I'm only L24 and I spend most of my time grinding FATEs...Follow

... Am I missing something? Is there another good source of EXP to level on? (I'm a 24 ARC btw)

Quests are great, but they are sparse. It seems most quest lines just end abruptly after I finish fetching a few widgets and killing a handful of critters, with no more quests in sight.

Story line is also great, but I've fallen a few levels behind because I spend what little playtime I have waiting in queue on the "Duty Finder"

Class quests are great for a bit of exp every 5 levels, but I'm caught up on those.

Leves are great, until you run out of allowance (or get tired of killing mobs in the same spot).

I'm trying to keep a positive attitude, but running around a zone (I don't have a mount yet!) going to the same 5 spots to do the same super-easy quests with 50 other people is almost worse than standing in the same place and grinding one mob at a time a la FFXI. I'm only L24 so I can imagine what higher levels are going to be like if there is nothing but FATEs to level on.

I've improved the situation somewhat by putting on my fishing gear and fishing while I wait for FATEs to spawn, but still gets very tedious.

Please help me see what I'm missing!

Edited, Oct 9th 2013 2:47pm by Jordster

Edited, Oct 9th 2013 2:47pm by Jordster

Quests will easily take one class to 50. Do your hunting logs as well. You may have missed a lower level quest in town or one of your cities camps which triggers the next teir. You shouldn't have to grind more than 1 out 5 levels.

Quests are the best source of EXP the first time around IMO, and don't feel anywhere near as grindy as FATE's do. If you don't have any in your country, try catching up in the others. Also, you can turn on Recommendations and run zone to zone to see if there are a few quests you may have missed.

Another option is to get a group of people together to EXP chain on world mobs that are higher level than you. Get a party of 8 and do this and it's actually really fun, and a pretty high exp/hour rate. You just need to make sure everyone is around your level and the mobs are higher level than the group to ensure that you can keep the chain going.

I did FATE's only when they appeared nearby while I was questing, until level 46. I didn't FATE grind until then.. and even then there are a few quests spread across the world, you just have to seek them out.

Edited, Oct 9th 2013 2:30pm by Ryklin

maybe i'm missing something, but how is duty finder preventing you from advancing storyline? you don't *need* dungeon level drops to complete most storyline missions, and very few missions at your level require duty finder

for a first character I'd reccommend: log in, do crafting dailies and/or craft materials for any leves you wanna do (having duty finder pop in the middle of a craft sucks), que for whatever dungeon you want/need, then start doing your missions, while doing any FATES/hunting log that happen to be around your current location

Don't join FATE parties since that will kick you out of finder which will hurt for those missions that actually require dungeons, and remember that any instance battle kicks you out of finder so re-que after

fate parties are more xp than fates solo, but doing both missions and getting your que time out of the way makes up for quite a bit of that whereas w/ a fate party all you can do is fate grind.

FATE parties are great xp, but accomplishing missions is actually more important than gaining levels on your first character, really you shouldn't be focusing on those until your 3rd class: 1st class - missions huntlog dungeons, 2nd class - sidequests first time guildhests huntlog dungeons, 3rd+ class - fate party huntlog

By level 24 that's .... Sastasha, Tamtara, Copper Bell, and Toto Rok? Halatali is optional.

Sadly, dungeons themselves are a solid source of exp, and it's just a shame the wait times are so horrid for most DDs. Makes me want to level a tank class next go round...

One other thing about quests. Sometimes they don't pop until you reach a certain level. You may have had a ton of quests pop in other zones already, and you just don't know it yet.

Yeah, lack of choco tells me you're behind on your story quests. It might not solve your FATE gripe, but it'll make travel quicker, progress you in the story a bit, and maybe even unluck some more quests for you.

Even though DF for DD's can have brutal wait times it is typically worth it in my opinion. The gear, as someone else above said, isn't necessary, but it's a far cry better than what quests will typically give you. With dungeon gear equipped you can almost always select the money reward from quests fattening your pockets. Plus you don't have to worry about spending gil on dyes (if you're inclined to do so). On top of that, the gear is typically good enough to carry you until the next major dungeon encounter. Just food for thought.

This is a list of the main story line quests:

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Category:Main_Scenario_Quest

If you're not on one of the quests on that list, figure out which one you left off at, and figure out from there or googling where they next step is.

There are only a few times when you will 'fall off' the storyline quests - when you finish too many for your level and don't qualify for the next one. I do not think you're likely to be at point being a 24 with no chocobo - but its possible (the chocobo is a side quest I think).

Guildleve's are a very solid source of XP also, especially the first time you do one. Its also the one place tanks have a queue... which implies that for a DPS it might be a faster queue than dungeons are. If I don't get one instantly as a tank, it typically takes about 5-10 minutes.

By 20, you can also unlock your grand company, and then start doing grand company leve's. But again that is part of the main story quests.

You've got Copper Bell coming up in about five cutscenes. Then you get a break until Ifrit.

First play through you can get to 50 quickly and easily using: Main story, FATE's you walk by, side quests, class quests, hunting log, guild leves, regular leves, dungeons.

Second play through you've burned your main story so you're left with: Odd side quest you missed (not significant but I'll mention it), class quests, hunting log, FATE's, regular leves only (because guild leves are only worthwhile once for initial bonus and only to level 45), dungeons again but now randomly and rarely because they're not rolled into quests anymore.

Third play through you definitely don't have sh*t all in way of side quests so once you wear away everything your XP sources are as follows, in no particular order:

• Class quests
• FATEs
• Hunting logs
• Dungeons (again randomly and rarely as they don't factor in to quest progression)
• Leves

That being said, here's some unsolicited advice from me to you. Leveling is boring. Is that bad? No. Just boring. Plenty of life is boring, it'll be ok. Levels 1 through 20 can be done a bit on your own from your class quests and then with FATEs exclusively. 20-50 rotate around in a group to the popular FATE camps. It's rather quick. I work for a living unlike some people I know and even given that, I managed 1-50 WHM (not my first class), in a few days (less than a week) of playing in the evenings only grinding FATEs. Remember to take a break for the sake of your sanity, not from the game because that'd be a waste of time, but from the FATEs, every 10 levels to catch up on your hunting log, your class quests, and to re-gear yourself.

Alternatives that you shouldn't waste your time on (if you want to get to 50 and fun doesn't take primacy over getting it done) when pursuing your second class on-wards: Dungeons - Don't bother. You'll get stuck in DF parties that are learning the mechanics of lower level dungeons. Is that bad? Again no, but it slows you down, the point here being 'get to 50'. Leves - Don't use them for this. They are extremely valuable if you intend to use them for gathering / crafting, even more so for gathering because that's well and truly boring and really slow since you don't get to trip into 50 like you can with 125k XP HQ turn ins on a crafting class or the very efficient 3x3 turn ins that aren't heavy consumers of leve allowances.

All this said, do you have to pursue FATEs like a robot to jam your way to 50? Of course not, pursue 50 in whatever way makes you happy. Will your path to happiness get you to 50 faster than hammering FATEs? No, it won't. There's nothing negative about any of this, you just have to be at peace with it if you choose not to pursue the FATE route that you won't be getting to 50 anytime soon.

Edited, Oct 10th 2013 9:56am by Furiousnixon

You do not have quests to fall back on for second class on. If you run out on first that is kind of off.