Levelling seems messed up

[MisterSpamtastic]

You lot keep using the word "filler." In the words of a Spaniard, I don't think it means what you think it means. The majority of those quests have relevance to the story in some way. Just how different do you expect "Heavensward content" to be from the content leading up to it? It's all the same. Talk and walk, talk and walk, dungeon. Talk and walk, talk and walk, trial. Repeat.

thank you for this! it bugs me that people call lady iceheart filler, or learning how to truly kill an ascian, or meeting yugiri and the doman refugees that pretty much set the stage for stormblood. yeah. filler. ok. go ahead and keep skipping cutscenes. yes, there is a lot of walking around and talking, but broken down to the most basic levels that's pretty much the entire game.

[Sacred_Nym]

You're lvl 60 before reaching HW content? How? I lvled an alt recently and did not have this experience at all. I was lvl 52 when I reached HW content. You're obviously getting loads of extra xp elsewhere.

Road to 60 + Roulettes I'm betting. Considering that my one Road to 60 alt was 54 by the time he fought Titan (Normal, the L35 one) it's not terribly shocking.

[Iscah]

If you're feeling like your character is way overleveled at the start of Heavensward, you may want to pick up a second class to use. Astrologian/Machinist/Dark Knight (in Ishgard) start at Lv30 and Red Mage/Samurai (in Ul'dah) start at Lv50, so you don't even have to catch up to story level.

And I'm in the "post-ARR quests are not filler" group. Once I got over the confusion of thinking Heavensward would start immediately after I'd completed ARR, it's just another chapter in the story. Some interesting things happen or get set up for later, and the end of it leading into Heavensward was one of the highlights of the story so far.

[AppleJinx]

They are staying true to the philosophy that story should be a major focus in any ff games even the mmos so if you unless you buy a skip potion there is really nothing much you can do.

[Penthea]

Road to 60 + Roulettes I'm betting. Considering that my one Road to 60 alt was 54 by the time he fought Titan (Normal, the L35 one) it's not terribly shocking.

Surely if OP had that buff they shouldn't be surprised they lvled up so fast? Unless they never read the tooltip for it I suppose.

[MomomiMomi]

You lot keep using the word "filler." In the words of a Spaniard, I don't think it means what you think it means. The majority of those quests have relevance to the story in some way. Just how different do you expect "Heavensward content" to be from the content leading up to it? It's all the same. Talk and walk, talk and walk, dungeon. Talk and walk, talk and walk, trial. Repeat.

Having done the road to HW multiple times, the post-HW content is extremely different to the previous 100 quests. It has far less "go sniff the chocobo" in it.

Most of it is filler. You can tell a story without it being needlessly tedious content to do.

[KaivaC]

Sorry my first post here is a rant but I need to get this off my chest.
I started the game a few weeks ago and have been thoroughly enjoying it until now.
About 3 weeks ago I finished ARR and was looking forward to diving into Heavensward. However I'm now lvl 60 after nearly 3 weeks of wading through compulsory main story quests. Today I completed The Steps Of Faith and STILL, I am unable to access any Heavensward content, let alone Stormblood.

It seems I'm stuck just doing reams upon reams of interminable filler quests. I'm sure I'll hit 70 before I even unlock Ishgard. It's F'ing ridiculous! I'm glad I found a good FC or I'd have sacked the game by now. This situation needs addressing I think, or people are going to simply abandon the game in frustration, as I have come close to doing this evening.

Rant away. And welcome to the forums.

With that said, I'm not sure of your experience with any other Final Fantasy game, but the vast majority of them all have one thing in common, and that is that story is key. In that regard, FFXIV is unique in that story plays a role in practically everything that you will do in the game. ARR was particularly bad with their filler quests, I agree. I would just focus on getting through MSQ if you want to hit Stormblood. If you're already level 60 and still in ARR, you're more than well equipped to get through a good chunk of HW with your current gear - if your FC can help, aim for getting ilvl260 gear as you progress through HW, or see if they wouldn't mind spotting you some gil to get some gear in preparation for SB.

About the filler quests...well, FFXIV has been successful thus far, and had been successful before we got jump potions with the introduction of Stormblood. The devs may feel that it's unnecessary to make any changes so long as they see profits and new subscribers. It's a pain for newer players, but it's not the end all be all.

[Rokke]

Having done the road to HW multiple times, the post-HW content is extremely different to the previous 100 quests. It has far less "go sniff the chocobo" in it.

Most of it is filler. You can tell a story without it being needlessly tedious content to do.

Comparing 2.x and 3.x is like night and day. Even now in 4.0 we still do plenty of menial tasks, but they aren't back to back. imo thats what kills the pace of 2.x: Sniff the chocobo/pick some flowers/fix my earrings/deliver some food/do my chores/carry this box all happen one after the other. The 100 quests felt like 1000. I wanted to strangle Alphinaud.

[Tinibou]

@Balveda

It's just that SE gives way too much xp bonus for new players and they also doubled the xp of ARR quests so basically, you end by being far way to level. You have A LOT of quests to do before opening the gates of Ishgard, so be patient ^^'

[Iscah]

Comparing 2.x and 3.x is like night and day. Even now in 4.0 we still do plenty of menial tasks, but they aren't back to back. imo thats what kills the pace of 2.x: Sniff the chocobo/pick some flowers/fix my earrings/deliver some food/do my chores/carry this box all happen one after the other. The 100 quests felt like 1000. I wanted to strangle Alphinaud.

I did forget about that.... quality level of quest, but I’ll still gladly take “interact with random object #523” over some of the more annoying objective types like “use Say to speak random phrases to everyone within hearing range!” which is possibly getting used more in later parts of the game. I think I only encountered those in some of the beast tribe quests in ARR.