Progression after MSQ

I just recently finished the MSQ and got crafted ilv580 gear (I assume the best gear without doing new high-end duties), but I must admit that I do feel a bit lost now that the game doesn't push me down a clear path forward on how to progress towards harder content since the hardest I did until now was ARR extreme trials, so I have no clue how to actually improve.

Should I just learn and clear trials and raids by release date (ARR->HW etc.) or is there something else apart from the obvious that will get me prepared which would elude a new player like me.

Thanks.

The general progression at level cap is normal mode raids > EX trials > savage raids. Queue up for Pandaemonium and see what happens.

The raids and trials from previous expansions are worth doing for the story but won't help you get better at your level 90 rotation.

Basically from here til the beginning of 7.0, you are going to be on a gear treadmill, frequently upgrading your gear for higher ilvl gear.

Right now you have a few options. To start, you can build up tomestones of aphorism for the ilvl 570 moon gear. This is purely a stopgap measure though, and this gear should be replaced as soon as possible.
If you have money or crafter friends, if you can get a full set of ilvl 580 Classical gear (HQ, never get normal quality gear outside glamour use ever, it's a waste of money), that'll keep you set for a good while.
Once you have high enough ilvl to access it, you can run the normal raid series for tokens that can be turned in ilvl 580 gear. This is roughly the same strength as crafted gear and it's "free", but you can only get so much of it per week.

After that, you have tomestone of astronomy gear. This gear is limited per week as you can only get 450 tomestones per week and most of the gear costs more than that. But it's ilvl 590 and eventually can be upgraded to 600 (either through savage or through alliance raids or hunts during 6.1). This is sort of a long term goal, but one you should be working towards every week.
After that, you have gear that drops from savage raids that are all ilvl 600. Savage as noted also drops the upgrade item for the astronomy gear from certain fights.

For now, those are you gearing options. When 6.1 drops, the alliance raid will drop ilvl 590 gear as well. And then when 6.2 drops, there will be a new set of crafted gear, a new normal raid set, and a new tomestone and savage raid set of higher ilvl. And thus the treadmill grind continues.
Be aware that you never need maximum ilvl to access anything (outside ultimate content whenever that drops, but that's the least of your concerns right now). Having a full set of crafted gear should be able to get you into everything until 6.3 I wanna say when the second alliance raid comes out. And you'll have plenty of time to get better gear than crafted before then anyway.



As for actual content to do, right now as noted, the progression of gameplay is basically Normal Raids> Extreme Trials> Savage raids in terms of difficulty hike. Normal raids are basically the same difficulty as trials you've already been doing, maybe a touch harder. Extreme trials are the game's midcore content. They drop decent gear and if you are lucky a mount. They are a good first step into getting into harder content, at first they'll seem overwhelming, but as you do them more you'll see they aren't too bad. And then Savage is where the content starts getting pretty hard. But it also gives the best gear you can get at any given time.
I'd just start with the current normal raids. You shouldn't really practice on old content as you won't have your full rotation. You should check it out because it's just fun to do though, there's some pretty fun content in the past expansions.

The extreme trials and savage raids require coordinating your team with voice chat (discord), as well as spending time outside of the game studying the mechanics of the fight if they aren't new releases. If that sounds daunting to you then don't sweat it, they're completely optional and unnecessary. You can do all of the other content just fine with the latest crafting gear that you have. Also, the extreme and savage fights do not offer any additional lore/story content, and so you won't be missing out on any lore if that interests you.

If you want to improve in other ways such as acquiring fancy mounts, minions, titles, gil, and other rare items then I recommend looking into Palace of the Dead, Heaven on High, and the Bozja Southern Front. Bozja in particular is one of my favorite side-contents to do because it allows you to change the playstyle of your job (e.g. with certain items tanks and healers can become dps). If you like to play solo then you may enjoy trying to complete floors 1-100 in Palace of the Dead by yourself to get the "Lonely Explorer" title (but you can also complete these floors with a party to try and get the rare items in floors 100+).

The progression after MSQ is up to you. You can set the goals that you want to. These are some common ones.

Challenges

• Clear the latest extreme trial and farm it for the mount
• Clear the latest 4 savage floors for the gear and mount.
• Clear Palace of the Dead or Heaven-on-High solo.
• Clear old content with Minimum IL and Silence Echo settings.

Grinds

• Collect all relic weapons from all expansions.
• Collect all mounts.
• Collect all minions.
• Collect all triple triad cards.
• Get all achievements (not going to actually succeed at this, but you can spend years trying).

Social

• Roleplaying.
• Starting or joining a free company and chilling with them.
• Hunting.
• Starting map parties in party finder.

The extreme trials are unlocked from https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w..._as_a_Minstrel

The latest 4 raids are unlocked from https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...t/d5bc45b5af2/

The savage version of those raids are unlocked from Aporia where you got the normal ones from.

You can either join a static or pug them in party finder by joining a [Practice] party and then join a [Duty Completion] party when you have got 75-95% of the way through the fight.