A little late, but in general, I'd recommend that avoid doing most of the sidequests in the game. Even if you're short on EXP and need to get to the next level to accept the next MSQ quest, you're probably better off just queuing for a random dungeon through party finder.
For the sidequests that I'd recommend, always do the quests with blue icons (particularly the ones that appear in every single zone settlement, starting with Heavensward). Not only do they unlock flying in an area, but they are the first quest in a short but very interesting questchain. I remember reaching Western Coerthas and doing the blue icon quest at the Convictory, thinking it'd just be some boring filler quest, but if you actually read the quest text, it was very interesting and I did the whole questline. All of the blue icon questlines are really interesting. Starting with Stormblood, multiple blue icon questlines can actually come together, and the payoff is really satisfying.
As for ARR, the only sidequests I'd recommend you do while leveling are the side quests in Central Coerthas Highlands. There is so much lore there, and it fills out the feeling and tone of the whole place. In HW, Western Coerthas and the Dravanian Forelands had really interesting sidequests. In Stormblood, the Confederacy quests were interesting. In Shadowbringers, Amh Araeng (first visit), Kholusia (first visit), and Il Mheg had really interesting sidequests.
Otherwise, the rest of the sidequests were, IMO, a waste of time.
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@Graeham happy birthday!
I'm kinda torn on this, because I did like how WoW kept adding new zones in the post-expansion patches. There is a palpable feeling of discovery when it comes to going to new locations.
The problem with WoW isn't really just that the old zones are "barren, useless zones". That sounds applicable to FFXIV's old zones. The problem is that current WoW rarely gives you a reason to revisit old zones. There are hardly any quests that actually utilize the old zones and take you back there. FFXIV only really ever so slightly makes use of old zones more than WoW.
Nah, it's all level scaled. Every class has the same ability toolkit regardless of their level.
PvP in FFXIV just isn't as fun as WoW's BGs. Due to the input delay and the movement restrictions, it's just as engaging as WoW's BGs. Furthermore, it can get kinda confusing due to the three factions and the color mixup can get very confusing (wait a minute, characters with red names may actually be our allies? And characters with blue names might be our enemies?).
Nope. I've played through FFXIV twice. The MSQ and the MSQ required dungeons alone do not give you enough EXP to meet the level 50 requirements for the final ARR quests, nor make it through HW, or make it through Shadowbringers. I've talked about this in my notes.
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Thoughts on the 5.25 Blades of Gunnhildr questline thus far:
Spoiler: