.

It does in general slowly get better as you get closer to the end of ARR just due to plot. Most will agree that where the increase is significant is with the first expansion pack story. Which if you are on a trial account have access to.

[lilac]

level 52

[Unholy Eve]

ARR has a lot of world/character building, it's a big info drop in a short space of time. and the game over all has a lot of reading to do.

The over leveling is normal, less need for grinding later on.

Only the story telling gets "good" the game play stays the same, just with more buttons to press.

[Rox]

The base game's story is not quite as good as the later expansions story lines. It's not bad, just a bit slow and plodding at times. You have to keep in mind that this is the beginning of your adventure, so it's slowly building you up to greatness. You're considered the hero of the realm by the end of the base game's story line and the subsequent patches and expansions are further greater tales of your exploits.

You're getting a massive experience bonus because you're on a preferred server, most likely. It doubles the experience points received from all sources, including those from quest rewards, where most bonus experience is only gotten from mob kills. You WILL outlevel the main scenario by a lot, but you can pick up another class if you'd like to level that up and continue along with the main scenario.

Heavensward is where the story tends to pick up a lot, for most players. It'll take you a while to get there, but the wait is worth it as you get into Heavensward, Stormblood and Shadowbringers. Just try and keep at it, but feel free to take short breaks if you're feeling burnt out.

[[DeusVult] Eisengrind]

Originally posted by Angry Man:

I'm a level 28 Marauder, just began the Fire in the Gloom Story Quest, and just recently finished my first dungeon as well (honestly, a bit overwhelming). That said, I've been dredging through the game so far, swapping from WoW for the time being and am looking for a simple answer. People keep saying the game becomes AMAZING by the point of "MSQ", but I have no clue where it is, or when I can get to it.

I am legit feeling swarmed by the stuff I'm introduced to, only to be pushed forward by a - at times - staggering 206% Experience being earned. I just get to level 17 Quests, only to find I just turned 28! Admittedly, I have finding my time REALLY boring too, often just spam-clicking through Q's because either the story or dialogue just does not interest me, and that is why I am becoming concerned as to whether or not this game is worth the investment.

Note, I mean no issue or criticism to the game, or the community. God knows the things I've heard - downright hesitant to express any opinion to anyone in-game :stress:.

TL;DR: When/Where is MSQ and all the other stuff people keep raving about in the game?

It is not getting better. Don´t let people tell you : "Brah this game is so guud, just play the mainstory." The game is good but only after finishing the terrible boring drag called MSQ. Hundreds of hours frail and forgetable content if you are not a hyper fan of the story. Coming from WoW too... FF got a lot to offer but the journey is terrible. I consider paying 20€ to skip that trash story.

[Dregora]

Just understand that just because a lot of other people think it's good, doesn't suddenly mean everyone has to think it's good. It might very well not be your cup of tea. Chances are if you dislike JRPG's in general (story wise) you might simply dislike this and you're not gonna enjoy it.

I personally enjoyed it from the get go, but I can totally understand why people might not. It heavily favors a certain type of anime-ish storytelling or japanese storytelling in regards to games. If you enjoy that type of story telling, you'll enjoy FFXIV. If you dislike jrpg stories in general, FFXIV isn't some amazing change in that type of storytelling.


WoW is an MMORPG. FFXIV is more of an RPGMMO. If that makes any sense.

[Intra]

Originally posted by DeusVult Eisengrind:

It is not getting better. Don´t let people tell you : "Brah this game is so guud, just play the mainstory." The game is good but only after finishing the terrible boring drag called MSQ. Hundreds of hours frail and forgetable content if you are not a hyper fan of the story. Coming from WoW too... FF got a lot to offer but the journey is terrible. I consider paying 20€ to skip that trash story.

I would listen to him. I'm halfway through Heavensward. It didn't get better. I just got more characters to hate. They built up a godlike plot at the end of ARR and they bombed it in Heavensward. Just, ruined it. I am... extra mad.

Originally posted by Kethriss:

Stormblood takes a small dip from Heavensward but is still good

....... I have heard people say Stormblood gets worse. Worse from here? Oh god. Why did I waste 60 hours on this plot already?

Originally posted by Dregora:

...I can totally understand why people might not. It heavily favors a certain type of anime-ish storytelling

I have hundreds of days of anime watched, that isn't my gripe with FF14's plot.

[Intra]

Originally posted by Kethriss:

If you don't like it, then leave. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to continue to play a game that isn't to your liking.

Hope you find something that you like better.

See, this is the wrong mentality to have. Because the gameplay is perfectly fine. It's not an RPGMMO like you and Jesse Cox keep memeing. There's an infinite endgame of glamours, mounts, crafting, Hunts, etc, and you don't need to love the MSQ to participate. You are a gatekeeper.

[Oberon]

Originally posted by Intra:

There's an infinite endgame of glamours, mounts, crafting, Hunts, etc,

It's actually extremely finite.

[Om3ga-Z3ro]

Originally posted by Intra:

Originally posted by Kethriss:

If you don't like it, then leave. Nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to continue to play a game that isn't to your liking.

Hope you find something that you like better.

