When is lvl skipping add on is justified? (if ever)

My background, in 2013 I played ARR to death. Reached lvl 40+ on a DRG, and lvl 29 on Archer, and then I quit the game for a long time. I now lost this account because I totally forgot passwords and emails and whatnot. It was on a PC too, which now I don't/can't use.

I played again in 2014 to lvl 25 LNR, then quit. Due to my trip to Europe (which resulted in marrying my current wife :D:D:D:p:p ) This is the old account that I am using currently. Deleted the old toon because I wanted to start fresh with so many changes.

Now I have subscribed again, currently on my 6th days subbed, leveled DRG to lvl 31, tried THM to lvl 11, and Conj to lvl 11, but honestly the ARR content and world bored me to hell because everywhere I see I have a feeling that "I've been here before, or I done this before" (I blame the 2013 venture the first time, I went full on hardcore that time).

So now since I feel like ARR is super boring and I want to skip it to go straight to Heavensward with 1 reliable and popular(in demand) class. I am thinking Paladin, or SAM.

Will I regret it? on the other hand if I push through my DRG to lvl 50 for example, grinding ARR content and its fetch MSQ, I might be so bored that I quit for the 3rd time after only 1 month. I mean I level up 1 - 2 level doing PotD+levelhest per 1-1 1/2 hours (only time I can spare at night), so I will probably need to do this for 2 weeks to reach lvl 50, and I'm telling you right now that its mundane as hell.

Maybe part of it is actually the leveling.. i feel rushed, because everyone is already too high level and I am WAAAAYYY BEHIND.

I feel like MAYBE if I can just concentrate on the MSQ all brain-dead it until I finish ARR normally and start the next expansion, its more bearable (also cheaper.. compared to buying story skip too, lol). Basically MSQ to the next MSQ to the next, no delay or leveling to worry about.

Anyone can give their input, I'd appreciate it.;)

thank you

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Originally Posted by torakun

Maybe part of it is actually the leveling.. i feel rushed, because everyone is already too high level and I am WAAAAYYY BEHIND.

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That is your problem - at least one part of it. Don't rush. No need to "catch up". Try to play and enjoy the game as it is, and ignore the fact that there is a whole bunch more to do.

If you hadn't even reached level 50 the first time around there is a lot of the ARR MSQ that you haven't seen yet.
Of course, the fact that you actually have been through part of it before can make it hard to keep up the excitement, but I know that if it had been 5+ years since I went through that content last my memory of it would be quite fuzzy and in need of refreshment.

Doing PotD to level your main job isn't something I would recommend - it gets very repetitive and boring after a while. The MSQ+sidequests+some roulettes should give you more than enough XP to level up, and also gives you all the gear you need while leveling.

Depends on what you're playing for?

If you just want to get to current expansion to do the stuff everyone else is doing, go for it.

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

That is your problem - at least one part of it. Don't rush. No need to "catch up". Try to play and enjoy the game as it is, and ignore the fact that there is a whole bunch more to do.

If you hadn't even reached level 50 the first time around there is a lot of the ARR MSQ that you haven't seen yet.
Of course, the fact that you actually have been through part of it before can make it hard to keep up the excitement, but I know that if it had been 5+ years since I went through that content last my memory of it would be quite fuzzy and in need of refreshment.

Doing PotD to level your main job isn't something I would recommend - it gets very repetitive and boring after a while. The MSQ+sidequests+some roulettes should give you more than enough XP to level up, and also gives you all the gear you need while leveling.

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Thank you for the reply. My problem is mostly I'm too concerned about my lvl. I want to enjoy the story but I don't want to be gated and have to grind for it. I'd rather grind first then I can enjoy the story till the end. I was thinking getting 1 job to lvl 70 will eliminate that requirement. I can just push through until maybe right before ShB.

Yes potD is boring as hell Hahaha..

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Originally Posted by Hasrat

Depends on what you're playing for?

If you just want to get to current expansion to do the stuff everyone else is doing, go for it.

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Basically, I just can't wait to experience the wonderful expansions I heard so much about. I'm afraid that ARR will once again becoming the barrier that will prevent me experiencing all those, once again.

I'm a sucker for a good story rpg, but the level gating story isn't my cup of tea.. I feel disjointed and losing motivation. Not the first, second time maybe.. But for the third time? Yea.. Maybe no..

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Originally Posted by torakun

My problem is mostly I'm too concerned about my lvl. I want to enjoy the story but I don't want to be gated and have to grind for it. I'd rather grind first then I can enjoy the story till the end. I was thinking getting 1 job to lvl 70 will eliminate that requirement.

