1st thing is don't rush, there's no need. Check your journal for the last msq quest you did and pick up from there. There is pretty much no reason to grind out levels if you aren't into the hw areas yet as you can't continue your job quests for your skills until after you get to ishgard.
There is plenty of story to get you leveled the rest of the way and you can use your fc or the party finder to help get your msq done.
The potd wpn is a filler wpn anyway. you can get just as good a wpn from the side quest hw ex primals. And welcome bk to the game