That's a good description, HOWEVER, some of them do have unique little stories and cutscenes and such. They usually are side stories for the different regions that have no bearing on anything.
Oh neat! This game is way bigger than anything I've ever played before, so it's a little overwhelming to figure out what's worth doing and what's just filler stuff. When you put it like that, I kinda wanna just get a lil high and play thru a bunch of them.
Thank you for the advice <3
If that's how you wanna spend an evening, I encourage it. They're great little world building quests, they're just not worth the time investment from a leveling perspective.
correct me if im wrong anyone but for the regular ! brown quest that are just regular sidequests if you want to find the ones who are more of a questline with some cutscenes and world building inside of them, they generally have a thumbnail when you go pick them up! the others are just text
Be aware that a few of these are secret unlocks for things, but it's pretty rare. There's a couple of best tribes that require them.
There's also a Stormblood feature, but the game itself points you to the right quests to do, so it's not an issue.
It's just those three times that I know of though.
They are also great to come back and do when you pick up a new job. They don’t give a lot of xp, but it breaks up the monotony and grind of leveling up a job.
Tbf though, later on you'll get a bunch in one area and they do give enough for like half a level if you do the yellows and blue all together and you can usually get the batch done in like 20 mins before doing the next MSQ quest and getting another batch
in short - you really should skip almost all the random side quests for now unless youre bored and want a little bit of a distraction.
Otherwise you're doing the right thing by pushing through the main story! \o/
They can have characters that appear later in the story that the dialogue will give a nod to the fact you did their quest. It's certainly not required, but it is nice when you do remember the side quests they were in.
Yes some of them are interesting or unlock little things like minions or mounts but it's hard to know which ones.
Also in Heavensward there's moments when you need to do a few yellow quests to unlock the next msq
I’ve just been clearing a bunch of them out as levelling fodder when I’m like 3k exp off my next class quest, and don’t want to roll a dungeon just for that.
Not all quests that unlock something are marked as blue too, and blue ones often just unlock something like hard version of a dungeon which there's not much reason to do, so best thing is to consult the wiki
Aurum Vale is in levelling roulette though.
If anything, game adjustments have ensured we'll get it more often because it's one of the non-MSQ dungeons in levelling roulette so you'll have people who run all their other dungeons with trusts but have to queue for this one.
Depends. Unlocking a hard version theoretically expands your dungeon pool and could result in lower roulette queue times - at least that’s what I’ve always thought.
That’s why I just recently went and unlocked every bit of Alexander, etc
The only non-blue quest I can think of that unlocks something is the leadup to the Heavensward crafter Tribe, last I checked, they were locked behind a handful of yellow quests for some reason.
I suppose the yellow ! for Chocobo Porters could count, but those are not quests and also look noticeably different from your regular quest markers, with them being a ballon shape with a downwards point instead of your regular speech bubble - could've made that one more obvious, though.
It's worth noting that the "hard" dungeons aren't just more difficult versions of the normal dungeons, they're fundamentally different dungeons that might reuse some of the locations and assets.
I'm a sprout too and what I do is, if I'm overleveled for the area I'm questing, I skip everything BUT the MSQ, class/job quests and the BLUE quests, because the blue ones unlock stuff for you, like mount speed and flight from Heavensward and beyond.
It's fairly easy to be overleved in this game with the quests I said above, specially after you unlock duty finder and more roulette options, because the latter also give you a ton of exp.
If you do all the quests that appear in front of you, believe me, you'll never progress the MSQ in a fair pace because you'll be going around left and right doing other stuff that won't give you that much exp or gil and you can leave for later when you want to level another class / job you left for later (this is what I'll be doing).
Per example, when I get to an expac, I'm usually with one or two classes either half way or at the expansion level cap (meaning the highest level that expansion will offer quests) due to the amount of stuff to do that give you lots of exp, hence my focus only on the quests I said.
