Woah ... Slow down a bit ...

[TheMightyMollusk]

I rolled an alt a month or so ago while in a two-week isolation from COVID (wanted to see the ARR changes and had nothing particularly better to do). Did nothing but MSQ and job quests.

I hit 50 before Stone Vigil, 60 before the Vault, 70 by Bardam's Mettle, and 80 in Qitana Ravel.

It's kinda silly.

[SavishSalacious]

I agree.

I bought an MMO newbie into the game, and was hoping to level moderately slowly so that I could teach them what it was about. Before we could blink it's the end of HW and we are doing alliances and places like the Vault before they even know the difference between an AOE and DOT.

Levelling is way. way, way, way too fast for a new player, even if we skip everything but MSQ. And by the middle of ARR even that leaves us 10 to 20 levels over.

It would be nice if SE had a way we could level very slowly, or even pause and bank XP until we were ready to accept a level and move on.

Maybe it's the time - for those who want it - to end XP based levels and move to quest given levels instead?

No ... This is not what I was saying. You did not read everything did you. I am saying that I am a level 30ish Summoner gated behind MSQQ and only at roughly level 20 or so of the MSQ. I feel like my level should match my MSQ level for my class quests to be appropriately unlocked and follow the MSQ.

As a level 32 summoner, yes I can't really do level 30 dungeons - technically I can, there is an unlock for me in waking sands - you know the dungeon. But my point is, the MSQ leveling is much too generous in comparison to the gil you are rewarded and the class quests you do that are now out of sync with the leveling process.

Leveling doesn't grant you to reach endgame faster, or even to access high level dungeons that require more skill. That's always locked behind the MSQ, and the MSQ is quite long.

...

Combat speed has nothing to do with anything. My complaint, as many before me has said - the amount of ARR msq quests and the time between them because of level gating was way to high. Now its way to small and you don't keep up with other things like unlockable and class quests properly.

Combat isn't slow IMO, it was the amount of XP they would give and then level gate the MSQ. I think they boosted XP to keep people interested and engaged with the main story.

OP is on Marlboro, we are on Faerie. Neither of these are preferred servers, are they? In fact, until recently, Faerie was congested..

Yes I am, but my alt is on Goblin.

Leveling should be fast for your alt jobs or if you're indecisive and keep switching jobs.

....

Also, the faster you level, the faster you get your abilities, and too many people (I'm not one of them) have a problem as it is with having too few skills combined with the GCD.

Heavy GCD classes I can see there issue. As a summoner/BLM (main) I don't have this issue.

I really only have one complaint about the super fast leveling: increase MSQ gil - not by a lot but enough to feel like I am be rewarded appropriately. Maybe I am stupid for requesting that?

[linayar]

I really only have one complaint about the super fast leveling: increase MSQ gil - not by a lot but enough to feel like I am be rewarded appropriately. Maybe I am stupid for requesting that?

They have a static reward for quests, and I think that's the way to go. I don't think you should be rewarded more for doing a quest at a higher level than it was intended for, but I also don't think you should be punished either for outleveling by having decreased reward. So making the same reward regardless of your level is appropriate as they're made for people at certain levels.

Also, gil isn't too important while leveling and you should have enough for doing the MSQ/dungeons, so I think you're already being appropriately rewarded.

[LaylaTsarra]

The idea is to get people through story faster given ARR + 3 xpacs are a lot for new players. Took many of us 6 years to do that content and new players don't want to invest tons of time into a game to catch up. That's not to say they should skip story and so on but allowing for faster progression is exactly what the developers had in mind and overall I think that is a good thing.

Relative to fast progression the one drawback I see is keeping up with gear that might be required for some dungeons depending upon your role (healer/tank in particular). I prefer to use dungeon gear or tome gear for my alts and not spend gil given there are other things I'd like to buy with it - housing for example.

I have an alt for example where I simply skipped the 60 rdm level gear I would have wanted and got 70 level gear instead with my poetics so she'd be ready when she hit 70 which didn't take all that long with the road to 70 buff. 70 level ungraded gear is fine for clearing SHB along with coffer gear and doing beast tribes like pixies. Now leveling for me with the buff centered around running alliance roulette (for which I had only ARR raids unlocked) and main story. I'm only just getting around to running the 70 level raids and that's pretty much because I want to be ready for relic when she hits 80 and clears the main Shadowbringers story.

