New Player Grinding lv 1-50 (MSQ Exp rate fix needed)

To preface, i started on this game back in 2010, so am not new... but i recently decided to roll a new character to go through the Main Story again.

There are certainly a large number of filler quests in the 2.x main quest line, which has been talked about at length. What really strikes me though, in going back to this, is how much EXP grinding is still necessary to reach 50. Not even Heavensward particularly, but just getting to Level 50.

Now sure, i get that this game has EXP levels at all, so it's supposed to 'take some work'.... With the Armory system though especially, which encourages players to level multiple roles, that first role should not require any extra work. Especially being that 2.x is not even the current expansion...

A new player should be able to walk into the game, and go Lv 1-50 on their first job based solely on the EXP gained from MSQ and the required dungeons. NOTHING else should be necessary. No hunting books, no roulette, no side quests, NOTHING. For the first role, just MSQ. Additional roles? Sure, fine. But not the first role for a new player.

While I agree MSQ should give enough exp to not require anything else, it's really not that much grinding required in 1-50. You won't hit a wall until about level 29, where you'll need to grind up to 30. And then you start hitting a wall around 36-41. And then again at 46. That last one is the worst.

This is with going straight through the MSQ within a few days, an unhealthy amount of playing.

If you spread it out longer, like a normal player will, you'll have rested experience and leveling roulette to give you a leg up.

Yeah they should come to level 50 just with the MSQ and as soon as they start leveling from 50 to 60 they'll get the punch in their faces because it will take them forever to get 60 (compared to leveling to 50 your way). Leveling is fast enough as it is.

1-50 through MSQs is perfectly reasonable for a first job. Granted I had things leveled coming from 1.0 but I saved all side quests for other jobs after getting my first to 50. Leveling takes no time already and once you get the armoire bonus it's even better. Gating story quests during a current expansion is fine since it makes you try other things but once the current patch cycle is over the MSQs alone should suffice.

I don't 100% recall needing to grind at all on my first class. Had a lot of sidequests and roulettes were fun to break up the monotony a bit. Think once or twice I had to grind a bit to reach a level but it wasn't too hard.

That being said, this is purely from a looking back perspective. Looking forward I agree things may need to be trimmed as even finishing up to 2.5 to hit 3.0 is QUITE a grind. However it is also a bit of a blessing as things can get tedious in the endgame.

I definitely agree, but would extend it to 1-60 as Heavensward sidequests should be reserved for levelling alt. jobs, rather than using them all on your first job and still not having enough EXP to level up.

One of the several people I recruited ended up quitting during the drought of quests at level 40ish, it wasn't the sole reason as they found the MSQ dull with all the filler, but even saying that it gets better after they hit 50 they ended up quitting regardless due to having to FATE grind. The argument that it should "take some work" is a silly one when the players are still in period of being unsure about the game, it does nothing but turn the game into a bore before they've even finished the story line and invested any real time into the game.

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Originally Posted by NefarioCall

A new player should be able to walk into the game, and go Lv 1-50 on their first job based solely on the EXP gained from MSQ and the required dungeons. NOTHING else should be necessary. No hunting books, no roulette, no side quests, NOTHING. For the first role, just MSQ. Additional roles? Sure, fine. But not the first role for a new player.

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I do have to say that i've managed to level 2 alt characters to level 51/52 just by going through the MSQ up to the point that you get access to the Heavensward area's. I've done no side quests, other then the necessary class quests. They didn't even unlock the optional dungeons. From that point of view, i don't think the MSQ needs an ever bigger XP bonus then it already has received when Heavensward was released. The only thing you needed to do in addition to the MSQ and the "story dungeons", are the Guildhests (not even all of them) and the Hard Mode Primals (Ifrit, Garuda and Titan), because those are required to get past a certain moment in the MSQ.

So, i think the speed in which new players can level 1 class to level 50 is fast enough. But, at that point, you've only leveled 1 class/job. Next you want to get the designated "sub classes" for the Job you want to play. You'd also want to level those classes in order to get all of the cross class abilities you can use for the said job. Therefore, just leveling 1 class to 50 is not going to "cut it" in the end.

The hunting log is great as an additional source of XP for your main class, but also your sub classes. So, why would you even want to skip them in the first place? It's fast and easy XP. Also, if you really want to level your additional classes, keep in mind that Palace of the Dead is a great place to get XP for other classes. Even if it is just used to level your sub classes for their cross class abilities.

oh come on, there are tons of different ways to get XP. It doesn't feel as grindy when you can do quests, dungeons, guildhests, guildleves, fates, hunting logs, challenge log or PotD. 1-50 is pretty easy to level.

i did 2-3 full clears of Deep Dungeons and get a boost to my lv and never turned back to do any side quest and always stayed 3-4 lv a head of the MSQ np. Even by lv 57 I was just starting to hit lv 52/53 MSQ. So i dont see the need in a fit to something that works just fine still.