See, this is the wrong mentality to have. Because the gameplay is perfectly fine. It's not an RPGMMO like you and Jesse Cox keep memeing. There's an infinite endgame of glamours, mounts, crafting, Hunts, etc, and you don't need to love the MSQ to participate. You are a gatekeeper.

Why are you still here?
The devs that made FF14's niche is the story 1st, content afterwards, the endgame content in all expansions are used for one reason: "to keep the players busy" so the devs can work in future patches and stories. If you don't to MSQ the buy a story skip then you can start your monotonous grind to level 80 and gear farming or you can buy a level skip and just grind gear and play terribly because you skipped leveling.

[[DeusVult] Eisengrind]

Originally posted by Kethriss:

Originally posted by Intra:

See, this is the wrong mentality to have. Because the gameplay is perfectly fine. It's not an RPGMMO like you and Jesse Cox keep memeing. There's an infinite endgame of glamours, mounts, crafting, Hunts, etc, and you don't need to love the MSQ to participate. You are a gatekeeper.

You're objectively and demonstrably wrong though.

FF14 from its inception under YoshiP was designed to follow the storytelling structure of traditional Final Fantasy titles, the devs have stated that the game isn't meant to keep you coming back each and every day for hours at a time, it's designed to be a story game first and foremost, with the MMO elements just being used to improve the story and offer social experiences. You log in, get what you want out of the game, and log out, then come back when there's more you want. The end game activities are just there for those that want them, either because they love hanging out with friends in FF14, or because they want the prestige of getting fancy glamour pieces or relic weapons, or getting savage/ultimate clears on their record. Unlike in WoW where those things are the entirety of the game, and everything else is just a means of advancing you in to those mechanics. FF14 at its core is designed to be played as a story game, with other elements on top of it to enhance the experience for those that enjoy them. In WoW, story is meant as filler to get you up to the end game activities. In FF14, end game activities are filler meant to keep you busy while you wait for more story content.

Like this is not up to debate, this is objectively the structure and developer-stated intention for the game.

I don't understand the people who come over here thinking it's going to be structured like wow, see it's not structured like wow, complain about how it's not structured like wow, and then when people go "it's not supposed to be structured like wow" they respond with "YES IT IS ITS SUPPOSED TO BE JUST LIKE WOW".

If you want WoW that bad...just go play WoW lol

It's not gatekeeping to tell people "if you don't like a game, go play something that you do like". You being told that a game doesn't have to please you at the expense of everybody else is not gatekeeping lol

I played like almost all Final Fantasy games which makes this extra sad. Every FF14-Hyper-Fan praised this YoshiP as a story god. Dood, have you played any Final Fantasy game at all? Compared to the godlike story-telling of the single-player FF games Doom has a better story and narrativ than FF14. I am not rambling about the existence of a story driven MMORPG but the way it is executed, forcing you through hours and hours of uninteresting speech bubbles... man... this is just sad.

[Duranu Lithdel]

Originally posted by Kethriss:

If you want Insert Any Established Game Name Here that bad...just go play Referred To Game Here lol

It's not gatekeeping to tell people "if you don't like any established game, go play something that you do like". You being told that a game doesn't have to please you at the expense of everybody else is not gatekeeping lol

Only time I don't think that applies is for early access games the devs are requesting active input on

[DirtyMick]

Obviously no one can speak for anyone else (God knows they do anyway though) as to where it becomes enjoyable. For me, I've always found the MSQ to be a grind. Even in stormblood. Like, there are moments in the story in heavensward and stormblood that are really good and I'm glad I paid attention so I could have those oh ♥♥♥♥ moments like when you watch a good movie or show. But those moments are surrounded by many hours of boring questing.

What I love about the game, is the dungeons and trials. In order to get more dungeons and trials, I have to keep doing the story. So I keep playing. Those good moments in the story help as well of course, and I do have some investment in the characters and the world, as in I do wanna see what happens to them, but what really keeps me going is the fun I have with the actual gameplay in dungeons, trials, and raids.

[DirtyMick]

Originally posted by Intra:

Originally posted by DeusVult Eisengrind:

It is not getting better. Don´t let people tell you : "Brah this game is so guud, just play the mainstory." The game is good but only after finishing the terrible boring drag called MSQ. Hundreds of hours frail and forgetable content if you are not a hyper fan of the story. Coming from WoW too... FF got a lot to offer but the journey is terrible. I consider paying 20€ to skip that trash story.

I would listen to him. I'm halfway through Heavensward. It didn't get better. I just got more characters to hate. They built up a godlike plot at the end of ARR and they bombed it in Heavensward. Just, ruined it. I am... extra mad.

Originally posted by Kethriss:

Stormblood takes a small dip from Heavensward but is still good

....... I have heard people say Stormblood gets worse. Worse from here? Oh god. Why did I waste 60 hours on this plot already?

Originally posted by Dregora:

...I can totally understand why people might not. It heavily favors a certain type of anime-ish storytelling

I have hundreds of days of anime watched, that isn't my gripe with FF14's plot.

Lol I feel like the first half of HW sucked, but the second half was good. Now I'm up to lvl 68 MSQ, and the first half of stormblood sucked, and the second half so far is pretty mediocre. Also doesn't help that there's like 4 or 5 patches worth of post expansion quests to go through everytime you finish an expansion. Post HW/pre SB was a pain in the ass.