I have to complete 100 quests to access Heavensward?

I understand that these quests were available long before I was a player, but as a new player this is just ridiculous. The gear isn't even useful to me nor do the quests provide adequate experience. As a new player, everything has been very enjoyable, but this is first time I've felt negative about anything in this game. Is there any way to skip these?
It's a huge waste of time especially after just buying the expansion.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kadowki

It's a huge waste of time especially after just buying the expansion.

---

yes I too like having the middle 3/5ths of a book ripped out just so I can skip right to the ending.

Why don't you want to play the "entire" game and story you paid for? Just wondering because if you just blow by all this content then you are really missing out. I know I am not you and you are entitle to play however you want but if I joined in late I would want to experience the entire game and not miss stuff. There is nothing you are missing in 3.0. World first race is long over so you have time to catch up and your own pace. The only issues I see is if you are trying to be a crafter...then you have a ton of work to put in. Enjoy the game and have some fun.

@VentiMocha

Right, I'll tell that to all the players that blaze through content and won't allow me to enjoy the cut scenes in dungeons. It's a waste of their time to wait for me. I've already had to go to YouTube to finish those when really, I shouldn't have had to. After all, everyone is a die hard fan of the story, right? It would be pointless to have this argument over a single-player game, but seriously, I just want to enjoy playing with my friends. Isn't that **really** the point?

Except FFXIV is a Final Fantasy game first and a MMO second. FF games have always been story-based games, where gameplay is merely a means to move the story along. This is the same with FFXIV - content is locked behind storyline completion, and thus as the expansion is an extension of the storyline, little wonder it requires you to be up to date in the main scenario to access the new 'bells and whistles'. Really, FFXIV has more of an emphasis on the 'RPG' part of MMORPG' rather than the 'MMO' side.

It's unfortunate that you had a bad experience with running Castrum Meridanium and the Praetorium with speedrunning, but really, you should speak out and stay your ground. If they weren't willing to let you experience the dungeon how it's meant to be played (with cutscenes), let them stew and sulk or let them drop the party and suffer their penalty. Fortunately CM/The Praetorium are the only truly cutscene heavy dungeons in the game, so you shouldn't have that trouble of people forcing you to skip cutscenes any more.

yeah, it is. If you are racing to catch up to your friends then I can see the need to hurry. That sucks. My brother was suppose to play this game with me at launch and never ended up doing it and now he really would never spend the time now to catch up. Good of for you for working to get there.

I stopped in 2.1 and came back two days ago and was able to get through 2.2-2.55 this morning if you are curious of the time I takes. I did AFK a lot, do weekend outings, and watched/read all the dialogue. Even sat in queues for the trials while reading guides and forums.

The good news is you only have to do the Main Story Quests. There are a LOT of side quests that you can skip (or perhaps do, if you want to finish off a level and don't want to grind dungeons, FATEs, Leves, etc.) which would actually be beneficial to your second + classes leveling up. With MSQ out of the way, all them skipped side quests will help them level up while still experiencing a lot of great story, puns, and everything else.

I see, I see. I probably came off as a jerk a little bit and apologize. I have very much enjoyed the story but found myself wanting to optionally continue it later so I can visit Ishgard and do some side quests. Good to hear that it may not take too awful long to play with my buddies. Much appreciation for the respectful input!

Your buddies should've warned you that you have to finish main story quests and reach lv 50 to access Heavensward before buying this game.
Also I don't understand why new players always want to just skip to lv 50 - 60 endgame contents without learning the basic mechanics and the classes of the game first.
You'll be bad at playing this game and it will be a burden to your buddies, well, if only they're patient enough, and I'm sure they are.
If you really want to go to Heavensward quick, then ask your buddies to help you with main story quests and dungeons unsynced to finish them quick, also carrying you with your levequests, if they don't feel it's a burden to them, and of course I'm sure it's not.

Skip all the sides and just focus on main story. You might find the exp from the story is almost enough to keep you leveled. Im leveling a character on a second account and im 35, mostly just from story, class/job quests and hunting log. I would much rather have the story level me then a mindless grind to 50 :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AriaEnia

Your buddies should've warned you that you have to finish main story quests and reach lv 50 to access Heavensward before buying this game.

---

They could have also sent a friend code, helped to level up to at least level 25 quicker.

Quote:

---

Also I don't understand why new players always want to just skip to lv 50 - 60 endgame contents without learning the basic mechanics and the classes of the game first.

---

Yeah, I'll never understand that in any game.

"I want to create a max level character and go right into endgame."

Does so.

After a month. "Man, nothing to do, this game is boring."

Reminds me if single player cheat codes.

