In the Expansion Main Story..

[Violyre]

Yes, however, in between you had to do other pointless thing like 6-8 quests involved Bacchus' Wine before you could even do Titan Story. Could skip all of that pointless "back story" ( which can be told in a side quest).

In Ala Mhigo, You had to get the leader of the base your trust but he wouldn't have it, so you had to go Quarrymill and do 8 or so quests before he sends you back to little Ala Mhigo with a letter of recommendation.

Both of those had good reasons, as both were made of a "why should I trust you?" thing. The CoH didn't want to send some idiot to certain death. The Ala Mhigo have no reason to trust anyone but themselves after how they were treated when the fled the Garlians.

Would you rather it go like this?:

"Why should I trust you?"
"I'm an adventurer."
"Okay I trust you fully."

The other thing the missions did for you was guide you along one path of leveling you could do.

[Violyre]

In a way, the Main story of 2.0 having some fetch quests is "ok". However, now that your name is out there in a big way, having the story tell you to Pick up something for someone is kinda dull.

I always love going to zones I didn't go to when levelling.

"Who are you supposed to be?"
"Fluttershy Fleetflight, I helped save the world from five primals, destroyed the Garlemald Empire's ultimate weapon, and recognized as a Warrior of Light."
"Never heard of you. Get me CORN."

[Baneus]

Well, if we end up dealing with a faction that doesn't know us or doesn't trust us (or both!), we more than likely will end up doing a ton of "look, I bring you things, now trust me" quests.

[Mahri]

If the filler and sidequests prove anything (ESPECIALLY the Costa Del Sol ones), it's that the lifeblood of Eorzean civilization in the modern age is mobs of random maniacs with weapons who spend equal amounts of time saving the world from horrors unspeakable and gathering up really great sandwich ingredients for lazy people.

Not one or the other, both. Often within the same day.

By all means, keep the filler. When I put "cheese distribution specialist" among many other titles on my résumé, I mean it, dammit.

I want more cheese-based quests. There's a whole world of Goblin cheese I'm only beginning to understand and, if anything, not enough has been done to explore this.

You. I like you.

[Taruranto]

I never once found the story to be filler

Sweet mother of... wat?

[Starlord]

Would you rather it go like this?:

"Why should I trust you?"
"I'm an adventurer."
"Okay I trust you fully."

The other thing the missions did for you was guide you along one path of leveling you could do.

In terms, of the Ala Mhigo is concerned, I would have done something like this:

- Why should I trust you?
- I know that your city has been taken from you and you been forced into this little area, However, I am going to prove to you that I am going to help you out of this crisis.
- Help rebuild there home since they can't go back to Ala Mhigo. Part of it will be fillers yes, BUT as a side quest deal, you help them rebuild their lives here in Eorzea, while preparing to invade Ala Mhigo to take back their homeland! ( Expansion pack talking here). <------ This could be a "side "Reputation building to gain their trust" ( Fill up a bar by doing odd end things like, bringing them food, wood, helping them build a house of sorts.

[Violyre]

Sweet mother of... wat?

Seriously, I didn't. When I first did the Costa la Sol part, I was concerned that it was pointless, but when they all gathered at the end to tell you why they did, it made a lot more sense to me and I wouldn't consider it filler.

My definition of filler is anything that doesn't have some explained reason in the storyline, it's just there and has no impact on anything at all.

And I expect to be an unknown to a new land an expansion would bring. You can't just expect your feats and achievements to carry the same weight elsewhere.

For example, if we got Ala Mhigo, I might expect some people to know me, but as part of the Garlean Empire, other than the events that happened at the Castrums, I can expect that the Empire will keep my name hush-hush.

[RegnumMagik]

I wouldn't mind filler as much if its actually interesting. Making it for the sake of length is a no no for me.

[Pandastirfry]

if there weren't "Filler" quest, and every quest was "Go Kill The Dragon", we be asking for less "Kill the Dragon quests"

Filler exists for a reason to pace the story and give motivation or backstory. I mean really, the Climax of The Hobbit is the Battle of Five Armies, what's with all this faffing about and playing riddles with a hunchback in a cave? Heck even one of the "Twelve Labors of Heracles" was mucking out a stable and he was not only a "Hero" but a legit Demi-God.

A Hero is not defined merely by how many dragons they've killed, but by all their actions, both Great and Humble.

Also, let us not forget the questlines that involve the Roegayden that goes around claiming to have been a member of "The Company of Heros"and to have felled the primals before and you routinely expose him for the fraud and shiftless lay about he is. How many people are roaming Eorzea now, claiming your accomplishments for their own or even outright claiming to be you? I can see why the people might not be so quick to trust yet another adventurer making wild claims about fame and glory. I mean it's not like there has been a parade in your honor in every hamlet, and a statue erected to depict your raidience in every town square.

[Verranicus]

Agreed. I was even ok with the before mentioned Al Migo quest line that sent you to Quarrymill. Because at that time you weren't this renowned adventurer so sure make us go earn a reputation among these people. Was it overly interesting? No but it made sense. But at this point in the story menial labor tasks like these are just insulting. And they only exist because of the modern MMO's love of "do 10000000 quests".

EverQuest Didn't have this many quests. And it was nice because when you DID do a quest

A. it was usually meaningful and
B. the reward was usually pretty nice.

There was rarely filler quests. But for some reason modern MMOs feel that 10 seconds without a quest is poor design and shove them anywhere they can.

Everquest 2 has 10x as many quests as FFXIV. Everquest 1 didn't because it was a sandbox MMO and not a themepark MMO.