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It will. And it sounds like you've answered your own question. If the level gating really bothers you, then eliminating it would help you, and you can go through the story without worrying about it.

There are some obvious tradeoffs, of course. If you're doing level 30 or 40 quests on a level 70 job, any non-level-synced combat will be completely trivialized. It's hard to create a sense of danger or accomplishment if you can one-shot the enemies with an auto-attack and nothing will aggro you. Even level synced solo instances will put you several levels above the one they were designed for, making even the normally challenging ones quite easy. Do you have an active enough imagination that you can picture your character facing off against a fearsome beast when the difficulty level is more akin to stepping on an ant? If you do, then you're fine getting a level jump and then just going through the story. If not, it could make the story seem pretty flat, trying to build up excitement over things that end up trivially easy. (This concern really only applies to open world or solo instanced content, though. Dungeons will be done mostly with over-leveled but level synced players regardless of whether you're one of them or not.)

You'll have to decide which issue is a bigger concern to you, level gating or over-leveling. (When deciding that, keep in mind that the overall leveling pace of the game has sped up quite a bit since 2013 and 2014, leaving fewer places that you'll hit a level gate while playing through the story than you would have gotten back then.)

Given what all you've said, I really wouldn't worry about it. If you do the sidequests as well (And there is lore attached to those as well), you likely won't have to worry about grinding for xp except for a small section around level 49... and if you've been doing your beast tribe quests once you unlocked them, probably not even then.

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Originally Posted by torakun

Thank you for the reply. My problem is mostly I'm too concerned about my lvl. I want to enjoy the story but I don't want to be gated and have to grind for it. I'd rather grind first then I can enjoy the story till the end. I was thinking getting 1 job to lvl 70 will eliminate that requirement. I can just push through until maybe right before ShB.

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Content is only partially gated by level in FFXIV. However, absolutely everything is gated by the MSQ one way or the other.
I don't know what you consider grinding, but as I said doing the MSQ and all sidequests should provide enough XP for leveling all the way up to level 80 - especially if you throw in a few roulettes here and there. I for one do not consider doing non-repeatable quests as grinding.

So just play the game without skipping stuff, and your level will pretty much take care of itself.

My advice (for what it's worth) is to use the MSQ skip if you are going to use a skip potion. I will back this up for four reasons:

1) The main scenario missions are comprised primarily of painfully tedious and pointless fetch quests and there are HUNDREDS of them. I'm not exaggerating either. If you are still in 2.0 story, you have a mountain of questing to do that will take a significant amount of time to complete, even if you go fast.

2) Skipping MSQ will unlock dungeons and trials up to 5.0 which can be used to level and gear your character fast if you main a tank or healer. Subsequent classes behind your main also get the armory bonus for 100% extra xp until level 70 and 50% to level 80. The armory bonus also stacks with food and FC buffs.

3) Information and cutscenes you miss in game can be accessed via other methods. There are YouTubers out there who focus specifically on the lore and story of FFVIV. I don't know if he is still making videos but Ethys Asher has some really good ones.

4) Grinding out the main story up to 5.0 will almost certainly burn you out and you will probably quit the game again.

You can level a class to 80 in a fraction of the time it will take you to catch up to the current story. It may not be the most popular opinion, but if you want to enjoy the game, and you're that far behind, I would use the story skip.

have you thought about just doing msq quests and the plus icon ones that unlock dungeons skipping all the sidequests? that might help if you haven't done it already.

skipping side quests can also leave them for extra xp for alt classes in the future.

half the msq between HW and SB are ShB related if you haven't seen them yet.

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Originally Posted by KRIPTICON

My advice (for what it's worth) is to use the MSQ skip if you are going to use a skip potion. I will back this up for four reasons:

1) The main scenario missions are comprised primarily of painfully tedious and pointless fetch quests and there are HUNDREDS of them. I'm not exaggerating either. If you are still in 2.0 story, you have a mountain of questing to do that will take a significant amount of time to complete, even if you go fast.

2) Skipping MSQ will unlock dungeons and trials up to 5.0 which can be used to level and gear your character fast if you main a tank or healer. Subsequent classes behind your main also get the armory bonus for 100% extra xp until level 70 and 50% to level 80. The armory bonus also stacks with food and FC buffs.

3) Information and cutscenes you miss in game can be accessed via other methods. There are YouTubers out there who focus specifically on the lore and story of FFVIV. I don't know if he is still making videos but Ethys Asher has some really good ones.

4) Grinding out the main story up to 5.0 will almost certainly burn you out and you will probably quit the game again.

