How to fix the sidequests...

[MANTASTIC]

Reasons to do a quest:
1) Character progression(EXP/SP etc)
2) Loot (money/gear)
3) Interesting story

The current implementation of "side quests" lacks all but one of those. While the quests and gear rewards make a bit more sense from a new players' perspective, the lack of any sort of exp means very few will find them compelling enough to do. And if you found a couple dull paragraphs of text to be an interesting story, I'm sorry, but no. Just no.

I understand the current producer is in a rush to push out content, but the reality is the people playing the game now matter far less than those who aren't. They shouldn't be pushing out this level of crap to placate the few who hang around in hopes of it getting better soon, and should instead focus on developing content that will be enjoyable for years and whatever overhauls to combat/crafting/etc they have in store.

TL,DR: Quality over quantity.

[Seif]

What's really missing compared to XI quests:

CUTSCENES, interesting story and fame.

Completing XIV side-quests is as much fun as doing a leve without any sp.