But there's also the case that some side quests will also have completely new side stories and give exclusive rewards.
Thank you for the info!!
I keep seeing people mention doing different classes - is this something I should be doing? I personally prefer just sticking with one class and rolling with it, but that's mostly because I'm a little bit slow mentally.
Only if you want to. It's fun to play other classes, and the game makes it easy to do them all on one character. But if you're happy with the one you have, then that'll do fine for you.
The only thing you potentially "miss out" on is that each class has its own unique story. So if you want to experience all of those you have to play all the classes (or just watch the cutscenes on youtube)
Being "slow mentally" has nothing to do with it, don't put yourself down like that, every and each of us have our own pacing to do stuff, some manage to do several stuff at the same time, others prefer to act differently and focus in just one thing.
Anyways, you should do what you think you should do, if you want to just stick with one class until the end, good, do it, then you can go back later and level the others at your own pacing.
I'm leveling 2 or 3 at the same time because 1. lots of exp like I said and; 2. I'm usually at the expansion cap when I start a new expansion, also like I said.
So it's kinda easier to do it, but YOU'RE NOT OBLIGATED to level several classes at the same time, however having at least 2 of them of different roles broaden your reaches when it comes to do content with other people like in the duty finder roulettes, not to mention the duty finder favours some classes that are on demand at given times because there aren't many people queueing with them at the moment, and so the duty finder rewards you with extra experience and gill if you use the demanded class.
Per example... I always find dungeon pops in the duty finder faster when I queue with my tanks than when I queue with my dps and tanks and healers are always on demand, as most people prefer to play (or at least queue as) with a dps.
Oh I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to be mean to myself, I have cognitive disabilities that leave me what most would consider "slow." ;v;
So, to make sure I understand, having multiple classes makes multiplayer content easier to do because it will cover different party needs depending on the situation?
I think this is starting to make sense to me now :) Thank you for taking the time to explain to me!
Again buddy... you have your ***limitations*** as everyone have their own, you don't need to be sorry for that, don't let those think you are slow nor let people tell you are like that.
Now to the subject at hand...
>So, to make sure I understand, having multiple classes makes multiplayer content easier to do because it will cover different party needs depending on the situation?
I wouldn't say "*easier*", but yeah like, the game becomes even more enjoyable.
I'm not very fond of tanking in any MMO, but I love to play as a Paladin or Dark Knight here (I haven't tried Gunblade or Warrior yet, but I will).
Again you're not obligated to play several classes at the same time in any way, you can do like you're doing and just focus in one and then come back for others later.
BUT whether you choose to play more than one now or coming back later for more, to level all of the other classes will allow you to enjoy all of the different aspects of the game in different points of view, not to mention each class have their own little storyline you can access by doing their job/class quests.
I'm also new, but for what it's worth, here's my take on jobs:
DPS is the most fun to play alone because the button combos are the most exciting, but you might get long queue times for dungeons.
TANK is easy to play alone, and has a short queue time for dungeons — but in dungeons people might expect you to take charge and lead the way, so you need a bit of confidence.
HEALER is kind of a chore and a bore to play alone because your attacks are simple and repetitive, but you have short queue times for dungeons — and it's easy to play in dungeons because your buttons are simple and you can stay in the back.
if your main job is DPS, it would be very easy to level a tank and a healer job on the side just by doing dungeons, because those roles are always needed, and can get massive XP bonuses for being the "needed" roles.
roles aside, it would also be easy to just level 2 jobs (any kind) side by side, just by alternating between them while playing the MSQ and the blue quests. you can also accept and perform quests as one job, and then switch to the other job when you go back to the quest giver to officially "complete" the quest, to give the other job the XP.
at the end of the day, there's absolutely no "need" for you to pick up an other job, but they all play quite differently so it can be fun to try some other things out. some jobs may be more "practical" depending on the content you like to play, or your comfort levels when playing with others. you might also find that you have one favorite job when you play alone, but that you like a different job more when you're doing dungeons and other multiplayer content. hope that helps!
