The whole leveling experience of a new player... is this?

[Niwashi]

And the whole thing about levequests and the other side things it is just too much to stay on top of as a new player. I kind of feel that you should not be given a level wall and restriction so that you can do the other things and feel mandatory. The whole freedom is gone at that point.

The thing is that there are lots and lots of different side things, and you can pick from any of them to get what little extra XP you need. That's not making any of them individually mandatory. You need to do something but the choice of what is up to you. If the MSQ alone took you all the way, that wouldn't leave the option of doing much else without ruining your main story. Most players want to do at least a bit of the other things the game has to offer.

I actually find that, for my playstyle (which includes wanting to do most of those side things), they've gone a bit too far the other direction, with XP coming so fast that I'll drastically over-level content if I'm not careful. So on my latest alt I'm leveling multiple classes in tandem, because I need to alternate between them in order to avoid over-leveling so much. (Admittedly, that's more of an issue during the first 20 or 30 levels than it is later, when leveling starts slowing down. But over-leveling issues can still happen later if, for instance, you want to keep re-running a dungeon until you get its best loot.)

There is a level gap in the main story between level 46 and 49, but there are two optional dungeons around there (Dzemael Darkhold at 44 and Aurum Vale at 47). A run through each of those should cover the gap. (And if you get lucky on loot drops, Dzemael Darkhold can drop the BiS shirts for levels 44-49 for DoM or damage dealer DoW.) Plus, the ARR beast tribe quests open up between levels 41 - 44, so those will be available and not likely maxed out yet.

[Pintsized]

I have logged over 50+ hours of constant game play time (after removing the afk hours).

Sounds like you're ignoring basic content, to be honest.

I've leveled several characters to cap and none of them struggled to gain XP on their first job (except for the late 40s as Niwashi just noted), they simply did the main story, sidequests, hunting logs, GC logs and an occasional FATE as they found them.

Sure, leveling a second job does require a grind but I've never had problems leveling the first.

[Chancebiegel]

No I am not doing roulettes as they take too much time to que up as a dps. I am not doing hunting logs and challenges since they bore me to no end. These things are side things. Things you do when you don't want to quest around or when you are done at max level in my opinion. And the whole thing about levequests and the other side things it is just too much to stay on top of as a new player. I kind of feel that you should not be given a level wall and restriction so that you can do the other things and feel mandatory. The whole freedom is gone at that point.

The leveling roulette does not take an hour, I'm sure of that. Queuing for a random dungeon might take that long, but the leveling roulette is far more active. The leveling roulette should always keep you above story quests requirements. I've never done one single sidequest in my life, except for class quests. I just did: leveling roulette + all the guildhests once for the xp boost + hunting log.

[SturmChurro]

I do the story quest chain and I always end up under leveled and hitting the level wall for the next story quest. Mind you I am also doing some or most of the side quests.
It's gotten so bad, that I am currently level 32 and after starting the next main story quest after the lvl32 wall, I ended up being at 30% of my exp bar and not being able to continue with the story quest. This constant abruption is really turning my experience into hell. Most people are telling me that this should not happen.
In the end is this thing normal? Or am I not doing something right?
Thank you in advance.

I was always overlevel, but that could because I would always stop and do fates, do all the sidequests, and I would also queue up dungeons everytime I got a new one just to get the first time bonus exp (and I like doing dungeons). I never had an issue keeping up in level even on HW content. You could say it's really grindy, but it worked.

[RVallant]

Not sure how you would be underleveled?

I did some the side quests alongside the Main quests and I'm over-levelled by quite a bit. I'm pushing level 39 when content is 32/34 now.

Hall of Novice bumped things up too, class quests also added to it. I was going up in levels so fast I started avoiding optional content, but I'm still shooting forward so I've given up trying to keep it under control now, especially since level sync is around anyway. Didn't touch FATES much if at all, I think last I checked I had only finished 13 FATES.

[Naithil]

I just arrived to Ishgard as my BRD hit lvl 60 >_<
Now in order to countinue the main story without all this exp go to waste i'm leveling MCH. So i have completely opposite problem but a problem nonetheless

[MistakeNot]

Not sure how you would be underleveled?

I did some the side quests alongside the Main quests and I'm over-levelled by quite a bit. I'm pushing level 39 when content is 32/34 now.

Hall of Novice bumped things up too, class quests also added to it. I was going up in levels so fast I started avoiding optional content, but I'm still shooting forward so I've given up trying to keep it under control now, especially since level sync is around anyway. Didn't touch FATES much if at all, I think last I checked I had only finished 13 FATES.

Being underleveled is easy. Skip sidequests, don't bother about FATEs, and most importantly don't do any roulettes - just stick to the MSQ and only the MSQ. Do that and you will find yourself underleveled quite quickly.

[Train88]

In my days, assuming you focus a single class, doing the main story and ignoring all side quests would get you to 50 easy.

If your highest character is not high enough to complete the next main story quest, you may have to grind xp until you get past the wall.

Just make sure to focus a single class.

[Seredeelfer]

Odd, I'm level 56 and just got to Heavensward. I've done very few side quests and only 20 floors of PotD for off spec ability. I have done my bonus DFs every day though.

[Silverquick]

Not for me really, That was abnormal.

When I first popped into the game, I went around town and must have picked up a ton of quests. I ran around Limsa doing all these quests per the recommendations, there was just a TON of them. Per the instructions from your log it says to run around and talk to others to help them, so I did... I think I was level 12 before I even started doing the main quest... I got a taste for the FATE encounters the minute I set foot outside.

Someone threw me a linkshell invite the minute I hit the market in the very beginning, while doing all these quests so I ended up in a linkshell before even completing this ton of beginning quests... So poof suddenly I was a member of the Drunken Moogle. (much like what happened in FFXI where I was 8th level and medding in the Orc Camp in Sandoria and guy ran up to me and handed me a link pearl... turned out ok there so I figured I'd try it here too).