[Jojoya]

Other than potentially "losing" exp on a capped out class, there's no real downside to being overleveled. Stats are tied to gear, and you won't be using most of your skills before they are needed because A:Most of the important fights are instanced and get level synced and B:Many of your most important job skills are tied to quests, which you won't be able to access early generally speaking.

It's annoying, but it's better than being exp starved IMO. I think they set the exp knowing that a lot of players will want to push through MSQ to the end without needing to stop and grind. When you are at "current", the exp gain is more "normal" when you enter an expansion at launch.

No technical downside but it does create a sense of imbalance in the game, which could make a new player wary of the overall quality.

Even as a veteran player, knowing what the game has to offer, I get a strong sense of "something is wrong with this game" when playing on my new alt. Anyone who's played games where the gear you use is based on the character's level is going to wonder why the game is giving them level 20 gear when their character is level 50.

But as I said this is on a Preferred world. It could feel very differently leveling on a Standard or Congested world without the Road to 70 buff.

The idea is to get people through story faster given ARR + 3 xpacs are a lot for new players.

Giving me 3 times the XP needed to keep pace with the MSQ doesn't get me through MSQ faster. Only a tiny percentage of time spent on the MSQ is for unsynced combat where being overleveled becomes an advantage. Most of the time spent on MSQ is watching cutscenes, reading NPC dialog, traveling between points or doing synced combat in the required dungeons, trials and solo duties.

Technically someone who severely outlevels a trial or dungeon can complete it unsynced - if they have the gear, which they likely won't. A new player won't have the poetic or gil to buy gear their level if they're still working on MSQ that's 20+ levels below their character level.

So back to the problem - leveling faster doesn't speed up MSQ completion, and not completing MSQ will block access to most of the content appropriate to the character's job level. I can't even unlock Beast Tribes yet on my new character because they require MSQ completion through Stone Vigil, which I haven't done yet.

I generally like the design of the game where story is the focus so MSQ is mandatory but I would like it a lot better if the speed at which my character levels matched the pace of the MSQ level. Right now, it doesn't and it feels bad.

[Antonio_Xul]

Yeah, I ran into this problem with a new Alt I created. I just beat Ifrit level 20 as a level 35 Lancer. I still don’t have my stone, just unlocked Sunken Temple of Qarn and if I run it, I know I’ll get $#!+ from the others running the dungeon about my missing job stone. Job stone shouldn’t be locked behind MSQ. I am way over leveled for my gear. Had to buy level 30 gear just to stay within range of my level, so I can run appropriate level dungeons and now I’m super broke, so Gil is a problem, too. It’s too low for our fast leveling. I literally have to buy gear to keep up and that keeps me broke since I don’t get appropriate gear for my level. Something has to be done about this. It’s out of whack!

[SannaR]

They have a static reward for quests, and I think that's the way to go. I don't think you should be rewarded more for doing a quest at a higher level than it was intended for, but I also don't think you should be punished either for outleveling by having decreased reward. So making the same reward regardless of your level is appropriate as they're made for people at certain levels.

Also, gil isn't too important while leveling and you should have enough for doing the MSQ/dungeons, so I think you're already being appropriately rewarded.

They didn't like the amount of gil they spent on their first character as stated in their other thread when they were still wondering how much gil one could get from the MSQ while spending as little as possible. That and wanting to redo the story. Seeing as the gil seemed and still does to be more of their focus I had asked them in that other thread what did they want it for. While also bringing up the point that gil is semi useless. Others also gave tips on how to make some. I was awaiting to see if they'd reply to that thread when I saw they had posted this one.

[SavishSalacious]

They didn't like the amount of gil they spent on their first character as stated in their other thread when they were still wondering how much gil one could get from the MSQ while spending as little as possible. That and wanting to redo the story. Seeing as the gil seemed and still does to be more of their focus I had asked them in that other thread what did they want it for. While also bringing up the point that gil is semi useless. Others also gave tips on how to make some. I was awaiting to see if they'd reply to that thread when I saw they had posted this one.

