Point in gearing up?

Hello Everyone,

I recently just got back into the game, I'm sitting around 430 item level( It seems 530ish is max?). I was just wondering besides End game raiding what other reasons is there to gear up? I might dabble in a bit of raiding but beyond that I cant find a reason as to what being well geared will do for me? Dungeons are synced so I cant see that. Any feedback would help ( I guess I'm looking for a reason to grind this gear). Also besides Resistance weps and raiding what else is there to do Endgame? Is there something similar to mythic dungeons from wow?

Right now I'm gearing up for the next expansion. If it follows the normal gearing, that gear will be better than most of the gear in Endwalker for a good deal of 6.0.

Plus it gives something extra to do while waiting for it to launch. Mythic dungeons do not exist here and from what I've heard about them, I'm glad they don't.

At this point in the game gearing up is still mostly a thing for raids. The lack of high end combat content has been a recurrent issue, and there still is nothing similar to mythic dungeons.

I've personally been dabbling in hoh/potd solo as of late and you need a good deal of knowledge on mobs and pulls which might make it look like mythic dungeons. It's very fun but it's still solo and you don't have your full kit available.

Hopefully we get some fresh combat content with Endwalker.

There is a lot of content you can't do at 430. For example Tower of Paradigm's Breach is ilv 495. Pretty easy to gear doesn't take that long to cap. You could buy gear as well a crafted set isn't all that expensive and can let you upgrade to 520.

If you do not participate in savage or ultimate fights really there is no reason other than personal want to gear up all the way to ilvl 530 (the highest you can get right now until 6.0 launches). There is no mythic plus raiding equivalent in this game. "Endgame" here is what you make of it, whether it be gearing up or hunting for glamors, mount farming, crafting/gathering/fishing etc.

I'm just going for stuff that looks cool. I've got the tomes, so why not? I can turn it in for augmented versions once EW drops.

I'd gear at least one job in full i520, so that you can be a step ahead of the general crafted level 81 gear that quests will be handing to you next expansion. In general, the next expansions quest rewards will be 15 ilvls lower than the highest ilvl currently available. SE likes to stick to the trend, so far, so no harm in getting ready!

You'll need to be geared up to (from memory) i465 to complete the "second finale" of Shadowbringers in patch 5.3, and higher to access the dungeons for the patches after that. The highest you need to go for current non-raiding content, as mentioned earlier in the thread, is i495 for the newest alliance raid.

Beyond that, you can keep gearing up if you want a head start on gear in Endwalker, or you can leave it and just plan to pick up the free probably-i515 gear that the 6.0 MSQ will inevitably throw at you.

I would suggest either doing the first step of the Resistance Weapons questline for a free i485 weapon, or just buying an Exarchic one, and working on unlocking content - particularly MSQ, Eden and NieR - that will all give you some amount of free gear in addition to tomes so you can start purchasing the Crystarium and Cryptlurker tome sets.

No reason besides unlocking duty requirements, endgame raiding and contributing more to your team wherever there isn't an item level synch. Gearing for next expansion isn't too difficult, there are a range of easy options to grab 510-530 loot.

It has the advantage over WoW that gear is not an endless grind for tier pieces and legendries and artifact powers and what not to try and keep up with your friends and guild. It's more relaxed and you can gear an alt for Savage in reasonable time.

Sadly we don't have Mythic+ dungeons.

Hi there!

Just some general information for how the game has handled past expansions for your planning:

1) Kind of echoing what has been said but you never ever need to gear up unless you plan to engage in certain content.

2) As the expansion comes to a close, the final gear sets are typically the same power level as the first three dungeons of the expansion:
>Final Alliance Raid is typically equal to drops in the first dungeon of the new expansion. (1 level in)
>Final Augmented Tomestone series is typically equal to those of the second dungeon. (3 levels in)
>Final 8-man Raid is typically equal or near the third dungeon. (5 levels in)

3) As always, you can expect to get gear as you progress the MSQ, or alternatively worst case there will be NPC vendors that sell gear appropriate to get you into the first dungeon.



NOTE: Obviously I don't know if there will be adjustments, but this has been the pattern since 2.0 went to 3.0.

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Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

Sadly we don't have Mythic+ dungeons.

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M+ is a horrifying, terrible system that (along with other terrible systems) murdered the WoW subcount from 14m to 2m.
"Infinite" gear progression is a scam, and it brings with it a pyramid scheme-like environment where the people with the most gear get spots in raids and dungeons, and the people below a certain threshold simply hit a huge, arbitrary wall in their progression that is simply unnecessary.

