#it was one of the first mog station things i ever bought haha

[backseatfishing]

making a new glam based on the fairy tale prince top since i kind of forgot i had it, and i think i like this for now. i don't use the fun summoner unicorn horn thing enough LOL

[primamchorus]

I'd recently come from WoW with my partner back in 2019 at the very tail end of Stormblood into the expansion drop of Shadowbringers (I also came from a FFXV binge and was devastated to learn we had JUST missed the first crossover event).

I was having a lot of fun just doing things on my own with the prospect of being able to play with my friends at a later time because the Discord group I was part of was filled with my D&D and other TTRPG friends that I've known for about a decade at this point. The owner of the Discord and FC at the time gave me all the permissions needed to decorate for the house, and I spent a good portion of my game time doing that a lot of the time instead of the MSQ.

I also picked up crafting and gathering because I wanted to craft furniture instead of buy it. :^)

I chipped very slowly away at the MSQ when I was feeling up for it until I reached Sastasha. Yep, the level 15 very first baby dungeon.

I asked my friends, "can I do this with just friends, or at a higher level later and just do it on my own?" One of my friends, who I'm still not sure was pranking me or not, said that I couldn't and that I had to play with friends or at least other people.

Well, unfortunately with people waiting for the expansion to drop, a number of my friends were not playing FFXIV, and so I was more playing on my own because my partner was often at work before he was allowed to work remotely due to Covid. This was way before Duty Support, and I couldn't just do the dungeon in Squadrons because I needed to run the dungeon first anyway. Not to mention be in a Grand Company in the first place for that latter bit.

Bear in mind, I had just come from WoW -- I had been playing WoW ever since I was thirteen when it released. I know that the WoW community can be toxic a good majority of the time, and was very grateful that when my partner and I met, we could actually play together. That we could simply duo a lot of content on our own because it removed us from having to deal with a toxic community. I did not have high hopes for even wanting to throw myself into the FFXIV community because my experiences were already tarnished in the social aspect (haha, looks at how I still can't really bring myself to be social).

"Well... you could just... story skip ARR. It's long and boring anyway."

"If I do that, I can also get my mount? Because I can't find a mount vendor."

"Your first mount and being able to ride a mount at all is tied to the MSQ. You have to be about level twenty-ish."

Cue me already spending $11 at the Mog-Station. Already more than I've ever done for WoW because I never bought anything off their cash shop.

My partner also skipped it so we were on the same page as far as experience with the game went.

We did. So. Much. Palace. Of the. Dead. Just to reach level 50 so we could move on.

Honestly, this did not diminish my enjoyment of the game at the time.

Why? Because WoW doesn't have a compelling story, and I played MMOs just to experience the exploration of it, not so much the story as a result. I skipped dialogue in WoW, and even when I played ARR, I clicked through dialogue because I didn't have high expectations. Because other MMOs also didn't have compelling stories that I played.

But then I sat through HW and actually watched cut scenes past the ARR story skip (I never skipped cut scenes, even in WoW or other MMOs, don't you worry), I was like, "okay, we're fugitives cast out to the cold -- literally." But what struck me the most -- what made me willing to make several alts just to replay ARR and experience ARR was that...

Your character is important.

Your character is acknowledged.

Your character has friends and bonds.

Your character pushes the story forward with stalwart allies at their back and side.

You're not just a dispensable, throwaway fighter on the front lines fuelling the stories of plot armor ridden heroes who barely remember your name or deeds.

So yes. I started in Heavensward with my partner. I didn't have the entire context of why we were in Ishgard, just that we were. But the experience I had still made me appreciate the game and appreciate the writing. More so on going back to replay things because looking back on all of it and seeing how everything falls into place -- that a lot of different plot points actually are touched upon and expanded upon (NOW LOOKING AT YOU, HEART OF SABIK) actually mean something or are concluded.

How did everyone play during their first playthrough? Did you read every quest? Only watch cutscenes? Skip everything to get to the end quick? I keep hearing different things and I’m curious!