Hi! I'm new to the game and needing some advice.

[Frizze]

So about that housing quest. Theres a separate version of that quest in each of the 4 cities that have housing districts. What that quest does is show you the housing district(since you have to go inside to finish it), and it lets you use the big aetheryte in the city to teleport straight to any specific ward in that cities district without having to travel there by foot(if the city has a "shortcut" to the district other then the aetheryte, this also is unlocked by the quest). If your friend is hosting an event at their house in Lavender Beds ward 16, plot 9(random plot), you could use the aetheryte to pick ward 16 right from the center of town, rather then traveling to the docks and getting on a ferry to the proper place. Is doing this quest necessary? Not at all, but it doesnt hurt anything. If you eventually decide to try to buy a house it will greatly aid you, but this is likely a long way off.

As for "misable content", there isnt too much to worry about. The most important things are the unlock quests, but not unlocking something the second it becomes available doesnt mean you cant unlock it later. It just means it might not have the same impact. To pick an example, theres an optional dungeon around level 20(Halitali near Ul Dah). If you unlock it right away at level, it gives you an extra dungeon to level up in. If you dont unlock it until level 50 you can still go run it, it just wasnt available to help you at 20 is all. The most important unlocks... well that depends a bit on the player. Someone who doesnt like dungeons wont care about the optional ones for instance. In general id say the Challenge Log, the companion, the casino, and glamour are the most important. Glamour is the ability to change the appearance of your gear without affecting its stats. Make a strong ugly armor look pretty. This is unlocked in Vespar Bay(the story will send you there around level 20). The casino(based on the gold saucer from FF7) is just a place to play a bunch of mini games(casino money cant be changed into normal money, so all you are playing for is casino prizes and not actual cash - casino prizes are mounts, glamours, emotes, minions, music rolls, and other cosmetic-like things). The unlock for this is near the aether plaza in Ul Dah, and it becomes available once airship travel is unlocked. The Challenge Log is a list of in game challenges that you can do once per week for related rewards. Did you complete a combat challenge? Heres more exp. A casino challenge? Heres some casino currency. A crafting challenge? Heres crafting exp. You are going to naturally complete several challenges every week without making a special effort just through normal playing, might as well get extra rewards(including gil) for it. This unlocks in Limsa near the bar, also when airship travel becomes available. And finally the companion. This is special training that allows your basic chocobo mount(youll get this via story around level 20) to learn to fight alongside you on the overworld. This is unlocked around level 30 in the South Shroud(the story will take you there naturally). The companion matches your combat level(if your character is level 40 so is your bird), but it gains skill levels(you determine how to spend these skill points with 3 paths for tanking healing and damage) based on how often you use it(the challenge log has 2 companion entries which help to level its skills up faster) so the earlier and more often you take advantage of it the better it will be in the long run.

A side note, dont worry too much about keeping old items. If its a quest reward you can only get once, theres an NPC in town(the calamity salvager in each starting town) who sells old quest rewards you might have lost(most replacements from him are either 100 or 1000 gil). The only thing from an early level id actually worry about keeping is the ring you get for completing the Smith adventurer training(the exp-bonus ring Iscah mention in the first reply). I guess your starting clothes are worth keeping too(that way if you start a new class you arent stuck naked until you get some actual gear for it), but those are easily replaced from a merchant in each starting city if you do happen to lose them.

And finally, remember that you are allowed to learn multiple classes(up to all of them in fact) on the same character. If you have a look and name you like, just play until youve completed your level 10 class quest and you can switch to any other class you like if you arent happy with the one you have now. You dont lose much for starting over at first, but once youve got a few hours in and earned some rewards its often better to swap rather then start over.