Leveling up makes me want to quit.

[ChazNatlo]

Of course the above demonstration has two fates and a dungeon being run in half an hour when the Original poster is pointing out that it takes them forever to get into dungeons. And no, they aren't being hyperbolic. It takes me damn near forever to get into a dungeon as well ((I make do soloing FATES though. I suspect her equipment may be to blame on that account.))

We can't just take the basic point ((leveling takes forever)) and ignore the additional factors ((Can't get into dungeons with anything resembling regularity, can't find people running FATEs, stats too low to do them Solo)).

Related, the FF XI fate is a godsend. It pops regularly, the Crabs don't agro unless you attack them, and they're all level 27ish. Though running that several times is probably boring.

[Voltyblast]

I can't deny that I'm also somewhat annoyed by this situation: I have most of my jobs at 50 so I have a good start, however anything beneath that is a pain to level because it's pretty much depending on the amount of people nearby.

Sure, I CAN do dungeons but after the daily exp bonus all the other runs aren't worth the 10-30 minute queue as a dps. For a tank and healer is a different story, but not everyone is a tank or healer.
Sure, I CAN I do quests but they run out almost immediately and they don't refresh when switching jobs (which would have helped IMMENSIVELY).
Sure, I CAN do leves but they also run out and the time it takes to finish them, you might as well do fates

So in the end you want to do fates mainly because you get a boost (if you're levelling a secondary class), they're usually quicker (with some exceptions, but some fates took me less than 30 seconds to end), and they actually respawn from time to time (unlike quests, that don't refresh after switching class). Yeah there are other ways, but FATES are essentially the only viable way to level up in this game. And fates are a lots of fun right?!

...R-right?

[MihaelB]

Posting any sort of negative feelings toward the general system of the game is gonna cause people like that^ to answer you, mainly for defending their purchase and others being un-remorseful jerkbags.

Haven't defended the purchase at all, it's interesting you derive so much from 2 lines.

It's simple, this is a game. You don't like the game? Don't play it. I know I'll quit when I'm bored.
I don't like doing beast tribes, does that mean I should get a shortcut for everything in completion in beast tribes? I don't think so, I just don't do it nor do I get it's rewards.

If you don't like leveling in this game, find something else to do or find another game to play.

[dinnertime]

Like any MMO ever, or maybe any game ever, grinding is never fun. FATEs, dungeons, leves etc. aren't an exception. Mindlessly doing it makes it less awful.

About the long hour queue times is insane, especially on a server like Balmung and a datacenter such as Aether, with plenty of players in it compared to Primal.

The FATE grind scene on Balmung I'm not really sure about why it's so little like the OP mentioned, for such a big server. Do people really go there just for the RP? Then I'm being silly for being so surprised.

EDIT: On a DPS class, I never get above 30 minute queues on dungeons at all, sometimes it only lasts for about 15 minutes. Leveling Roulette is the same as well.

[Malzian]

Sure, I CAN do dungeons but after the daily exp bonus all the other runs aren't worth the 10-30 minute queue as a dps.

Firstly, let me state that as a person who has played since Beta phase 3, the leveling curve at this point has always been a pain, and this is coming from someone who took a year to cap out everything to 50 before the expansion. However, the main thing about what you said is this: the real strategy to power level with FATEs and dungeons as a DPS is that you find a zone with FATEs at your level, populated or not (you still get decent EXP for most FATEs even when they fail as long as you get gold) then you queue for a dungeon and grind the FATEs while you wait on the queue. This minimizes downtime and has been the default leveling strategy for DPS since day 1. It's not fun, it's a grind... which is what you should expect as the part of leveling in most MMOs.

[autumn]

I know this may not be a great option if you have friends and a fc on your current server (although if you do have friends they could help your queue time) but you could think about switching to a different server cluster? I levelled my Dragoon to 60 in around 2-3 weeks on the chaos servers (shiva and cerberus) and my ninja alt has just hit 60 in two weeks. my queue times are between 5 and 20mins, never longer. Good luck!

[Voltyblast]

The real strategy to power level with FATEs and dungeons as a DPS is that you find a zone with FATEs at your level, populated or not (you still get decent EXP for most FATEs even when they fail as long as you get gold) then you queue for a dungeon and grind the FATEs while you wait on the queue.

You forgot that you can't get in groups while queueing, so you also have to choose: you want to gain LOTS more of exp within a group (enemies do give exp as well and getting a gold is basically lazy work, which is what we want), or queue for the dungeon and do nothing else (you can't even get your chocobo out while queueing: that's bad programming there).

And the part that it's not supposed to be fun because it's a grind...then what is this? A job? Games are supposed to be fun last I checked: in rpgs levelling is usually the fun part of the game, not the annoying part. Yes this is an MMOrpg but I never found levelling frustrating in OTHER MMOs because you always had different ways to level up ALONGSIDE grinding the usual (questing, dungeons, dailies, you name it).

In addition to that, I always loved levelling and getting new skills and stuff for my characters. In here you don't really get a whole lot to begin with: sometimes you gain a passive (hooray!) sometimes it's a skill (Yaaaay...finally) and now at 50, you can get some of the most useless/badly designed skills ever made (Tornado Kick, Sheltron and last but not least, Wanderer's Minuet/Gauss Barrel). Sure not all jobs get bad skills, but since I play monk as second main job It's really boring to level up with basically no real new skills.

