ARR: new player perspective

[Barraind]

ARR's msq steps being unbearable, especially after 3 sets of ability prune, is a pretty common theme.

I heartily recommend story and level skips to anyone I know from other MMO's that want to play, at this point. The first 55 levels are an extended, drawn-out tutorial now, and in an inverse of every other game in the genre, are more than half the time spent leveling to 80 if you just want to hit 80 (and its significantly less painful to do on an alt on a preferred server with a set of +xp equipment at a later date)

Fun fact also: I managed to unlock the Gunbreaker before the Machinist... (and that looks like a slap in your face)

SB and ShB classes just require the appropriate level + 2.0 completion.

You could unlock Red Mage and Samurai before you were close to the end of the ARR story if they didnt require completing Praetorium. (and if you only played when you had rested xp, you could possibly squeak out Gunbreaker and Dancer with enough +xp sources)

HW classes require you to be in Ishgard, which is anywhere from 6 to 15 levels worth of XP away from the end of praetorium.