The problem with gear in FFXIV is not the length of its progression, it's:
1) You are not allowed to use your gear anywhere outside of where you get the gear. Dungeons scale your gear down, PVP does not take gear into account, I do believe Bozja also scales your gear down. The only place where 530ilvl will help you, outside of the current raid wing, is either farming old EX Trials unsynced (unnecessary to be above 500 anyway) , and farming FATEs in the open world.
2) Outside of Ultimate, gear above crafted is not needed at all, and won't make a big difference.
3) Crafted gear is too cheap and powerful and negates progression entirely. World 1st Raiders simply go into a new savage tier with the crafted set on, and complete it in around 24h, which isn't to say everyone does that, but it does mean it is possible and that's a problem.

In short, the problem boils down to the question "Why do you want the gear?" and currently, there is no reasonable answer to that question, other than "I want the dyeable gear for glamour".

WoW's gear is exciting and relevant, NOT because you have a 1% chance of it Turboforging 100extra ilvl with a socket and a tertiary stat, but because that gear defines your gameplay for the rest of the time you're not raiding.
It's relevant in PVP, open world, Open world pvp, dungeons, daily chores, etc.
Essentially, it gives you a tangible return for the time and effort you invested, and "infinite" progression simply isn't a component that makes that formula work.

Bit of a tangent, but a microcosm of this issue is Eureka VS Bozja.
Eureka's leveling system gave you very very tangible feedback for your progression through it, while Bozja is the same from start to finish.
Even the Baldesion Arsenal gear fed into this progression, it was memorable how the 2nd or 3rd time through it people who got a couple pieces of the set were finally able to see the mobs' level because they grew in power, while the Bozja gear is simply yet another skin for your character.

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Originally Posted by Vyrerus

I'd gear at least one job in full i520, so that you can be a step ahead of the general crafted level 81 gear that quests will be handing to you next expansion. In general, the next expansions quest rewards will be 15 ilvls lower than the highest ilvl currently available. SE likes to stick to the trend, so far, so no harm in getting ready!

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Been here since 2.0 and always maxed out every job, this is generally the right answer. You have enough time from now to Endwalker release (Semptember-ish) to fully gear at least 2 job roles, maybe 3 to 520/530. Once EW releases, that gear will get you easily to lvl 85 or so without having to change any gear out.

Meanwhile, while you're leveling those 2 or 3 jobs, the 520/530 gear will be buyable via poetics and you can continue to get gear for the next role. When you think about it there's only 7 sets of gear you need to obtain between the 18 jobs. Fending, Striking, Maiming, Scouting, Healing, Ranged Magic and Ranged Physical as the jobs share that gear between them.

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Originally Posted by Hikelos

The problem with gear in FFXIV is not the length of its progression, it's:
1) You are not allowed to use your gear anywhere outside of where you get the gear. Dungeons scale your gear down, PVP does not take gear into account, I do believe Bozja also scales your gear down. The only place where 530ilvl will help you, outside of the current raid wing, is either farming old EX Trials unsynced (unnecessary to be above 500 anyway) , and farming FATEs in the open world.
2) Outside of Ultimate, gear above crafted is not needed at all, and won't make a big difference.
3) Crafted gear is too cheap and powerful and negates progression entirely. World 1st Raiders simply go into a new savage tier with the crafted set on, and complete it in around 24h, which isn't to say everyone does that, but it does mean it is possible and that's a problem.

In short, the problem boils down to the question "Why do you want the gear?" and currently, there is no reasonable answer to that question, other than "I want the dyeable gear for glamour".

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Gearing helps in:
-Any savages from this expansion to previous one.
-Current and older EX trials, there's no Ilvl sync from Titania EX to Diamond EX.
-Expert roulette, both dungeons in the roulette don't have ilvl sync.

And as you mentionned... Fate.
Gearing above average ilvl doesn't helps in:
-Unreal trial (why.)
-Ultimate, you can get 5 additionnal ilvl compared to when it was released but that's it.
-Bozja, it is casual content and needs to set every players at the same level.
-Pvp, it's already not popular, gear would make it less popular.
-Older dungeon from 2 patches ago (5.3 and so on)

Also your 3rd point, please remember that world first are not average players. They're the top of the cake that dedicate themselves to the game.
If we were to find 8 people of exactly your level in their respective roles, I doubt they could clear savage with only crafted gear. It's possible, but it's much harder than you can imagine, more than 95% of the active player couldn't hope to achieve this.
On top of that, first Alexander tier had a gear check and it simply artificially pushed back the world first.

