The "Road to 70" leveling pace (of the MSQ) should be the default

Yes, I know, it would cut into a vital tool for filling servers that need people, but as someone who took the offer, and then binge watched the MSQ, and pretty much ONLY the MSQ and job quests to get to 70, it blows my mind that outside of this buff, people are doing "busywork" to level through this game when the story is more than capable of carrying the leveling game on its own. Indeed, the story SHOULD BE *the* leveling path! I never would have made it to 70 if I had to "grind" to the next story quest.

Just my opinion, but people talking about recruitment elements should really look at this. The experience I just had got me hooked. "Go do whatever for a level or two" was only acceptable in ShB because it was only ten levels. I couldn't imagine doing that for all 80!

But the point is that you are doing side content as you go. Unless youre skipping cut scenes and not sleeping, its going to take you multiple days to get through the MSQ if you start from 0. Along the way its kinda expected that you would do daily roulettes and the dungeons associated with the MSQ that would all get you a ton of EXP.

I agree that the MSQ should give you the equivalent EXP to get 1 job (and 1 job only) enough EXP to get from 1-50 (ARR) 50-60 (HW) 60-70 (SB) 70-80 (ShB).

I only ever found it necessary to "grind" once or twice at level caps, but I also did side quests on my way. If you're actually doing everything as it's presented, and maybe do your daily dungeon roulette, you should keep up just fine.

The only time I really had to break off the MSQ to grind anything was when I first hit 60 and didn't have enough item level for the Final Steps of Faith, since I got there during the Heavensward patches and they hadn't started handing out catch-up gear from quests yet (and Normal/Alliance roulettes didn't exist yet, so catching up on Alexander and Mhach was a pain).

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

I also did side quests on my way. If you're actually doing everything as it's presented, and maybe do your daily dungeon roulette,

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So, busywork.

Next to the MSQ, literally everything else is busywork. That's what I'm saying. The story stands head and shoulders above literally anything else you could spend your time doing in this game, when we're talking about value of the experience.

Even with its mandatory dungeons, the story is the core of the game, and focusing people on this path only shows the game's best side. It should be all that's needed. On road to 70 it *is* pretty much all that's needed. That experience was amazing! It should be the default. That's my point.

So, part of the utility to require you to level to continue the MSQ is to give you reason to grind leveling dungeons so you can get gears. Otherwise, you'd only do those dungeons once and might not get as many gears as you could have.

The other is to have you do relevant side quests which may unlock optional features. Sure, you can do them later, but you would be wasting the exp they provide. That said, you should definitely focus on the MSQ if you are able to continue it instead of side quests.

I agree. I have some alts yo catch up to shadowbringers. Having "road to xx" would be pretty nice to catch them up.

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Originally Posted by linay

So, part of the utility to require you to level to continue the MSQ is to give you reason to grind leveling dungeons so you can get gears. Otherwise, you'd only do those dungeons once and might not get as many gears as you could have.

The other is to have you do relevant side quests which may unlock optional features. Sure, you can do them later, but you would be wasting the exp they provide. That said, you should definitely focus on the MSQ if you are able to continue it instead of side quests.

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The MSQ should also gear you (at least on one job) for every next step. For me this was the case until the end of HW which is a SERIOUS oversight because it happened again at the tail end of Stormblood. That also needs to be fixed. For the new player, whose goal is potentially/likely to play with friends at the level cap, stopgaps of "go get gear" before that cap are shoddy design. I spent gil, then clued in about tomestones, but still, that was a weakness in the flow of the game.

That is the problem with EXP boosts once you give players a taste, they want it more and more and more. Joking aside it would be nice, but with jump potions as a thing I doubt SE would ever make the baseline experience that quick.

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Originally Posted by Omedon

The MSQ should also gear you (at least on one job) for every next step. For me this was the case until the end of HW which is a SERIOUS oversight because it happened again at the tail end of Stormblood. That also needs to be fixed. For the new player, whose goal is potentially/likely to play with friends at the level cap, stopgaps of "go get gear" before that cap are shoddy design. I spent gil, then clued in about tomestones, but still, that was a weakness in the flow of the game.

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The MSQ does gear you, and the gears are good enough to do the next dungeon, but getting dungeon gear once it's available is even better. Many of the complaints of solo duties being too hard could be solved by wearing better gears.

I have friends who are in the late 60's or early 70's on more than one job and aren't even out of Heavensward. (I have friends in the early 60's who aren't even in to Heavensward.) And Leviathan is not a Road to 70 server. It's not that they've been avoiding the MSQ, but that there's a lot of other stuff they enjoy along the way so far, and as a consequence of doing that content they've been leveling far faster than they've progressed in the story.

