Skill level necessary to clear HW MSQ content

[Townowi]

This game made me feel that the difficulty jump between ARR MSQ content and HW MSQ content is big enough to consider halting the MSQ until I can consistently pull my weight in ARR EX trials and/or savage Coils of Bahamut before I can be considered ready to proceed to HW MSQ on a purely skill basis.

To be clear I expected HW MSQ to be harder than ARR MSQ, and much harder (at least as hard as clearing ARR EX primals unsynched, but with a party full of Lv60s that used only gear from the HW MSQ, and at most as hard as a full-clear of savage BCoB under the same conditions; I still feel these pose significant challenges)

Just how hard is HW MSQ content compared to ARR MSQ content anyway?

[Hysterior]

MSQ is never hard... maybe you are under-geared?

[ItMe]

MSQ is always significantly easier than EX, let alone Savage content. No one should have to train for it
What part(s) of MSQ are you struggling with?

[Iscah]

Most importantly, what gear are you equipped with and which content are you attempting to clear?

EX primals and the Binding Coil are far above the expected skill level for Heavensward. Just because they sequentially come before it doesn't mean you have to be able to do them before you can "move on".

The average player won't tackle Coil without a party of overlevelled people and still may wipe due to certain mechanics.

[Townowi]

I acknowledge gear counts for something. However I don't think gearing contributes to my issues much, I run the class quest armor and with some Ironwork accessories and main weapon (total I-lvl as of this writing: 100).

What I dread now, even with what I feel is decent gear for ARR MSQ content, is the trials. In several trials I was the only one who got killed (Ifrit HM, Titan HM, Thornmarch) so I assumed that not only the others had more experience, but more skill also, with several people that ran the EX of it, and killed it synced.

That, right here, is a red flag, and bridging the skill gap would require me to consistently pull my weight in killing EX primals at a minimum, and synced.

As for dungeons, I can decently run a few of the non-MSQ ones at lv50 but I fear that won't affect whether I have the skill required to defeat Bismarck (or other HW MSQ trials) because my past experiences with primals led me to believe that I can't.

[Eclipse12187]

As far as gearing goes, the MSQ gives you some decent ilvl gear but ironworks (and augmented ironworks) will be the best you can easily get. HW base gear is ilvl 115, so anything around that level or better is ideal. To note augmented ironworks gear ilvl is on par with HW msq up until around level 56.

As far as your dying goes if you were new to those fights it’s entirely possible to have deaths in there, high level gear does mitigate some of that but experience, especially with several year old content like that, is the big divider. The exception to that being low ilvl in thornmarch, I’ve seen reports on here about people at ilvl dying from his ult. Either way keep pushing the content, update gear as you can. Weapon will be your most important upgrade in terms of damage done and healed, followed by your chest and leg pieces.

[MistakeNot]

I acknowledge gear counts for something. However I don't think gearing contributes to my issues much, I run the class quest armor and with some Ironwork accessories and main weapon (total I-lvl as of this writing: 100).

What I dread now, even with what I feel is decent gear for ARR MSQ content, is the trials. In several trials I was the only one who got killed (Ifrit HM, Titan HM, Thornmarch) so I assumed that not only the others had more experience, but more skill also, with several people that ran the EX of it, and killed it synced.

While general skill in playing your character does matter, another thing that matters very much is knowing the encounter. If you die the first time you run a certain trial, then that means nothing.
Once you have run a particular trial a dozen times or so you will do better, because you will know the mechanics. You will know where it is safe to stand. You will know where to go when the boss does a certain attack.

[ItMe]

What I dread now, even with what I feel is decent gear for ARR MSQ content, is the trials.

Nope.
Get augmented ironworks (with poetics) and it'll be better than the gear in the first half of heavensward.

[Iscah]

I acknowledge gear counts for something. However I don't think gearing contributes to my issues much, I run the class quest armor and with some Ironwork accessories and main weapon (total I-lvl as of this writing: 100).

That is absolutely contributing to your issues, if not being the entire cause of them.

i90 class-quest armour is well below your expected minimum for Heavensward.

Your MSQ quests will be rewarding you with i115 HQ gear. This is your bare minimum starter level for equipment. Ideally you either keep up with this gear or you purchase and augment Ironworks gear which will take you through to midway through Heavensward.

It doesn't matter how long you spend learning high-tier fights in post-ARR because they will not improve your stats one bit - except perhaps from picking up gear in the later Coils. But you'd need to gear up to survive those too.

[Townowi]

Right now I am contemplating halting the MSQ altogether and just focus on getting EX primals done synced as well as the Coil (especially savage, from which I will get the greatest skill gains, especially if done synced). Only once I can get that stuff done with any consistency may I resume the MSQ.