Will I miss anything if I don't go camping?
There are plenty of camp sites around the FFXV world, but I am skipping most of them because I don't find that they are as needed as the game makes them out to be.
I usually try to not camp because of the 0% increase to EXP and I really only use them when I will need a fast travel back to my last camp site.
I did have a morning breakfast with Ignis after a campout, so I'm assuming there are other brotherly activities that may occur if I camp more.
Q: How important is it to camp at every location? Is there an indication of when I should be camping or what camp sites are important to use?
Solution 1:
Resting at a campsite offers a few more mechanics that resting at a inn or trailer.
Buffs: The major reason is the buffs you can obtain from foods that Ignis can cook. You do not obtains buffs at an inn at the cost of bonus XP
Tours: It is not important to rest at every campsite, but there are a few camps that provide special side-quests known as Tours. These tours are a set locations, and offer different rewards and character building
Training: This provides different combat options with your allies to obtain some AP and different rewards.
As a side note, if you wish to wait to cash in your experience at an inn to obtain bonus XP, you can always equip the Nixperience Band from the Holiday Pack DLC (which I believe is automatically included in the PC version)
Solution 2:
Camping does do something besides giving you a zero percent EXP increase. You can improve skills, tally up the accumulated EXP you earned from the day, as well as give you and your allies a stat boost courtesy of Chef Ignis' cooking.
This website: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Camp, says the following about camping at a campsite:
At camp, Ignis can cook many foods. Every dish he makes will offer a variety of effects.
Although you don't get much experience boost from camping, the big benefit to it is improving Ignis' cooking skill, which improves with every dish he makes.
Some more information about camping for you on the link above:
Noctis can also train at campsites by battling his allies.
Not only can you camp there, but you can fight with your allies, which is a big bonus.
They use accumulated EXP to level up.
That is another good reason for camping out with your allies. Assuming you are far away from a hotel or something like that. Camping out, like sleeping in a hotel, will restore your party's HP, this was said in the above link.