Best way to do the 2.0-2.55 Story to access Ishgard?

Hey there,

I just became 50 yesterday. I played FF XIV on PS4 few months ago but lost interest. After they announced the Astrologian, I totally knew that's gonna bring me back into the game because that job is just awesome.

Now here's the issue: I need to go through all the story stuff from ARR to unlock it... okay, can understand those requirements but reality is a bit different.

As I said, I just hit 50 yesterday and started doing the main quest - and it took me hours of waiting in the tool to get a proper group and it was totally annoying doing it.

Why?

1. It takes forever to get a group: I am a White Mage and I usually have to wait +60 minutes.

2. The groups are rushing through the content, I can't enjoy the cutscences or the actual story because literally nobody is waiting or helping with tactics.

I managed to kill Ultima Weapon and I think now the real struggles start to finish the 100 (LOL!) left story quests to unlock Ishgard (would be nice if Playstation Store would tell potential buyers that they need to finish ARR completely before they're able to access Ishgard).

Right now I have no Free Company - should I get one just for doing those quests?

What's the best way to do them? I read many of those upcoming quests are group quests in dungeons or something like that...

I really want to play Heavensward but I don't know if I can force myself doing that bunch of quests because it's just painful (my biggest issue is that the access is tied to group content I can't handle alone).

Would somebody be so kind to help me? Give me some kind of guide or best way how to finish those quests or what I should do?

Thank you very much. :)

The best way is to just grind it out. Seems like you enjoy cutscenes and story. Don't sweat it. Just follow the quests and enjoy the journey!

Hi! I was in a similar situation to you. Me and my boyfriend play together, and we hit 50 a few weeks after HW came out. It seems daunting, but honestly getting to HW doesn't take too long. We have really limited play time to at most 3/4 hours a few evenings a week because of work schedules, and it took us about 2/3 evenings to do it. Most quests are go here>do this>go back. There are things you'll need a group for, but the DF times weren't that bad really, however my boyfriend plays a PLD so maybe that's why it was fine for us. The longest wait time was for steps, and that was only maybe 10 minutes.

Perhaps joining a FC and befriending a tank to come along with you might help with the queue times?

Honestly just take your time and enjoy the story. I fell into the "gotta rush through this to get to where everyone else is" trap a few times too so there are a few parts in the story I rushed through. I regret it now because I've forgotten some parts of the 2.0 story as a result. :( Currently working on the story at a slower pace now. It might keep me from Heavensward stuff longer since I'm taking my time but it's worth it.

Joining an FC would help a lot with story required dungeons and trials. You'll especially want a tank or healer with you. That'll help a lot.

The two dungeons, Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium, which you have just been through are unique in the game in that they have a LOT of cutscenes during the dungeon.

There has been a massive outcry against this BECAUSE players felt forced to either skip the cutscenes to see the dungeon, or skip the dungeon to see the cutscenes. While yes, the cutscenes can be seen later in the inn room, it breaks up the feeling of continuity.

As a result, no future dungeons from that point have cutscenes beyond "This is what the dungeon looks like" when you enter, and "This is the end boss" when you step into its arena. Both kinds of scenes are like 30 seconds max.

You should be able to blow through the old content quite easily at this point.

Best way to do the story?

JUST

DO

IIIIIIT

Sit back and relax. It's not a competition with anyone or anything. With end game being what it is right now, take your time. The best part is the journey. You can storm sub jobs after you're done with the current story.

I would suggest finding a FC not just for progressing the story, but to have people to socialize with!
It's always a better time in an MMO when you have someone else to chill out with.

There's a lot of fluff to the main scenario quests, nobody will deny that. It gets really good near the end of the 2.x stuff but while you're slogging through some of the more mundane fetch quests, having a group of people to talk with is surely going to keep you engaged a bit more, and thus more interested in the game as a whole.

FC is great. Make friends and que up with a few friends speeds up Que times.

Party finder helps too.

You will get random people that have nothing better to do..


I totally agree with you however. the i120 gear in Main story makes story not fun.

If you have trouble with dungeon queues, try to queue around roulette reset time.

If your wanting to watch CS then you can always throw a partyfinder up for it. Then at least you can check the story driven box on it.

