Are the quest unlocked by "A recurring problem" mandatory?

I've read that "A recurring problem" unlocks the hard mode Primals but I've also seen conflicting statements on if you have to do them or not...

I'm a mediocre player at best. I've played an MMO before (ESO) but I stick to solo content in that so this is my first time playing in groups (when the MSQ forces me to). I don't like it because it just a massive stress button for me even though I have been pretty fortunate with my PUGs so far (as in no mean people). Anyway, I'm happy to even be considered slightly below average. I've gotten a few commendations but since I play healer and mention I'm new, I think they're mostly just being nice or defaulting their commendation to healer.

I bought the game after the trial period under the impression that hard mode was optional.

Now I've seen some statements that you have to do the primal battles on hard to progress the MSQ? Is that true? Is that the 2.0 - 2.5 grind I've heard about? Or is this old information that no longer applies?

If they're necessary, I'll just have to stop playing unless I can get a story skip potion for cheap (do they have sales for those?).

Not sure about the prices of skip potions cause it's been awhile since I bought one for my alt but there is a sale goin on in the mogstation( this game's cash shop) for alot of items and may include skip potions but I'm not sure so you'd have to check, I think the price of the skip a real reborn story one is like 15 bucks and to skip arr and hw that one I think is 25 bucks.

The primal battles you're talking about aren't that hard at all so you'll be fine, just throw up an unsynced party finder and put 1st time bonus in it and you'll be good to go or if have friends or are in a free company have them take u through real quick.

The grind from 2.0 to 3.0 yes it's like u heard but you can always buy a story skip if u don't wanna do it and just go to an inn and watch most of the cutscenes u missed.th

I'm not really fond of skipping potions, since the story, characters and environment are what interest me. Raids and trials don't appeal to me at all. 25 bucks is a bit much... that's more than I bought the game for.

I don't have any friends or free company to play unsynced with. The only friend I have that plays games is on Xbox so she's not an option. I'm not really sure how the party finder works (I've only done each MSQ dungeon once, next one is Sunken Temple of Quarn)... isn't that asking to be carried? Don't people dislike it when you do that?

EDIT

I get so stressed that my hands shake but it's not really the dying and trying again that bothers me. It's the inconveniencing other people part. I just can't relax at all playing with strangers.

The (Hard) part of the name is misleading. They are not hard, just level 50. Labeling non-(Extreme) trials with (Hard) was a bad design decision that they eventually stopped doing. If you were able to do the normal titan, garuda, and ifrit fights while going through the MSQ, you will not find the "Hard" versions any more difficult. In fact, they will be significantly easier because the group will overgear them by a mile and there's 8 people instead of 4, so less pressure on any one person to perform adequately. Just queue up for them in the duty finder like normal and relax. The actual "hard mode" content of the game are things labeled (Extreme), (Savage), or (Ultimate), all of which is 100% optional. Everything required for the MSQ in the game is designed to be cleared by any group of people with any skill level. If you actually care about how good or bad you are, you are already leaps and bounds better than a good chunk of the playerbase and will find no issues with Hard primals.

Also no one cares about new players doing unsynced content through the PF, and it is done all the time for many reasons. It is the easiest, safest, and quickest way to clear the fights, but if you want to actually experience them at least a little bit properly, its better to just queue up normally. Trial roulette ensures you will get a group in a reasonable amount of time.

Oh, that's a relief. I thought these trials were "Savage/extreme" content. My group died a few times against titan but managed. For both Ifrit and Garuda I think the group I was in knew what they were doing so I might have been carried a bit?

Titan is always a "fun" one simply because he has a permanent knock off aspect to the fight. This particularly annoying mechanic was also something they stopped doing for fights eventually. Every fight from Sophia onward that has knock off mechanics allows you to still be rez'd back into the fight. And don't stress out about whether you're being "carried" or not. If you're there and breathing, you're contributing and doing your part to clear the fight, especially if you're a healer.

