Just hitting 50

[blowfin]

The OP has a 50 DRG, he can skip straight to full DL really. i55 and i60 shouldn't even come into the equation.

Can someone else add where to go from here as I don't know outside once/week CT and

Farming Ultima HM for an acc isn't a bad way to go. It's a fun fight and takes a bit of time to master.

Also, learning to tank Thornmarch is a useful exercise. Plus you might get an i75 weapon. May or may not be useful, but better than Ifrit and Garuda weapons. It also makes a moogle sound.

Primals can be done easily enough before you get full DL, just for WAR, you NEED provoke for Garuda.

After that there's Garuda EX and Coil etc. etc.

[Asteldian]

I would just buy dl armor (though I personally did make darksteel chest as I am a 50 in all crafts and have plenty of cash). If you do have money to burn, I would still use dl but buy gryphon skin jewelry and rose gold screws (earrings). I havent even finished the story quest yet and have 472 acc with that jewelry and dl gear and no relic. The jewelry when melded seems to give same vit and parry as dl, also gives acc str and dex. So great early on until you get myth or allagen accessories and then great later on when you don't need the 5 vit extra each accessory gives

For weapon I would get the I55 sword you need for your relic quest, its as good as the GC one and since you need it anyway, why not?
The wolf shield is a decent one to use till you get a decent drop too.

[OSUBuckeye4]

Is it worth it to pick up some crafted gear such as the heavy darksteel pieces? If I do, do I slot parry or vitality materia?

I somewhat recently hit 50 (post 2.1), here was my path:

1) I had AF armor and a bunch of lvl 20-35 accessories, I went ahead and bought some ilvl 52 accessories to bring my ilvl up to 50.
2) I foolishly bought a HQ weapon, but, I really should have just spent GC seals and got my GC weapon
3) I went and got enough philo to upgrade my belt to DL since there is no AF belt.
4) After I had my ilvl over 50 via the crafted accessories, I started running CT. I got the helm my first run, and the feet my second. I really probably should have waited for chest/legs, but, I can always get those in future weeks. If they don't drop, I can just buy those pieces with myth tomes.
5) After getting some CT loot, I spent a little of my philo for some DL equipment, then began my relic weapon quest.

There is where I'm currently at.

Priorities for each week are:

1) Getting my CT loot
2) Maxing Myth
3) Progressing in my relic weapon quest



NOTE: If the accessories are going to cost you an arm and a leg on your market board (I bought mine because they were cheap and got me into CT fast... I dinged on Sunday night and was trying to beat the weekly lockout), skip buying them and instead just run the end dungeons a few times (Cast and Pretorium) and get philo tomes and buy philo (DL) accessories.