Do you complete side quests in your 1st run through a new Expansion?

[Hycinthus]

Do you complete side quests in your 1st run through a new Expansion?

Dawntrail is releasing soon, and I'm contemplating this.

In the past, I've skipped all side-quests in Endwalker, because I wanted to save them for when I level up my secondary jobs.

However, as I understand, I am missing a lot of lore from those side-quests, especially as they should be enjoyed and savored when you are going through those zones the 1st time around.

What do you guys do?
- Do you do side quests on your 1st run through a newly released zone?
- Does it matter? Is the lore good enough for this? Or it doesn't matter and you can save it for your 2nd run through for XP reward for your secondary jobs?

[MistakeNot]

I always do side-quests in parallell with the MSQ, so I get them at the right points in the story.
Instead of saving them for leveling a second job later, I usually level two or more jobs in parallell so the xp aren't wasted.

This also happens to have the side-benefit of reducing the total amount of travel needed, since I don't need to go back and travel all over each zone a second time.

[kaynide]

I typically skip all non-essential side quests (anything not connected to unlocking content/flying/etc) until well after MSQ. The XP given is paltry and the story content is very hit and miss, so I’m generally not motivated to do side quests unless I really liked the locale. I guess what I mean is, it is more of a pleasant surprise when a sidequest grabs my attention..which is a shame.

At some point (usually like a year into the expac) I get tired of all the map icon clutter and start doing them.

[Hycinthus]

I always do side-quests in parallell with the MSQ, so I get them at the right points in the story.
Instead of saving them for leveling a second job later, I usually level two or more jobs in parallell so the xp aren't wasted.

This also happens to have the side-benefit of reducing the total amount of travel needed, since I don't need to go back and travel all over each zone a second time.

Thanks for sharing, I guess this is one way to do it.

So basically:
1. You take all MSQ and side quest, and before you turn in the side quest part, you change job, then turn in to get the XP?, or
2. You do all the MSQs in the zone first until it's done. Then change job, and grab all the side quests?

[Anonymoose]

I used to tell myself I'd "go back for them for EXP on secondary jobs" but in the end it was 100% downsides. The pace of EXP for secondaries was much slower than non-quest options, the story felt like I was seeing it at the wrong time and I was less invested, my rewards were a mess because I only got bits and pieces of things at any given time. It was tedious as all hell. Since Stormblood I clear the map of all sidequests before moving on with the MSQ. No regrets, so far.

[MistakeNot]

Thanks for sharing, I guess this is one way to do it.

So basically:
1. You take all MSQ and side quest, and before you turn in the side quest part, you change job, then turn in to get the XP?, or
2. You do all the MSQs in the zone first until it's done. Then change job, and grab all the side quests?

Neither. I level one job with MSQ and sidequest until I am sure I am high enough level to not get stuck on the MSQ later on (due to being too low level), then I switch job.

[Cleretic]

I do the role quest for the job I'm focusing on in step with the MSQ (as much as feasible; in EW it was weirdly out of the way for a bit there so I had to do some catchup). Aether current quests too, because not flying sucks.

As for everything else, crafting/gathering quests are my main focus after the MSQ is done. When patch MSQs hit, whether I do the raids or the MSQ first basically depends on my relative hype levels for each storyline; in Shadowbringers that meant raids first because those stories were more interesting, in EW it was MSQ first because that was more interesting.

(Incidentally, we still haven't heard about the role/crafting/gathering quests, and I'm still not sure if it's premature for me to be concerned about that.)

The yellow quests I leave until I'm feeling primed to focus on the lore and worldbuilding of this zone specifically. ...which usually means they don't get done. But sometimes they do!

[Hycinthus]

I used to tell myself I'd "go back for them for EXP on secondary jobs" but in the end it was 100% downsides. The pace of EXP for secondaries was much slower than non-quest options, the story felt like I was seeing it at the wrong time and I was less invested, my rewards were a mess because I only got bits and pieces of things at any given time. It was tedious as all hell. Since Stormblood I clear the map of all sidequests before moving on with the MSQ. No regrets, so far.

Thinking of just doing this route as lore is very important to me.

[Kakurady]

I used to tell myself I'd "go back for them for EXP on secondary jobs" but in the end it was 100% downsides. The pace of EXP for secondaries was much slower than non-quest options, the story felt like I was seeing it at the wrong time and I was less invested, my rewards were a mess because I only got bits and pieces of things at any given time. It was tedious as all hell. Since Stormblood I clear the map of all sidequests before moving on with the MSQ. No regrets, so far.

This is common advice, and I initially took it as well, but now I think it's counterproductive whether you like sidequests or don't. If you don't like them, you'll be trudging through them, and if you like them, playing them out of order loses context.

I don't remember if there are more quests like this, but one quest (Simple Gifts) appears specifically meant to be played during Shadowbringers' main story:

as the Warrior of Darkness departs for the Tempest, the people of Crystarium give what they can for your journey.

From Stormblood on, in addition to the two quest chains per area, I try to complete every yellow quest given by a named NPC, so I can try get their dialogue as the MSQ progresses (was not 100% successful; some dialogue were missed). I have the impression that sidequest writing noticeably improves in Stormblood, too.

Though that is still a large amount of quests! As I experimented with broadcasting the Endwalker main scenario playthrough every weekend, I found I wasn't quite able to catch up with side quest progression... and this is without doing any of the quests from generically-named NPCs! Occasionally I had to put the main story on hold to run side quests.

So maybe the advice should be "skip sidequests until Stormblood, then try them to see if you like them or not"? (prefaced with an explanation of aether current quest chain, etc.) It's the one I give, anyway. But this isn't as memorable as "save sidequests for secondary jobs".

As for ARR and HW side quests... most are still not done, other than the Silver Bazaar story, and my map and recommendations list remain cluttered.

[CainCrimson]

I always do side-quests in parallell with the MSQ, so I get them at the right points in the story.
Instead of saving them for leveling a second job later, I usually level two or more jobs in parallell so the xp aren't wasted.

This also happens to have the side-benefit of reducing the total amount of travel needed, since I don't need to go back and travel all over each zone a second time.

Same. It's all basically MSQ in my eyes, and so far I have been more satisfied than disappointed by doing this.