The vast majority of side quests in every single Final Fantasy XIV zone can be safely ignored. As part of the allied society quests that are added patch by patch, there are usually three zones with linked quests that you’ll want to complete, but that’s about it. Otherwise, they’re just little doses of lore and culture and aren’t really anywhere near the most efficient ways to level up your jobs. So naturally, I make a point of doing all of them before the first patch comes out, with some small pride taken in the fact that when I enter a zone it is free of quests.
Why? I just have a tradition of it, and it’s how I’ve been doing things since the game launched. By now it is nothing more than a tradition, not terribly useful but something that matters to me personally. So what about you? What traditions do you have for MMO expansions and patches? Do you always approach them in the same way? Always wear certain outfits? Listen to certain music? How do you approach new infusions of content regardless of optimal approaches?