How Grindy is the Game?

[KellyKiller]

Hey Guys. I am looking for a new MMO. Now the question, how grindy is the game? Especially in the endgame. And does the Levelphase consist of blunt collection / kill quests or are these reasonably set in scene with mechanics? With Asia MMOs I always have my fears...

[Nerevar]

its not like most korean mmos dont worry. the leveling is actually kinda smooth and not grindy at all. you have a mainquest literally leveling you along with doing it as a side effect. most sidequests are just collect and kill things tough. some have some small sidestorys.

endgame is not grindy at all compared to korean mmos ^^ the only thing grindable is tomestones and well. these are weekly capped at 450 (which requires you to run 5 random dungeons per week) dungeon gear itself is never worth farming for stats.

[Maddin]

I don't know about the endgame. The game is in the middle parts of grinding I would say. You level decently fast, quests are often nothing all to special. Usually you kill a certain amount of stuff, collect some stuff or go somewhere and fight a few waves of stuff.
So its not WoW levels of quest design where you fly with a stealth plane or stuff like that.

At level 50 there is a really bad phase where you have to grind through every single story quest the game devs threw in through countless patches until you are able to actually enter the Heavensward content.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Seventh_Astral_Era_Quests Here are they listed. So its about a hundred quests which lead you through a lot of stuff. With some especially bad quests where you search for children who play hide and seek or help load stuff on wagons.
Honestly, I stopped reading the quests halfway through because I just wanted it to be over.

Once in heavensward things get better.

[Illyasviel09]

For levelling up, it's not honestly. XP Is pretty easy to obtain here. Now, for things like the best weapons/gear, mounts, and other stuff. It may be a little grindy, but not in exagerated unfair levels

[Mikoto]

Originally posted by KellyKiller:

Hey Guys. I am looking for a new MMO. Now the question, how grindy is the game? Especially in the endgame. And does the Levelphase consist of blunt collection / kill quests or are these reasonably set in scene with mechanics? With Asia MMOs I always have my fears...

There is virtually no grinding in this game, even in the endgame content (unless you are going for mounts) as every character can play every job in the game. Meaning any loot you get can be used on that same character providing you have also leveled up that job to use the gear.

[Drakzen]

For your first and second class i'd say little to none as you go along with the storyline.

[Overeagerdragon]

when it comes to leveling I often tell sprouts (new players) that it can become as grindy as you let it; meaning there's ample ways to boost your EXP-gain to the point you'll actually level too fast rather than too slow (my max exp bonus was over 1200% at some point). This means that (in theory) you could start a new character and be max level within a week.

The caveat to the above is that most content isn't unlocked based on level of the character but level of the main scenario quest (hereafter MSQ). Seeing as Final fantasy has always been a story driven game there's lots of lore, filler and cinematics that (even though most are absolutely gorgeous) can drag on for a bit.....a bit meaning some 120 fetch/delivery quests at the end of the first expansion (ARR. That period being lovingly called the 7th Astral Hell) in which the great and powerfull hero of light (you) is reduced to a glorified errandboy.

Having said that; 7th astral hell is just about the only time the game feels grindy (unless you start crafting but then you're inflicting the grind upon yourself) and otherwise the game has plenty to offer to alleviate the grind with side-activities that detract from the MSQ.

In a way this is also it's strength...there's no 1d8hr powerrush to max level like in WoW (yes I can level a character from 1 to max level in 1 day and 8 hours) and having 1 playable character means you can also get any and EVERY class in the game on that character (and switch by a simple click on a button). The ONLY thing holding you back is MSQ

[XcessiveNinja17]

Main story, playing as a tank or healer, is not grindy. In fact if you only play for about 4 hours a day then it could almost go as fast as a non-MMO RPG.

But if your goal is to max all classes, then it may take a bit of time.

[Buster7]

It's grindy in the way all MMo kinda are.

Want to level up a class or job. That s a grind
Want to Experience the story. That s a grind
Want to get good loot. That s a grind.

The real question is: Is the grind worth the effort (Small or big) that you put into it.

In my opinion: Yes. It's balances effort vs reward well.

[Shurpy]

this game is baby mode in terms of grindy it's targetted towards casuals you'll get capped in 1-2 days (tomestones) then you level another craft wait for next week

[KellyKiller]

Thank you. I'll think about it.