Quote Originally Posted by KaivaC View Post
ARR is incredibly tedious and boring when it came to a huge chunk of their patches. However, 2.5-2.55, the cutscenes there are totally worth it because of how it sets up HW. Just be forewarned, the cutscenes can last up to an hour, but at that point, it's purely story, and like I said, it sets up HW and why exactly you are in a particularly rough start in 3.0. I'd have to say that when you go through 2.5, that is when the story gets more serious than usual.
The HW story actually starts as early as in 2.3 - when we start looking for "Lady Iceheart"
The 2.5-2.55 happenings you refer to really has surprisingly little impact on the story itself - though the emotional impact can be quite heavy.