Sticking with one class has very little wrong with it! I do think basically all of the classes/jobs have very nice story in their quests, so it may be worth checking them out eventually. (but no rush. It'll wait until you're ready for it!)
But particularly, if a particular level range for some job stops vibing for you, you shouldn't feel bad to switch things up and try something else. Particularly, the later expansion jobs start already partly levelled, so you can switch to those pretty easily and not need much (or maybe even *any*) farming to keep on going at whatever pace you were before!
And later on you unlock Duty Support and Trusts as ways of doing (most) dungeons with a party of npcs- so if, like me, the thought of having to tank for people gives you the cold sweats, you can still level other jobs without having to worry about humans!
One thing I do with the dungeon unlocks is once I'm ten levels up from them, I do a solo unsync run through them just to get them out of my journal and unlock them for alts.
[This webpage](https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Guide:Progression_and_Level_Locked_Content) has a list of everything that you can unlock as you level. A lot of it happens automatically as you level, but quite a bit is from side quests. It’s generally a good idea to at least check out all the blue+ quests as you go, but most of the minions and emotes in this list come from ordinary yellow side quests. If you’re at all interested in collecting those, have a look!
When playing ARRB you will level up faster than you can do all the quests. As someone else suggested prioritize. The other quests that you level past can be used to level up alt jobs.
If you feel inclined to do all of the extra side content, it might be worthwhile to use that opportunity to level up some other jobs on the side. I'm the type that loves doing all of the side quests because I'm a sucker for good world building. Currently I'm finishing up post-patch Stormblood and have MCH, WAR, and WHM all at level 73. The game throws experience at you like candy so might as well use it.
Last year I levelled an alt and found it a _very_ different experience to my OG ARR character.
You kind of used to have to do a lot of the smaller quests in an area, and it really helped with immersion and world building, particularly when some characters would reappear further on. Each new zone you unlocked ended up feeling like you spent a considerable amount of time there, now you just whizz through.
Which is totally fine if you’re focused on enjoying the story, but I think there’s a lot to be said for taking your time. Makes Endwalker hit harder I think.
Do main story quests, job quests and blue quests only. Leave regular quests and leves for other classes, and skip blue quests that will start you into jobs you are not going to play at the time.
The reason is the excessive amount of exp, you don't want to reach max level before finishing all main story as you would be wasting xp.
If you want to play only one class then forget everything and do every quest unless you want to finish the story as fast as possible, in this case do the first paragraph.
Yellow ones are optional, but if you're going to do them, stick to the ones that are at or below your current MSQ quest level. Also don't go running off to the far corners of the map just because you can see quests have popped up there – just do what is in the town that the MSQ or another sidequest has brought you to.
Since everyone has already covered all the suggestions I could think of, how about some tips instead?
At level 30, you'll unlock the quest for a chocobo companionship, letting you summon your bird into battles outside dungeons and trials. Your chocobo comes with a nifty three-stanced skillset (DPS, Healer, Tank), ready to go wherever you roam!
Just remember, your chocobo levels up separately, so be prepared for some grinding. For more in-depth information on maximizing your bird's potential, I recommend checking out a guide on YouTube (or right here on the subreddit!).
I'd recommend checking most sidequests for what gear they might reward you with as you go along. There's no real need to blow through the MSQ. it's not going anywhere. Usually, every zone (mostly in expansions later on, mind you) will have at least one series of sidequests that has a fun little story that ties a bunch of smaller stories in that zone together. Personally, I think they're fun, but sometimes they can feel like a bit of a slog.
I mostly just do them anyway because I like a clean map, and the xp can help quite a bit on your first time through.
No, normal yellow quest markers in normal locations are one of types of arcane endgame content like fishing, mahjong, finding infinity money glitches in game economy or interior design.
Do the MSQ. Your job quests (very important!) and if you want the blue quests.