I hope I can contribute a little at least. I do like healing people. Thanks though, you've calmed me down a bit. =)

To add on what has already been said, the completion Ifrit (Hard), Garuda (Hard), and Titan (Hard) trials only applies as a prerequisite to start the 2.5 main story quests.

You can continue on the 2.1-2.4 main story without having to complete those 3 trials until then.

Ok, so I don't need to do them right away? That's good to know.

You might as well do them though. They are fun and nothing to be scared of.

Fun like dungeons and trials are fun? Because I don't really consider those fun, I just feel relieved once I've gotten through them so I never have to do them again. Even if I felt more confident about doing them, all the groups I've been with so far run through them so fast I don't have the chance to appreciate the dungeon. In a way, I like them being fast, sense it'll be over faster, but it also means I can't stop to look at carvings and details. I think a lot of FFXIV's dungeons are beautiful. Once Sunken Temple of Qarn was done I spent some time just running around looking at things, that was pretty fun. As for trials, I don't think I would like those even if I was good at them. Some people really like a challenge of a difficult fight but I'm not one of them. Crafting new culinarian recipes is way more fun than all the trials put together.

I think if my friend played ffxiv I could enjoy party based instances more but that will probably not happen (she's on Xbox).

But I'll try them, if they're not Savage/Extreme level. Maybe they'll surprise me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waruji

Fun like dungeons and trials are fun? Because I don't really consider those fun, I just feel relieved once I've gotten through them so I never have to do them again. Even if I felt more confident about doing them, all the groups I've been with so far run through them so fast I don't have the chance to appreciate the dungeon. In a way, I like them being fast, sense it'll be over faster, but it also means I can't stop to look at carvings and details. I think a lot of FFXIV's dungeons are beautiful. Once Sunken Temple of Qarn was done I spent some time just running around looking at things, that was pretty fun. As for trials, I don't think I would like those even if I was good at them. Some people really like a challenge of a difficult fight but I'm not one of them. Crafting new culinarian recipes is way more fun than all the trials put together.

I think if my friend played ffxiv I could enjoy party based instances more but that will probably not happen (she's on Xbox).

But I'll try them, if they're not Savage/Extreme level. Maybe they'll surprise me.

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Hard mode primals are a part of the game just like dungeons and you will be required to beat them in order to continue playing. Rest assured these are not the savage ones and are nowhere near that difficulty level.

Also due to power creep and how the game is designed you shouldn't have any issue clearing any hard mode primal or trial until you hit Shadowbringers (due to it being older content) unless you get a group of silly people or somehow all new players who don't know the fight.

The only time trials needed for story progression are "difficult" is when they are first released because people need to learn the fight, just like you would in dungeons. That being said the ones needed for progression are beatable on release while any savage/ultimate stuff normally needs a gearing up process to truly progress.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Waruji

Fun like dungeons and trials are fun? Because I don't really consider those fun, I just feel relieved once I've gotten through them so I never have to do them again. Even if I felt more confident about doing them, all the groups I've been with so far run through them so fast I don't have the chance to appreciate the dungeon. In a way, I like them being fast, sense it'll be over faster, but it also means I can't stop to look at carvings and details. I think a lot of FFXIV's dungeons are beautiful. Once Sunken Temple of Qarn was done I spent some time just running around looking at things, that was pretty fun. As for trials, I don't think I would like those even if I was good at them. Some people really like a challenge of a difficult fight but I'm not one of them. Crafting new culinarian recipes is way more fun than all the trials put together.

I think if my friend played ffxiv I could enjoy party based instances more but that will probably not happen (she's on Xbox).

But I'll try them, if they're not Savage/Extreme level. Maybe they'll surprise me.

