Hi folks, so with Stormblood out and my interest to jump into an MMO returning I was curious to know one or two things regarding FFXIV again. So I've just signed up and was surprised to see that some newer servers are getting a Road to 60 EXP bonus. My concern here is how much of a benefit is this exp bonus? Having played through WoW's mainline content last year I was saddened by how boring and rushed traveling through the content was due to how quickly characters level in WoW. I know quick leveling is common place in MMO's but it still sucked and I constantly found myself way over leveled and bored to death by it in all honesty. So with this added exp bonus, is the benefit large enough that there's a danger of being over leveled for content?

I'm starting a new character from fresh but don't want to feel like nothings a challenge because I'm way over leveled for the content I'm taking on. There's currently two or three servers in the EU with this bonus and I had considered joining another server without the bonus (such as Moogle) but they seemed closed off at the moment. I'd love to know this for sure because I don't want to go investing many many hours into a character I don't enjoy playing.

Also one other question, this may seem a tad silly to ask but again having played WoW last year I'm curious to know if story content updates are playable for new players. SE release some pretty great update trailers showing off story progression (cut scenes etc) but I'm interested to know if these story updates remain in the game or do they get replaced by only the latest story developments. I would love to follow the story progression, but I'm concern if its anything like WoW's story which seems a total mess besides the main expansions. Is it possible to play through each updates story from say Heavensward to Stormblood?

I know that seems a lot but I'd love to know some info regarding my questions, especially regarding the exp bonus. Many thanks and take care.

Typically main story content will level sync you to a more appropriate level (at most, 5 levels above the intended level). Item level is also synced so you don't just one shot everything despite having like +200 stats gear.

As for the story, it is mandatory to do story to unlock the end game dungeons and multiple other features. The only part of this that is sorta EH is that it can take HOURS to reach each content update depending on what class/job you are leveling because of mandatory dungeons, trials, and primals. Healers and Tanks have no problems, but DPS can get stuck especially now since there is a flood of Samurai and Red Mages.

it's a good bonus especially if you level alot of other class jobs. The main story gives good xp for the initial class you do those quests with but when leveling alternative classes you have to grind it other ways since you won't have any main scenario xp to rely on. You do get level synced for story content so you do have to know how to play somewhat and not plow your way through by being overleveled.

They basically streamlined it so you can more or less just move straight through the story content so you don't have to stop and spend time doing sidequests to reach the next level requirement. If you mainly focus on the story and don't grind elsewhere you should be roughly the expected level for the content. Lv/item sync will stop you from completely facerolling everything even if you do overlevel, but unless you go with a preset team that is willing to sync to the minimum ilv you'll still probably breeze through most content. Just not as badly as WoW.

Thanks for the advice and responses. In the end I decided to create a character on a server without the exp bonus as I didn't really want to benefit from that bonus (I know that sounds odd). Went with an archer so hearing that dungeons might be a tad more difficult to join up with is a bit worrying but I guess I should expect that with Red Mages and Samurai being so new. Happy to hear that story content remains, I have heard good things about the story so interested to experience that.

Thanks again, if I have any other questions I'll ask if that's okay.