"Man, this game is boring easy with no challenge."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kadowki

@VentiMocha

Right, I'll tell that to all the players that blaze through content and won't allow me to enjoy the cut scenes in dungeons. It's a waste of their time to wait for me. I've already had to go to YouTube to finish those when really, I shouldn't have had to. After all, everyone is a die hard fan of the story, right? It would be pointless to have this argument over a single-player game, but seriously, I just want to enjoy playing with my friends. Isn't that **really** the point?

---

I refuse to skip any main story and so should you, but you can also watch all cut scenes via an inn room through the book thing. way better than youtube :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mikedizzy

Why don't you want to play the "entire" game and story you paid for? ...

---

The same reason most people don´t want to be forced to watch Episode 1-3 in a Star Wars marathon but rather start with the interesting stuff? If you have enjoyed it - good for you. I do know 2 people who did follow the storyline and dozens who didn´t. I really wanted to like the story but after 5 minutes of npc´s telling each other who is more honered to work with whom in every arc I would have been happy to opt for a story skip.

Doing main story from 1-50 is way better than doing leves or fates all day long.
In other MMO's you also have to level up first. You can't just do endgame immediately.

Story wise, it's also funny to see how people treat you at the beginning and then at the end.

From an cute, little novice adventurer to a primal mass murderer

Funny, the "problem" I see being a new player is that MANY folks had a lot of time after hitting the old 50 cap to finish up the post 50 MSQ line. When HW dropped, they got right on the HW MSQ line and had multiple 125s from that line by the time they went 52, 53, 54. Having joined just after HW dropped, I'm still working on the MSQ line pre the HW part. No matter, I am really enjoying the line AND appreciate that it sure has kept me very decently geared (I got "recruited" into the game and got 3 120 pieces from my 10 silver chocobo feathers!). Got a lot of gear w/poetics, that may have gone faster if I had started on beast dailies sooner (the irony is I actually did start them because I wanted access to the raptor blue dye, but not much gear I now have do I want to dye!).

I came back last weekend. I completed the main quest up to level 50 before, but none of the quests that were patched in. I managed to do 2.1 to the end of 2.5 in a few days. I was a bit annoyed when I first found out I had to do all of those quests, but as I started working through them I started to enjoy them. There is quite a bit of filler mixed in, but there is also an enjoyable story. The ending was really good and lots of the stuff you learn in the quests lead into the expansion. After finishing everything I realized I would be pretty lost in HW if I was able to skip all the content.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

It's unfortunate that you had a bad experience with running Castrum Meridanium and the Praetorium with speedrunning, but really, you should speak out and stay your ground.

---

Meep! I just experienced this last night running these two dungeons. I'm a new player and was getting way behind. Even skipping cutscenes, I couldn't keep up with the group as they were sprinting from encounter to encounter. It doesn't help that I got lost a few times! That place is big and scary as a Lalafell!

Someone on youtube has video's of running those 2 trials with all the cut scenes in. I did read the guides and watched the videos... I couldn't even FIND the canons, much less see anyone firing from them in Meridanium! Have done a bunch of raiding in the other MMO (was 8/13 in Hellfire until my gjuild's raid team went poof 4 weeks ago), so I know the deal... from the start to finish, I just tried to not stand in shizz, attack everything I could, and run like crazy following the "crowd." I DID tell them at the begining I was brand new to it and was NOT going to hang up for cut scenes... that got me a commendation!

CM and Praetorium are very unique in that the devs seem to simultaneously want players to take their time and watch all of the long cut scenes, and want players to speed through and annihilate everything. They're the only early level 50 dungeons to not have an item level cap. They weren't very difficult at item level 55, so with nearly everyone at i135 (due to the new way level sync works) I imagine everything dies nearly instantly (I haven't personally run either in a long time).

As far as catching up with friends, at the very least the extra experience that you get from post 50 MSQs will help you to avoid the various 'exp gaps' that exist in Heavensward. Personally I went form 50-60 very slowly and took full advantage of my challenge log and participated in nearly every FATE I saw while still running into MSQs where I was underleveled and had to catch up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kadowki

I see, I see. I probably came off as a jerk a little bit and apologize. I have very much enjoyed the story but found myself wanting to optionally continue it later so I can visit Ishgard and do some side quests. Good to hear that it may not take too awful long to play with my buddies. Much appreciation for the respectful input!

---

I'm glad you're enjoying the story and are getting caught up! It really is good. I got frustrated early on with all the pointless filler, especially pre-Garuda, and gave up for a while. Take your time and enjoy the game before you get meet the massive wall known as The Tomestone Lockout.

