What are you playing 4: HD Remaster Gold Collector's Edition Thread of the Year

[Cespenar]

FE5 is Thracia 776, right? I've always heard that it's probably the hardest classic FE game.

Yeah it looks that way. Maybe it would be easier in a second (or spoiled) playthrough, but so far I'm falling for every trick and twist the game throws at me, which is weirdly fun in an oldschool D&D kinda way.

If I'll truly gameover, though, I'll probably downgrade to a "bronzeman" type of self-induced-but-easier challenge, like have the option to restart a chapter but sacrifice an additional NPC each time I do it, or something.

[GloatingSwine]

I thought about grabbing this, but how much do I need to play the original to understand it?

You pretty much don't.

Anything you need to know about the events of the previous game will be mentioned, and it's not much so far.

[Zevox]

Still playing a lot of Guilty Gear Strive. It is going to be hard to go back to any fighting game without netcode this good now, after having an ArcSys fighter like this that plays this smoothly online (however many faults it may have in getting you to those matches).

Managed to win my way back into heaven after the monthly reset, but it was notably harder, taking me about two weeks of attempts, instead of the few days last month. Which is good, that should be a hard thing to do, and I feel more accomplished having done it this month than last. Actually wound up switching to May to do it this time after a week of failed Ramlethal attempts, and am starting to wonder if I'm just better with May than Ram. That'd be a bit of a mind-screw, given how many years I spent avoiding playing charge characters.

After getting back into heaven, I returned to dabbling with other characters. Still like Giovanna, and I just tried Leo for the first time. Having a hard time adjusting to him, but I do enjoy just how many ways he has to open people up. I now really understand why even people who play him thought giving him a command grab in this game was crazy. Still, like Gio I think he'll just be someone I dabble with for fun from time to time, I don't see him displacing Ram or May as one of my favorites.

Thinking I'll try Millia next.

[Cespenar]

Yep, turns out you can't really blind ironman FE5 unless you're very lucky or have some insider insight into how the developers' minds work or something.

The ironman part ended in Chapter 4x where a knight captured my thief (he just hopped out of the fog-of-war'd room after she unlocked it, giving no turns to escape). When I rescued her by killing the knight, it turns out all of her items magically disappeared, including her lockpicks.

And guess what the game puts between you and the main objective? Several locked doors. Yep, so I softlocked myself.

I'll downgrade to a copper/bronze/whateverman where I'll sacrifice an NPC for each reload, but I don't think I'll take these softlocks as true losses, because this is really BS.

[Wookieetank]

So I'm up to 3 failed attempts at the Amala Labyrinth in SMT3:N at this point, and 2 failed goes at Thor. Finding him much harder than Matador thanks to a lack of lightning resist/null. Amala does not pull its punches, think I made it most of the way through on one of my goes, but then got wiped by a surprise attack. Think I'm going to go peek at a guide before my next attempt at either. I'd be more inclined to reduce my difficulty, if that wasn't part of the draw for me with SMT games.

With Dyson Sphere Program, up to 2 planets with factories on them now. Both planets also have equatorial solar farms encircling the globe. Just unlocked planetary logistics and gunning for Interplanetary logistics. So far my only complaint is that interplanetary travel is a bit squiffy. With any luck, might be able to actually get started on my Dyson Sphere sometime this week. Should probably redo my starter factory, but I do enjoy the chaos of the multilayered conveyor belts running between buildings.

[NRSASD]

Anyone here heard of or played Blaseball? If you have and dropped out, now is the time to get back in. Entire teams are likely to be incinerated.

[warty goblin]

Been playing lots of Age of Wonders: Planetfall. Really enjoying the xcom-lite/civ-lite hybrid of the game, and laughing about the weird strategies I can develop. Playing as the Syndicate (slave soldiers and psionic overlords), my current favorite is using the oathbound tier 1 melee infantry as my indentured line and combo-ing it with the celestian tech tree to make extremely cheap, extremely durable troops that heavily debuff anyone who dares touch them. Backing that up with a dependable sniper line and basically everything dies hilariously.

Next game on my list: Darkwood. I played it a while back and really enjoyed it, but never finished it. Which is a mistake I intend to rectify!

I like the enlightened Celestian Syndicate there, definitely a heterodox combination!

The mod system in Planetfall allows for some deeply strange combinations, I really love it. It's quite deep, but also keeps that nice approachable and easy-to-interact-with light strategy/wargame sort of feel to it. I'm not totally sure I'd rank it above AoW 3, but it sure is close.

