Trying to slog through MSQ, does it get better?

[RichRuzz]

Been playing FFXIV on/off since the crazy weird/bad/old version many years ago before they reworked it. (tattoo thing included!) Got to 50+, unlocked Gunbreaker which I enjoy playing as a tank... but my issue is I get EXTREMELY deterred by the hundreds of menial fetch quests and filler in MSQ as return.. work my way towards Heavensward/Stormblood/Shadow but each time I just get burnt out.

My question being does the story improve much in the expansions and such? Like is the MSQ a hump I gotta get over for it to get better? I still think I got like 50+ quests to pump out before I get to Heavensward, just did Ramuh and such but trying to fight through the burnout of travelling between 8 different areas to get random people drinks between meaningful progression.

[VanGoghComplex]

Heavensward is where it gets good. That stretch between the end of ARR and the beginning of Heavensward is the hardest part.

[arejang]

Something to help with this is to segment your plays one story arc at a time. Take breaks.

I finished the 100 quests in around 5 days. I kept the quest list open on a second monitor so i could track my progress. It helps with the mentality of the slog because you know exactly where you are and you don't get this crushing feeling of disappointment when you've played for hours and only made a tiny bit of progress. I also skipped the dialogue and only read the journal entries since they do an excellent job summarizing each interaction in way fewer lines.

I won't comment about the story of HW itself, but the pacing is way better. No filler story at all to the end of the main campaign. There's a short section following HW that I'm working on now, before I start Stormblood so I can't comment on that yet. It helps a lot to have each quest be actually relevant to the main story instead of menial tasks like making tea or handing out uniforms or spraying chocobos with perfume or some nonsense.

[MustangNinjas]

It goes from being "That part you have to do alone to level up" in ARR, to pretty interesting in HW, to entertaining in SB, to phenomenal in Shadowbringers. Def worth getting through.

[Phantom]

It gets a lot better. I recently been through it myself and nearly stopped because I got tired from going from boring fetch go here/go there to not having an amazing experience on dungeons. It's not that anything goes wrong, but as a tank I have to spoil myself to youtube. Yeah won't go into that as side tracking.

But anyway heavensward is a lot better. The action outside of that dungeons and trails return. I haven't been to a dungeon yet as I skipped the one optional as I plan to turn dps so I don't have to keep spoiling myself. As for questing I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes now if that helps you out with figuring out how much better. ^^

[Tykero980]

I dont generaly recomend skips because the arr stuff while a slog does a lot of world building and spelling out background information that gets referenced all the way through the rest of the game but if you find it too bad just get an arr skip heavensward is where it gets a lot better storywise.

[Drakzen]

It gets better in quality and in the reduced amount of slog xD

[RichRuzz]

I'm pretty quick to figure out mechanics of fights, but queing further and further as a tank do I need to look ahead and spoil myself to the mechanics of fights moreso as I go on? Would I be better playing a DPS in that case?

And yeah, just know I have like 100 MSQ quests to blow out on post patch ARR before I get to where everyone says the quests are less menial. I don't mind storyline advancements but they're few and far between when I'm spraying perfume on chocobos and getting random items for people who are irrelevant.

[RexEasily(xGunner)]

Think of the first 50 levels as training and back story... then it the game starts to stretch its legs after 50. Dont get me wrong the Main story to 50 is interesting, just gets better in Heavensward and beyond.

[VanGoghComplex]

Originally posted by RichRuzz:

I'm pretty quick to figure out mechanics of fights, but queing further and further as a tank do I need to look ahead and spoil myself to the mechanics of fights moreso as I go on? Would I be better playing a DPS in that case?

And yeah, just know I have like 100 MSQ quests to blow out on post patch ARR before I get to where everyone says the quests are less menial. I don't mind storyline advancements but they're few and far between when I'm spraying perfume on chocobos and getting random items for people who are irrelevant.

I wouldn't worry about looking up mechanics until you get to Savage and Extreme raids, which are all optional content. The MSQ content is all pretty easy to someone who's paying attention.

[arejang]

Originally posted by RichRuzz:

I'm pretty quick to figure out mechanics of fights, but queing further and further as a tank do I need to look ahead and spoil myself to the mechanics of fights moreso as I go on? Would I be better playing a DPS in that case?

And yeah, just know I have like 100 MSQ quests to blow out on post patch ARR before I get to where everyone says the quests are less menial. I don't mind storyline advancements but they're few and far between when I'm spraying perfume on chocobos and getting random items for people who are irrelevant.

I think you're more appreciated by everyone in the group if you came already prepared for the bosses. It's not the end of the world if you wipe a few times before you learn the boss mechanics. Most people are understanding and will patiently tell you exactly what to do. That said, generally everyone wants to clear the dungeon in one try if possible.

The burden of preparation, while lighter on the DPS, is still not negligible because they're responsible for burning down adds before it leads to a wipe. And they're often expected to interact with the environment to progress to the next phase while the tanks hold aggro and the healers heal.

