things a new player might have missed

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

No need to run around and look for questgivers, you just need to pay attention and pick up the quests in question when you end up near them - which you will do.

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Well, doing every quest you come across will give far too much XP, especially early on, so you outlevel your main quests even faster than you would otherwise. Many players prefer to leave most sidequests for other classes when they won't have the MSQ available.

The problem is that there's no in-game way to distinguish a simple sidequest that doesn't give you anything except a bit of XP and an item or two from a significant one that unlocks a dungeon or game feature. If you want to know which of those sidequests are important to do early on (like which to do with your first class/job), then you need to go to an out-of-game resource, like those lists that Enkidoh linked above.

If quests that unlock features or dungeons had a different quest icon, then having the MSQ send you through the area where you'll see the quest givers would be enough. But they don't. Quest icons currently distinguish only three types of quests: MSQ, repeatable quests, and everything else. I'd like it if they'd further divide that "everything else" category into: quests that unlock features/content, event quests, sidestory quests, and sidequests.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

Well, doing every quest you come across will give far too much XP, especially early on, so you outlevel your main quests even faster than you would otherwise. Many players prefer to leave most sidequests for other classes when they won't have the MSQ available.

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Solution is simple: Don't do those sidequests with your main class. By the time you start encountering quests that unlock features (i.e. after you have left your starting city) you should have unlocked a second class anyway.

It's also worth noting that getting "too much EXP" is not really ever a problem. It may result in less efficiency as you do a lower-level quest and don't get EXP for killing its field monsters, but you will always be able to do lower-level content anyway. You'll never be in a situation where you can no longer do a lower-level dungeon, for instance, because you're already past its level. Again, it may not be particularly efficient as the drops you receive from there will still be for the lower level, but even those have additional usage (alternate classes, crafting, expert delivery, glamour, money).

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Originally Posted by EveK

It's also worth noting that getting "too much EXP" is not really ever a problem. It may result in less efficiency as you do a lower-level quest and don't get EXP for killing its field monsters, but you will always be able to do lower-level content anyway. You'll never be in a situation where you can no longer do a lower-level dungeon, for instance, because you're already past its level. Again, it may not be particularly efficient as the drops you receive from there will still be for the lower level, but even those have additional usage (alternate classes, crafting, expert delivery, glamour, money).

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That's not the problem with "too much EXP". The problem (for some people anyway) is that as you outlevel content it becomes trivial and therefore less fun to do. Many people want a bit of challenge.

Hm. Do you have a specific example? In my experience, everything is either story-based and of trivial difficulty in the field areas or is instanced in such a way that applies level sync so your level is limited specifically to what is appropriate for the content anyway.

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Originally Posted by EveK

Hm. Do you have a specific example? In my experience, everything is either story-based and of trivial difficulty in the field areas or is instanced in such a way that applies level sync so your level is limited specifically to what is appropriate for the content anyway.

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You're right that it's a moot point with instanced level-synced content, but that leaves everything else, all the quests that you yourself referred to here as "story-based and of trivial difficulty in the field areas". If (as most often happens) you out-level it before you do it, all that open world content is completely trivial. Many people, though, don't like it being "of trivial difficulty" since the story usually claims that it's significant. Immersion in the storyline is a lot easier if you stay on-level with the quests you're doing, so that there is still something to accomplish with each quest.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

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just as a note, while there is no immediate way to distinguise the difference in a generic quest and a unlockable quest from the quest marker..every single quest that unlocks something or the other WILL have a picture in the quest description. while most others will not, there are some quests with pictures that dont unlock anything however, but those are few are few and far between, so you can just rush to quests and accept whatever has a picture on it

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Originally Posted by LeeraSorlan

while there is no immediate way to distinguise the difference in a generic quest and a unlockable quest from the quest marker..every single quest that unlocks something or the other WILL have a picture in the quest description. while most others will not

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Any that unlock dungeons will have a picture, but that's not true of other features. For instance, none of the following sidequests include a picture in the quest description:

Level 15 — Color Your World — unlocks dye
Level 15 — Rising to the Challenge — unlocks the Challenge Log
Level 17 — An Ill-conceived Venture — unlocks retainer ventures
Level 19 — Forging the Spirit — unlocks materia assimilation
Level 19 — Waking the Spirit — unlocks materia melding
Level 20 — A Sight to Behold — unlocks the Sightseeing Log
Level 20 — My Little Chocobo — unlocks mounts
Level 25 — Melding Materia Muchly — unlocks advanced materia melding
Level 30 — Gone to Pieces — unlocks desynthesis
Level 30 — My Feisty Little Chocobo — unlocks chocobo as battle companion
Level 30 — Bird in Hand — unlocks Chocobo training
Level 50 — A Self-improving Man — unlocks glamour
Level 50 — Just Tooling Around — unlocks master crafting
Level 50 — Let the Hunt Begin — unlocks daily/weekly Hunt bills

It's still useful to consider any quest with a picture to be important, but it doesn't necessarily follow that ones without a picture aren't.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

without a picture aren't.

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Ah, my bad then. i havent done those in 2 years so i must have remembered wrong

The MSQ isn't going to bring you anywhere near certain unlocks such as feisty little chocobo (companion unlock), treasure hunter, and even certain valuable dungeons like Brayflox and Cutter's Cry which drops really good low level gear and jewelry. These have to be actively sought out, and unlocking them by happenstance is rare. Usually only those obsessed with clearing area maps of quests will do it.

An FC mate and rl buddy unlocked HW content in just a little over a month. When I asked him questions like what rank is his chocobo, what's his favorite event at the gold saucer, which beast tribe does he like the most, or hate the least, or what should I know about this optional dungeon, he had no answers.

Anyone who rushes to endgame is going to miss A LOT of the game's additional content. Of course you can always go back, but experiencing these things for the first time as a new player or a vet are two entirely different experiences.