HUGE pacing issue around level 40

I'm sure this has been mentioned hundred of time, but still:

As a new player, I have found that there is SUCH a big pacing issue starting around level 40. I'm doing all the quests and required content (as well as hunting log, optional dungeons, etc), and yet I still have to grind roughly half of each level to continue with the story.

I really love this game, but this pacing issue is a huge killjoy, almost enough to get me to quit playing the game entirely. For a quest based game to have this issue is a really big deal. In a game like FFXI it didn't matter so much, but here it's awful.

I hope to see a revamp of these levels at some point in the future. I wouldn't be surprised if FFXIV has lost a lot of potential subscriptions to this content-lite section of the game. It's really awful.

I hate to be this way, but it just seems like you're complaining about grinding. If you dont have a big tolerance for grinding, then I'd strongly suggest unsubbing immediately. You can't rely solely on quests for XP in this game.

Back at launch you basically had to FATE grind to finish off the 40s.

Things are much better now. Do a daily low level roulette, guildhest roulette, go after weekly Challenge Log goals (unlock the Challenge Log from a quest in Limsa if you haven't already), do FATES and Leves while you're waiting in queue for dungeons.
Quests alone are not enough for the higher levels but there are plenty of options if you look around.

If you find leveling too grindy at this point even with all of these options you probably won't enjoy the end of the 2.0 story. The main scenario jumps from level 46 to 49 at one point.

Do you have the challenge log unlocked?
Are you doing your daily low level dungeon roulette? The exp bonus you get + the exp from killing dungeon mobs is enough for more than half a level, maybe even one full level up.
At level 41 you can start taking beast tribe quests which give some extra daily experience.

All these things didnt exist in 2.0, so the exp grind was even worse.
It's much easier now.

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Originally Posted by Moomba33

Back at launch you basically had to FATE grind to finish off the 40s.

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This. The current state of things is actually a vast improvement, because there's so much to do that gives you extra chunks of exp. I basically fated my way from 41 to 50 in one day in Northern Thanalan on my first go (and then proceeded to avoid that area for a year), but now with challenge logs and roulettes it's much easier.

The whole story quest jumping from 46 to 49 thing is probably to encourage players to do Aurum Vale a few times. That place gives out insane exp if you kill everything, despite its bad rep, actually has some interesting fights.

Between FATE grinds and some leves along with the challenges, my leveling friend and I haven't had too many issues rolling through the 40s. Heard plenty of nightmare stories about the process, but those issues do appear to be alleviated somewhat with the additions others have mentioned.

Then again we've enjoyed the FATEs around Mor Dhona so we stop to do them just out of principle, so maybe we were grinding unconsciously while doing other quests and it just worked out that way.

True, I tend to feel the push near 40, but it still isn't terrible. I can gain a level/day even on DPS, and that's off hours on my server.
One roulette usually does it, and then if that's not enough then one run of the highest level dungeon usually pushes me over the level threshold. Combine that with the challenge log, leves, FATEs, hunting log, etc and you're good.

Make sure to eat food, get rested bonus too. If you're in an FC ask them to turn on the leveling bonuses.
Good luck :)

1x Daily roulette low dungeon gives guaranteed 50% of your exp bar, and daily guildhest will see you earn %10-15 in a 2 min fight.
Also there are very simple weekly challenges which will give you another 50%.

You don't need to rush it but essentially you are guaranteed a level every 2 days if you do daily.

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Originally Posted by AcidRainO

For a quest based game to have this issue is a really big deal. .

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Hhmm what made you think this was a quest based game and that it was the only way to level? Party up, grind it out. With speed runs of Dzemael, you could get to level 50 in one night by spamming the first room over and over.

Basically how I've levelled between 40 and 50 is: FATE until 41, then do Stone Vigil 5-6 times so you hit 44, do Dzemael Darkhold 5-6 times so you hit 47, do Aurum Vale until sanity reaches dangerous levels, then hit Northern Thanalan, go /shout LFG fates and spend an hour there to hit 50. The Dark Devices FATE has been nerfed since the 2.0 days, but it still gives something silly like 250-300k in a matter of minutes. I wouldn't FATE all the way unless dungeon queues were really bad though, it gets old very fast if you don't have a fun, talkative party.

The fact that it used to be worse isn't really a very good excuse. For a long time on my first character I was massively ahead of the curve (even after ditching my original main class and swapping a couple of times) but everything just starts drying up really quickly in the late 30s/early 40s, and you're constantly finding yourself short of a level to pick up the next stage of the main scenario.

