Note: I know that I can use this to get the stories which are in an epic, I'd like to not call this every time.
I am trying to determine when I need to use the above instructions to get all of the stories. For a story, I can see the epic link and also if there are sub-tasks so I can navigate those well.
[Edited for Clarity]
When using the REST API, I'm trying to get the number of stories associated with an epic. For example, when I pull back an issue, I can tell if there are subtasks under the item. I was thinking there might be the same functionality for an Epic since the UI shows the epics.