Quote Originally Posted by enderandrew View Post
Many people feel that end-game is when a MMO really comes into its own.
You're going to be very disappointed if you apply this feeling to this game. It's a story-based/driven game. The story is the game. Everything is gated by story. You can't get to "end game" until you've progressed through every expansion/patch MSQ. There's not nearly so much to keep you busy at the end as you might think. Most likely what you'll find yourself doing is many things that in no way require you be at max level end of story.

Take your time and enjoy the ride. If you're too focused on rushing through the story because it's "old content" you'll just find yourself wondering what's left.

Most other topics were covered. But, re: your Botanist issue: clicking on the quest objective opens the map at the location of the objective (in this case, would have opened the map for North Shroud). Additionally, on the map, as you sorta discovered, you can see the transition points, coulda seen the North/Gridania transition. Finally, once you've attuned to all aetherytes in the Gridania network, you should indeed have the option to 'port directly to the North Shroud.

Did the same thing as you, tho, back when I started, trying out every class, leveling everything together, and definitely delayed gaining my mount. It wasn't the absolute worst, but yeah, definitely realized I prolly shoulda got there sooner. But, play and learn.