Tell me it gets better...

[Samsquanch]

Ok, I'm lv 40 right now and really starting to struggle with staying interested. All I've done is main quests and class quests. Level 40 doing lv 35ish quests. All dungeons I do I've outleveled so I can't really even use the skills I've unlocked.
I'm basically healing with spells below what I've unlocked in dungeons 5 to 6 levels below me. The pace of experience far outweighs the quests I'm on. Like I said only main quests and class quests, no side quests at all.
So far the main quests have been repetitive, boring and it seems like there's entirely to many. At this point I just want it to be over. Investigate this, talk to this guy, fast travel, talk to another guy, click on something, fight something 5 levels below me for whatever reason. It's a slog and not in the least bit fun..
The server is packed and there's people everywhere which is a good sign. Just tell the game gets fun at some point, because right now I don't see it. I can't imagine leveling an alt and having to slog through hours of complete monotony and boredom. I guess you can buy a potion to skip main quest, which should tell you something right there. Maybe this was by design.
Anyway, just chime in if the boring slog is worth it in the endgame, because right now i just need a reason to drive on...

[Zaddi]

It was a few years ago, but I think I got interested in the story around lv 40-45 (MSQ level, not my own level). By the time I reached heavensward, I was hooked, and from there, it only got better Then it only got better from there on. The start of the game is somewhat slow, though. I liked it better when I replayed it on alts, since things made more sense when I knew what was goign to happen later in the story, which made the later parts better too (if that makes sense)

[Jeeqbit]

Think of the sync system as syncing down to the rotation of the expansion that content is from. At higher levels it means you don't have to yearn to be able to go back to a previous expansion because a lot of the rotation is preserved when you sync. It's also necessary to put you on equal footing to people who are the same level as the dungeon.

Your real level is the level of the main story quest because you don't have access to much content that is a higher level than it.

If you aren't enjoying the story at the level 40 quests then I am afraid to tell you that beyond level 50 there is an expansion's worth of patch quests, 3 expansions and their patch quests, and an upcoming expansion in 2 and a half months. It's a giant story that spans multiple expansions, so unless you are watching the cut scenes and reading the text it will feel like you are going from one location to the next and be very boring.

The only thing that changes is the expansion stories are more linear so you are not teleporting from one side of the world to the other much and because the characters are established from the start of the game, they can use them to do more interesting things than what you experience right now.

Of course the game gets fun, you can already do a lot of things at level 17 such as Palace of the Dead, the Gold Saucer, seasonal events, roleplaying and hanging out with people. At level 30 you can pvp. At the max level of each expansion you can do all of the endgame content for it, so at level 50 you can do all of the trials, raids and relics, then again at level 60, 70 and 80. If you have a lot of time to waste, collecting things like mounts is a good way to go because they are usually locked behind different types of interesting content and grinds that keep you busy for years.

You don't need to level alts because you can play all classes on the same character.

[Kraniel]

I personally skipped through the whole story because at some point it was just too much (didn't buy a skip, just started hammering those keys). That said, the general consensus seems to be : The story actually gets quite good once you hit Heavensward.
If you don't care about the story, well ... the game is story-heavy so let's just say you'll have a lot of stuff to skip through
If you care about the story, then yes, it gets better.

Edit : And for me the endgame PvE is absolutely god tier which is why i come back to FFXIV every once in a while. Though i will also give another shot to the story when Endwalker comes out.

[Neoyoshi]

Each individual player has some invested interest; for me it's fishing, for someone else it's the gold saucer; for another person it's the treasure hunting, for another it's a whole sub-set of different things put together.

It's possible that you may have yet to find the thing in Eorzea that hooks into you; but this game has a lot of hooks.

It's also important to note, that this game is very much a gigantic onion- and each time a small piece is peeled back; new content is discovered. But so much of the game is hidden away inside those onion peels, and players simply have to take the time and devote to peeling back to find something they might enjoy.

Now Final Fantasy XIV isn't a themepark, a new player won't find very much instant gratification (at least not at the beginning of the onion); instead the game asks to go on a very long journey with you- and well.. A Realm Reborn is quite the journey.

Getting through ARR is sort of like a testament to how much new players are willing to stick with FFXIV in the future going forward.

[Frizze]

So if im reading you right, it sounds like you are probly on the "Company of Heroes" portion of the MSQ. While basically nothing is universally agreed on, almost everyone would tell you that is the low point of the ARR storyline(if not the entire FF 14 storyline). So if youre at one of the lowest points the story goes to, then yes it must get better. This section of the story ends in the games 2nd trial fight, and while i wont go into details for spoiler reasons the story picks up soon too. So yes, story wise it gets better.