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Originally Posted by Waeksyn

The best way is to just grind it out. Seems like you enjoy cutscenes and story. Don't sweat it. Just follow the quests and enjoy the journey!

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I really want to do that but I dislike playing as a White Mage. And I already got a Black Mage and Scholar at +40, but they're quite boring as well (I already played them at the ARR Relaunch on PC). The only thing that keeps me motivated right now is the fact that I'll be playing a class I really like, that's fresh, enticing and new (I saw many gameplay videos and I loved it).

I just don't understand why the access is locked behind so much group content. I have no issues in doing those quests, but you have to wait for a 4 / 8 player group so long and it just stops you from continue playing. Right now I do the story until I get a dungeon, than I enter the queue and do 30 minutes something else until the dungeon opens - and that's not satisfying at all.

Can somebody tell me at which level the new jobs start? 30?

And I heard something about that if you reach level 50, the other classes and jobs you level get a 50% XP bonus, is that true?

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Seraphyel

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Yeah, Dark Knight, Astrologian and Machinist all start at 30. It's not having a class at 50 that'll give you the bonus iirc, but just having one class higher than the one you're trying to level should do it. 1-49 is a 100% bonus, and 50-60 is a 50% bonus.

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Originally Posted by Erendis

If you have trouble with dungeon queues, try to queue around roulette reset time.

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This is the best advice you can give anyone. After that, it's level a tank class, and do it on your own terms.

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Originally Posted by Seraphyel

I just don't understand why the access is locked behind so much group content.

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It only looks like a lot because you chose to return so far behind everyone else. Relative to the actual time it was deployed over, it was light, at best.

Kinda only have yourself to blame, I'm afraid. Keeping the HW gate will be one of the most effective ways of combating RMT, outside forcing everyone to use a security token.

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Originally Posted by Seraphyel

I really want to do that but I dislike playing as a White Mage. And I already got a Black Mage and Scholar at +40, but they're quite boring as well (I already played them at the ARR Relaunch on PC). The only thing that keeps me motivated right now is the fact that I'll be playing a class I really like, that's fresh, enticing and new (I saw many gameplay videos and I loved it). Thanks!

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Hate to break it to you but Astrologian is known as "other white mage" - it plays identical to WHM below 30. If you don't like white mage, you may not like AST all that much either. Yeah, the spells are prettier and have different names, but it really doesn't start to differentiate past level 40+ anyway.

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Originally Posted by Seraphyel

[...] (would be nice if Playstation Store would tell potential buyers that they need to finish ARR completely before they're able to access Ishgard).

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they should tell you that you actually have to play the game you bought? c.c,,

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Originally Posted by Vurtney

Sit back and relax. It's not a competition with anyone or anything. With end game being what it is right now, take your time. The best part is the journey. You can storm sub jobs after you're done with the current story.

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While this is all well and good... it kinda falls flat on those whose main goal is getting access to a particular job. It's not a matter of wanting to rush through content to end game. It's literally just wanting to play the game on the class we want. :/

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Originally Posted by Amberyl

Kinda only have yourself to blame, I'm afraid. Keeping the HW gate will be one of the most effective ways of combating RMT, outside forcing everyone to use a security token.

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RMT is everywhere in this game. The gate has definitely not hurt RMT. I get 30+ spam tells every play session.

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Originally Posted by Naunet

RMT is everywhere in this game. The gate has definitely not hurt RMT. I get 30+ spam tells every play session.

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The gate is new, and real players are still passing through it. In the long term, especially as expansions add up, it will make the difference.

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Originally Posted by Amberyl

The gate is new, and real players are still passing through it. In the long term, especially as expansions add up, it will make the difference.

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Yoshi-P said at some point that the rough sketch of 4.0 is finished and will likely not require MSQ completion from ARR and HW.

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Originally Posted by Moonleg

Yoshi-P said at some point that the rough sketch of 4.0 is finished and will likely not require MSQ completion from ARR and HW.

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That would directly contradict his live letter reply regarding the HW gate. Do you have a source?

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Originally Posted by Catwho

Hate to break it to you but Astrologian is known as "other white mage" - it plays identical to WHM below 30. If you don't like white mage, you may not like AST all that much either. Yeah, the spells are prettier and have different names, but it really doesn't start to differentiate past level 40+ anyway.

