What do you think is the best moment to stop following the main quest and get involved in side quests and with the factions?

The main quest all the way to fort Hagen seems to be structured like the arc 1 of the main quest and during this period our father looking for his kid would not really have a valid reason to halt his search.

After fort hagen comes the moment that i Call act 2 and that is the moment when I felt like getting involved with the factions.It became clear that war was coming and that i should get some support to avoid getting caught unprepared in the middle of it.

By the way In my opinion the Prydwen arrival is sooo much cooler if you were already chosen by Danse as an initiate.The whole Deep signal transmitter section is just weird if the Bos is already in the region.What's the point of sending a long range transmission when vertibirds are flying over Cambridge all the time?

Anyway that's just me.

How do you pace yourself in this game?

I'm about done with my first play through of the story, and it was by accident. So I'm not sure where to stop would be lol I have a save right before I killed everyone on the prydwen (not quest related, I wanted to because the BoS pisses me off) might go back and do some exploring.

I managed to play all the sides up until recently. Ultimately, I sided with the Brotherhood of Steel, although I'm not a huge fan of Maxon. He's a bit of a jerk.

Once you get up to the point with them about your little altercation with Paladin Danse, that is as far as you can go before you'll start losing rail road quests.

In regards to the Minutemen, you can do all of their quests.

I haven't done many quests for the institute, but right now my current mission has something to do with Bunker Hill.

The current mission I have with the railroad is Boston After Dark.

This is a good thread for me to post my question, hope that's okay:

Does anyone have a list, or know a link where I can see the name of each "last quest" I can do before having to choose sides with someone?

That way I would know how to spot each "stop point" to do quests with the others and then ultimately decide for one path, not missing out anywhere.

Is that possible, or am I thinking wrong? thanks!

I wandered off as soon as I could right after Concord. I just did a bunch of stuff at Goodneighbor which i was partly much too strong for the shroud quest but it says has upgrades at 25 and 30. I started it around 30 and already had the generals outfit. Kellogs outfit is comparable to these too. I'm saying get to anyone of these 3 outfits as weight is a concern for my weak self. Shroud or kellogs both have a substantial boss but could possibly be done fairly early any number of ways. Kellogs would be easier and quicker. Shroud quest took me a whole day with some distractions and going to save settlements.

I paused after finishing each part of the main quest. So basically I had "Minutemen Arc" (before getting to Diamond City), "Railroad Arc" after getting to Diamond City and before meeting the Detective after saving him and am currently in the BoS arc (before going to Memory den to check Kellog's mind). Now that all faction quests have been almost exhausted, I will finish another phase of the MQ and check what's new amongst the factions.

By far the best time --> Before Battle of Bunker Hill. Basically simply dawdle once reaching the Institute. Without spoiling too much, even though this is the spoiler forum

Second choice is shortly after the beginning, when you have no idea where to look and are exploring the world

Once I was told to go to the Glowing Sea.
The way they talked about it, I heard Eye of the Tiger and went off into the wasteland to become Saitama

One-Bullet Man?

I sided with the BoS in my first play through which I stopped about 2 missions after completing the main quest line. I'm playing through a second time so that I can build and do things better because I know how most things work now. I'll also be siding with any faction that has a mission to wipe out the BoS. Damn I hate those guys, they are just everywhere interfering with everything I'm trying to do.

The Prydwen looked so beautiful as it came down in flames, I could almost hear my synth army cheering. Which they would have done, but they're not people. Stupid railroad.

Lol dude there is no best time just do whatever you want when you want.

I know but you kinda have to find a balance between the sandbox and roleplay experiences.

The start, before going to DC. You're never given much direction, all Codsworth says is "lol go to Concord," and all Mama Murphy says is "lol go to DC." You can just roleplay as you're rummaging through the wastes, you're looking for your son. It gives you 0 direction aside from a quest marker.

I kind of stopped when I was told to go find the detective. Honestly I was afraid it would pull me in even deeper and I wanted to do some other stuff.

So ... after reading this thread I still have no idea when a good time to stop is.

I do want to do the MM up to the point of taking the castle, then just use that as my main base/home.

This is a spoilers allowed forum, so I'm going to post one here, be forewarned.

SPOILER:

The urgency of the main quest is based on finding your infant son and making sure he's safe. After you get to the institute, you find him and realize that he's doing just fine for himself. This is where my character lost his sense of panic and decided to wander the commonwealth to see what type of world he woke up in and where he would fit.