Exploring adoulin is such a chore

[Cabalabob]

So I decided to give adoulin a try recently and it's such a pain to get around. As soon as you leave the city, it starts hurling key item requirements at you, want to travel ceizak? Too bad you need logging! Want to get to yorcia wield? Not without climbing you don't! Want to do the main story? Guess what you need!

It's just such a turn off, I can't get immersed in this area when I'm trying to explore or enjoy the story when it throws these stupid key item blockades at me constantly. I want to get into adoulin but I don't want to go through this constant key item grind just to get around. Maybe if it was naturally intertwined with the story then sure, but it's not, the story gets abruptly halted cause you need a bunch of key items that you have to side track to go and get. And to get those key items, you need other key items to get to the places to get those key items and it's just this horrible web of wiki pages that I can't be assed to follow...

[Shirai]

It's not as bad as you think it is, you only have to do it once and you can do the preparation for a few of them beforehand.
http://ffxiclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/C...urvival_Skills

Just do it in one go with collecting waypoints and it'll be over with as traveling Adoulin after this becomes something utterly trivial.
P.S. The resistance skills are completely optional.

[Catmato]

Nearly every Adoulin area is available without doing any missions. How many missions are required to get to Al'Taieu? Ru'Aun gardens?

Edit: Specified Adoulin areas

[Olor]

So I decided to give adoulin a try recently and it's such a pain to get around. As soon as you leave the city, it starts hurling key item requirements at you, want to travel ceizak? Too bad you need logging! Want to get to yorcia wield? Not without climbing you don't! Want to do the main story? Guess what you need!

It's just such a turn off, I can't get immersed in this area when I'm trying to explore or enjoy the story when it throws these stupid key item blockades at me constantly. I want to get into adoulin but I don't want to go through this constant key item grind just to get around. Maybe if it was naturally intertwined with the story then sure, but it's not, the story gets abruptly halted cause you need a bunch of key items that you have to side track to go and get. And to get those key items, you need other key items to get to the places to get those key items and it's just this horrible web of wiki pages that I can't be assed to follow...

I totally agree with you, it's bad design.

Nearly every area is available without doing any missions. How many missions are required to get to Al'Taieu? Ru'Aun gardens?

Two things:

a) Different era, different MMO expectations, different FFXI populations

b) At least those restrictions naturally were lifted *while* doing the missions. Adoulin you're trying to do the missions and you have to backtrack to get KIs

[Catmato]

Two things:

a) Different era, different MMO expectations, different FFXI populations

b) At least those restrictions naturally were lifted *while* doing the missions. Adoulin you're trying to do the missions and you have to backtrack to get KIs

I won't disagree with either of those, but three of the quests are simply "talk to NPC" and "trade AH items to NPC" with the outlier requiring finding mining points. Yes, there's backtracking, but you need to do it to access the (non-mission) content behind it anyway. It's a video game, expect to have to do stuff to progress.

[Olor]

sure sure I expect to do things to progress, it is just nice when those things are part of the mission line, not annoying little chores you have to do outside of it.

[Shirai]

Anyhow, what I am saying is, yes, it's a chore but it's not as bad as the OP makes it out to be.
Along with getting all the waypoints you may be spending a few hours and depending on your playtime a couple of evenings but in the end it's worth it in my humble opinion.

Adoulin's got a good story, it'd be a waste if a couple of quests that eventually help you get around easier than all the transportation methods of all other expansions combined would stop you.
Just prepare, do them once and then never look back.

[Cabalabob]

Adoulin's got a good story, it'd be a waste if a couple of quests that eventually help you get around easier than all the transportation methods of all other expansions combined would stop you.

Unfortunately here lies the problem, it is a shame and a waste to have this frustrating barrier that's stopping me getting into the story and the content that might actually keep me interested. I'm getting turned away at the door, it can be the most awesome amazing thing ever once I get into it and it won't matter if I can't get into it.

The journey so far:

Got to adoulin, went to ceizak and couldn't get around because of roots, looked up how to get past them, got logging KI. Not too bad so far, still willing to give it a chance.

Decided to start doing story stuff, got up to Ortharsyne, literally run into a wall, can't progress until I get more KI's. Can't be bothered, leave adoulin for a while and go do actually fun stuff instead.

Hear about JSE capes and decide I want that, finally make my return to adoulin. I decide to go to Yorcia wield to farm rieves there. Get through Sih gates to Cirdas caverns, see the entrance to yorcia wield on the map with what looks like 5 ways to get there. Biggest troll ever, all 5 possible routes are blocked by KI requirements and walls... Once again, leave adoulin...

Cool off a bit and decide to begin this arduous KI farm. Go back to Sih gates and get to the foret de hennetiel. Find I need a boat KI to progress to Dho gates to get to where I need to go for climbing. Grind my teeth but press on, find the boat guy, he wants 3 dhalmel leathers and some other stuff, go back to adoulin auction house to buy the leathers, there are none, I don't have crafts levelled, currently sitting in middle dekfutt's tower /thf farming the 8 goblin furriers that pop here and drop the leather while writing this...

Not amused, it shouldn't be hard to see why this is stopping me getting into adoulin.

The "adventure" continues: having farmed the leather from the goblins I had a bit of nostalgia fun climbing to the top of dekfutt's tower to get the home point at stellar fulcrum then warped back to adoulin and farmed the umbril ooze in ceizak, looked up the twitherym scale and grinded away the last of my teeth as I saw it was only obtainable through level 64 alchemy and once again none on the auction house...

Farmed the wings in ceizak and had a spare lightning crystal lying around, shouted in jeuno for a crafter and got it crafted by a nice person who did it for free. With all the items finally went back to hennietiel via waypoint to hand it all in, had a little chuckle that the NPC said "back already? That was quicker than I anticipated". Did the rest of the quest picking up waypoints as I went, finally started to feel like I'd gotten the ball rolling again. Collected a few more waypoints then made my way to Dho gates.

[Shirai]

Cool off a bit and decide to begin this arduous KI farm. Go back to Sih gates and get to the foret de hennetiel. Find I need a boat KI to progress to Dho gates to get to where I need to go for climbing. Grind my teeth but press on, find the boat guy, he wants 3 dhalmel leathers and some other stuff, go back to adoulin auction house to buy the leathers, there are none, I don't have crafts levelled, currently sitting in middle dekfutt's tower /thf farming the 8 goblin furriers that pop here and drop the leather while writing this...

Nothing in Sandy's Tanner's guild?

[Cabalabob]

Nothing in Sandy's Tanner's guild?

Nope, think they only have it if someone sells it to them. Gotten one from the goblins so far, only using TH 2 so probably gonna take a while.