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I just like the style more. But I'll see that, thanks!

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Originally Posted by Tint

they should tell you that you actually have to play the game you bought? c.c,,

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No, they should explain that the new stuff is locked behind a grind-wall of story quests. I knew that those things are locked but I bet many players don't. The thing is, when you buy something you're supposed to use it after you bought it.
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Let's be honest, it's impossible to lock all upcoming expansion packs behind the main scenario. It just won't work. Some players just don't want to do quests at all and I think it's not very clever to lock new content behind a massive amount of boring and dull story quests (I just teleported around the last half hour to tell NPCs stuff, that's no fun at all).

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Originally Posted by Catwho

Hate to break it to you but Astrologian is known as "other white mage" - it plays identical to WHM below 30. If you don't like white mage, you may not like AST all that much either. Yeah, the spells are prettier and have different names, but it really doesn't start to differentiate past level 40+ anyway.

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^ This. I mean, the classes don't play identically, but healers pretty much have the same basic mechanics. Only small things change, like AST has weaker heals but random weak buffs. AST can also switch between a WHM-copy and an SCH-copy. If you don't like SCH or WHM, I don't really understand why you think you'd enjoy AST so much more?

The "new" jobs aren't terribly new. They just look a little different and mix things up a bit for players who've played the other classes to death. AST is very similar to WHM or SCH depending on stance. MCH is just a skin for BRD with a few different tricks but the same exact mechanics. DRK doesn't do much that WAR doesn't already do (except give me migraines from that stupid and ugly aura). I mean, sure, DRK has that MP seesaw, but it's not terribly different than WARs and wrath/abandon.

The new jobs don't have revolutionary new mechanics. Heck, even the other new-ish job, NIN, isn't that different from DRG (basic gameplay-wise - positional melee attack combos, a couple DoTs, and several off-GCD hits and buffs).

This game favors balance over unique basic mechanics. The most unique classes are the ones you have already dismissed as not enjoying - neither BLM nor SMN play like any other class.

Basically:

MCH ~= BRD (ranged DPS, party MP/TP regen at the cost of DPS, stationary cast-stance)

WHM ~= Diur AST (strong heals + regen with minor support) (WHM has more healing, AST has more support)

SCH ~= Noct AST (weaker heals that also create shields with minor support) (SCH fairy buffs ~= AST card buffs)

NIN ~= DRG (~= MNK, but more different than the other two are similar) (melee DPS, positionals, DoTs and off-GCD skills as major damage dealers, buffs that need to be maintained through constant use in combat) (MNK feels different to me than the other two because of stances changing what skills you can use and the need to keep hitting to keep Greased Lightning up, but really, MNK stances ~= combos and Greasted Lightning ~= Huton ~= Blood of the Dragon)

BLM = unique (the drastic MP seesaw mechanics are unique compared to other classes)

SMN = unique (DoTs as primary damage source, pet, flexible and strong off-GCD skills that you can use 3 of every 60 seconds)

WAR ~= DRK (this one is a bit weaker than the others. I'd argue that PLD is different from WAR/DRK, but I currently main PLD and haven't played much DRK, so I can't really say that with any confidence) (tank with temporary resources that are built up and expended, active mitigation, higher DPS)

PLD ~= unique-ish (tank with support skills and passive mitigation, lower DPS)

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Originally Posted by Amberyl

That would directly contradict his live letter reply regarding the HW gate. Do you have a source?

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Of course I can't find it now. It is entirely possible I am remembering it wrong, or misattributing forum speculation to actual fact.

you can rewatch the cutscenes in your inn room, it's all about deciding if its ok to make others wait or not being "that guy".

as for the duty finder, try to make a friend who is lv60 and duo those dungeons with undersized party, should be a piece of cake, especially if you're a healer.

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Originally Posted by Seraphyel

Hey there,
Right now I have no Free Company - should I get one just for doing those quests?
)

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You should find a Free Company to play with. There are a number of them on every server, and all of the ones I've encountered have been extremely helpful running instance to get me through content, whether it is leveling one of the new jobs or one of the original classes/jobs. A bonus - you get to hang out with some cool people in-game.

