Which Dungeons Are Required?

[Darthzilla]

Which dungeons are absolutely mandatory for you to progress the story to the end. I'm not a fan of dungeons, in fact, I find them pretty unfun so I'd like to do as few of them as I absolutely have to. If you find them way fun, more power to ya, but I really don't.

Is this list I found still current? And how many Trial thingies are required and where do they fit in?

And there was the Bowl of Embers "Lord of the Inferno" Ifrit battle right after Copperbell. Are there any other dungeon like things that you have to party up with other players and are required to get through that I should add to the list?

Please be kind, I'm only asking because this is the only thing about FFXIV that I am not loving. (I didn't enjoy dungeoning in the other MMO I played for years either).

[Darthzilla]

Lvl15 Sastasha (story dungeon for quest "It's Probably Pirates.")
Lvl16 Tam-Tara Deepcroft (story quest "Fire in the Gloom.")
Lvl17 Copperbell Mines (story quest "Into a Copper Hell" )
Lvl20 Halatali (OPTIONAL)
Lvl24 The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak(Story "Into the Beast's Maw")
Lvl28 Haukke Manor (Story "Skeletons in Her Closet,")
Lvl32 Braflox Longstop (Story "The Things We Do for Cheese.")
Lvl35 Sunken Temple of Qarn(OPTIONAL)
Lvl38 Cutter's Cry(OPTIONAL)
Lvl41 Stone Virgil (Story "In Pursuit of the Past")
Lvl44 Dzemael Darkhold (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl47 Aurum Vale (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl50 Castrum Meridianum (story)
Lvl50 Praetorium (story)
Lvl50 Wanderer's Palace (optional)
Lvl50 Amdapor Keep (optional, but required for your relic weapon)

[Anova]

Bowl of the Embers is a Trial; which is essentially just a boss fight. If you don't like those, you essentially have to grind through 15 of the suckers.
Some boss names are self-explanatory if you're familiar with the lore, but keep in mind simply knowing these names can be spoilers.
If you want more details, be aware that it may really ruin the story for you. Anyway, the mandatory trials are as follows:

lv.34 The Navel (Lord of the Crags)
Lv.44 The Howling Eye (Lady of the Vortex)
Lv.49 Camp Westwind (Operation Archon)
lv.50 Thornmarch (You have selected regicide)
lv.50 The Whorleater (Lord of the Whorl)
lv.50 The Striking Tree (Levin an Impression)
Lv.50 Akh Afah Amphitheatre (the instruments of our deliverance)
Lv.50 The Chrysallis (**SPOILER**)
Lv.50 The Steps of Faith (The Steps of Faith)

Your list of dungeons is more or less a complete list. I'll add the following 2 dungeons that are part of the story at 50:

Snowcloak (The Path of the Righteous)
Keeper of the Lake (The Rising Chorus)

If you get the Heavensward expansion, these are the dungeons and Trials:

Sohm Al (Mourn in Passing)
Thok Ast Thok (Lord of the Hive) Trial
The Aery (Into the Aery)
The Vault (A Knight's Calling)
Limitless Blue (Bolt, Chain, and Island) Trial
Great Gubal Library (Forbidden Knowledge)
Aetherochemical Research facility (Heavensward)
Singularity Reactor (Heavensward) Trial

[Enkidoh]

Trials are definitely required for the story as well, essentially they're like a boss battle. The most common trial you will have to do involves taking down a Primal, but there are other Trials required as part of the story too. From what I remember, these are all the Trial battles required:


Bowl of Embers NM (Ifrit) (Lord of the Inferno)
The Navel NM (Titan) (Lord of Crags)
The Howling Eye NM (Garuda) (In Search of the Past)
Cape Westwind (Rhitayan sas Arvina) (Operation Archon)
Thornmarch (hard) (Good King Moggle Mog the XIIth) (You Have Selected Regicide)
The Whorleater (hard) (Leviathan HM) (Lord of the Whorl)
The Striking Tree (hard) (Ramuh HM) (Levin an Impression)
Akh Afah Amphitheater (hard) (Shiva HM) (The Instruments of Our Deliverance)
The Bowl of Embers (hard) (Ifrit HM), The Navel (hard) (Titan HM), The Howling Eye (hard) (Garuda HM) (Let Us Cling Together)
The Chrysalis (Nabriales) (An Uninvited Ascian)
The Steps of Faith (Vishap) (The Steps of Faith)
Thok ast Thok (hard) (Ravana HM) (Lord of the Hive)
The Limitless Blue (hard) (Bismarck HM) (Bolt Chain and Island)

And... that's all of the required story trials as far as I'm aware that require a party to complete. Of course there's plenty of solo-only trials you have to do too but I haven't included those here.

[Darthzilla]

Thank you very much for your replies, Anova and Enkidoh, I'll add them to my list.

Anova, I'm getting acquainted with the lore, I'm completely new to the FF story, I recently found out it was playable in PC now. So far it is fascinating and very cool. What you've listed here is perfect and just what I wanted to know.

Enkidoh, I've done the first primal battle so far, it was very cool looking and the story was great. The solo stuff I like better. I'm perfectly fine with Fates and Duties, not so much pressure as with a group. My FC's are great in that they're pretty relaxed and cool about going with inexperienced players.

Thank you both again for the updates to my list, I appreciate it.

[Yaichiro]

I am actually worried about you in this game. There are limited stuff you can do solo.

[Darthzilla]

I'm doing all right, so far anyway. I'm doing the mandatory dungeons and trials, I just don't think they're fun. Questing, exploring and crafting are much more fun for me.

[Anova]

I think Yaichiro is talking about the endgame tome grinding and raid progression. Those basically require you to do daily dungeons and raids to progress.

If you're not interested in that, the crafting and gathering system in FFXIV is actually very deep. About the only game that comes remotely close to it is Elder Scrolls.

Fortunately for you, there's a whole new set of endgame content focused on gathering and open-world exploration in the upcoming patch update in November. There's a ton of fun to be had with your own airships.

[Serilda]

You don't have to do daily dungeons and raids to progress, though. The OP might get hooked on Frontlines and by the time they've got to the stopping point we're at now, there will be even more new content on the way and more varied ways to acquire tomestones (er, I hope!). Plus if she doesn't like dungeons/raiding there's honestly less reason for her to grind and cap tomestones as a priority at all.

[Darthzilla]

Anova, End game repeat dungeons and raiding haven't been my gig to date, I do, however, enjoy the journey. I can't wait to see where the crafting goes as I gain levels not to mention the classes. Excellent news about the new November patch, I hadn't paid close attention as I'm a long way off from End Game content. I'm also looking forward to airships, they sound like a lot of fun. And flying, flying would be fun too.

Serilda, thanks for 'getting it'. This game offers so much content that isn't all dungeons and raiding, it appeals to all player types. It'll be a little while before I reach the End Game point, I'm taking my time enjoying the FFXIV verse, I expect there will be a couple of new content patches in place before I get there. It's a beautiful game.