Personally, my expectation for the levelling curve of a new player running their first class through would be that doing all the main scenario quests plus sidequests in each zone as they go through them should keep them pretty much level-appropriate without constantly requiring them to stop and go grind stuff for half a level. Constantly forcing people to stop what they're doing and grind stuff ruins the flow of the game - the storyline is starting to build up to a big finish by this stage, but you keep on having to drop everything and go do mindless busywork just for the sake of padding the game out.

Any optional side content like FATEs, hutning logs and so on should be just that - optional - not all-but-mandatory because the main quest XP is inadequate. And I hate to compare this game to WOW constantly, but they've got the levelling curve almost down to a science, where just doing most of the quests you come across will keep you pretty much on track and anything beyond that is a bonus.

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Originally Posted by aerolol

Do you have the challenge log unlocked?
Are you doing your daily low level dungeon roulette? The exp bonus you get + the exp from killing dungeon mobs is enough for more than half a level, maybe even one full level up.
At level 41 you can start taking beast tribe quests which give some extra daily experience.

All these things didnt exist in 2.0, so the exp grind was even worse.
It's much easier now.

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Pretty much this right here. My first 50 was before the challenge log itself and I managed to get there around the time I should have been lvl 45, in part because I would do the low roulette. It was as a Paladin which did make it easier to get in but my point is, it isn't quite that difficult to get to 50 even for a new player.

As well if you want to get other jobs to 50 you won't be able to rely on quests since you already did them, though it'll be a bit easier since you will have an auto +50% just from being lower leveled then your highest job.

This is crazy, on release I leveled two classes without grinding at all (Fates, leves). Now there are challenge logs and beefed up dungeon xp. I... just.. don't... http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...k1/ldvkuns.gif

I, honestly, never experienced a "pacing" issue. I was actually kind of disappointed with how quickly I leveled from 40 to 50. I was at level 50 well before I needed to be. Hell I didn't fight Titan until around level 43, and I didn't do Garuda until, at least, level 49.

But its probably because I enjoy a decent grind, and FFXIV is definitely not a grind heavy MMO compared to many other ones. Well, until you are grinding for poetics and gear, but its still not that bad. The "Ultimate Weapon" quest is though, if you are starting from scratch at this point.

I only hit the issue on my first job at the 46-49 story jump but this was back in 2.0 pre DD fate nerf so that was a easy fix, I only did story/class quests to save other quests for job #2, fate grinded about 3-4 jobs after that b4 dailys came out, it's final fantasy it's a grind game
Now everything is 50 and DRK is near :D

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Originally Posted by Pots_Talos

This is crazy, on release I leveled two classes without grinding at all (Fates, leves). Now there are challenge logs and beefed up dungeon xp. I... just.. don't... http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...k1/ldvkuns.gif

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Lying, I'm 100% sure you did a lot of fate grinding. Which was fine at release.
Dungeon/guild roulettes and queing is fine if you are a tank or healer. I feel the problem is leveling as DPS is vastly less slower than their counterparts. I got my MRD/PLD/WHM/SCH/MNK max level at release. Monk was 10000000000000x easier when everyone was doing fates. Now I am trying to level my dragoon, bard, black mage and it is literally the worse experience ever. Unfortunately since I just came back to the game, I don't got any tank or healer friends to hit up to help make the leveling experience better with dungeon queing as well.

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Originally Posted by Ogrumz

Lying, I'm 100% sure you did a lot of fate grinding.

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Hrm.. except for the fact that according to my achievements I have run 1,900 FATES and a large chunk of that is from Multiple ATMA grinds.

Was any FF game ever quest based game...... you had to grind some levels in one way or another on pretty much all of them...

EDIT: Though I did FATE grind, but it was disappointing when I hit pretty much all 50 in like first 3 months on a fresh character after ARR went live... including crafting and gathering
Leveling is way too fast in this game... have like zero sense of accomplishment hitting 50... but hitting 50 is when the real grind started.
Played FFXI for like 10 years and still don't have everything above 75... Played Aion for like 2 years only had 2 classes at cap level (then they raised cap!). Tried TERA for like 3 months, had only 2 at cap (does reaper even count though? pretty much start you at level cap) - though I end up making 9 Elins and played a bit on them all @@"

Lvl 45 = Queue in Dungeon, and do the Levequests in Mor Dohna. There are like 15 of them and they are all in the same place. You can get 1/2 level -1 level every go round while you wait for dungeon queue.

Do dungeons. That's why dungeons before level 50 exist.