Couple Newbie FFXIV player questions

[Sanumas]

Alright, I've just recently started playing(A week or so) and I've got a few questions!

Are Duties/Dungeons a requirement to advance the main story quest in this game? Seems kind of awful as a DPS if so. Waited over 20 minutes earlier and never got into the one in Skull Valley.

When do I get my first mount? Probably a little slow getting to it since I went Puglist to 16 then switched to Rogue and pretty much started over since that's the class that drew me back after seeing it in action.

[Ashelia_Ferron]

Yes they are. I suggest finding a friendly FC and asking for help with queues from tanks/healers.

Around level 20, you'll do a certain MSQ and join a Grand Company, which will allow you to purchaser your first Mount

[HPDelron]

Some dungeons are needed to advance the story (generally every 3 to 5 levels). Yes solo DPS queues are quite long so it might be worthwhile to find an FC or friends that will help you out.

You get a mount after a certain point in the main story quest that involves fighting a fire themed boss monster. You'll generally reach the point in the story around the early 20s as you level.

[Sanumas]

Going to go with Fire in the Gloom as that's what I'm on atm and sounds like it'd be fire themed lol. Thanks folks, seems odd that it requires dungeons but eh... I haven't even started looking for others to play with(IE an FC) yet.. Guess to my server forums I go!

[Sucuri]

I didn't find the DPS ques to bad as I leveled, but I also kept busy with random things around the zone finishing missing things under H(hunts), or FATEs, or class swap to start to level the secondary class your main Job will require at lvl 30. Sometimes i'd also just take that time to go harvesting or crafting. Just so you know, not all of the dungeons are unlocked via main storyline either, you have to do some side quests to unlock those. Some are pretty fun to do. They also seem like they have a faster que time to them, at least when I random rouletted I always ended up in those ones lol

Make sure when you queue into your dungeon, you also check the little box in the upper left to join any already in progress. I was able to get some really fast que times, and right to the last boss even. That speeds things up a lot

[Conradus]

Alright, I've just recently started playing(A week or so) and I've got a few questions!

Are Duties/Dungeons a requirement to advance the main story quest in this game? Seems kind of awful as a DPS if so. Waited over 20 minutes earlier and never got into the one in Skull Valley.

When do I get my first mount? Probably a little slow getting to it since I went Puglist to 16 then switched to Rogue and pretty much started over since that's the class that drew me back after seeing it in action.

Yes, it's a requirement. Your first required duty will be Sastasha at level 15 (or when you reach that point in the main storyline, since you'll need both the levels and the progress in the storyline). You'll get your mount when you join a Grand Company at level 20; that's also part of the main storyline quests, and you'll have to beat Ifrit in a boss fight to get there. If you're finding DPS queues a bit long, finding something else to do while you wait might be a good idea.

[LordNickage]

Yeah when I dealt with dps queue times I would focus my hunting log, grind FATEs, hit up side quests, or gather/craft. Hope this was helpful =)

[LordLucavi]

As stated, dungeons will be required to progress the story, as will a couple of instanced battlefields, as I recall. You'll also have instanced battlefields with your job quests. DPS queues are long because there are more DPS than there are tanks or healers. Though, there are a few dungeons out there where DPS gets to do a lot more than the tanks or healers, like picking up adds, manning cannons, and some other mechanics.

I would recommend doing fates and levemetes while waiting on dungeons, as these help you level and in the case of leves, you can get different rewards like ventures, crafting materials, and gear for equipping, selling, or desynthing.

[Sida]

Couple notes for queue length. Firat, are you queuing in your servers "busy hours". For example, on European servers (data center chaos) it's increasingly harder to get anywhere during the European night time. Second, are you queuing with English selected. (Or japanese, if you're in Japanese datacenter). The upper part of the DF window has the four language buttons. As a rule of thumb, English on European and American servers, and Japanese on japanese servers gives you better queue times.

Also, if you still have Novice status (the green sprout) ask in some city to get to Novice Network and ask there people to help with the dungeon. At least on my server there tends to always be people willing to jump on the chance.