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Originally Posted by Hikelos

1) You are not allowed to use your gear anywhere outside of where you get the gear. Dungeons scale your gear down, PVP does not take gear into account, ...

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Gear dependent PVP is a travesty. The only people I see adamant that it be a thing aren't all that interested in fair fights. The only times I've seen PvP gear "work" was when the gear/ungeared gap was so small the developer effort required would have been better spent elsewhere.

If previous expansions are any indication i530 gear won't be outclassed till the level 85 dungeon gear. A full set of i530 gear will get you half-way through the expansion.

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Originally Posted by Karl0217

If previous expansions are any indication i530 gear won't be outclassed till the level 85 dungeon gear. A full set of i530 gear will get you half-way through the expansion.

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I don't feel like that's enough of a reason in itself to put the effort into gearing up now. It's just doing work now so you can save it later, and the later option is easier.

If you're playing the game because you want to, and essentially getting revelation times as a byproduct of gameplay, of course you're going to spend them to gear up. But if you don't actually need it for high-level gameplay now, there's no need to put effort in just to earn the Cryptlurker gear when you'll be fine going into Endwalker in a mix of Paglth'an/Edenmete/Type-55/Crystarium gear and updating with free MSQ and dungeon gear as you go.

There's very little in the Crypt sets that feels worth getting, glamour-wise, and I'd rather put my gameplay effort into other things.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I don't feel like that's enough of a reason in itself to put the effort into gearing up now. It's just doing work now so you can save it later, and the later option is easier.

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Pretty much this; Kinda eluded to above, but the easiest option by far is just getting gear in MSQ/Early NPC vendors to get the iLVL needed for the first dungeon. This game absolutely throws gear at the player, so gear should not be a worry.

OP, your time would be better spent leveling an additional class tbh.

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Originally Posted by GeminiReed

Gear dependent PVP is a travesty. The only people I see adamant that it be a thing aren't all that interested in fair fights. The only times I've seen PvP gear "work" was when the gear/ungeared gap was so small the developer effort required would have been better spent elsewhere.

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gear dependent pvp from my experience in several games all these years was to please awful players and/or whales, since that was the only way they could beat skilled players xD
dumb and unnecessery system

I would probably buy a full set of crafted 510 gear at the very least. That should tide you over for now and provide you with access to just about everything outside of the higher end Extremes and Savage. Doing it that way means you can just proceed with the expansion's content without much to worry about. Buying some higher end pieces with Revelation tomestones isn't a bad idea though should you amass enough of them. With the latest Nier raid it's pretty easy to get 520 gear as well, provided it drops something you need.

The 5.5 dungeon has a minimum average ilvl requirement of 490 if you intend to progress in the MSQ. You'll want to get at least one job to that level. Beyond that, there's no rush to gear up unless you intend to participate in high end content.

I wouldn't skip opportunities to gear up your primary job(s) more, though. Better gear helps you get combat content done that much quicker. I just wouldn't go out of the way to gear up fast.

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Originally Posted by Hikelos

M+ is a horrifying, terrible system that (along with other terrible systems) murdered the WoW subcount from 14m to 2m.
"Infinite" gear progression is a scam, and it brings with it a pyramid scheme-like environment where the people with the most gear get spots in raids and dungeons, and the people below a certain threshold simply hit a huge, arbitrary wall in their progression that is simply unnecessary.

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As a style of content, Mythic+ is fine for those players who are into speedrunning (which I'm not). The problem, as you point out, is the reward system being intertwined with the rest of the game. Keep the reward system independent so it doesn't affect the balance of the gear/reward system in the rest of the game and there would be no problem. SE can look at Save the Queen as a good example of a rewards system not upsetting balance outside of that content.

To remove the gear drama, an ilvl sync could also be imposed so gear offers no advantage. You're still going to run into player insistence on meta comps but that's less of a problem here than in WoW since characters here can be every class so you don't have to switch characters like you would in WoW.

Honestly you could just buy some 510 gear from the market and you'll be fine for endwalker

Lv59 dungeon requires IL 120, the same as unaugmented Lv50 tomestone gear and gear dropped by Lv51 dungeon.
Lv69 dungeon requires IL 260, the same as unaugmented Lv60 tomestone gear and gear dropped by Lv61 dungeon.
Lv79 dungeon requires IL 390, the same as unaugmented Lv70 tomestone gear and gear dropped by Lv71 dungeon.