The story IS important -- you get a perfect explanation of WHY you got into Ishgard and what you're supposed to do now that you're there. You will need the gear you get from that content when you start out in HW -- the enemies hit MUCH harder than in the 1-50 runup, and take much more damage before they go down. A brand new level 50 has ilevel 55 gear. You'll have ilevel 110 gear at the end of the 2.x Main Story, and will need it in HW!

Take care. See you in Ishgard.

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Originally Posted by Amberyl

That would directly contradict his live letter reply regarding the HW gate. Do you have a source?

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I'm pretty sure it was from an interview, but yes I remember that too. He said there'd be a way for them to catch up on the story, or something. A recap video perhaps? They're still working that out.

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Originally Posted by Moonleg

Of course I can't find it now. It is entirely possible I am remembering it wrong, or misattributing forum speculation to actual fact.

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Not necessarily. They may have something else in mind regarding RMT prior to 4.0 rolling, which will replace the need for a content gate.

By savoring it.
You don't rush through a book to get to the end. You read a little a day and enjoy the experience.
Duty finder is your friend, and you'll find it's most active around 9am Central and try to find a free company willing to help people advance.

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Originally Posted by Moonleg

Yoshi-P said at some point that the rough sketch of 4.0 is finished and will likely not require MSQ completion from ARR and HW.

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Thank god. Doesn't change the issues with the current HW gate, but at least they saw reason there.

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Originally Posted by Amberyl

Not necessarily. They may have something else in mind regarding RMT prior to 4.0 rolling, which will replace the need for a content gate.

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The content gate is literally doing nothing to stop RMT.

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Originally Posted by Gramul

You don't rush through a book to get to the end. You read a little a day and enjoy the experience.

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Again, dislike for the gating doesn't tend to involve wanting to "rush through to the end". For a lot of people it's more like wanting to be able to experience the book in the room that they would feel most comfortable in, but they're not allowed to read the book in their desired room until they've finished reading it in a very uncomfortable, less-desired room. Oh gosh I broke my personal rule against internet analogies. I apologize. More straightforward: People want to experience the game on the class they enjoy. Locking classes away and forcing them to experience the game from an undesired perspective doesn't really help them enjoy it.

The thing is, I don't want to rush through the story, but I don't want to put efforts into playing a job I am going to change. I would love to do all those stuff as Astrologian but I can't because it's locked behind 100 Story Quests which are mostly totally dumb and annoying. I understand there needs to be a requirement but the Heavensward "Gate" is awful.

I really enjoy the story with the Ascians, the Garleans and the Primae but the biggest part of the main scenario is just awful. Doing some sh*t for Tataru or going back and forth just to tell somebody that something is happening. I think I teleported 100 times the last 2 days just to get back to Minfilia... excuse me but that's neither interesting nor story-relevant.
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Another question: how do I get the job when I finish the main scenario? Can I go directly to the guild (?) and get the job when I finished the 2.55 quests or must I do more?

lol my friend said "wow ur level 37 already" or something to me a while ago, i thought i was well on the way to 60 back then
now im still not 60
so long
so much filler
50-60 is longer than 1-50

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Originally Posted by _Pigzig

lol my friend said "wow ur level 37 already" or something to me a while ago, i thought i was well on the way to 60 back then
now im still not 60
so long
so much filler
50-60 is longer than 1-50

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Really? And it's filled with those awful irrelevant quests that bring nothing to the story?

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Originally Posted by Seraphyel

Really? And it's filled with those awful irrelevant quests that bring nothing to the story?

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Yeah, there's far too much that I continually ask myself why. I get that 1-50 quests had to have some padding, to keep you subscribed and make the leveling too quickly I suppose (but even then, the MSQ doesn't give you enough xp with all the filler), but for updates that focus solely on the story? I don't understand it, nor do I like it one bit. Why do I have to deliver this item halfway across the continent, isn't that what post moogles are for? I didn't have to do them all in one go like the new players, I don't even want to imagine how annoying it must be for them.

Now don't get me wrong, there are some moments that really shine, but they're buried among tons and tons of filler. I can definitely say it gets better with Heavensward though, but not in the way you might prefer. Instead of shoving all of the filler into the MSQ, they put them in side quests, and even when I did every last one I found myself still having to grind dungeons a bit, especially in the late 50s. Still, better than ARR I suppose. I can just grind dungeons, overlevel the MSQ a bit, and have fun with that, the English voice acting is much better too but that's irrelevant.

