Hard mode dungeons/Primals - are they needed for story progression???

[Frizze]

If your main goal is to get to Ishgard and the HW content, you can safely ignore everything that isnt in the MSQ. The dungeons(2 if i recall) and trials(like 6 of them) you need to run are only unlocked that way. You may also want to open up hard mode ifrit titan and garuda before you advance too far, because at a certain point in the story you switch to a new base of operations and some people report not being able to get the old quest for them after that point. But the rest of the content is optional and you can always go back and clear what you want to later on. Happy hunting!

[Pintsized]

It's sad that SE gave in to those demanding 'hard' content even in the 'casual' part of the game and put 'hard' mode trials into the critical path through the main story, the later primals' fights should also have been 'story' mode for those only interested in progressing the story and now of course unlocking the expansion.