I am so sorry if I didn’t respond to you. And yes you are correct. I was curious, with some limitations, for those curious, as too how much Gil I could make. I knew they shortened the story for ARR by a few quests and gave you a boost to exp, but I didn’t know it was this drastic. I didn’t know it was going to be doubled the amount.

So not only do I have this road to seventy, but add on the “rested bonus” and any food, any rings, any additional bonuses one might encounter and just do the MSQ, class quests, no side content aside from a couple unlocks and yes, as dungeons unlock you get better Gil and gear, the exp rises so high to the point, as others have said: I’m entering msq dungeons with out my job stone because it’s gated.

I might speak too soon on the wanting more Gil for the msq. I say that because as dungeons begin to open, the gear and Gil flys in, so what do I want wit( this Gil if it’s so useless? I want to not be afraid to teleport, but a house (should that ever happen) and level other classes eventually and we all know you need gear for those other classes. Gear means market board and market board means Gil. Even merchants mean Gil.

So far my Gil hasn’t been an issue as I continue in the quests and watch where I teleport to and use appropriate vesper tickets of super far away. Stuck behind a level 20 msq at level 33 and I can’t get my mounts, can’t get my job stone.

I don’t mind the “here’s the exp so you are not gated behind the level for ARR story line” but I plan to do all the raids and dungeons and really play this right, unlock every thing at 50, do all the extra content before moving onto HW. I could see being 60 before I start the next msq if I go that route. Levels should be a “I am rewarded for accomplishing the training I have done over a period of time”.

The way it was, was too slow.
The way it is now, too fast.

Align the class quests with the msq until at least level 30.

This gives new players the time to learn their rotation more slowly as more skills come in. Maybe keep this up till 50, that would allow new players to learn their rotation.

[linayar]

Even as a veteran player, knowing what the game has to offer, I get a strong sense of "something is wrong with this game" when playing on my new alt. Anyone who's played games where the gear you use is based on the character's level is going to wonder why the game is giving them level 20 gear when their character is level 50.

They'll just have to adjust to how this game works. Gear is an actual static piece of equipment and not something that changes, for the most part, and there's nothing wrong with that and, in fact, that's how I prefer gears to be in a game.

Giving me 3 times the XP needed to keep pace with the MSQ doesn't get me through MSQ faster. Only a tiny percentage of time spent on the MSQ is for unsynced combat where being overleveled becomes an advantage. Most of the time spent on MSQ is watching cutscenes, reading NPC dialog, traveling between points or doing synced combat in the required dungeons, trials and solo duties.

Technically someone who severely outlevels a trial or dungeon can complete it unsynced - if they have the gear, which they likely won't. A new player won't have the poetic or gil to buy gear their level if they're still working on MSQ that's 20+ levels below their character level.

So back to the problem - leveling faster doesn't speed up MSQ completion, and not completing MSQ will block access to most of the content appropriate to the character's job level. I can't even unlock Beast Tribes yet on my new character because they require MSQ completion through Stone Vigil, which I haven't done yet.

I generally like the design of the game where story is the focus so MSQ is mandatory but I would like it a lot better if the speed at which my character levels matched the pace of the MSQ level. Right now, it doesn't and it feels bad.

But what problem does outleveling the MSQ give you? The problem here seems to be with your perception rather than anything to do in the game itself.

I might speak too soon on the wanting more Gil for the msq. I say that because as dungeons begin to open, the gear and Gil flys in, so what do I want wit( this Gil if it’s so useless? I want to not be afraid to teleport, but a house (should that ever happen) and level other classes eventually and we all know you need gear for those other classes. Gear means market board and market board means Gil. Even merchants mean Gil.

A few things:

- You don't rely on just the MSQ to get you gil for housing.
- Gear does not mean marketboard, at least for combat jobs. Unless you're doing hardcore Savage prog and want to get that HQ crafted combat gear, you never need to use the marketboard to get gear.
- You don't rely on just the MSQ to get you gil for non-combat gear.
- Teleport and repair should be more than covered by the MSQ.

[TheMightyMollusk]

From 1-50, you can get sufficient leveling gear from vendors, or from previous dungeons (remember, you're now guaranteed at least one piece of job-appropriate gear at the end of a leveling dungeon). And from Heavensward on, you're gated by MSQ progression on dungeons anyway. There's no real need to spend tons of gil unless you really want it for glamour.