r/WhereWindsMeet

I'm confused about how I'm supposed to be engaging with this game!

I'm going through the main story, not going out of my way to explore or grind, just doing what I found in my way, and I've done 5 out of 6 of the Jianghu Legacy things (seemed like they were tutorial things to do, since they unlocked basic functions like meridian touch and lightness), tried some random stuff from the menus (so many menus!) that caught my eye: the mode where you clear outposts with another player, the mode where you kill 2 bosses MMO style... and I think I found myself vastly overlevelled. I'm level 60, and last breakthrough, I've gone immediately from 55 to 60 with the stored XP. In the story, I've only just finished chapter 1 and gone to Kaifeng.

At the same time, I think my martial arts and weapons might be very underlevelled. I've been stingy with upgrades, because what if I find myself preferring something else, and lacking the upgrade materials.

I'm not clear at all if bosses scale with your level, or if levelling up is actually a way to overpower them. I cleared Qianye at level 60, I'm not sure if that made it too easy for how it's meant to be, or if she's scaled up to match.

I've never played MMOs. The most similar thing to this I've played is GTA Online, with it's many minigames and different grinding mechanisms, but it pales in comparison.

I hope all this doesn't really matter, that there's no really wrong way, and I expect many people will say "just play however you want", but is there any expected or intended or recommended order of engaging with all this? Do I focus on the story strictly and ignore the side quests? Do I just keep wander around and do whatever quest is nearest? Level at every opportunity, or hold off? Do I grind for a fun thing I like, like a sect hairstyle or whatever, or will that find me outlevelling the story and diminishing that experience?