You're also much more likely to enjoy Heavensward's pacing and story if you suffered through the hours of filler in A Realm Reborn.

Well, except for the infamous

never ending Moogle Quests!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amiaze

Well, except for the infamous

never ending Moogle Quests!

---

Which are entirely skippable. :3

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vandril

Which are entirely skippable. :3

---

Very true. I actually didn't finish them all for a long time, but I did need to do quite a bit of them to get some EXP. You can always just spam dungeons or hunt marks, though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amiaze

Very true. I actually didn't finish them all for a long time, but I did need to do quite a bit of them to get some EXP. You can always just spam dungeons or hunt marks, though.

---

I didn't do a single side quest beyond the level 50 ones in Sea of Clouds while leveling my first class to 60. Nor did I do any dungeon more than once, or more than a FATE or two (literally one or two, to check the EXP amounts). I also did not have an EXP head start with the patch 2.0-2.55 story quests at level 50, as I was done with it all by HW. All I did was do all of my daily roulettes for their generous EXP bonuses, unlocked and did the daily HW hunts asap, and played through the main story.

Since then, level 50 dungeons have been made to grant EXP on mob kills (I think I read that, anyhow) and FATE EXP has been increased in HW substantially. Combined with the exp head start granted by the level 50 MSQ that new players can take advantage of, one could get to 60 without a hitch without doing a single side quest in HW.

I like FFXiV.

I can understand people do not want to do the story, some people just like to race to the end and grind grind grind, or they want to race to catch up with friends. One of my favorite part of this game is its story, I think its amazing. People who want to skip story and quests, this is probably not the best MMO for them. The game revolves around the story :)

I've been in the game for a couple weeks, and I'm kind of glad that you need to experience the story before being allowed to move on. Final Fantasy has always been about the story, so it's cool to see them sticking to their roots. I've been enjoying pretty much leveling through only the story quests with some random class quests/FATEs thrown in every now and then. Very close to getting Dragoon up and running!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kadowki

I see, I see. I probably came off as a jerk a little bit and apologize. I have very much enjoyed the story but found myself wanting to optionally continue it later so I can visit Ishgard and do some side quests. Good to hear that it may not take too awful long to play with my buddies. Much appreciation for the respectful input!

---

Rather than looking at it as a bunch of main storyline quests to progress through between level 50 and access to Ishgard, just pretend Ishgard content is level locked and you still have a bunch of leveling to do to access it. Because "level 50" is just a number, and in the end it's about progressing through the game, and the simple fact is you have not progressed far enough through this game to access the end of it. Whether it's 50 more levels or 50 more quests.. it's still time you're going to have to spend chewing through content to reach "the end".

Just so we're on the same page.. those stories you're in a hurry to rush through at level 50.. there's a ton more of them waiting for you between levels 51 to 60. When you finally do get access to Ishgard you're going to realize that the game hasn't changed at all beyond the fact that you now have access to a new zone, which is just more of what you've already been unlocking from the day you first started playing.

So, the short of it is this: if you've been enjoying the game between 1 and 49 - good news! You've got a lot more of it left ahead of you to keep enjoying! Don't be in such a rush to join everyone standing around AFK with nothing to do while they wait for the next update and the content that comes with it (i.e. more of that story you still fortunately have plenty of to enjoy).

Well has a returning player i had 2 characters level 50 ninja and dragoon. i finished up the main story line "ultimate weapon" thats what i thought.. and hey i followed the story pretty epic. then i proceeded to buy HW only to find i had to do exacly 100 quests to get to HW content.. but still, i was like well its goin to fill me in with the story at least its goin to be good too.. but after doing 10 quests in a row of gathering grass to make tea im now insta skipping anything and everything hoping to get to HW without unistalling first.

Wow, serious necro-bump. Anyway, for a quick answer. The 7th astral era quests start a little slow, but i would still recommend paying attention and not just auto-skipping. They serve a few important purposes. First, they introduce some characters and concepts that are very important going forward(we're still dealing with the aftermath of those quests now as we get ready to go into the stormblood expansion more then 2 years later). Second, the quests are moving some important pieces around in the story. Third, theyre giving an isolationist nation in the midst of a thousand year war a reason to trust you and let you pass their Gate of Judgement. And fourth, theyre telling a great story. As i said, it starts slow but ive heard many people say that it was somewhere during the 2.3-2.55 stretch that the story finally grabbed them. The most casual of players can easily get through the stack in 2 weeks, and they can be done MUCH quicker then that(its something like 5-6 hours of content if you read/watch everything, 90-120 mins if you skip everything).