I started messing around with Tainted Grail: Conquest, since I was feeling a bit Arthurian of late. What exactly this game has to do with Arthuriana except as a source of useable fantasy names I'm not sure, but my very early impressions are positive. It's very much playing in the random card battler playground, by which I mean it's a Slay the Spire clone. I like the art style better though, and the story does some, well, not interesting things with the roguelite structure, insofar as 'trapped in an time loop' is less doing something with the concept and more just having an NPC explain the literal game structure to you, but whatever. At least it's there, and there's some minor base building stuff thrown in the mix as well, which is fun to see.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Been playing a bit more FTL, and I think my favorite ship is definitely the Mantis B (The Basilisk). The starting loadout is stupid good; 2 shields and a defense drone right out the gate makes you basically impervious to everything but bombs. Spend the early game building up your boarding crew, get at least one weapon to shoot down overshields (or the Zoltan Shield Bypass augment), and use your boarding drone to ever-so-slowly kill automated ships. As long as you don't lose your crew in the stupid ways I'm prone to (enemy FTLs away while I'm still boarding, get mind controlled like I freaking knew would happen on an automated ship so I can't teleport the guy out and he asphyxiates, got greedy while training my guys against an enemy Clone Bay) you're basically set.

Enemy Med Bays pose a bit of a problem, but aside from the Flagship fight a level 2 Teleporter and good micro will see you to victory even without a missile/bomb to take it out. They can only fit 2 enemies in there; if you stick two Mantises with them they'll lock two enemies and the Med Bay down, leaving your other two Mantises to kill the rest of the crew and start taking out systems (hilariously, at that point the enemy AI will usually leave the Med Bay, because they're at full health and the two marines you have keeping them tied up aren't attacking a system, making them lower priority to the AI, and letting you destroy the Med Bay while they're distracted). Take advantage of your ability to shuffle your marines around so the ones with high health remaining are the ones taking the damage and (ideally) the ones who haven't reached max melee level are the ones landing the final blow - you can even do this within a room while paused by ordering them out of the room and then (without unpausing) ordering them back into the room in the order you prefer.

Come the Flagship fight, all you really need on top of that is a single missile/bomb weapon for the Med Bay and Cloaking for the missiles and power surges; boarding rakes in significantly more scrap, so you should have already easily gotten max Shields, Engines, and Reactor. Open by sending two crew to the enemy missile weapon, then two to the ion weapon, then recall the first two and send them to the beam weapon if you're feeling thorough (never send them to the laser weapon, though; you want to leave one enemy crew alive). Get them back together, send all four to the enemy Shields, and then missile/bomb their Med Bay once the first guy retreats to it. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

[NRSASD]

I like the enlightened Celestian Syndicate there, definitely a heterodox combination!

The mod system in Planetfall allows for some deeply strange combinations, I really love it. It's quite deep, but also keeps that nice approachable and easy-to-interact-with light strategy/wargame sort of feel to it. I'm not totally sure I'd rank it above AoW 3, but it sure is close.

Yeah, it's an odd combo to be sure, but surprisingly effective! Ascended Teachers make the literal oceans of indentured I have quite good, because casualties become even more of a non-issue than usual. Since indentured have a two (2) upkeep, I have about 60 of them just running around, serving as extra meat for the grinder or occasionally shooting down the stray bee. The Syndicate battle tank with Aether storm is tremendously silly though, since you just plunge into the enemy lines and cause them all to go insane.

Been playing a bit more FTL, and I think my favorite ship is definitely the Mantis B (The Basilisk). The starting loadout is stupid good; 2 shields and a defense drone right out the gate makes you basically impervious to everything but bombs. Spend the early game building up your boarding crew, get at least one weapon to shoot down overshields (or the Zoltan Shield Bypass augment), and use your boarding drone to ever-so-slowly kill automated ships. As long as you don't lose your crew in the stupid ways I'm prone to (enemy FTLs away while I'm still boarding, get mind controlled like I freaking knew would happen on an automated ship so I can't teleport the guy out and he asphyxiates, got greedy while training my guys against an enemy Clone Bay) you're basically set.

Enemy Med Bays pose a bit of a problem, but aside from the Flagship fight a level 2 Teleporter and good micro will see you to victory even without a missile/bomb to take it out. They can only fit 2 enemies in there; if you stick two Mantises with them they'll lock two enemies and the Med Bay down, leaving your other two Mantises to kill the rest of the crew and start taking out systems (hilariously, at that point the enemy AI will usually leave the Med Bay, because they're at full health and the two marines you have keeping them tied up aren't attacking a system, making them lower priority to the AI, and letting you destroy the Med Bay while they're distracted). Take advantage of your ability to shuffle your marines around so the ones with high health remaining are the ones taking the damage and (ideally) the ones who haven't reached max melee level are the ones landing the final blow - you can even do this within a room while paused by ordering them out of the room and then (without unpausing) ordering them back into the room in the order you prefer.

