When is lvl skipping add on is justified? (if ever)

[torakun]

My advice (for what it's worth) is to use the MSQ skip if you are going to use a skip potion. I will back this up for four reasons:

1) The main scenario missions are comprised primarily of painfully tedious and pointless fetch quests and there are HUNDREDS of them. I'm not exaggerating either. If you are still in 2.0 story, you have a mountain of questing to do that will take a significant amount of time to complete, even if you go fast.

2) Skipping MSQ will unlock dungeons and trials up to 5.0 which can be used to level and gear your character fast if you main a tank or healer. Subsequent classes behind your main also get the armory bonus for 100% extra xp until level 70 and 50% to level 80. The armory bonus also stacks with food and FC buffs.

3) Information and cutscenes you miss in game can be accessed via other methods. There are YouTubers out there who focus specifically on the lore and story of FFVIV. I don't know if he is still making videos but Ethys Asher has some really good ones.

4) Grinding out the main story up to 5.0 will almost certainly burn you out and you will probably quit the game again.

You can level a class to 80 in a fraction of the time it will take you to catch up to the current story. It may not be the most popular opinion, but if you want to enjoy the game, and you're that far behind, I would use the story skip.

Is it REALLY that much? wow.. I'm considering to skip just the ARR part because I am so sick of it. I don't know why. But I'd never buy a story skip that skip a campaign that I've yet to experience (all of the expansions after ARR really.)

Story is part of my personal enjoyment, but having to grind to resume the story isn't my cup of tea, thus my idea of getting the lvl jump. However, ARR story is very super slow.. I mean I have to do set of 3 fillers before the 4th, which is the continuation, that finally resume the real story. 1-3 can be like, grab a bucket-> fill with water -> splash water to someone ->Slay 3 enemies -> bring back their drop -> uh-oh forgot another enemy to get "X" item -> 4th (read: ok2 I'm done making fun of you, so now go to this dungeon LOLOLOLXX)

But I will stick with the ARR story, still, for now. If I reached my boredom point, I'll skip it and will definitely enjoy a fresh campaign on the expansions.

[MistakeNot]

However, ARR story is very super slow..

ARR doesn't really have A story. It has many shorter, interwoven storylines. It is basically just the story of how you go from an unknown adventurer among many to become the famous Warrior of Light - and the life of an adventurer includes doing many things other people just can't be bothered with.
The stories of Heavensward and Stormblood are more focused, even if the individual quests are neither better or worse. (HW is about the ending of the Dragonsong War, while SB is about the liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma)
Note that the story of each expansion actually starts during the late parts of the previous expansion - the HW story for example (as opposed to HW expansion) started as early as patch 2.3 where you can also find some of the early setup for the SB storyline.

[savageink]

First, yeah it is a bit long especially if you are doing alts. Buuuut, the storyline between Praetorium and The beginning of Heavensward is the prologue for Heavensward. Without it you don't get to know Alphinaud or really most of the characters that become important in HW and Stormblood. Just like skipping the post Heavensward stuff would erase half of the set-up for Shadowbringers. Though that also gets started in the post ARR quests. If story is important to you I recommend just doing it. Sidequests not so much. They add depth to some things, but they do tend to keep the important stuff in the MSQ.

[Machi_Machiavelli]

If you're looking to enjoy the MSQ or just learn the game, the level boost can be beneficial. You'll not have to waste gil, or time, on gearing up as the gear you get from the level boost will keep you close to BiS until 70. The ilvl scaling will help while you're learning the job, you'll be able to survive simple mistake that would otherwise kill you in dungeon or trials.

[Frizze]

Ill cosign what the others have said. As long as you dont mind being over-leveled for the story youre playing then a level skip wouldnt be the end of the world. Even just jumping to 60(i dont know if thats still an option, if not 70 obviously serves the same goal) would mean that you should likely never have to stop and grind out a level to continue the story(by the time you get into the stormbringer content the heavensward exp would have gotten you into the mid-upper 60s).

With that said, if im reading you right, you never really got into the post garuda story. In my opinion, thats the best stretch of the 2.0 story(from the garuda fight to the mission into the praetorium). Then things slow down and you enjoy relative peace and quiet(aka a slow point in the story) for patches 2.1 to roughly 2.3. Once the fight with Ramuh is over the story starts really setting up Ishgard and the Dragonsong War in earnest to get you ready for HW. In addition, a lot of back-burner stuff thats been setting up over the last few patches worth of story starts to overheat and the repercussions of it all are still being felt as of the current content. So with that said, i would only story jump to HW as a last resort. A lot of the richness of the story can be lost by missing the details. And while the number of quests to catch all the way up is large, they do go by quickly. Someone who started today and played 2-3 hours most days(say 12-15 a week) would have no trouble catching up to the current story before the devs add anything more.

[BH5432]

As someone who is starting totally fresh. Id say get to where you were again then enjoy the ride. I am quite liking the story so far and am glad I went against buying a skip.

[KRIPTICON]

Is it REALLY that much?

3.0 : 84 quests
3.1-3.56 : 44 quests
4.0 : 122 quests
4.1-4.56 : 40 quests

Total : 290 quests

In addition, consider that there are also mandatory trials and dungeons that you will need to complete that are tied to the main story quest lines.

[Tyjacon]

Leveling is much faster now. I also played ARR to death when it came out.
Just for reference, by the time I finished SB I was already level 80. And that's doing the msq, most of the side quests, a few dozen fates, and a few dozen roulettes.
I never really felt 'gated'. I was, with very few exceptions, usually over the level required to continue.
And I agree, ARR was boring. HW is so much better.