Quote Originally Posted by Omedon View Post
The MSQ should also gear you (at least on one job) for every next step. For me this was the case until the end of HW which is a SERIOUS oversight because it happened again at the tail end of Stormblood. That also needs to be fixed. For the new player, whose goal is potentially/likely to play with friends at the level cap, stopgaps of "go get gear" before that cap are shoddy design. I spent gil, then clued in about tomestones, but still, that was a weakness in the flow of the game.
The game does give you enough gear to get through the old patches though-you get coffers from your job quests and the patch quests themselves with high enough ilevel gear to finish the patch story. Unless you accidentally take ones for the wrong class.
You only need to grind gear once you reach the current end game.

On the overall subject I think road to 70 is overkill honestly. I started an alt on a road to 70 server and it hit 30 during copperbell mines (a level 17 quests). On occasion I've seen new players complain about severely outleveling the story because they can't do their expansion job quests to learn new skills until they reach the expansion story. And some find it awkward to be wearing gear far below their level since the quest rewards are so far beneath them.

I think it should stay as a bonus for people interested in it to help populate low pop servers. The normal leveling rate is fine, especially if you enjoy checking out the side content.