I for one had no issue with various fetch quests or aether flight unlocks

[micro48118]

I really enjoyed the whole experience. The moogles, while repetitive, were just slightly enough different to give a new spin on the subject. And i read all the mission text every time. As for the Aether Currents, I really enjoyed trying to find them as well. I can't say how many times i ran around a 100 square yalm area because the current was actually way above me on another island. I just laughed and figured i would get to it eventually. That's the other thing, the entire way from 50 to 60 i used 5 leve quests. FIVE! the rest were once through each dungeon and trial, exploration, aether currents, and side quests. That got me to within 1 mil xp of making 60. So far a very satisfied customer here.

[Govalon]

I've unlocked two zones, both of which by the time I unlocked flying I was done with the zone and moving onto the next area. Pointless.....

You were playing the wrong way. You are supposed to do only those quests that give you aether current and then do the rest when you can fly. You save HOURS in each zone that way and it is much less frustrating because you can just fly over every obstacle.

[Ransu]

You were playing the wrong way. You are supposed to do only those quests that give you aether current and then do the rest when you can fly. You save HOURS in each zone that way and it is much less frustrating because you can just fly over every obstacle.

Some of them are level locked and others are locked behind several side quests and the last one i unlocked in dravania was locked behind the main story quest that leads out of the zone.

[Vespar]

People also need to realize that the game has barely been up for a while since launch. Once you complete the currents you wont have to do it again for the rest of the expansion (unless they add some more zones, but I doubt that).
And fetch quests are useful, or would folks rather grind Fates and leves for ages? XD

[Kaedan94]

I can safely say that I'm very glad we had to explore for Aether points. After actually getting all the points and being able to fly, it was great. However, if I had been able to do so from the beginning, it would have felt empty and pointless to even fill out the zone with anything. Plus it gave me a feeling of accomplishment, even if it wasn't hard, it was still something I worked for.

I also love exploration in MMOs, so that was a plus as well.

[Ceol]

The existence of fetch/kill quests aren't bad. It's when they're thrown in for seemingly no other reason than to pad out content length (Moogle, Gnath), or when they're the only kind of quest in the zone (Azys Lla), that it becomes frustrating. It got to the point where I would enter a new zone, see a new kind of monster, and sigh because I knew I would be killing 4 of them for an NPC.

Exploring for the aether currents was fun. Having to guess which side quest chain had an aether current hidden behind it was not.

[Zfz]

I love how the currents are set up so that we get everything just by progressing through the story. Some people like to unlock flying first then do the remaining side quests, but I always do them as they come. Questing with flying is a sure way to diminish the feeling of adventure. It's a once-only experience and I am glad I did it this way.

PS: The moogle quests are worth doing. If only for the ending.

[Kyandeisu]

yeah I had no problem with any of the stuff and found everything/breezed through the stuff quickly with little to no help at all. (my fc wasnt in hw content when i doing hw content.) I really didnt understand how pplz struggled with the content in the moogle map. I have a feeling they were complaining out of laziness and didnt actually tried to find (should say some not all xD) Its like when your dad/husband asks where the milk is in the fridge while hes standing there with the fridge door open. Milk is right in front of him if he just looks.

[Ultimatecalibur]

I enjoyed pretty much all of the quests and exploring to unlock flight. Those quest I didn't fully enjoy were mainly tied to obtuse information.

• The worst of the Mog hide and seek quests involves finding moogles hidden in a huge area with multiple z levels and obstructions. The minimap only showed huge orange circles and that was often insufficient info for finding the final mog. Multiple smaller individualized circles would have made things much better/sane.
• One quest refers to a lower level of a multistory structure. In order to access "lower level" that the target was actually at, instead of begin part of the visible structure, involved flying off and then under the land mass.
• One quest hid pertinent information to successfully finding the single small target hidden in a huge area in the quest's title with no actual information in the quest's dialog.

[Govalon]

Some of them are level locked and others are locked behind several side quests and the last one i unlocked in dravania was locked behind the main story quest that leads out of the zone.

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Aether_Currents
Use that guide to save lot of trouble in the future. You should not do every quest available before you can fly. You will just lose your mind by doing so. Just a few quest here and there and the rest when you can fly.