<Guide> So now you're 50...

[The_Last_Dragoon]

As new players come in and try to get ready and prepped for the new Heavensward content, I felt it may suit some to know exactly what is (probably) needed in order to play the new content. So in this guide I'll be listing in 3 categories, what is needed to be done, what is optional but can affect optional Heavensward content, and what is completely useless to accessing new content.


REQUIRED

Class/Job Quests
For your main class/job, you will need to have completed it's quest line up to the lv50 quest which nets you your last ability and AF chest piece. Not only is this required in order to access the quests for your class/job in Heavensward, but they will aid you in gearing your character. Professions such as Weaver or Miner will need to be progressed up to the end of their quest lines in order to continue in Heavensward as well.

If you have not obtained your job class for some reason, you will need to do so. In order to obtain a job class you will need to level up a certain separate class to lv15 in order to unlock the initial job class quest which should pop up near your trainer.

**3.0 update**
In order to access the new Jobs (Dark Knight, Machinist, Astrologian) you must complete the main story quest line leading up to the end of 2.55, "Before the Dawn." Additionally, this means that you must be level 50 in a Disciple of War or Magic class and have at least an item level of 90 in that class.

Main Story Line Quests
Considering what happens in the story and for the fact that the story line is the key to unlocking essential dungeons, it will be essential to complete the story line up to the end of the 2.55 story line. This means the successful completion of the following:

Guildhests
Hero on the Halfshell
More than a Feeler

Trials
Thornmarch
The Whorleater (Hard)
The Striking Tree (Hard)
The Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Hard)
The Chrysalis
The Steps of Faith

Dungeons
The Sunken Temple of Qarn
Snowcloak
The Keeper of the Lake

It is not required to do optional dungeons such as Satasha (Hard), though if these dungeons were to get an extreme mode in a later update, then the previous versions of that dungeon would have to be done in order for the extreme version to unlock.

Gearing Up
In order to complete the Main Storyline, players will need an average item level of 90, which can be obtained by using Allagan Tomestones of Soldiery and Poetics or running dungeons starting from Hullbreaker Isle onwards. Alternatively, you may also invest the time to try and get Labyrinth of the Ancients done in order to unlock Syrcus Tower, which has the lowest avg item requirement for the highest return in terms of gear. If you have the money somehow, you can also buy the required items. It is recommended that you try to farm at least some of the gear in order to save as much money as possible.

**3.0 update**
Beware of joining Party Finder groups that are using Greed Only or Lootmaster rules as both will inhibit your ability to get better gear. You can also buy gear from the Ishgard armor vendors which equals item level 115, completely trivializing the grind to gear your character if you have the money to pay for it.

Optional

Challenge Log
While not "required," the challenge log is a major boon in terms of gaining experience and gil for doing things that you're already doing anyway. If you haven't unlocked this by now, you should do it BEFORE you start doing what is needed for the Main Storyline quests.

Hildibrand/Postmoogle Quests
While I doubt the 3.0 content will continue either of the quest lines, I'm 100% certain that they will be continued in the patches following the expansion. Not only are these questlines very enjoyable, they also give you unique vanity items. While the Postmoogle quests can be leisurely completed, the Hildibrand quests require the completion of several trials which aren't all that hard, but you won't find a ton of players in the Duty Finder for them. As such, it may be more advantageous to use the Party Finder in order to group up and complete them.

Beast Dailies
The Beast tribe reputation quests not only grant you mounts, minions, and a cool unique headpiece, but will probably be continued in Heavensward, granting access to new features. It roughly takes 30 days of farming to max out the rep of a Beast tribe, which means it will take ~150 days in order to complete them all to their max reputation pre-3.0. They have the added bonus of providing profession materials and inks at base prices which are usually lower than the market board.

**3.0 update**
As of 3.0, the daily beast quests allowed was increased from 6 to 12. This means that you can effectively level two beast tribes at the same time within the same 30 days, effectively cutting the required time to ~70-80 days depending on how well you plan it out.

Hunting Log
While I imagine you probably completed this as you leveled up since it gives a gratuitous amount of experience per log completed, it will need to be completed if you wish to have access to the Heavensward Hunting logs.

**3.0 update**
The Hunting Log was not expanded in 3.0

Grand Company Rank
While it isn't required, it's very possible that the ability to use flying mounts will be tied in with the Grand Companies. In order to rank up the Grand Companies you will need a large amount of seals, and complete their Hunting Logs, which will require the completion of both "Dzemael Darkhold" and "Aurum Vale" during Grand Company quests, and the completion of "Hatali," "Sunken Temple of Qarn," and "Wanderer's Palace" in order to complete Ranks of their Hunting Log.