Lv60 MSQ dungeon and finale trial require IL 142, which is 12 higher than augmented Lv50 tomestone gear.
Lv70 MSQ dungeon and finale trial require IL 280, which is 10 higher than augmented Lv60 tomestone gear.
Lv80 MSQ dungeon and finale trial require IL 410, which is 10 higher than augmented Lv70 tomestone gear.

It would be reasonable to anticipate the Lv79 dungeon will require IL 520 and the Lv80 MSQ dungeon and finale trial will require 540. The closer you get to 530 right now, the less you have to worry about gear during EW early access / launch week. Full 520 should guarantee you unimpeded dungeon access until the finale, and full 530 now should easily be 540 just from guaranteed quest rewards (especially if they give us AF5 before the finale).

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Originally Posted by Rongway

The closer you get to 530 right now, the less you have to worry about gear during EW early access / launch week.

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But there's really not that much to worry about in the first place. You'll do the early-game level 80 quests, pick up free gear to bring you up to at least i515 if you're not there already, then work your way through the game probably receiving at least two new pieces per dungeon. If you fall behind, you can crack open the level 86 or 88 gear coffers from quests to catch up, and will indeed most likely receive your level 90 artifact gear before you hit the final dungeon.

If you want the gear now, get it, but you don't have to do it now to avoid progress issues later.

You'll need to be 495 to do all the non-Savage Shadowbringers content. You can get most of the way there through the Tomestones of Phantasmagoria, which will get thrown at you like candy as you finish the Shadowbringers story.

There are two main options for i510 gear: just buying it off the marketboard, or running the most recent 8-man (normal) raids.

There is no particular reason to go further than that to prepare for Endwalker (or to do anything much NOW, for that matter) but you can get 520 gear from those revelation tomestones; and upgrade it to 530 with either hunt tokens or running the 24-man raids.

What kind of things can I do at end game? The raid, Farming primals for mounts and transmog. My friend recently subbed he's almost done ARR, I know he has to do MSQ but he asked me what we gonna do at max level didn't know what to tell him lol. I cant think of more, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Thanks in advance guys.

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Originally Posted by Asuro

What kind of things can I do at end game? The raid, Farming primals for mounts and transmog. My friend recently subbed he's almost done ARR, I know he has to do MSQ but he asked me what we gonna do at max level didn't know what to tell him lol. I cant think of more, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Thanks in advance guys.

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Relic weapons in Bozja (it also rains 510 gear for your alt jobs)

A full set of augmented Scaevan gears is enough to get you through all the leveling contents in Shadowbringers. If the pattern holds, a full set of Cryptlurker's gears would do the same for all leveling contents in Endwalker.

Also, even with level and item level syncs, better gears still help you get to the max of the sync, which still helps, just not with materia melds.

For one, 430 isn't endgame yet. It's the end of the Shadowbringers MSQ, but that's just as of 5.0, we're now on 5.5
5 patches in, and there's 5 stages of further MSQ that will require you to gain additional gear to meet the ilvl requirements.

Come back when you're up to 5.5 with an ilvl of at least 490, and then you can discuss whether or not there's any point in progressing further.

As for endgame content. While Savage and especially Ultimate may be out of reach for many players, Extremes are certainly possible for casual players, and are quite rewarding, but they will require decent gear, usually involving some of the endgame gear such as Augmented Tome gear (which requires weekly runs of the latest 24 man) and potentially relic gear. It's quite obtainable to hit a current endgame ilvl of around 520, which is plenty to do the latest Extreme Trial, without too much grinding, so long as you're not too impatient.

If you don't plan to do ex trials/savage raids/ultimate there's not a whole lot of point to gearing up other than just keeping up with minimum ilvl requirements for msq duties.

Don't chase the loot treadmill for its own sake.

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Originally Posted by Bright-Flower

Don't chase the loot treadmill for its own sake.

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With that said, unless you're doing content to level jobs, you will get tomestone. It's essentially free gears unless you just don't like doing battle contents, which means you won't need the gears anyway.

Item Level is a glorified key to unlock higher level duties, which are required to advance in the story. If you're not into raiding the "biggest" use for keeping up with at least the craftable gear is to make undersized content easier, if you have any reason whatsoever to do undersized content, but that's about it.

I stopped doing the weekly treadmill for the capped tomes once I realised that, and how dull the "expert" dungeon design became.