Hello. You will find the game to be quite different from the 1.0 beta. The story quests should take you to the appropriate zones. At Lv.17, you should be running quests and FATEs in the East Shroud area and prepping for Tamtara or Copperbell.

Also, feel free to also use guildhests. You will get the first-completion bonus for each class when you complete them. It is likely you forgot to talk to the flame honor guard in Ul'dah during the Gridanian Envoy quest. Consider backtracking there first to unlock the next story quest segment.