So not only the levelling in this game is annoying and sometimes frustrating (always depending on the situation), but it's also not really rewarding: It's long and tedious and you still get FAR more experience from fates regardless of which dungeon you get in: in the Churming Mists a fate can give more or less 40k exp (Azys Ila give more, but it's deserted and I don't see people grinding there at all). A dungeon (WITHOUT ROULETTE) can only give 100k or 200k at best and in the span of 30-40 minutes of run. Fates only take 2 minutes max and gives half of that amount, and more if you do a boss fate PLUS the armory boost.

FATEs still win. Sadly.

[Malzian]

You forgot that you can't get in groups while queueing, so you also have to choose: you want to gain LOTS more of exp within a group (enemies do give exp as well and getting a gold is basically lazy work, which is what we want), or queue for the dungeon and do nothing else (you can't even get your chocobo out while queueing: that's bad programming there).

And the part that it's not fun...then what is this? A job? Games are supposed to be fun: in rpgs levelling is usually the fun part of the game, not the annoying part. Yes this is an MMOrpg but I never found levelling frustrating in OTHER MMOs because you always had different ways to level up ALONGSIDE grinding the usual (questing, dungeons, dailies, you name it).

In addition to that, I always loved levelling and getting new skills and stuff for my characters. In here you don't really get a whole lot to begin with: sometimes you gain a passive (hooray!) sometimes it's a skill (Yaaaay...finally) and now at 50, you can get some of the most useless/badly designed skills ever made (Tornado Kick, Sheltron and last but not least, Wanderer's Minuet/Gauss Barrel). Sure not all jobs get bad skills, but since I play monk as second main job It's really boring to level up with basically no real new skills.

So not only the levelling in this game is annoying and sometimes frustrating (always depending on the situation), but it's also not really rewarding: It's long and tedious and you still get FAR more experience from fates regardless of which dungeon you get in: in the Churming Mists a fate can give more or less 40k exp (Azys Ila give more, but it's deserted and I don't see people grinding there at all). A dungeon (WITHOUT ROULETTE) can only give 100k or 200k at best and in the span of 30-40 minutes of run. Fates only take 2 minutes max and gives half of that amount, and more if you do a boss fate PLUS the armory boost.

FATEs still win. Sadly.

No, I didn't forget that point, believe me that I well know and understand how the systems work. If you can find a FATE group in an area grinding them out to get your 'lazy' gold (and believe me, I find your choice of calling it lazy and saying that's what is desired a rather telling statement in itself), then you really don't need to queue for dungeons since that would be a waste of time.

However, if you're stuck in a zone where there are no people you're not going to get those 'lazy' golds, and I don't personally see any FATE on-level taking '2 minutes max', then you're best bet is to queue while you FATE. A dungeon will net you a decent amount of EXP, and at this point unless you end up with a totally new group, there's no reason a dungeon should take 30-40 min. Most of my dungeon runs clock in at around 20 min given that no major issues come up, plus you also can get gear out of it.

The fact is that mostly you only see people grinding FATEs in Northern Thanalan and the Hinterlands anymore, and has been that way for a while, and mostly because it's really not worth it anywhere else. If the rest of the community isn't doing something as a means to level, then there's probably a reason they're not doing it and that should be a sign to you.

Now you may think I'm crazy, and want to dispute all of this, but allow me to point out that at the current moment I am 3 battle classes off of fully capping them to 60. I should think that at that point I really should know what does and does not work logistically for leveling. Add on that I am and always have been a solo player, and I might dare well to think that I can speak from a certain point of expertise on the matter of solo leveling strategies and their efficacy.

Lastly, as far as leveling not being 'rewarding', that ultimately depends on what you consider a reward, and the fact that you find a class boring may not be because leveling it is bad but rather just the fact that that particular class/job might not be for you. I personally level them all, but I only play a select few, because I more enjoy how one handles versus the others (I don't care for casters, really, though I actually like BRD). This is more a personal thing then a systematic thing and all it really means is that you need to decide whether or not that class is rewarding to you overall.

[Evumeimei]

Queues can be long as a DPS, yes, but I've never had to wait two hours in leveling roulette (but I'm on Primal Data Center). Are you part of a FC? Have you made any friends you can do content with? I'm not one to talk since I DF everything (and I don't mind it), but having people to run stuff with can alleviate queue times.

As for you mentioning that FATE areas are dead... You can solo most fates pre-50 easily enough (especially as an arcanist/summoner/scholar), so I don't see the issue? Sure, it'd be nice if those areas looked more flourishing, but you can still do the FATEs no problem.

[Kurogaea]

Haven't defended the purchase at all, it's interesting you derive so much from 2 lines.

It's simple, this is a game. You don't like the game? Don't play it. I know I'll quit when I'm bored.
I don't like doing beast tribes, does that mean I should get a shortcut for everything in completion in beast tribes? I don't think so, I just don't do it nor do I get it's rewards.

If you don't like leveling in this game, find something else to do or find another game to play.

There was several ways you could of replied and you chose a frank answer being inconsiderate of the op's situation basically telling them "Don't like lvling? too bad.". Its not the first time it happened and it wont be the last since I suppose people like that sort of stuff since you have some many thumbs ups as well as the other similar posts. And for those who answer threads like that are, and now I'll be frank, sound like a#$holes.

Lvling is the crappiest part of the game. No one likes it. But we do it anyway so we can have the class we can play later. Just because lvling is becoming more crappy doesn't mean you don't like the game. btw Beast tribe quests are completely optional. lvling is not except if you already have a few classes lvled. Obviously the op needs a way to find lvling more enjoyable or simply a short break from it.