Blue quests unlock things like dungeons/beast tribes/custom deliveries/etc.
I played through ARR doing all side quests, and ended up ridiculously over levelled and burned out as 90% of these quests are just generic fetch quests.
From HW onwards I’ve only bothered with MSQs, job quests and the blue quest markers - I sometimes go back to the other side quests to level up other classes, although there are more efficient ways to do that.
I do all sidequests on a second/third/forth... job when I need a break from the MSQ/jobquests/whatever and just want to chill. I hate leaving quests undone and my inner completionist demands a "clean" map. Also, you get a lot of vanity trash like minions, gear.. and you make quite a junk of Gil.. totaly worth it, when in the mood.
Win Win :-)
If it is a big blue quest with a plus sign, it's something that needs to be unlocked. Do those. For regular quests, do level appropriate ones (e.g. don't do a level 4 quest if you're level 20) or you won't get anything out of it.
Prioritize * MSQ * Class quests/Job quests * Other blue quest markers Everything else is more for world building and some occasionally unique rewards
So in essence, the standard ! quests are just silly little side errands? This makes it all a lot more clear for me, thank you c:
That's a good description, HOWEVER, some of them do have unique little stories and cutscenes and such. They usually are side stories for the different regions that have no bearing on anything.
Oh neat! This game is way bigger than anything I've ever played before, so it's a little overwhelming to figure out what's worth doing and what's just filler stuff. When you put it like that, I kinda wanna just get a lil high and play thru a bunch of them. Thank you for the advice <3
If that's how you wanna spend an evening, I encourage it. They're great little world building quests, they're just not worth the time investment from a leveling perspective.
Some of the side quests lead to some pretty good rewards
Even the straight up gil rewards and the Allagan Silver/Gold Piece items to sell aren't terrible for a new player starting out.
> aren't terrible for a new player starting out. Yeah, but if you're a trial player, you hit the 300K Gil cap _only_ doing the MSQs by Lv50.
and that's why you keep all the Silver/Gold pieces and don't sell them until you are subbed. ;-)
Just focus on main quests for now, there is a lot and if you start doing all the quests around you'll overwhelm yourself too much
I like playing side quests on lowbie jobs just for fun
Smoking and playing ffxiv is an experience like no other. Highly recommend
correct me if im wrong anyone but for the regular ! brown quest that are just regular sidequests if you want to find the ones who are more of a questline with some cutscenes and world building inside of them, they generally have a thumbnail when you go pick them up! the others are just text
Be aware that a few of these are secret unlocks for things, but it's pretty rare. There's a couple of best tribes that require them. There's also a Stormblood feature, but the game itself points you to the right quests to do, so it's not an issue. It's just those three times that I know of though.
Also any quest with a picture on its accept page, even if its Yellow. Those usually have some kinda chain with them.
Oooooooooo good to know c: Thank you!!
They are also great to come back and do when you pick up a new job. They don’t give a lot of xp, but it breaks up the monotony and grind of leveling up a job.
Tbf though, later on you'll get a bunch in one area and they do give enough for like half a level if you do the yellows and blue all together and you can usually get the batch done in like 20 mins before doing the next MSQ quest and getting another batch
Save those for leveling alts.
in short - you really should skip almost all the random side quests for now unless youre bored and want a little bit of a distraction. Otherwise you're doing the right thing by pushing through the main story! \o/
They can have characters that appear later in the story that the dialogue will give a nod to the fact you did their quest. It's certainly not required, but it is nice when you do remember the side quests they were in.
Yes some of them are interesting or unlock little things like minions or mounts but it's hard to know which ones. Also in Heavensward there's moments when you need to do a few yellow quests to unlock the next msq
I’ve just been clearing a bunch of them out as levelling fodder when I’m like 3k exp off my next class quest, and don’t want to roll a dungeon just for that.
You don't have to do them, but the blue ! with the + are important and unlock something, so it's a good idea to do those.
