Pug Pugil Problem

[Alhanelem]

As you progress more options become avialable to you. Don't worry too much about cash. you get gil rewards as you rank up in your home nation, and the other expansion's missions make themselves available to you.

but I really feel like I shouldn't need to sift through an auction house to get the drops I'd need for every quest I've started.

You don't NEED to, but it's the quick fix, and it is very, very common in this game to just buy what you need instead of spending time hunting rare drops. Other people can find them for you. Whatever you've done, tons of other people have done it too. Remember, this game is over 20 years old, game design was very different then vs now. FFXI is often cryptic and there are often many ways to do things. Lean on one of the wikis so you always know what to do next. The wikis were forged by the blood sweat and tears of the adventurers that came before you.

The Records of Eminence quests were specifically put in the game to help newer players gear up without having to spend as much time grinding for gil and such. If you don't need the gear aavailable to you from them, you can buy any gear off the records of eminence vendor for sparks, and then sell them to vendors for gil. This is a fast money making strategy employed by just about everyone. There is a limit to how many sparks you can spend weekly (much like tomestones in FFXIV, and such), but if you're new you are very, very unlikely to reach that limit.