**3.0 update**
While details are not known for sure, it's been stated that your ability to fly in the new zones will require the completion of a main scenario quest. You may not need your a high GC rank in order to fly, but new items for level 60 characters will be offered, so it is still a good idea to try and raise that rank whenever you can.

Gold Saucer
You will need to complete the introductory Gold Saucer quest in order to obtain access to the Gold Saucer. There's a very high possibility that this area will see updates during the Heavensward expansion.

Outdated

Extreme Mode
The Extreme mode Primals will have no bearing on Heavensward primals and unlocking their modes. They will however still drop their mounts, which means players will still probably be grouping for them. Unfortunately, they'll probably be wanting experienced players who are item level synced, so it's more advantageous to come back to these once you've completed a bit of Heavensward content.

Binding Coil of Bahamut
While these Raids are needed for PS3/PS4 and in-game achievements you'll be hard pressed to find a group for them unless you join a Free Company that continually does older content in order to get vanity items or for completion bonuses. Keep in mind that this content will still be VERY hard because of the level sync and will require knowledge of the mechanics in order to complete.

PVP
Older modes of PvP will be very hard to join in a group for, so it's best to focus on PvE content unless you find a few friends who want to do it. These older PvP modes will have no bearing on the unlocking or gearing for new content, so it's really a dead venue for 3.0

A Relic Reborn
While these quests will probably still be available by 3.0 it is NOT something to be taken up by the faint of heart, especially since new players will be able to skip this series of quests in 3.1 with the new Heavensward relic (though veteran players with Zodiac Zeta do get some advantage). If you do decide to take up this daunting task this late in the game, you will need to unlock ALL dungeons and Hard mode trials in order to do so, and additionally acquire a ton of materia, market board items, and gil. Most of all, Relics take time to complete, and the amount of attention you put into it results in how fast you complete it.

As for a relic reborn do the first 2 steps - get the relic(you get a title for this as well) and upgrade to zenith. It's a very easy way to get an ilvl90 weapon that can serve you while you keep gearing up and then obtain a better weapon.

**3.0 update**
While we don't know by how much, everything about the Relic Reborn quest line is supposed to be MUCH easier to complete. Granted, it still has very high materia and zodiac item upgrade costs, but it shouldn't take quite as long as before. This makes it even more appealing as an option to gear up as it should be extremely easy to farm for atma and complete the trial of the braves now and for most classes your weapon has the biggest impact on your effectiveness. For those players looking to get the glamours of these items, you will be able to purchase them after completing the last part of the quest line and will be able to purchase replicas of the weapons you complete.

Crystal Tower
While Syrcus Tower, as stated in the "Gearing Up" section, can be a major boon towards getting you to Heavensward content as quickly as possible, it is very hard to find a group to do so. The fact that these Raids will not be required to unlock anything in Heavensward further compounds their uselessness besides vanity items.

Sightseeing Log
While this may be expanded upon with Heavensward, it's very unlikely that it will aid at all in progression and give nothing but self satisfaction and vanity.

**3.0 update**
The Sightseeing log is expandable in the new expansion and does not require the completion of the ARR log. Since the Heavensward zones are flying though, it's much easier to spot sightseeing locations and get a lot of experience from them since they grant 18,000 experience each.

Leveling up your Chocobo
This right here will break a player since you cannot queue up in the Duty Finder and have a chocobo out at the same time, which means you have to commit to specifically leveling up your chocobo. The chocobo companion is a major boon if given the healer job if you plan to complete the Alexandrite portion of the Relic quest, and since you're already going to be doing a lot of stuff outside of dungeons, it's helpful to have them out so they can level up too (Just to put perspective on this, my chocobo is rank 7, and I've been playing since 2.0. That's WITH me having him out whenever I fate farmed or wasn't Duty Finding for something).

The Hunt
While like Syrcus Tower, you can Gear up really quickly if you Hunt farm, there's the distinct possibility that no one will be doing the Hunts when Heavensward comes out. This means that A ranks will become very difficult to party find for and S ranks just normally won't spawn. If for some reason that there still is a wave of players doing Hunts, then it will probably be the easiest way to gear up to ilevel 90 since it provides both tomes of soldiery and hunt marks which can be used to obtain ilevel 100 gear.

**3.0 update**
As there is a completely new currency, Centurio Seals, for Heavensward Hunt marks, it's very likely that there will be little farming for the older marks.