Come the Flagship fight, all you really need on top of that is a single missile/bomb weapon for the Med Bay and Cloaking for the missiles and power surges; boarding rakes in significantly more scrap, so you should have already easily gotten max Shields, Engines, and Reactor. Open by sending two crew to the enemy missile weapon, then two to the ion weapon, then recall the first two and send them to the beam weapon if you're feeling thorough (never send them to the laser weapon, though; you want to leave one enemy crew alive). Get them back together, send all four to the enemy Shields, and then missile/bomb their Med Bay once the first guy retreats to it. Rinse and repeat as necessary.

My favorite boarding craft has to be the Federation Cruiser C, the clone attack ship. You have a cloning bay, a boarding module, and a wildly indiscriminate flak cannon. By my count, I think my crew of 8 died about 30 times each of the course of the game. What a glorious time to die fighting the rebellion, over and over and over again.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

My favorite boarding craft has to be the Federation Cruiser C, the clone attack ship. You have a cloning bay, a boarding module, and a wildly indiscriminate flak cannon. By my count, I think my crew of 8 died about 30 times each of the course of the game. What a glorious time to die fighting the rebellion, over and over and over again.

I'm not entirely sure how, but the Fed C remains my highest scoring run (I believe that one, when boarding wasn't an option, used a Glaive Beam paired with the Flak Artillery). It's definitely nice to have a Clone Bay for those disaster scenarios (though for some reason it only helps when the Flagship FTLs away; any other ship and the crew you had aboard is SOL), but I don't think I could go back to a two-person teleporter after getting to use a 4-person.

[Erloas]

Well it's been a while, but I've started back into MechWarrior 5. Not sure how far into the game I am, but given the 'Mechs I've got access to and drop weight, I'm guessing I'm about half way through.
It's been fun, pretty much exactly what you would expect from Battletech/Mechwarrior. Although it is also at the same point many of these games run into, I'm seeing a lot of the same missions and not a whole lot is changing between missions, so it's just grinding out rep and money to get to later content. Sort of want it to speed up, but it's definitely a game where you just have to enjoy the gameplay loop because the story is the basic "revenge for someone dying in the first tutorial scene" setup.
I do wish there were more active 'Mech slots in the jumpship, especially considering that there are chain missions that will use every one at once.
I do miss the bonus stats to chassis from MWO, it made it so some of the mechs really felt different from each other, but right now most of the 50tons feel about the same for example. Once the heavies come out there is a bit more variety.

[NRSASD]

I'm not entirely sure how, but the Fed C remains my highest scoring run (I believe that one, when boarding wasn't an option, used a Glaive Beam paired with the Flak Artillery). It's definitely nice to have a Clone Bay for those disaster scenarios (though for some reason it only helps when the Flagship FTLs away; any other ship and the crew you had aboard is SOL), but I don't think I could go back to a two-person teleporter after getting to use a 4-person.

Yeah, that 4 person boarding room is quite lovely. I didn’t miss it though, because I just fully upgraded my teleporter and used it continuously. Also, this ship remains the only ship to successfully board automated vessels without drones.

[Zombimode]

Well it's been a while, but I've started back into MechWarrior 5. Not sure how far into the game I am, but given the 'Mechs I've got access to and drop weight, I'm guessing I'm about half way through.
It's been fun, pretty much exactly what you would expect from Battletech/Mechwarrior. Although it is also at the same point many of these games run into, I'm seeing a lot of the same missions and not a whole lot is changing between missions, so it's just grinding out rep and money to get to later content. Sort of want it to speed up, but it's definitely a game where you just have to enjoy the gameplay loop because the story is the basic "revenge for someone dying in the first tutorial scene" setup.
I do wish there were more active 'Mech slots in the jumpship, especially considering that there are chain missions that will use every one at once.
I do miss the bonus stats to chassis from MWO, it made it so some of the mechs really felt different from each other, but right now most of the 50tons feel about the same for example. Once the heavies come out there is a bit more variety.

Hm... I've played MechWarrior 3, MechWarrior 4, Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries and Mechwarrior 4 Black Knight Legion. Despite some differences all of those games where essentially a streak of unique, handcrafted missions. Is that no longer true for Mechwarrior 5?