I think different people just level at very different rates, because different people have different interests in content.

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Originally Posted by Omedon

The MSQ should also gear you (at least on one job) for every next step. For me this was the case until the end of HW which is a SERIOUS oversight because it happened again at the tail end of Stormblood. That also needs to be fixed. For the new player, whose goal is potentially/likely to play with friends at the level cap, stopgaps of "go get gear" before that cap are shoddy design. I spent gil, then clued in about tomestones, but still, that was a weakness in the flow of the game.

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The game does give you enough gear to get through the old patches though-you get coffers from your job quests and the patch quests themselves with high enough ilevel gear to finish the patch story. Unless you accidentally take ones for the wrong class.
You only need to grind gear once you reach the current end game.

On the overall subject I think road to 70 is overkill honestly. I started an alt on a road to 70 server and it hit 30 during copperbell mines (a level 17 quests). On occasion I've seen new players complain about severely outleveling the story because they can't do their expansion job quests to learn new skills until they reach the expansion story. And some find it awkward to be wearing gear far below their level since the quest rewards are so far beneath them.

I think it should stay as a bonus for people interested in it to help populate low pop servers. The normal leveling rate is fine, especially if you enjoy checking out the side content.

This game is about the journey not only the destination. There is no need to rush to the end. It is baffling to me that people actually complain they may have to play the game to get some xp to level. I guess its best to race to the end to hang out and complain about lack of content. This is the game with the slowest content release schedule. How dare they only provide content every 3-4 months. I expect these content drops every 3-4 weeks. I want it now too!

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Originally Posted by Omedon

So, busywork.

Next to the MSQ, literally everything else is busywork. That's what I'm saying. The story stands head and shoulders above literally anything else you could spend your time doing in this game, when we're talking about value of the experience.

Even with its mandatory dungeons, the story is the core of the game, and focusing people on this path only shows the game's best side. It should be all that's needed. On road to 70 it *is* pretty much all that's needed. That experience was amazing! It should be the default. That's my point.

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I'm sorry that playing the game is so detrimental to your gameplay experience.

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Originally Posted by Omedon

So, busywork.

Next to the MSQ, literally everything else is busywork. That's what I'm saying. The story stands head and.

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That is where you are wrong. All the sidequests are just as much part of the overall story, and adds a great deal of added background to the MSQ. Not to mention all the gear you get out of optional quest rewards and dungeons, without which you'd probably end up undergeared in many cases.
Only doing the MSQ means you missed 80% of the game.

No, I strongly disagree about "Road to 70" being a good idea for new players, and even more about it being default.
It can be useful for people who already have seen it all and are leveling up their Nth alt, but no way as default.

It's a video game, and a Final Fantasy one at that, of course it's busywork lmao. That's the point.

There are so many sidequests that actually expand on lore and tell you their story as you move on. You shouldn't just mindlessly follow the msq and ignore your surroundings. Did you unlock your challenge log yet? Catch some of FATES that are nearby, look for an FC to run your daily roulettes.
Even if you enjoy the story and burn through it, the end is soon. Sooner as you think. Once you reach that goal, you'll be upset for not having more.. cause well the story is good y'know.

I don’t intend this to come off as looking down on anyone by any means, but it is very easy to level up in this game without excessive grind, especially if only 1 job. There are many options available, obviously a little grindy as it’s an MMO.

For myself, when a new expansion comes out, I typically do all MSQ on one job and simultaneously level a second job using traditional means (roulette, etc).

I never touch any side quests/random quests until the third or fourth job. So, all that said, unless you are in a huge hurry to get to max level, you will never really feel a slow grind as you can get significant so boosts with daily roulettes. Minimal effort lands at least a level a day.


Also, by and large just doing content WILL gear you fairly well. Allagan tombstones of Poetics are given like candy and will gear you at least 1/2 way into the next expansion, and if you go gimpy it could last you all the way. (So 50 tomestone gear lasts to 55ish, possibly 60 if you gimp. 60 lasts to 65 and so on).

I've made and leveled several characters with and without the "Road to" bonuses.

Personally, I don't mind either pace. One thing I do dislike is when you're leveling with a friend, and only one of you has a "Road to" buff.

I agree to the point where I wont level an alt without road to x active.

Am I capable of doing it? Yes. Is it still a slog at times even with double the xp (which makes things go by more than twice as fast because it lets you skip some of the annoying spots where you have to grind stuff out)? Absolutely.

Doing 1 to 5.2 finished and all craft/gather maxed in 5 or 6 days is a huge difference from doing it in 13-16.