Is Hildibrand worth doing?

[Enkidoh]

ARR Hildy was good and I would suggest definitely doing these quests.

HW was meh so do em if your bored.

Neither comes close to 1.x Hildy. Sad you guys cannot play those questlines anymore

I agree: his original introduction in 1.0 was hilarious but still touching (the second one with Gauwyn the Gannet was my favourite ), and was some much needed light-hearted comic relief in a storyline that was becoming increasingly dark and depressing indeed. But his return in ARR kind of went off the rails, in that his humour became increasingly bizarre and cartoonish (I mean,

his initial return in ARR, he crawls out of a grave after being presumed for dead!

), not to mention a vehicle for fanservice battles like Gilgamesh or FFXII's Mandragora Royalty.

And by the time of his HW appearence, it was clear SE simply no longer knew what to do with him, and just keep putting him on a bus, hoping that one day the bus will take him somewhere far away that he cannot return from. He's still funny, but his antics are starting to wear thin. I hope SE does actually give him a poignant and fitting send off when Shadowbringers rolls around.

[Transient_Shadow]

Hildibrand is a delightful treat. It is a wonderful questline from top to bottom. But I would recommend going to camp bronze lake and doing the quest "the adventure of the fainting goldsmith" at camp bronze lake first before starting the questline. You'll get a little something extra here and there if you do.

[shoobiedoobie]

As others have said, the primary reward of doing these quests is the cutscenes. The humor built into each story arc is the best part of it. There are other rewards as you go. Minions, emotes, glamours, and access to trials that you wouldn't otherwise see. But unless that sort of thing appeals to you, then you can definitely skip it.

I would only suggest, that if you do go through these quests, that you don't let yourself feel rushed. On my first character, I was leveling with someone else, and they were in a rush to reach endgame, so I felt pushed to hurry up and do these quests, which kind of ruined my enjoyment of them. On a new character I started earlier this year (which became my new main) I allowed myself to play through it at a more natural pace, and I enjoyed it a lot more. I don't even particularly enjoy Japanese humor in general, but there are a lot of genuinely funny moments in these quests regardless.

[Dreggit]

4.5 is expected to get a new Hildebrand trial