Roaming Primals
These guys are the "Once in a blue moon" encounters that are already extremely difficult to complete. The two included in this are Odin and King Behemoth, and both are connected to FATEs that can't be seen on the main map and require an army of players to complete. While the vanity items that can be bought with the seals that these two drop are both awesome and rare, it can be very difficult to gather the players needed before they despawn. This is only made difficult further by the random nature of their spawns, which can sometimes take 7 or more days from the last time they spawned. As such, they are obviously not needed for progression or unlocks and Odin's armor vanity can be farmed through the "Urth's Fount" Trial.


Conclusion
Let me know if I missed anything, if you find something substantial that needs to be added to the list, then I will credit you for it. Keep in mind that I organized these BEFORE 3.0 came out, which means all of it may change when Heavensward does in fact come out.

[ruskie]

It is not required to do optional dungeons such as Satasha (Hard), though if these dungeons were to get an extreme mode in a later update, then the previous versions of that dungeon would have to be done in order for the extreme version to unlock.

It is a good idea to do them anyway to unlock duty roulettes so you can get the daily soldiery and poetics bonus. You should also do all the trials(trials include hildibrand trials as well) to unlock the trials roulette. Also doing them each once will give you your own bonus sol for first time completion which will make it a lot easier to gear up as well - along with any drops you get out of them.

As for a relic reborn do the first 2 steps - get the relic(you get a title for this as well) and upgrade to zenith. It's a very easy way to get an ilvl90 weapon that can serve you while you keep gearing up and then obtain a better weapon.

[JimboTCB]

The Relic Reborn quests are also required at least once to unlock everything in Trials Roulette, which you definitely want to do.

[LeCard]

Crystal Tower
While Syrcus Tower, as stated in the "Gearing Up" section, can be a major boon towards getting you to Heavensward content as quickly as possible, it is very hard to find a group to do so. The fact that these Raids will not be required to unlock anything in Heavensward further compounds their uselessness besides vanity items.

Don't forget how useful World of darkness is for getting a few(or even a full set) of left side item level 120 gear. If you are trying to gear up before HW this is the quickest route (presuming rng doesn't laugh and point at you the whole time). And having a few level 120 items will, if nothing else, make those first few quests in HW a little easier.

[Dualblade]

Even if they don't have it in Heavensward where you can que up with the Chocobo out, it might not be quite as outdated with the enemies being stronger. That Chocobo could be the difference between winning or losing/retreating while solo.

[Kydi]

How would you recommend gearing in the month leading up to HW? I've just returned to the game after about 6/7 lengths (when I left Ramuh EX and T9 were the big things). I have an i91 DRG and an i96 PLD. Is it worth farming tomestones to gear these, or should I just level other classes for a month?

[The_Last_Dragoon]

How would you recommend gearing in the month leading up to HW? I've just returned to the game after about 6/7 lengths (when I left Ramuh EX and T9 were the big things). I have an i91 DRG and an i96 PLD. Is it worth farming tomestones to gear these, or should I just level other classes for a month?

If you "want" to gear up your character you could probably do it by coasting in World of Darkness for the Demon gear. You really only need to finish Steps of Faith and have an item level of about 90 in order to start on Heavensward content, so you should be good if you don't feel like getting gear that will probably be outdated by around lv55. Considering the proximity, I would recommend probably leveling up a side class for the cross-skills or as pure progression. If you do intend to gear yourself up though, I would recommend looking up the WoD fights and then heading in there as Paladin, because they will have better matchmaking in the 50-60 content when it comes out.

Don't forget how useful World of darkness is for getting a few(or even a full set) of left side item level 120 gear. If you are trying to gear up before HW this is the quickest route (presuming rng doesn't laugh and point at you the whole time). And having a few level 120 items will, if nothing else, make those first few quests in HW a little easier.

At this point in time pre-expansion I would agree that gearing up your character as much as possible with the "easy" methods of progression can be a great boon for the start of Heavensward. I would recommend though that since the item level requirement is 90 for World of Darkness that they finish the story first so that they aren't plagued with insanely long Duty Finer times.

[WeaverOfFate]

I wil be following this guide! i needed this.

[Lokisama]

We are so close to the expansion so i don't suggest blasting too much time/gil to gears (relic weapon) now that they increased the poetic cap to 900 just cap that every week and do the weekly raid quest to get the upgrade material and soon you will roam in 130 gear set also its good idea to grab the 130 weapon from also with the weekly raid reward just try to amass as much gil as possible so you won't land short in expansion

[The_Last_Dragoon]

With the release of the preliminary patch notes, I have updated the guide. Changes are shown with **red** text heading it.