People who say "first time" in new content

[Packetdancer]

It's really my weapon that matters the most, and I don't have that. I never did the alliance raid, so I was unable to upgrade that. I wasn't actively playing the game when the alliance raid came out, and I am hesitant to go in and learn it with my outdated weapon, gear, and just learning it in general this late.

Short of the Windswept weapons from the new extreme trial (at i615), the new crafted weapon (at i610) is the best you can currently have; even the Dragonsong weapons are i605, same as the Asphodelos savage weapons, and the augmented Radiant weapons are only i600. There's no need to do the alliance raid to upgrade stuff from previous tier; that stuff is already "outdated".

(I mean, I recommend running the alliance raid anyway because it's fun.)

I'll also note that Aglaia (the alliance raid) also has a minimum ilevel requirement of i565, which is basically the job artifact gear and, like, the Moonward accessories; if you have tomestone gear, even unaugmented, you're more than sufficiently equipped for Aglaia.

Normally, I'd just leave it until next expansion, or wait for the relic weapon. My gear is just tomestone, and that is just on my whm. Nothing augmented. Well, I can get better with the pandemonium raid gear, but that circles, again, around to my original gear being out of date.

The Pandaemonium normal raid gear we have right now is i610, same as the crafted gear; in some cases the new normal raid gear may have better substats than the crafted stuff—notably the chest, which is piety-heavy for healers but has some tasty critical hit on the raid piece—but optimizing substats is really a game that only matters for the savage raid tier (and ultimates). In general, the main stats (e.g. mind, vitality et al) are far more important than the substats, and the crafted gear would be a straight upgrade for you.

I also don't like that people will upload my performance along with theirs, and I won't hide it either, because that looks bad. It's a lose lose.

I mean, anyone who gives half a damn about someone else's parses in normal and alliance raids is taking this game way too seriously.