[warty goblin]

Hm... I've played MechWarrior 3, MechWarrior 4, Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries and Mechwarrior 4 Black Knight Legion. Despite some differences all of those games where essentially a streak of unique, handcrafted missions. Is that no longer true for Mechwarrior 5?

Nope, MW5 is more or less the turn based Battletech game that came out a couple years ago. You play through randomly constructed missions of various set types (destroy base, defense base, kill a specific target etc) except you run around in a big stompy robot with a couple AI companions to do it, instead of turn based shenanigans. Between fights you fly around the galaxy, doing some light party and robot load out management, while either looking for places to repair and rearm, or looking for a planet where you can pick up some more fights.

There's some more scripted story missions in there as well, but nothing super memorable. For one thing I think its physically impossible for the human brain to actually care about the story - it isn't bad, there just isn't much there and what is there doesn't matter. And the scripted missions use mostly the same enemies and so on as the random ones, so you don't see anything too different. Fortunately the proc gen missions are generally pretty good, with the combat model and terrain generation being rich enough to output some fairly memorable fights on occasion. Running around a lava field at night with both your arms blown off does stick with a person.

[Zombimode]

Nope, MW5 is more or less the turn based Battletech game that came out a couple years ago. You play through randomly constructed missions of various set types (destroy base, defense base, kill a specific target etc) except you run around in a big stompy robot with a couple AI companions to do it, instead of turn based shenanigans. Between fights you fly around the galaxy, doing some light party and robot load out management, while either looking for places to repair and rearm, or looking for a planet where you can pick up some more fights.

There's some more scripted story missions in there as well, but nothing super memorable. For one thing I think its physically impossible for the human brain to actually care about the story - it isn't bad, there just isn't much there and what is there doesn't matter. And the scripted missions use mostly the same enemies and so on as the random ones, so you don't see anything too different. Fortunately the proc gen missions are generally pretty good, with the combat model and terrain generation being rich enough to output some fairly memorable fights on occasion. Running around a lava field at night with both your arms blown off does stick with a person.

A pity. With that information my interest in the game has dropped of to pretty much zero.

[Erloas]

The gameplay is still fun, but yeah, not much for story. The TBS Battletech did a better job of making the time between missions have some importance. They aren't even covering basic events in the timeline as background to what is happening in the universe at large. I think there was plans for it, there is a section for "Interstellar News Headlines" and it's been empty the whole game, and I'm about 5 years into the campaign, so plenty of time elapse for the story. The game is set near the end of the Third Succession Wars, so plenty of lore going on.

I can see the point in not putting you into direct missions with the heads of state for the Great Houses, because that would essentially be the same as what happened in the previous games, but there is a lot of other things going on farther out that would work. Maybe they just didn't want to make you de-facto parts of one given house? But there is still room for set pieces and one-off missions.

[Triaxx]

The latest update/DLC added a free flight mode letting you fly around and run missions while gaining and losing rep with various house factions.

It's a much more enjoyable game played that way. And even more with friends.

[MCerberus]

I don't know if I'm doing FF14 right. All my crafting classes are level 25+, my bags are full of gear for classes I didn't unlock yet and I have unlocked... 3 combat classes.

[Wookieetank]

I don't know if I'm doing FF14 right. All my crafting classes are level 25+, my bags are full of gear for classes I didn't unlock yet and I have unlocked... 3 combat classes.

Sounds about right, particularly if you're crafting said gear. You end up with a lot of things you don't/won't need when working through all the different recipes. You can desynthesize gear into crystals and items, but I don't remember if that's something you have naturally or have to unlock.

Have you gotten your retainers yet? They're NPCs that each have an inventory of 175 slots, can sell things on the market board for you, and go on missions to retrieve things for you.

There's also a challenge log that you unlock in Limsa Lominsa, which gives bonus xp and gil for doing things (so many dungeons, so many things crafted, hq crafting, gathering, etc), which even after having it for years now, I still find helpful.

I'm working through endgame content myself, and in the course of attempting to unlock all the dungeons and what not, I've ended up distracted and gotten no fewer than 4 jobs to cap, and a 5th most of the way to cap in the past month instead.

[MCerberus]

There's also a challenge log that you unlock in Limsa Lominsa, which gives bonus xp and gil for doing things (so many dungeons, so many things crafted, hq crafting, gathering, etc), which even after having it for years now, I still find helpful.