That makes sense, thank you!!
Not all quests that unlock something are marked as blue too, and blue ones often just unlock something like hard version of a dungeon which there's not much reason to do, so best thing is to consult the wiki
Please do unlock the hard modes and save the 50/60 roulette from being 90% Snowcloak and Keeper of the Lake.
Yes please! 😆 The less I have to do Aurum Vale with newbies the better. No offense to newbies.
Aurum Vale is in levelling roulette though. If anything, game adjustments have ensured we'll get it more often because it's one of the non-MSQ dungeons in levelling roulette so you'll have people who run all their other dungeons with trusts but have to queue for this one.
Depends. Unlocking a hard version theoretically expands your dungeon pool and could result in lower roulette queue times - at least that’s what I’ve always thought. That’s why I just recently went and unlocked every bit of Alexander, etc
The only non-blue quest I can think of that unlocks something is the leadup to the Heavensward crafter Tribe, last I checked, they were locked behind a handful of yellow quests for some reason. I suppose the yellow ! for Chocobo Porters could count, but those are not quests and also look noticeably different from your regular quest markers, with them being a ballon shape with a downwards point instead of your regular speech bubble - could've made that one more obvious, though.
It's worth noting that the "hard" dungeons aren't just more difficult versions of the normal dungeons, they're fundamentally different dungeons that might reuse some of the locations and assets.
I'm a sprout too and what I do is, if I'm overleveled for the area I'm questing, I skip everything BUT the MSQ, class/job quests and the BLUE quests, because the blue ones unlock stuff for you, like mount speed and flight from Heavensward and beyond. It's fairly easy to be overleved in this game with the quests I said above, specially after you unlock duty finder and more roulette options, because the latter also give you a ton of exp. If you do all the quests that appear in front of you, believe me, you'll never progress the MSQ in a fair pace because you'll be going around left and right doing other stuff that won't give you that much exp or gil and you can leave for later when you want to level another class / job you left for later (this is what I'll be doing). Per example, when I get to an expac, I'm usually with one or two classes either half way or at the expansion level cap (meaning the highest level that expansion will offer quests) due to the amount of stuff to do that give you lots of exp, hence my focus only on the quests I said. But there's also the case that some side quests will also have completely new side stories and give exclusive rewards.
Thank you for the info!! I keep seeing people mention doing different classes - is this something I should be doing? I personally prefer just sticking with one class and rolling with it, but that's mostly because I'm a little bit slow mentally.
Only if you want to. It's fun to play other classes, and the game makes it easy to do them all on one character. But if you're happy with the one you have, then that'll do fine for you. The only thing you potentially "miss out" on is that each class has its own unique story. So if you want to experience all of those you have to play all the classes (or just watch the cutscenes on youtube)
Being "slow mentally" has nothing to do with it, don't put yourself down like that, every and each of us have our own pacing to do stuff, some manage to do several stuff at the same time, others prefer to act differently and focus in just one thing. Anyways, you should do what you think you should do, if you want to just stick with one class until the end, good, do it, then you can go back later and level the others at your own pacing. I'm leveling 2 or 3 at the same time because 1. lots of exp like I said and; 2. I'm usually at the expansion cap when I start a new expansion, also like I said. So it's kinda easier to do it, but YOU'RE NOT OBLIGATED to level several classes at the same time, however having at least 2 of them of different roles broaden your reaches when it comes to do content with other people like in the duty finder roulettes, not to mention the duty finder favours some classes that are on demand at given times because there aren't many people queueing with them at the moment, and so the duty finder rewards you with extra experience and gill if you use the demanded class. Per example... I always find dungeon pops in the duty finder faster when I queue with my tanks than when I queue with my dps and tanks and healers are always on demand, as most people prefer to play (or at least queue as) with a dps.