Now as to whether the game gets "fun at some point", i dont know you. I cant say for certain anything other then that a lot of other people find it fun, so you might too. There is a lot of variety of content in the game(as Neoyoshi points out), so that helps too. If one thing doesnt grab you, there are a lot of others to try. Some you could go try now(PvP, Gold Saucer, etc), some youll have to wait a bit to unlock(raids, endgame trials, etc).

And two quick points. If being overleveled bothers you, its advised to level a 2nd class. For most of the game, there is enough exp to keep 2 classes up to speed or close to it - especially if your character was made with the Road to 70 buff. Already being 40, the easy choice would probly be to wait until you hit 50 and then unlock one or both of the classes that start at 50(Red Mage and Samurai) and use them to split up your exp going forward. As for the story skip potion, those were added when they started adding expansions so that players who REALLY wanted to could get right to the new content. For some people they are worth it(though a lot of those same people then complain that they dont understand the story later when it starts referring back to the things they skipped over), but obviously not for everyone.

[SirCadogan]

I to am in the 40s, it sucks. Having played a lot of MMO’s I know not to judge a game by its leveling experience. I remember joining wow at the launch of BC. The long slog to level 70 had me wanting to quit but I stuck it out and had several years of fun. Once I was in a raiding guild I was able to level with those people in the next xpacs etc…

I’m new to FF and know no one, I just stick it out. For me I got hooked on Black Mage. I’ve never been a DPS in an MMO before, the way mama works for the BLM is way to much fun. I love it!!!!! To me BLM is how other mmo need to run mages.

I’m sticking it out because I know end game will be worth it. I know a new xpac is on the way so I’m just getting myself set up for that.

[Ajantisz]

The questing in FF14 blows, especially in ARR. The game is cluttered with gopher or fetch quests with no actual reason to invest in them or their outcome. The FF14 quest design really leaves a lot to be desired. It will get less tedious in terms of quests that send you 3 zones away to talk to someone then go all the way back, or go 3 zones away and click a doodad that starts a 5-10 sec timer then you go all the way back - they seemed to have a real disrespect for players time in ARR. A lot of the quests you see in ARR are shortened too, probably why the game was unsuccessful in 1.0. The MSQ has been described as a visual novel though more than actual questing or gameplay, you just have to do tedious garbage often to turn the page...

As I said, these quests thin out a bit in the later expansions, they don't disappear though, there is plenty of quests still that don't respect your time and give no reason to invest in their completion other than you have to do them to move to the next step int eh MSQ and expansions.

I will say stick it out though, ARR is definitely the worst experience of it all, where there is a lot of bad in FF14 there is still really more good, they just don't tell story that well quite frequently (often having events that make no sense occur - I am playing Save the Queen quest currently and have just had an NPC do a bunch of stuff that there was ZERO foreshadowing of or explanation of how they were able to do it in the moment or how they could have developed the capacity to do it given the lead up events - it is really poor writing, on the level of amateur fanfiction writer level) even if people laud them for the writing. The overall story is good in my opinion and worth the play through, just get used to getting annoyed at some parts or feeling like you are having your time wasted to get to the good bits (some of it feels like they were stretching 40 hours into 50 hours).

Fortunately the MSQ isnt the majority of the game, everything else in the sandbox is good, especially a lot of the art in later expansions.

The alt job experience isn't that bad, you get crazy experience buffs depending on how much higher level your max level job is to the new one, and there are many ways to level them relatively quickly if a bit grindy using the duty roulette, palace of the dead, and squadrons. If you are level 80 though your experience will be up to 350-450% higher on the alt jobs to get to level 50 at least (accounting for a range of buffs). For the best alt job levelling it may be best to wait, or split the MSQ experience which is super high between alt jobs. If you started on a "new player" server where there is a +100% experience bonus it is even easier and always log out in a sanctuary (towns basically) for rested experience.

Stick with it, it improves and majority of the endgame has nothing to do with MSQ except where it unlocks the first stage of things.

[Simhqe]

I think the reason leveling characters in this are "boring/tedious" is because then they can sell those "max" level boost on their store. People wouldnt buy those packs if you could enjoy leveling characters/jobs in this.

[Jeeqbit]

I think the reason leveling characters in this are "boring/tedious" is because then they can sell those "max" level boost on their store. People wouldnt buy those packs if you could enjoy leveling characters/jobs in this.

Those did not used to exist, and leveling a character is easy and can be done extremely quickly so buying a boost is pointless.

The only thing that takes a long time is the main story and the reason it costs money to skip it is because they don't want you to skip it. It's a story-driven game.