New player | How do I endure Main Story Quests?

[Peath_Saine]

Hi, I've started recently as a Pugilist in a desert starting zone and while the story there was semi interesting at times while being boring at others...

Regardless I've reached lv24, got to go to Gridania and... It's just boring.
I've leveled Arcanist to the current level by doing FATE's and Levequest & dungeons and it was so much more fun to just grind those.

Is a Main Story Questing essential or can I just disregard it and just level up more entertaining way?
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I'm stuck in Gridania part of MSQ for a week now, and I've only done 3 of those in that time. If it'll continue my sub will gonna run out and so far I don't see a charm in continuing.

Is MSQ so bad or is it just FFXIV not a title for me?
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Also I've heard in some YT video about MSQ overhaul incoming? Where can I find info of when it's going to be live?

PS: A WoW Refugee.

[Gula]

The MSQ is the meat of the game and absolutely essential if you want to understand anything moving forward. You're also nearing one of the worst parts of the MSQ. Push through, and forget those leves. I got invested around level 38 to which you reach Coerthas. Which had a different scenario writer. Do daily roulettes and you'll never have to grind otherwise, because if you're over leveled, you'll just be synced down anyway.

(Also there's a ring you get from completing the Hall of Novice that boosts exp if you're under lv30 which is useful for leveling alt jobs)

The overhaul will cover post 2.0 which is a loooong quest chain on the road to Heavensward.

If you get to level 40 (which will come sooner than you think if you just keep playing) and don't care, that's understandable. But ARR is notably bland in comparison to content in its evolved state.

[Enkidoh]

Welcome to Eorzea!

To answer both your questions, sadly most of the game's content are locked behind main scenario quests (the idea was to guide the player gradually into everything the game has to offer). Unfortunately this meant there is a lot of filler quests during the main scenario which things do indeed drag a lot.

Unfortunately the only way to skip all that at the moment is to purchase a 'story skip potion' from the Mogstation which changes all main scenario quests as complete and thus unlocks everything to the end of the main scenario for the relevant expansion the story skip is for. This does also unfortunately mean you miss a lot of the story development that takes place early on which helps set up things much later in the game and which make better sense in context as Gula mentioned above, so if you are interested in the actual story, I don't reccomended this option.

The development team are in the process of cutting out the filler quests in the ARR main scenario which you're on meaning the main story will be streamlined considerably, but unfortunately the patch that will be adding that won't be added for at least another month due to the current pandemic forcing the development team to adapt to working from home which has delayed the next content patch. So have patience, things will improve!

And the main story quest isn't bad at all, it does just have a lot of filler in it where there is just a lot of busywork with little happening narrative wise, but if you stick at it things do eventually improve (and SE did learn from their mistake, the main scenario in the later expansions doesn't have anywhere near such filler and things are much more enjoyable, so it's just the beginning really that things are like that). So keep at it! You'll soon get to heaven after going through all that hell!

[VictorTheed]

The next patch, 5.3, is when there doing a story overhaul for a realm reborn story only, patch should be out in July or August but the date is not set yet.

You can always get u a story skip potion on the mogstation if you're not interested in story, towards the lvl 38 part of story and towards the end of a realm reborn it gets interesting, from heavensward and in it's amazing but if story isn't your thing buy a skip potion on the mogstation.

Plus if u like grinding then unlock palace of the Dead in new gridania by taking a quest called the house that death built, palace of the dead is a good way to lvl grind or try out other jobs as well.

[Peath_Saine]

Plus if u like grinding then unlock palace of the Dead in new gridania by taking a quest called the house that death built, palace of the dead is a good way to lvl grind or try out other jobs as well.

You've picked my interest. Thank you good sir.

[VictorTheed]

You're welcome sir, plus the more dungeons you unlock the more roullets u can do which gives exp, you probably already have lvl'n roulette unlocked.

Plus if you end up making it to stormblood there is more content like palace of the dead called heaven on high, plus another grindy thing you can do is your weekly challenge log, it rewards exp and gil I think, there is lots of grindy stuff to do in this game, stay in there and you'll see it all.

[Iscah]

Note that grinding in Palace of the Dead will raise your character level but will do nothing for progressing you through the game, besides gaining access to a handful of Lv20-50 side dungeons (and maybe some additional jobs if you own the expansions).

Everything else is dependent on MSQ progress: new dungeons, access to expansion areas, game features.

But yeah, if you enjoy running FATEs and Palace then you could spend a lot of time on those without having to progress elsewhere.

[Frizze]

If we count Palace of the Dead as a dungeon(its... special), there are 6 dungeons you can unlock without progressing the story*. The MSQ for the base game(not counting expansions) will take you to(and thus unlock) 11 dungeons. Additionally, it gates access to 15 more optional dungeons behind completing a specific quest(the one that ended the original 2.0 release of the game). The MSQ will also send you through 3 mini-trials and 10 actual trials(big boss fights without an attached dungeon) - all optional trials are also gated by completing the base game(as are both sets of raids). All of this is my way of saying, if youve been enjoying the dungeons(and similar content) you get access to a lot more of them through the MSQ then without it.

As for the MSQ itself, it starts slow. The MSQ tells the story of how your character went from a wandering adventurer no one knew to the savior of the world. How does that happen? You start helping out with small problems, eventually get noticed by some big fish, asked to tackle larger problems, and so on until the fate of the world(literally it turns out) depends on your actions. Which is to say, the story gets better. There are peaks, there are lulls, but basically everyone agrees it gets better. And yes, it has been announced that the next patch(currently shooting for mid-late july) will include some changes to the MSQ. Dont think of this as a magic bullet. Theyre making some trims and adjustments, but we've been told itll amount to something like a 13% reduction.

*Unlocking Palace of the Dead itself requires you to go a little into the story. I believe it becomes an option once the MSQ has unlocked its 3rd dungeon.

[Peath_Saine]

Right - I give up.
42h total playtime up to this moment, can't force myself anymore.
I feel burned out already, I just give up.

I'd like to say game was fun but it really wasn't so far.
I'd most likely give it one more try after Patch 5.3 revamp - but yeah.
I don't know how you all managed through it ('^_^)

The only nice thing about the game I can say is community, that part I enjoyed a bit.
Thank you for your reply's and I wish you wonderfull time in whatever it is you're doing.

Best regards,
Peath.

[MistakeNot]

I'd like to say game was fun but it really wasn't so far.
I'd most likely give it one more try after Patch 5.3 revamp - but yeah.
I don't know how you all managed through it ('^_^)

How we managed? Very simple - most of us thought it was fun.
If you dislike the story so much then this is clearly not a game for you.