Again not enough quests

[Xerodan]

It seems SE didn't learn anything from the quest drought at from 47-50, as there are again and again not enough quests to finish a level. I'm now sitting at 58 with 1.5 million XP left until 59 but without a single quest left in the hinterlands. It was the same at the previous levels, albeit not as grave as at 58.

[Zephyr-Umbra]

I don't think its a case of not learning anything rather than design by intent, they want you to run dungeons and fates in multiple areas, doing your dailies and roulettes. I think it would be a bit lacklustre if you could just quest straight to 60, only doing the odd dungeon required for progression. They want people to group up and fate party or spam dungeons for gear sets etc, might not be everyones cup of tea but it is an MMO so you have to expect some grinding and cooperation.

[Xerodan]

No, I certainly do not expect grinding to level up. This is MMO design which may have worked ten years ago and still does in Asia, but nowadays it's just bad game design.
Fates are also repetitive and give little xp. The sidequests themselves are godawful. They send you around ten times in circles, it's especially bad in the hinterlands since you have a loading screen between the town and the general zone. You run into town to get a quest, then you have to talk to someone outside of town, then you have to go back, then again outside to the exact same place and back to town again. And it's not just a few quests like that, this expansion is full of them.
Also the zone design is lackluster. There's so little detail, the hinterlands for example are just plain ugly. But everyone has different tastes I guess.
But still, I don't want to play anymore since I now see that they're doing the same mistakes as in ARR (they managed to fix the quest drought there, why didn't they do this in HW?)

[Xerodan]

The dungeons also offer no incentive to do them since the equipment you get there is useless because you get better quest gear a little bit later. 139 dungeon gear is worse than 142 quest gear, for example.

[StouterTaru]

It's a new week, challenge log is bare. 10 FATEs in 4 zones, 5 dungeons, 3 roulettes, 5 commendations. Do all those and you will get more than half a level of bonus exp.

[AmaiHanakaze]

"Oh no, I have to actually do other game content to get my level... oh woe is me!"

Be happy you don't have to sit in the same spot pulling the same mobs for 3 hours to get one level...FOR EVERY LEVEL.

[Blanchimont]

There are numerous side quests in Heavensward, but the problem is that the rewards they offer is far too low for what you actually need to level up. While the experience from side quests doubles from level 50 to 58, you need like 7 times more experience to level up at 38 than you did at 50, and the game seems to have forgotten to account for that. The dungeons are good for grinding experience though, especially the one available at level 57. The loot from the level 59 one are also superior to the level 60 ones you buy from the final region of the game.

[LunaHoshino]

"Oh no, I have to actually do other game content to get my level... oh woe is me!"

Be happy you don't have to sit in the same spot pulling the same mobs for 3 hours to get one level...FOR EVERY LEVEL.

Ragnarok Online, man. That game is the reason I laugh at anyone who complains that FFXIV is too grindy. The amount of grinding this game requires is trivial at best.

[saberchic]

Grinding is part of the MMO process. I can't think of an MMO that doesn't have you grind at some point. It sucks for people who don't want to do anything but main story quests, but that is how they get people to play together. When people need xp, they have to do dungeons, FATES, guildheists, and leves. It's one of the things that builds a community actually, so try to look at the bright side. You might go out and find people who think like you do. Maybe you can group up and power through and gain some xp together.

[Lorielle]

The gear actually looks better than what you get from crafting. I actually like most of the tanking gear from the Vault personally. Though Titanium gear has a special place because it's the Ares's Set from Salvage in FFXI <3