So I "speedran" 5 fresh characters to Endwalker+

[Syalyx]

As the title states, I was crazy enough to attempt to go for the fastest time possible for a full MSQ (ARR, Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, up-to-date patch 6.2 Endwalker) speedrun simply just for fun.

⚠ This post contains spoilers, click links at your own risk⚠

Here are my results:

First character was a Monk with a start-finish completion time of 4 days, 8 hours, 44 minutes up to patch 6.1.
Second character was a Ninja with a start-finish completion time of 4 days, 2 hours, and 24 minutes up to 6.1.
Third character was a Black Mage with a start-finish completion time of 3 days, 16 hours, 12 minutes up to 6.1.
Fourth character was a Paladin with a start-finish completion time of 3 days, 2 hours and 16 minutes up to patch 6.1.
And last but not least, a White Mage with (I'm pretty sure might be a world record) a staggering start-finish completion time of 2 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes up to patch 6.2.


The rules I made for myself since I couldn't find them anywhere on the internet:

1. Must be a fresh character
2. Must have proof of completion of the last dungeon per-expansion while still on the dungeon quest (can be a screenshot upon completion or video while running the dungeon) Check the youtube video link below as an example
3. CANNOT PURCHASE EXPANSION COMPLETIONS OR LEVEL BOOSTS
4. Solo Duty Finder Queuing ALL MSQ dungeons/trials EXCEPT for The Mothercrystal in Endwalker (My reasoning for this was: If you think you're "good" enough to speedrun an MMORPG or what I'd like to consider FFXIV, and RPG first with MMO elements, you're good enough to help/assist players along the way with ease without any issues) which is the only instance in which you can use Trust bots. Also, players are capable of pulling more than bots. The only negative from this rule is duty queue times, but that won't matter if you're a healer which I recommend.
5. Must be able to provide proof at will of having the Scion Adventurers/Travelers armor sets.
6. Must be able to provide screenshots of time completion times of the complete ARR, Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, up-to-date current patch of Endwalker (the point in which the music of QUEST ACCEPTED changes in-between progression of expansions if you think it's "world record" worthy) Check links below as an example
7. Job swapping is allowed. ie: WHM to Sage
8. Runs are purely based off of /playtime (please take breaks and don't try to do it all in one sitting)
9. Market is allowed.

Proof Examples:
⚠ SPOILER⚠
Paladin, Black Mage, Ninja, Monk 6.1 Completions ⚠(This is a Twitter link)⚠
WHM Expansion Completions Proof Example ⚠(This is a Twitter link)⚠
WHM 6.2 Proof Example ⚠(This is a Twitter image link)⚠
WHM Stormblood Last Dungeon Completion Proof Example ⚠(This is a YouTube link)⚠
⚠ SPOILER⚠

I hope this format can be used as a baseline for future speedruns, it's just a different way to play and enjoy the game. =) GLHF

[Clover_Blake]

This is awesome, hahahaha. I wish I had the time to do the same and just play FFXIV nonstop, sounds like fun!
(I'm a bit slow leveling my own alts).

[Syalyx]

This is awesome, hahahaha. I wish I had the time to do the same and just play FFXIV nonstop, sounds like fun!
(I'm a bit slow leveling my own alts).

It is fun! To me, it was just something else to do once I was weekly capped on my main character for the week.

[hydralus]

Did you grab aethercurrents? No idea if it's actually faster to grab them or just move onto the next area.

[Missbone]

Grats to that, here have a cookie. As next challenge you could try to find a job.

[Syalyx]

Did you grab aethercurrents? No idea if it's actually faster to grab them or just move onto the next area.

You're absolutely correct! Because you aren't in one zone for too long, it never made sense for me to grab any aethercurrents.
However now that I think about it, the only zone it would make sense to try that method at is the "Kholusia" area outside of Eulmore in Shadowbringers while waiting in queue for Mt. Gulg and The Crown of the Immaculate.

[DixieBellOCE]

So yeah people going "OMG ISLAND LOCKED BEHIND MSQ THAT WILL TAKE FOREVER FOR ALTS"

This guy just shuts them up.

[Toutatis]

So yeah people going "OMG ISLAND LOCKED BEHIND MSQ THAT WILL TAKE FOREVER FOR ALTS"

This guy just shuts them up.

While I personally don’t care if IS is unlocked only at lvl 90 (I do have it unlocked on my main but not in a rush to get there on other toons), speed running and skipping cutscenes, not doing any type of side content (not even glamours!) and having to come back in areas to unlock currents at a later time is not everyone’s cup of tea. Also, the first run was still 57 hours which is more or less the amount of time I play per month.

I am doing the very opposite as op on a toon, taking the time to do a lot of side content on an alt. It is very slow but I find it enjoyable and relaxing and I am picking up new things in the story I didn’t pay attention to the first time around.

Good for op if he likes it though.

That being said, if I were going to measure the time it takes to do a speedrun, I’d use trusts/duty support whenever available as queue times can very greatly, not just depending on role but on the server you’re on and on times at which you play.

[hydralus]

So yeah people going "OMG ISLAND LOCKED BEHIND MSQ THAT WILL TAKE FOREVER FOR ALTS"

This guy just shuts them up.

I don't think 70+ hours is a short time. That's longer than most videogames. I mean they have unlockable hairstyles you can't put on the marketboard in the Gold Saucer and it takes maybe an hour to unlock that.

[Rilifane]

So yeah people going "OMG ISLAND LOCKED BEHIND MSQ THAT WILL TAKE FOREVER FOR ALTS"

This guy just shuts them up.

No, he doesn't but of course someone had to come along and attempt to derail a thead about having fun by playing the game in a highly unusual way and setting MSQ speedrun records to poke fun at people that disagreed with them.
Speedrunning means skipping cutscenes, ignoring all side content, ignoring aether currents while pushing and rushing through everything. Unless you are saying that is a completely normal and enjoyable way to play for most people with alts, I call BS.

But on to topic: I'm impressed. I'm not surprised healer was fastest as their queue times are incredibly short so that takes out a lot of potential idle time but less than 3 days is extremely short. While skipping cutscene takes out the majority of the time it still requires pushing in other areas too. Even simple things like having to look for the right aetheryrte to teleport to add up over the course of the MSQ. Did you generally played during prime times while doing the speedrun? Or odd times too? Asking because Toutatis made a valid point with the queue times varying greatly.