You can level a class to 80 in a fraction of the time it will take you to catch up to the current story. It may not be the most popular opinion, but if you want to enjoy the game, and you're that far behind, I would use the story skip.

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Is it REALLY that much? wow.. I'm considering to skip just the ARR part because I am so sick of it. I don't know why. But I'd never buy a story skip that skip a campaign that I've yet to experience (all of the expansions after ARR really.)

Story is part of my personal enjoyment, but having to grind to resume the story isn't my cup of tea, thus my idea of getting the lvl jump. However, ARR story is very super slow.. I mean I have to do set of 3 fillers before the 4th, which is the continuation, that finally resume the real story. 1-3 can be like, grab a bucket-> fill with water -> splash water to someone ->Slay 3 enemies -> bring back their drop -> uh-oh forgot another enemy to get "X" item -> 4th (read: ok2 I'm done making fun of you, so now go to this dungeon LOLOLOLXX)

But I will stick with the ARR story, still, for now. If I reached my boredom point, I'll skip it and will definitely enjoy a fresh campaign on the expansions.

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Originally Posted by torakun

However, ARR story is very super slow..

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ARR doesn't really have A story. It has many shorter, interwoven storylines. It is basically just the story of how you go from an unknown adventurer among many to become the famous Warrior of Light - and the life of an adventurer includes doing many things other people just can't be bothered with.
The stories of Heavensward and Stormblood are more focused, even if the individual quests are neither better or worse. (HW is about the ending of the Dragonsong War, while SB is about the liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma)
Note that the story of each expansion actually starts during the late parts of the previous expansion - the HW story for example (as opposed to HW expansion) started as early as patch 2.3 where you can also find some of the early setup for the SB storyline.

First, yeah it is a bit long especially if you are doing alts. Buuuut, the storyline between Praetorium and The beginning of Heavensward is the prologue for Heavensward. Without it you don't get to know Alphinaud or really most of the characters that become important in HW and Stormblood. Just like skipping the post Heavensward stuff would erase half of the set-up for Shadowbringers. Though that also gets started in the post ARR quests. If story is important to you I recommend just doing it. Sidequests not so much. They add depth to some things, but they do tend to keep the important stuff in the MSQ.

If you're looking to enjoy the MSQ or just learn the game, the level boost can be beneficial. You'll not have to waste gil, or time, on gearing up as the gear you get from the level boost will keep you close to BiS until 70. The ilvl scaling will help while you're learning the job, you'll be able to survive simple mistake that would otherwise kill you in dungeon or trials.

Ill cosign what the others have said. As long as you dont mind being over-leveled for the story youre playing then a level skip wouldnt be the end of the world. Even just jumping to 60(i dont know if thats still an option, if not 70 obviously serves the same goal) would mean that you should likely never have to stop and grind out a level to continue the story(by the time you get into the stormbringer content the heavensward exp would have gotten you into the mid-upper 60s).

With that said, if im reading you right, you never really got into the post garuda story. In my opinion, thats the best stretch of the 2.0 story(from the garuda fight to the mission into the praetorium). Then things slow down and you enjoy relative peace and quiet(aka a slow point in the story) for patches 2.1 to roughly 2.3. Once the fight with Ramuh is over the story starts really setting up Ishgard and the Dragonsong War in earnest to get you ready for HW. In addition, a lot of back-burner stuff thats been setting up over the last few patches worth of story starts to overheat and the repercussions of it all are still being felt as of the current content. So with that said, i would only story jump to HW as a last resort. A lot of the richness of the story can be lost by missing the details. And while the number of quests to catch all the way up is large, they do go by quickly. Someone who started today and played 2-3 hours most days(say 12-15 a week) would have no trouble catching up to the current story before the devs add anything more.

As someone who is starting totally fresh. Id say get to where you were again then enjoy the ride. I am quite liking the story so far and am glad I went against buying a skip.

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Originally Posted by torakun

Is it REALLY that much?

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3.0 : 84 quests
3.1-3.56 : 44 quests
4.0 : 122 quests
4.1-4.56 : 40 quests

Total : 290 quests

In addition, consider that there are also mandatory trials and dungeons that you will need to complete that are tied to the main story quest lines.

Leveling is much faster now. I also played ARR to death when it came out.
Just for reference, by the time I finished SB I was already level 80. And that's doing the msq, most of the side quests, a few dozen fates, and a few dozen roulettes.
I never really felt 'gated'. I was, with very few exceptions, usually over the level required to continue.
And I agree, ARR was boring. HW is so much better.