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You should be fine. Story mode trials from that point on are 8 man instance, and this is just re-working those older fights to the higher group level. Ifrit(as an example) is the same fight, but i think he does the nails thing twice(and maybe one or two of the attacks happen twice instead of once - im picturing the "eruption" attack). He hits for about the same percentage hp with his moves(the numbers are higher since your hp is higher at 50 then it was at 20, but its the same relative damage), and i dont think anything new is added. That isnt really harder its more like its just... "more", especially with the extra players in the party. But yeah, you should be fine.

I did want to add a couple points. Firstly, if youre worried about any of these older fights then the Party Finder tool is something you can consider. The game never really teaches you about it, so here are the quick points. Its similar to the Duty Finder, but rather then matching you with random people you tell the game which instance you want to run(Bowl of Embers Hard mode for instance) and it creates an open party anyone can join. You can write a sentence or so explaining what you want to accomplish, and the people who typically join are people who need the same thing or who like helping newer players. You can also open the Party Finder tool and look at the list of what other parties on your server/data center are currently recruiting players. And while you sound worried about potentially being carried a bit, most people joining these parties dont get upset about that. Theres a mechanism in game that gives a small potential reward for helping people clear something for the first time, and often people needing that reward will go above and beyond to get you a win(putting something like "have bonus" or "first time" in your party finder description will draw those people to you). Party finder can be used for dungeons, trials, fate parties, hunt parties, raids, and pretty much anything else you can do in game.

Secondly, you mentioned being a bit rushed in some of your dungeons. One of the options that the Duty finder lets you enable is the "Undersized Party" option. Clicking on that then choosing a duty and hitting the que button will send your current group into the instance straight away without waiting for others or level/item syncing anyone. That means that you can go into a dungeon at a much higher level then intended, and all by yourself if thats what you want. This allows you to go back to some of those older dungeons and explore them at your own pace. Take in the scenery, check out all the little hidden corners(not every dungeon has these, but still), and see everything you might have missed when you ran through the first time. There are a couple rules on these "unsync" runs. First is you dont get any experience. Monsters you kill wont have any loot drops(bosses still do, and treasure chests still spawn like normal). And this can only be used on "old" content - meaning instances from before the current expansion. Often this gets paired with the Party Finder runs and youll see a group of 3 or 4 level 80s doing level 50-70 stuff(so an ifrit hard, a bismark extreme, or whatever else) with lower level players and getting everyone quick kills and their completion bonuses.

Best of luck!

I did see something called party finder but had a difficult time using the search system in it. Can you see if there are groups who just casually run through dungeons? As in they don't care if you don't do it perfectly?

I didn't know I could go in by myself over-leveled, I'll definitely try that! XP doesn't matter that much, I just think some of the dungeons are very pretty or cool. When I run with a group there's so much to keep track of (health, debuff, aoe, boss mechanics, making sure my group doesn't get out of my line of sight or range for heals, try to DPS a bit too) and the group goes so quickly that at the end I couldn't really tell you much of where I'd been. Sometimes the tank runs ahead so quickly I don't have time to look at what's in the treasure chests before I roll for them. I don't mind dying as much if I'm alone either since I can just try again. I just don't like being a bother to people.

You seems to be overestimating the difficulty of the content.
Everything that MSQ asks you to do is extremely doable. I can almost guarantee that there won't be any fights between ARR and the end of SB that should hamper you or your party for very long. They are all generally made with the idea that they can be cleared on your first or second attempt, especially when overgearing is taken into account.

You really do not need to unsyc hard mode trials. And in fact, just ignore that it says hard mode, that's a misnomer. Hard mode trials generally are not hard, and once you've gotten some experience, they'll only get easier.

I think I mixed up hard mode with savage/extreme but it's not so much overestimating the fight as in knowing I'm not good at it. I'll try my best though.

Hearing the level isn't too different from the previous ones has calmed me down though =)

Keep in mind that "Hard" is just a way to distinguish Ifrit, Titan, and Garuda's original fights from the rematches.

Also, using a story skip to get past that isn't going to help since "Hard" is the default difficulty for every boss fight after that point.