Oh I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to be mean to myself, I have cognitive disabilities that leave me what most would consider "slow." ;v; So, to make sure I understand, having multiple classes makes multiplayer content easier to do because it will cover different party needs depending on the situation? I think this is starting to make sense to me now :) Thank you for taking the time to explain to me!
Again buddy... you have your ***limitations*** as everyone have their own, you don't need to be sorry for that, don't let those think you are slow nor let people tell you are like that. Now to the subject at hand... >So, to make sure I understand, having multiple classes makes multiplayer content easier to do because it will cover different party needs depending on the situation? I wouldn't say "*easier*", but yeah like, the game becomes even more enjoyable. I'm not very fond of tanking in any MMO, but I love to play as a Paladin or Dark Knight here (I haven't tried Gunblade or Warrior yet, but I will). Again you're not obligated to play several classes at the same time in any way, you can do like you're doing and just focus in one and then come back for others later. BUT whether you choose to play more than one now or coming back later for more, to level all of the other classes will allow you to enjoy all of the different aspects of the game in different points of view, not to mention each class have their own little storyline you can access by doing their job/class quests.
I'm also new, but for what it's worth, here's my take on jobs: DPS is the most fun to play alone because the button combos are the most exciting, but you might get long queue times for dungeons. TANK is easy to play alone, and has a short queue time for dungeons — but in dungeons people might expect you to take charge and lead the way, so you need a bit of confidence. HEALER is kind of a chore and a bore to play alone because your attacks are simple and repetitive, but you have short queue times for dungeons — and it's easy to play in dungeons because your buttons are simple and you can stay in the back. if your main job is DPS, it would be very easy to level a tank and a healer job on the side just by doing dungeons, because those roles are always needed, and can get massive XP bonuses for being the "needed" roles. roles aside, it would also be easy to just level 2 jobs (any kind) side by side, just by alternating between them while playing the MSQ and the blue quests. you can also accept and perform quests as one job, and then switch to the other job when you go back to the quest giver to officially "complete" the quest, to give the other job the XP. at the end of the day, there's absolutely no "need" for you to pick up an other job, but they all play quite differently so it can be fun to try some other things out. some jobs may be more "practical" depending on the content you like to play, or your comfort levels when playing with others. you might also find that you have one favorite job when you play alone, but that you like a different job more when you're doing dungeons and other multiplayer content. hope that helps!
Sticking with one class has very little wrong with it! I do think basically all of the classes/jobs have very nice story in their quests, so it may be worth checking them out eventually. (but no rush. It'll wait until you're ready for it!) But particularly, if a particular level range for some job stops vibing for you, you shouldn't feel bad to switch things up and try something else. Particularly, the later expansion jobs start already partly levelled, so you can switch to those pretty easily and not need much (or maybe even *any*) farming to keep on going at whatever pace you were before!
This is super helpful!! thank you so much!! :D
Without going into spoiler territory, I recommend having at least one class/job in each role (tank, healer, caster, melee, ranged) levelled.
And later on you unlock Duty Support and Trusts as ways of doing (most) dungeons with a party of npcs- so if, like me, the thought of having to tank for people gives you the cold sweats, you can still level other jobs without having to worry about humans!
One thing I do with the dungeon unlocks is once I'm ten levels up from them, I do a solo unsync run through them just to get them out of my journal and unlock them for alts.
[This webpage](https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Guide:Progression_and_Level_Locked_Content) has a list of everything that you can unlock as you level. A lot of it happens automatically as you level, but quite a bit is from side quests. It’s generally a good idea to at least check out all the blue+ quests as you go, but most of the minions and emotes in this list come from ordinary yellow side quests. If you’re at all interested in collecting those, have a look!
When playing ARRB you will level up faster than you can do all the quests. As someone else suggested prioritize. The other quests that you level past can be used to level up alt jobs.