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Originally Posted by Seraphyel

Another question: how do I get the job when I finish the main scenario? Can I go directly to the guild (?) and get the job when I finished the 2.55 quests or must I do more?

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Once you get access to Ishgard you can start right away, just have to find the guild, it won't be displayed on you map until you find it.

As for the quests, yeah its a bit mind numbing. When they were released it wouldn't have been bad, but now doing them all at once it just gets in the way. Once cleared you'll be glad its over and a huge sigh of relief.

its pretty boring tbh
you gotta go back to teh rising stones over and over, got so tired of those 2 loading screens to get in there

once you get to shiva it starts being more relevant to heavensward. heavensward is good so far im level 55. much less filler, better than anything in main game up to it imo so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

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Originally Posted by _Pigzig

its pretty boring tbh
you gotta go back to teh rising stones over and over, got so tired of those 2 loading screens to get in there

once you get to shiva it starts being more relevant to heavensward. heavensward is good so far im level 55. much less filler, better than anything in main game up to it imo so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

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Yeah I just finished 2.3 and now going to do those Dreams of Ice quests.

And as you said, those two f* loading screens are killing me. Why the hell are they existing? And the worst thing is you need to pass them a hundred times. Gosh, that's just horrible. Hopefully they move into Ishgard with 3.X, without those two loading screens.

3.x has two entirely different loading screens for a bunch of the quests. Thankfully, a smaller proportion, but you do have to go Foundation -> Pillars -> House ______ quite a lot. Much less annoying than Waking Sands though! That was Limsa -> Arcanist Guild -> ferry to Vesper Bay -> Waking Sands -> Solar. x_x At least Rising Stones is only Mor Dhona -> Rising Stones -> Solar or whatever it's called there.

No classes (except Rogue) have quest markers for their opening quest, you just find the guild marker on the map, go there and register, unlocking the first quest. The jobs in 3.0 are the same - find the guild marker on the map, go there, register to unlock the first quest. The only oddity is DRK, which works the same way, except there is no DRK guild, and thus no marker on the map. Instead, you have to find the NPC with the quest marker over his head where there is no quest marker on the map. It's to the North East of one of the two city areas, I forget which.


The 2.1-2.4 stuff is a little tedious at times, though I think it picks up at 2.5, and found the 2.55 stuff to be really interesting. I feel like they would get more positive results and new subs if they added a digest mode, where each patch from 2.1 to 2.5 had a single, optional quest. Finishing the quest autocompletes all of the main story quests in that patch. In the new optional quest, the key story elements are shown as a cutscene that leads up to the primal battle, you do the primal battle, and then there's another cutscene showing the key story elements from there to the end of the patch. Doing this forgoes all rewards from those quests, but takes much less time. In 2.4 and 2.5, they'd have to have two breaks, one for the trial and one for the dungeon. Don't remove those, they're interesting and have story attached (especially the 2.5 dungeon and trial). For 2.55, the whole thing can be left in, since it's all just leadup for the ff-style, long cutscene of an ending. Finishing the final quest for a given patch auto-completes the cutscene version, so you can't do both.

I feel like that'd be a much better way of handling the tedious content while keeping the story and the non-tedious content (the trials/dungeons).

Alternatively, they could make these digest quests not autocomplete the rest, but still allow progression, so you could go back and do the story later if you feel like it.

They just should have introduced a new questline for access, summing up the 2.X-2.55 stuff in a few cutscenes. It could be more than one single quest, a little chain of quests, but not that tedious grind you have to do from 2.X-2.55 it's just painful and really makes no fun or doesn't give any motivation to do it.

You should probably just try to enjoy playing the game, because the content pre-expansion is pretty much exactly the same as the content post-expansion. It seems kind of silly to blast through most of the story so you can enjoy a smaller section of the same story at its current end (which will one day just be some tidbit in the middle).

There's nothing wrong with logging into a game you enjoy and still having plenty of stuff to do. I'm not sure why people get in such a hurry to reach that afk-lawn-ornament status.