Is this different that the logs that give you 200% experience for the first time crafting something, the hunting logs, etc?

[Rynjin]

I couldn't get deep into the crafting because I found gathering so boring. Leveling Culinarian was really fun until I hit a point where all the ingredients I needed required me to be level 10+ in stuff like Fisherman to get.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I couldn't get deep into the crafting because I found gathering so boring. Leveling Culinarian was really fun until I hit a point where all the ingredients I needed required me to be level 10+ in stuff like Fisherman to get.

IMO (as someone with all jobs at 80[1]...), the problem there is fishing. Boo fishing. Plus, it's a massive bag space drain all by itself, and I never have enough bag space (not even with 3 retainers...) as it is. I might have pack-rat problems. I just bought my way through CUL.

FYI, if any of y'all are on Mateus or on Crystal (the data center) and want anything to help you get started or need someone to queue with....I got tons of stuff and can get more. And as I said, all jobs at 80 and decently geared. DM me for character info. I generally log on and do a few dailies these days, so glad to help out.

[1] except BLU. Dislike BLU almost as much as fishing...

[Rynjin]

I was gonna say I'd join you if I ever got back into the game because I remembered being on Mateus, but that was my first character; I migrated to Malboro with a friend a while back. Don't really feel like going back to being a level 17 Pugilist even if I did pick the game back up.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I was gonna say I'd join you if I ever got back into the game because I remembered being on Mateus, but that was my first character; I migrated to Malboro with a friend a while back. Don't really feel like going back to being a level 17 Pugilist even if I did pick the game back up.

PUG...ugh. I don't blame you.

Spoiler: Preferred Job List

Show

Tanks: PLD ~ DRK > GNB >> WAR
Healers: WHM > AST > SCH
Melee: DRG ~ NIN > SAM >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> MNK. I hate MNK, even now that they've "fixed" it.
Ranged Physical: DNC > MCH > BRD
Magic: RDM > SMN > BLM >>>>> BLU

Crafters...meh

Gatherers: BOT ~ MIN >>> FSH

Although they have streamlined and sped up the leveling process quite a bit.

[Anteros]

Tried a bit of Genshin Impact after the last big update introduced a new region. I can't tell if the writing was always this bad in the game, and I was just willing to forgive it because I enjoyed the exploration, or if it took a drastic nose dive in the 6 months since I stopped playing. Either way, I'm having to straight up mute my audio and let the "story" play itself out. It's just....so bad.

[Wookieetank]

Is this different that the logs that give you 200% experience for the first time crafting something, the hunting logs, etc?

It is, its a weekly reset log that you can do again each week for extra rewards. Here's a full explanation and details on where to get it: Challenge Log

[factotum]

That was seriously demoralising. I got a necromancer Orc all the way to the end of the Embers of Rage campaign in Nightmare difficulty in ToME, and I really thought I might have a chance of completing it and being able to give Insane a go. Nope, first error was in going into a vault on the way down the Slumbering Caves when I really didn't need to--I already had pretty decent equipment. Died three times in there, throwing away my lich resurrection and both my remaining Adventurer lives before I could escape. Then, when I got right down to the fifth and final level, I immediately got attacked by a Dreaming Horror (HATE HATE HATE those things) which weakened me sufficiently that I died to a Worm that Walks the turn after the horror died. Never even got to see Amakthel, much less do any damage to him.

I'm beginning to think that no matter how hard I try I'm never going to make it out of Nightmare difficulty, which is annoying, because it's generally considered to be the worst one--Insane is actually supposed to be more balanced.

[oxybe]

I've decided to make the plunge.

I'm going to play FFXIV.

I'm a lalafel with a mullet and a soul patch called Mike Truk. Eorzea ain't ready for him.

I'm also going to take my time. I just got the base game, no expansions, so i can get experienced and accustomed to the game before cannonballing into the expansion stuff. plus i hear there is a ton of story content to while the time away on.

[Rodin]

Yeah it looks that way. Maybe it would be easier in a second (or spoiled) playthrough, but so far I'm falling for every trick and twist the game throws at me, which is weirdly fun in an oldschool D&D kinda way.

If I'll truly gameover, though, I'll probably downgrade to a "bronzeman" type of self-induced-but-easier challenge, like have the option to restart a chapter but sacrifice an additional NPC each time I do it, or something.

I've been playing through Three Houses again, this time going with "Meme builds for EVERYBODY!!!" I went Golden Deer because from my searching that's where the best meme build opportunities reside - you only have to grab Annette and Bernadetta out of the other houses to get some really hilarious builds.