I did the interim quests between 2.0 and 3.0 not a month ago on my second character. What can I say, I ran out of quests on my main and wanted to see the story again. As for what I noticed, the firat patch and to some amount the second patch content could do with some small cuts here and there, and that's coming from a person who loves questing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling for eradication but minor edits that wont really change the story, just remove some of the tediousness. The flow is really annoying at first, which is for most newcomers what they see and judge it by. Good news though! The patch content gets much more streamlined after the first few steps. I guess they figured it out as they want.

I feel like some of the 2.0-3.0 content could be trimmed (less fetch quests, keep the main story), and the exp increased. That way, it'll feel a little less like a slog. However, I'm glad I did it. I like the fact that there's so much story in this game and that it isn't all focused around one thread. I'm glad I had to go through the whole thing so that I had all the context.

A lot of the writing is very well done give it a chance. When you get to max level you're going to find out about profession grinding so you can materia your gear and you think a few piddly quests take too long? Hahahahahahah welcome to an eastern mmo. :)

Let's not even mention how long it takes to learn how to make gil. Buy a house and unlock mounts and create furniture. You're in for a treat. No need to blaze through anything.

Because this game is story driven, each expansion has a large chunk of story after you "reach level cap" because it goes for two years before the next. Each patch takes about 2-4 hours of quests and there is usually only 5 patches; yes that's alot of time gating an expansion for a new player. Thing is, you can't enjoy the 15-50 MSQ and Then go straight into HW because it would make Zero sense! Is there filler? yes, fetch quests and talk to several people in odd places; of course, but it's a MMO... par for the course. HW does actually have the same thing, there is less "filler" in the patches because of player reactions to the ARR->HW gate but everyone still has to complete the 3.1-3.56 MSQ before SB content (except RDM and SAM, apparently)
Personally I started an alt to rewatch the MSQs properly. She's currently in the 2.x content and I get what your saying, but the story is really good too!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mikedizzy

Why don't you want to play the "entire" game and story you paid for? Just wondering because if you just blow by all this content then you are really missing out. I know I am not you and you are entitle to play however you want but if I joined in late I would want to experience the entire game and not miss stuff. There is nothing you are missing in 3.0. World first race is long over so you have time to catch up and your own pace. The only issues I see is if you are trying to be a crafter...then you have a ton of work to put in. Enjoy the game and have some fun.

---

To be honest there's so much junk in the story it's not surprising it puts people off. Something like 40 odd quests between titan and garda for example but of those 40 how many are actually relevant to the main plot.

Hey you jus smashed a primal but please help me kill these slugs ruining our crops. Why??????

Because it's your job description? You're told outright the moment you sign up at the Adventurer's Guild right at the very start of the game that being an adventurer isn't all fame and glory and saving the world, it usually just means doing mundane, boring tasks for the average person in the street for little reward, but by doing such odd jobs you build a rapport with the people of Eorzea, and eventually you're entrusted with more important tasks.

Also there is a technical reason why there is so many filler quests - the main scenario was designed to be the main form of levelling originally so the story had to be executed in such a way that there was enough quests to get a new person to 50 by the Ultima Weapon, so some padding was required. Of course things have since changed with alternative means of levelling (such as dungeons having their exp boosted, and of course Palace of the Dead), but the main scenario is still considered the primary means of levelling by the development team, and this will not change.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dzian

To be honest there's so much junk in the story it's not surprising it puts people off. Something like 40 odd quests between titan and garda for example but of those 40 how many are actually relevant to the main plot.

---

The entire story arc with the Ishgardians of the Coerthas Central Highlands takes place there, along with the whole part about Cid and his airship. It's an incredibly important section of the storyline. If anything it's a bit too truncated, since the whole business of dealing with the events that happened while you were off fighting Titan got cut off a bit abruptly in order to be able to fit the next story arc in.


About the closest that 2.0 comes to "filler" quests is at level 23 with "Druthers House Rules" which is there to introduce you to Buscarron, followed by "Never Forget", "Microbrewing", and "Like Fine Wine", which introduce you not just to Teteroon, but through him to the entire Qiqirn race. So those are important in themselves because of what you learn of Eorzea through them. They just seem "filler-ish" because it's a break from the rest of what's going on in the story with the Slyph elder. (And in any case it's only four simple quests before you're back to aiding the Slyphs.)

MSQ Quest Count

2.0: 184
2.1+: 100
3.0: 94
3.1+: 44

Note that quest count doesn't indicate number of steps in a quest. And yes, the 2.1+ exp is pretty bad in most cases.

When you see the amount of MSQ then the side quests to sort the flying, the gear and unlocking Dungeons there is really no quick way yet. Unless ofc when Stormblood comes out you pay $50 and buy the MSQ and Level booster potions