Now what? Just finished the main story.

[ElazulHP]

Just got my first character to level 50(white mage) and finished the main story to just past the credits. Where do I go from here? Was thinking about leveling some Black Mage up to get swiftcast, but beyond that i'm not really sure what I should be doing besides leveling up more classes or possibly crafting.

[AskaRay]

Do the rest of the main story. It continues in every patch.
Or, start the Hildibrand sidequest. Do your relic weapon. Start the Crystal Tower sidequest..... try leveling other classes. Unlock the new dungeons you now have access to.

There is a lot you can do after hitting fifty

[Spawnie]

gettin to 50 is more or less the tutorial/ learning phase of the game once u hit 50 more or less the real game begins :3

[Garlyle]

* If you haven't done it yet, Finish your class/job quests. No putting it off, go do it, right now. Free skills and free gear. Consider buying some i45-i50 accessories from the market board, and a weapon from either your grand company or a close to i50 weapon from the market board. From here on out, your gear is going to start mattering more - if not solely for the purpose of meeting minimum average item level requirements to get into things.
* Start progressing the postgame story. Yes, it keeps going. It leads to a number of trials and even a couple dungeons.
* Start the A Relic Reborn quest from Nedrick in Vesper Bay (Thanks for the correct Estellios). This weapon gets you involved in a few trials and early postgame dungeons and eventually awards you with a really damn good i80 weapon that's easily upgraded to i90, and you can decide from there if you want to undertake the process to continue raising it past that.
* See all those level 50 quests hanging around? Start 'em. A lot will lead to content you can't actually enter yet because your item level is too low, but unlock it all, because you'll do it all at some point.
* Start gearing up. You might not be able to access much at first, but you will now be able to start gathering notable numbers of Tomestones of Soldiery via roulettes and early dungeons. Once you have 395 of these, you can turn them into an i100 accessory, which will spike up your iLvl. 485 nets you a piece of left side gear, while 825 nets you a body/legs piece (most powerful statwise but takes the longest).
* Unlock the Crystal Tower via a quest series in Saint Coinach's Find. The Labyrinth of the Ancients raid that comes first is amazing for gearing up as you only need to be i50 to get in, but the drops are i80 and it also gives 100 soldiery each time.
* Max your GC rank so you can access Hunts and Frontlines.

Once you get over the initial hurdle, you'll find progress starting to accelerate. Each piece of Soldiery gear you complete is a significant jump in your average iLvl and will continue to unlock more and more content. In addition, all post-50 content rewards bonus Soldiery to all involved when new players are present - including yourself; so clearing things for the first time will grant you significant chunks and help speed up the process.

(Also, as you're a Conjurer? If you haven't, please strongly consider levelling Thaumaturge to 26 (You can do your low level roulette every day to get a lot of EXP pretty quickly). THM 26 will let you cross-class Swiftcast, a cooldown that removes the cast time off your next spell. In content going forward, being able to Swiftcast Raise is going to be incredibly valueable and you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. The further you get into content the more you'll wish you had it if you don't.)

[ZhycranaDranix]

Just got my first character to level 50(white mage)

Welcome to the game

Anyone else feel like lvls 1-50 is the longest pregame tutorial in the history of gaming lol ?

I would have more input but the guy above me has said it all

[ElazulHP]

@Garlyle - That was incredibly helpful and detailed! Thank you kind sir!

[Spawnie]

Welcome to the game

Anyone else feel like lvls 1-50 is the longest pregame tutorial in the history of gaming lol ?

I would have more input but the guy above me has said it all

longest tutorial ive ever experienced :P

[AskaRay]

longest tutorial ive ever experienced :P

I don't know, the real game of FFXIII started in the middle of Disc 3...

[Spawnie]

I don't know, the real game of FFXIII started in the middle of Disc 3...

yeah took alot of willpower to endure ff13 til that stage and not throw it out the window lol

[Malevolence]

* If you haven't done it yet, Finish your class/job quests. No putting it off, go do it, right now....

Bookmarked this - thanks!! In addition, how important is joining a Free Company for end game content? I've received dozens of invites but am putting that off until I do a bit more research about each FC and get to Level 50.