Raphael as a Priest is shockingly effective, especially since with CS you can spec him into War Monk for the endgame. The only thing taking him through a Magic path did was turn his punches from overkill into regular kill, leaving him with massive HP and solid heals.

Hilda as a Warlock is also pretty ludicrous. Once again taking her through a Magic route did little to blunt her stat growths, and giving her the Valkyrie class means she can hit people from 5 squares away if she wants, and that's before I've unlocked Bolting. Right now the only problem is that she burns through her spells too fast.

Flayn has been another pleasant surprise. I never expected her to be able to keep up with Strength after taking her down the Fortress Knight path, but she holds her own pretty well. Her natural resistance means she can just sit on the front line all day long.

Lysithea as a Dance is as hilarious as expected, but she's rapidly reaching the point where her utility without her magic (I barred her from using it as part of the meme build) is a bit limited. She's going to be sticking to Dancing soon with the occasional Soulblade to finish someone off.

Annette as a Wyvern Rider has been pretty disappointing. She didn't get the damage or the survivability needed. Even if I get her a Bolt Axe I don't see it being worth it. Bernadetta as a Gauntlet user similarly struggles, although in her case it's partially because all the good classes for her are Male Only.

I just got Seteth, so he's been told to pack his wyvern away in the stable and break out the spell books. It's going to be hard getting his ranks up from E in each, but hopefully I can grind his skills and make a Dark Bishop out of him eventually.

One thing I found is that it's remarkably difficult to come up with something interesting for Lorenz to do. He's already balanced between physical and magic, meaning the usual path of swapping to their weakness doesn't work. I already had a bunch of sword, axe, and gauntlet users. Lance is his normal specialty along with Magic. In the end I simply didn't meme build him. Lorenz - so boring you can't even screw with him.

Even with the meme building this run has been simple enough that I'm very tempted to finally try a Maddening run. Maybe Maddening Casual so I can throw bodies at a problem without totally boning myself in future missions?

[PhoenixPhyre]

I've decided to make the plunge.

I'm going to play FFXIV.

I'm a lalafel with a mullet and a soul patch called Mike Truk. Eorzea ain't ready for him.

I'm also going to take my time. I just got the base game, no expansions, so i can get experienced and accustomed to the game before cannonballing into the expansion stuff. plus i hear there is a ton of story content to while the time away on.

A few recommendations--
* Focus on the Main Sequence Quests (the ones with the gold flames on the icon) whenever you can. Those unlock basically everything else (including dungeons, side quests, mounts, flying, other zones, etc). There's enough XP there to get you to max level on a single job with basically no grinding.
* The only other "DO ASAP" quests are the class-related ones (usually every 5 levels) and especially the job quests at level 30 that let you go to an "upgraded" version of the class (GLD -> PLD, ARC -> BRD, CNJ -> WHM).
* Take your time and smell the flowers.
* When in duties for the first time, people are generally very understanding if you say "first time here". Many of the low-level ones will go super fast.
* There's a couple really slow stretches in the story (around level 30-35 and at the end of the main ARR content (at level 50 after you finish the main content but before you get into the first expansion). It's better than it was, but...still...
* The main game (2.0/ARR as we call it) spends a lot of time worldbuilding and showing you different things that will be important later on for the story. And some of the quests/people are obnoxious. The expansions do a better job of showing progress and having engaging NPCs.
* Don't think you have to do all the content at level. You'll rarely find groups for some of the things at level 50.
* Gil (gold) really doesn't matter for much.
* In order to move to the next expansion, you have to have done all the MSQ content for the previous one. This includes (currently) 3 alliance raids (the Crystal Tower series at level 50).

A note about terminology around patches:
ARR (the base game) has two pieces: 2.0 (the main content, lasts till level 50), and then 2.1-2.8? (the post-ARR but pre-first-expansion content). The latter part is...uneven. It's slow at the first, but has some real twists near the end.

HW (Heavensward/3.0) is the first expansion, lasting from levels 51-60. Similarly, there's "Post-HW" content (3.1-3.8?). That goes a bit faster and has some cool pieces.

SB (Stormblood/4.0) is the second expansion, 61-70, with post-SB content (4.1-4.8?). Has good things...but the main villain is kinda annoying.

ShB (Shadowbringers/5.0) is the current expansion, but we're in the last stages of that. Goes to level 80 with post-patch content (5.1-5.8 currently). Really really good story. Best of the lot.

If you end up on the Crystal data center, DM me and I'll find a way to get you some starting cash.