There's no lore spoilers in most dungeon guides, so you should be fine to go ahead and prepare ahead of time.

Avoiding spoilers is more fun if everyone in your party is going in blind. But you must assume that most of your party isn't, and they're usually running the dungeon for gear/exp. So it's general etiquette to do your part and try not to slow everyone down.

Again, it's not the end of the world if you don't, but it's much more appreciated if you do.

[Fallaner, the Writer Eternal]

Originally posted by arejang:

Originally posted by RichRuzz:

I'm pretty quick to figure out mechanics of fights, but queing further and further as a tank do I need to look ahead and spoil myself to the mechanics of fights moreso as I go on? Would I be better playing a DPS in that case?

And yeah, just know I have like 100 MSQ quests to blow out on post patch ARR before I get to where everyone says the quests are less menial. I don't mind storyline advancements but they're few and far between when I'm spraying perfume on chocobos and getting random items for people who are irrelevant.

I think you're more appreciated by everyone in the group if you came already prepared for the bosses. It's not the end of the world if you wipe a few times before you learn the boss mechanics. Most people are understanding and will patiently tell you exactly what to do. That said, generally everyone wants to clear the dungeon in one try if possible.

The burden of preparation, while lighter on the DPS, is still not negligible because they're responsible for burning down adds before it leads to a wipe. And they're often expected to interact with the environment to progress to the next phase while the tanks hold aggro and the healers heal.

There's no lore spoilers in most dungeon guides, so you should be fine to go ahead and prepare ahead of time.

Avoiding spoilers is more fun if everyone in your party is going in blind. But you must assume that most of your party isn't, and they're usually running the dungeon for gear/exp. So it's general etiquette to do your part and try not to slow everyone down.

Again, it's not the end of the world if you don't, but it's much more appreciated if you do.

I wouldn't really say it's "more appreciated" in my experience, when it comes to dungeons and normal trials...

So long as you say you're new, people don't seem to mind explaining anything complicated, and if you're quick on the uptake, people might not even notice without you saying anything. The difference, in my experience, is really negligible if you're actually willing to learn.

People seem to get annoyed (myself included) when you AREN'T willing to learn or listen to what people say.

I'd definitely say go in blind for normal content (normal raids, normal trials, and all dungeons).I feel you get a better experience that way.

[RichRuzz]

Originally posted by Fallaner:

Originally posted by arejang:

I think you're more appreciated by everyone in the group if you came already prepared for the bosses. It's not the end of the world if you wipe a few times before you learn the boss mechanics. Most people are understanding and will patiently tell you exactly what to do. That said, generally everyone wants to clear the dungeon in one try if possible.

The burden of preparation, while lighter on the DPS, is still not negligible because they're responsible for burning down adds before it leads to a wipe. And they're often expected to interact with the environment to progress to the next phase while the tanks hold aggro and the healers heal.

There's no lore spoilers in most dungeon guides, so you should be fine to go ahead and prepare ahead of time.

Avoiding spoilers is more fun if everyone in your party is going in blind. But you must assume that most of your party isn't, and they're usually running the dungeon for gear/exp. So it's general etiquette to do your part and try not to slow everyone down.

Again, it's not the end of the world if you don't, but it's much more appreciated if you do.

I wouldn't really say it's "more appreciated" in my experience, when it comes to dungeons and normal trials...

So long as you say you're new, people don't seem to mind explaining anything complicated, and if you're quick on the uptake, people might not even notice without you saying anything. The difference, in my experience, is really negligible if you're actually willing to learn.

People seem to get annoyed (myself included) when you AREN'T willing to learn or listen to what people say.

I'd definitely say go in blind for normal content (normal raids, normal trials, and all dungeons).I feel you get a better experience that way.

It just seems easy to figure out as a tank most mechanics so far as it's pretty obvious. (unless there is something weird where normal standards don't work) Hold aggro on this, pull this in this corner, don't attack that, but this IS online and people all over don't know how to play their class and as I'm sure you guys know lots of people smash their face against the keyboard and don't bother paying attention at all lol.

[whereismymind]

ramuh is more or less the end of 2.3 and...2.4 is pretty much when they got out of restart the game panic mode, 2.4 sees the heavensward plot start, and the writing and dungeon design improves dramatically from then on, in addition, you start seeing a LOT less filler.

Yes it gets better, and you are at the exact point where that happens.

[teezep]

Netflix is your friend. The grind is 100% worth it in the end. Don't feel like you have to pay full attention to everything, ARR is pretty clear when it's actually stuff you should pay attention to.

[Nico Yazawa]

Originally posted by teezep:

Netflix is your friend. The grind is 100% worth it in the end. Don't feel like you have to pay full attention to everything, ARR is pretty clear when it's actually stuff you should pay attention to.

Yeah, I really have to pay attention to making the hero hand random nobodies their outfits, when literally anyone else could be doing that instead. Very important stuff.