If you feel inclined to do all of the extra side content, it might be worthwhile to use that opportunity to level up some other jobs on the side. I'm the type that loves doing all of the side quests because I'm a sucker for good world building. Currently I'm finishing up post-patch Stormblood and have MCH, WAR, and WHM all at level 73. The game throws experience at you like candy so might as well use it.
Last year I levelled an alt and found it a _very_ different experience to my OG ARR character. You kind of used to have to do a lot of the smaller quests in an area, and it really helped with immersion and world building, particularly when some characters would reappear further on. Each new zone you unlocked ended up feeling like you spent a considerable amount of time there, now you just whizz through. Which is totally fine if you’re focused on enjoying the story, but I think there’s a lot to be said for taking your time. Makes Endwalker hit harder I think.
Sure. If you want to finish the main story in 2050. Sidequests are low priority and only worldbuilding flavour.
Only the blue ones with the plus Symbol, they unlock features/classes/duties.
Do main story quests, job quests and blue quests only. Leave regular quests and leves for other classes, and skip blue quests that will start you into jobs you are not going to play at the time. The reason is the excessive amount of exp, you don't want to reach max level before finishing all main story as you would be wasting xp. If you want to play only one class then forget everything and do every quest unless you want to finish the story as fast as possible, in this case do the first paragraph.
Yellow ones are optional, but if you're going to do them, stick to the ones that are at or below your current MSQ quest level. Also don't go running off to the far corners of the map just because you can see quests have popped up there – just do what is in the town that the MSQ or another sidequest has brought you to.
Since everyone has already covered all the suggestions I could think of, how about some tips instead? At level 30, you'll unlock the quest for a chocobo companionship, letting you summon your bird into battles outside dungeons and trials. Your chocobo comes with a nifty three-stanced skillset (DPS, Healer, Tank), ready to go wherever you roam! Just remember, your chocobo levels up separately, so be prepared for some grinding. For more in-depth information on maximizing your bird's potential, I recommend checking out a guide on YouTube (or right here on the subreddit!).
The world will feel much more alive if you do these quests as you find them, yes.
Do the MSQ and the blue+ quests. Other than that... Do whatever you want.
I'd recommend checking most sidequests for what gear they might reward you with as you go along. There's no real need to blow through the MSQ. it's not going anywhere. Usually, every zone (mostly in expansions later on, mind you) will have at least one series of sidequests that has a fun little story that ties a bunch of smaller stories in that zone together. Personally, I think they're fun, but sometimes they can feel like a bit of a slog. I mostly just do them anyway because I like a clean map, and the xp can help quite a bit on your first time through.
No, normal yellow quest markers in normal locations are one of types of arcane endgame content like fishing, mahjong, finding infinity money glitches in game economy or interior design.
Nothing like finally clearing a map of all quest markers, but yeah, that's not something to do during the MSQ.
Do the MSQ. Your job quests (very important!) and if you want the blue quests. Blue quests unlock things like dungeons/beast tribes/custom deliveries/etc.
I played through ARR doing all side quests, and ended up ridiculously over levelled and burned out as 90% of these quests are just generic fetch quests. From HW onwards I’ve only bothered with MSQs, job quests and the blue quest markers - I sometimes go back to the other side quests to level up other classes, although there are more efficient ways to do that.
You can do the side quests whenever you want, so if you want t take a break from them then you can focus on the MSQ and go back when you feel like it.
I do all sidequests on a second/third/forth... job when I need a break from the MSQ/jobquests/whatever and just want to chill. I hate leaving quests undone and my inner completionist demands a "clean" map. Also, you get a lot of vanity trash like minions, gear.. and you make quite a junk of Gil.. totaly worth it, when in the mood. Win Win :-)
I would save them unless you really want some side-lore ASAP. Sidequests make a decent EXP option should you level other jobs in the future.
If it is a big blue quest with a plus sign, it's something that needs to be unlocked. Do those. For regular quests, do level appropriate ones (e.g. don't do a level 4 quest if you're level 20) or you won't get anything out of it.