things a new player might have missed

[misterdean]

so i just realized there are a bunch of optional dungeons and trials that you won't see by following the main story quests. i'm also just now learning about chocobo battle companion, pvp, gold saucer. kinda makes wonder what else i don't know about.

[MistakeNot]

Actually, following the main story quests will lead you to the quests for just about all the other stuff.
Just pick up and do all the quests you see. If the questmarker is red, click on it to check what you need to do to unlock it.

[misterdean]

that's not true. i finished all the realm reborn quests. the main story does not take you through many of the dungeons and trials available. alot of them are optional and you have to go looking for the quest givers to gain access to them. the main story does not direct you to pvp or gold saucer either. again, you have to go looking for the optional quest givers. so basically, if you don't know about this stuff and just follow the main story quests you will miss out on alot of content.

[MistakeNot]

that's not true. i finished all the realm reborn quests. the main story does not take you through many of the dungeons and trials available. alot of them are optional and you have to go looking for the quest givers to gain access to them. the main story does not direct you to pvp or gold saucer either. again, you have to go looking for the optional quest givers. so basically, if you don't know about this stuff and just follow the main story quests you will miss out on alot of content.

I did not say the main quest takes you to those places. It does bring you near the questgivers though. No need to run around and look for questgivers, you just need to pay attention and pick up the quests in question when you end up near them - which you will do.

[Niwashi]

No need to run around and look for questgivers, you just need to pay attention and pick up the quests in question when you end up near them - which you will do.

Well, doing every quest you come across will give far too much XP, especially early on, so you outlevel your main quests even faster than you would otherwise. Many players prefer to leave most sidequests for other classes when they won't have the MSQ available.

The problem is that there's no in-game way to distinguish a simple sidequest that doesn't give you anything except a bit of XP and an item or two from a significant one that unlocks a dungeon or game feature. If you want to know which of those sidequests are important to do early on (like which to do with your first class/job), then you need to go to an out-of-game resource, like those lists that Enkidoh linked above.

If quests that unlock features or dungeons had a different quest icon, then having the MSQ send you through the area where you'll see the quest givers would be enough. But they don't. Quest icons currently distinguish only three types of quests: MSQ, repeatable quests, and everything else. I'd like it if they'd further divide that "everything else" category into: quests that unlock features/content, event quests, sidestory quests, and sidequests.

[MistakeNot]

Well, doing every quest you come across will give far too much XP, especially early on, so you outlevel your main quests even faster than you would otherwise. Many players prefer to leave most sidequests for other classes when they won't have the MSQ available.

Solution is simple: Don't do those sidequests with your main class. By the time you start encountering quests that unlock features (i.e. after you have left your starting city) you should have unlocked a second class anyway.

[LeeraSorlan]

snip

just as a note, while there is no immediate way to distinguise the difference in a generic quest and a unlockable quest from the quest marker..every single quest that unlocks something or the other WILL have a picture in the quest description. while most others will not, there are some quests with pictures that dont unlock anything however, but those are few are few and far between, so you can just rush to quests and accept whatever has a picture on it

[Niwashi]

while there is no immediate way to distinguise the difference in a generic quest and a unlockable quest from the quest marker..every single quest that unlocks something or the other WILL have a picture in the quest description. while most others will not

Any that unlock dungeons will have a picture, but that's not true of other features. For instance, none of the following sidequests include a picture in the quest description:

Level 15 — Color Your World — unlocks dye
Level 15 — Rising to the Challenge — unlocks the Challenge Log
Level 17 — An Ill-conceived Venture — unlocks retainer ventures
Level 19 — Forging the Spirit — unlocks materia assimilation
Level 19 — Waking the Spirit — unlocks materia melding
Level 20 — A Sight to Behold — unlocks the Sightseeing Log
Level 20 — My Little Chocobo — unlocks mounts
Level 25 — Melding Materia Muchly — unlocks advanced materia melding
Level 30 — Gone to Pieces — unlocks desynthesis
Level 30 — My Feisty Little Chocobo — unlocks chocobo as battle companion
Level 30 — Bird in Hand — unlocks Chocobo training
Level 50 — A Self-improving Man — unlocks glamour
Level 50 — Just Tooling Around — unlocks master crafting
Level 50 — Let the Hunt Begin — unlocks daily/weekly Hunt bills

It's still useful to consider any quest with a picture to be important, but it doesn't necessarily follow that ones without a picture aren't.

[Enkidoh]

Well, to be fair the way the game is designed because sidequests reward experience there is an expectation that the player will be actively seeking out quests from npcs and thus keeping themselves up to date with questing by going back to areas they've already been and seeing if there are any quests available. But it is easy to get sidetracked and forget about them though.

Either way, this is a list of all known level-locked content and where and what level to unlock it:

A Realm Reborn level locked content guide
Heavensward level locked content guide