Overwhelmed by side missions - When should we go to Diamond City?

[tripecac]

I'm level 15 and have not been to Diamond City yet. Instead, I keep getting presented with side missions, which I have been trying to finish before continuing the main story. The problem is, the side missions never seem to end; in the process of finishing one I open up two more. So now I have about 8 side missions I need to finish, and Diamond City seems pretty much forgotten. I know I'll get down there eventually, but it seems like I've a lot of side quests to "slog" through on the way there.

I say "slog" because for some reason Fallout 4 seems a bit slow to me. I'm collecting tons of stuff, and slowly upgrading weapons and armor, but it seems like I'm just assembling this huge mountain of items and materials, with no idea of what I'll build with it, and why.

Upgrading Sanctuary - once I finished the basic building quests (food, defense, etc.) I didn't see any reason to keep building stuff. What is the motivation for making the people in Sanctuary happier, or safer? What is the motivation for attracting settlers to Sanctuary, and to other camps? I don't understand what the game-play advantage is of investing time in building things. Is this because I'm not far enough along in the story?

I've heard in podcasts that we should try to progress with the main story instead of just focusing on clearing areas. Does this mean I should ignore the side quests for now, and go to Diamond City, where the game-play motivations of crafting, building, and accumulating items and materials start to become clearer?

[Morrandir]

for roleplaying sake I would say go through the main quest up until you make it to the institute and then just do whatever you want, because at that point you can justify not continuing with the main quest for some time and doing other stuff instead.

[mbpoblet]

Heh, I've played all Bethesda games from Morrowind for hundreds of hours each, and I've yet to finish the main quest in any of them. :D

Just do whatever you enjoy, that's the way to play these games. Generally the main quest tends to be relatively mediocre compared to the rest of the game...

Personally, it's not even the side quests... I try to go where I need to go, but I keep stumbling upon interesting places, and exploring them for "just five minutes"...

And of course there's the mods.

So many mods...

[Apoc]

I was about in the same situation, stopping everywhere, but I finally went directly to Diamond City yesterday. You should go there as soon as possible, it's a really interesting place and from there you get quests that send you a bit everywhere if you want to explore. It should have been in the middle of the map, it's a way better hub then anything you could build with some random settlers.

[Pistol Packin' Mama]

I recommend hitting Diamond City as soon as possible due to its central location and abundance of services. Unless you want to unlock a certain detective as a companion you can ignore the MSQ after that completely and get back to wandering.

[Codester]

Go to diamond city asap...don't get why people don't that's just dumb.

[terrorinsc]

I got so sidetracked with sidequests I didn't make it to diamond city until level 17 and I didn't even look for Valentine until level 25. lol Those minute-men quests keep coming and coming. I still have a huge list of side quests because a new problem with my settlements or a new settlement itself keeps popping up whenever go back to the castle as it is is practically my main settlement.

[Morrandir]

Originally posted by Codester:

Go to diamond city asap...don't get why people don't that's just dumb.

I think that the game maybe should have railroaded you to the point where you reached the institute and then set you free.

[HandsomeHolland]

jup play until you are beginning with the institute qeustline.
upgrade your base is a way to get more stuff.. Like free clean water, free food, free bottlecaps, trade with trade lines, and do a ton of stuf to help you upgrade youreself.

[Miragos]

i was level 60 until i finally came to diamon city :P

[Xemanis]

Originally posted by Morrandir:

for roleplaying sake I would say go through the main quest up until you make it to the institute and then just do whatever you want, because at that point you can justify not continuing with the main quest for some time and doing other stuff instead.

I agree with this

[PJ]

Originally posted by tripecac:

I'm level 15 and have not been to Diamond City yet. Instead, I keep getting presented with side missions, which I have been trying to finish before continuing the main story. The problem is, the side missions never seem to end; in the process of finishing one I open up two more. So now I have about 8 side missions I need to finish, and Diamond City seems pretty much forgotten. I know I'll get down there eventually, but it seems like I've a lot of side quests to "slog" through on the way there.

I say "slog" because for some reason Fallout 4 seems a bit slow to me. I'm collecting tons of stuff, and slowly upgrading weapons and armor, but it seems like I'm just assembling this huge mountain of items and materials, with no idea of what I'll build with it, and why.

Upgrading Sanctuary - once I finished the basic building quests (food, defense, etc.) I didn't see any reason to keep building stuff. What is the motivation for making the people in Sanctuary happier, or safer? What is the motivation for attracting settlers to Sanctuary, and to other camps? I don't understand what the game-play advantage is of investing time in building things. Is this because I'm not far enough along in the story?

I've heard in podcasts that we should try to progress with the main story instead of just focusing on clearing areas. Does this mean I should ignore the side quests for now, and go to Diamond City, where the game-play motivations of crafting, building, and accumulating items and materials start to become clearer?

Stop doing side quests.