What should I do now?

[Nonomas]

I apologize if this is the incorrect side-forum to place this thread, since i'm not particularly sure where this sort of topic goes to, but I have a question.

I've cleared the story for A Realm Reborn, and now i'm in the post-game(?) proportion. Problem is, there's so many things to do. New sidequests, new dungeons, and there's so much content that is left to discover! I'm not sure what to do first and I hope I can have some tips as to what to do in order to have a 'good time'. Which dungeon should I clear first in order to get good gear? Any fun quests I can do ( I SO SO SO want to do the hildibrand quests though! ), and... well, you get the idea. Any good pointers as to what I should go to?

IMPORTANT NOTE: I do not have Heavensward nor I will buy it for the next couple of weeks in order to gear up and rest for the expansion pack. Please read this so you'll save yourself some time of typing up more words!

[Kaiser-Ace]

Does "End Game" Refer to Post Ultima weapon (The End of 2.0) or Post Steps of Faith (End of 2.55)? Because if it's just Ultima Weapon you've cleared then you've still got at least a Month or two of Content. If you've cleared up to 2.55 then there's really nothing BUT a few side-story quests (Hildibrand, Beast Tribe, EX Primals, Crystal Tower, And Coil) and side dungeons (Any thing the MSQ doesn't make you do to progress) with out buying Heavensward. Because even the iLvl 120/130 Ironworks Gear is very quickly out classed with Regular Quest Reward Gear in Heavensward.

And there's no point in crafting or gathering with out 3.0's data if you haven't started already.

[Reinfeld]

Don't run the content for "gearing up" since the dungeon gear is mostly garbage like Kaiser said (the top tier 50 gear will be outclassed by 54 or 56). The most productive thing you can do is probably just to clear the dungeons (and Crystal tower if you have the patience for the hour long Que) at your own pace and use the Poetic Tomestones you get from those to work towards i120 gear as you go. I'm not really sure what to say about extreme primals...I guess get i100 at least with a 100+ weapon before you start on the first one if you plan to use Duty Finder.

tldr; Just do whatever looks fun and run your daily roulettes everyday and you should quickly acquire enough Poetics to have the best lv 50 gear. If nothing else the gear will at least speed up your grinding a bit til mid-50s.

[ChameleonMS]

I would do it in the following order:
1. Purchase an i115 weapon from the Market board (not sure about this one as you still only have ARR); just the weapon, see 3 for gear.
2. Level alternate classes till required levels for cross class abilities of your main job.
3. Run your daily roulettes (as lv50) to get Poetics (i120 gear purchased in Mor Dhona). All lv50 quests off no experience any ways.
4. Start the Relic weapon story line. This will continue and evolve many times over while you are completing everything else listed after this. If you stick it out, you'll have an i135 weapon while will last you in Heavensward from 50 - 58.
5. Main Story Quests until the end of 2.55 when you begin your travel to Ishguard.
6. Complete each HM lv50 dungeon to unlock High Level Roulette.
7. Complete each HM primal
8. Complete the Hildibrand quest, by this time, it should unlock your Trials Roulette. FYI, 3 trials are locked behind this story line.
9. Fill in the rest here, Extreme Primals, Beast Tribes, Crystal Tower, other misc. quests, crafting, gathering, level up alternate classes.

[Reinfeld]

4. Start the Relic weapon story line. This will continue and evolve many times over while you are completing everything else listed after this. If you stick it out, you'll have an i135 weapon while will last you in Heavensward from 50 - 58.

Even with the nerfs they made to the quests to make them less grind-y, this is not a realistic goal (especially in 3 weeks for a new player) if his intention is only to get a weapon to hold him over till 60. The only reason he should do this is if he wants to glamour the weapon onto his 60 gear.

[Februs]

I would say start clearing quest. There are a lot of dungeons that are not part of the MSQ, so if you want to get the most out of the pre-expansion content, start checking out the quests in the post-lvl 50 areas (mostly Mor Dhona) and start unlocking the remainder of the dungeons and Trials (Odin and the Extreme Primals, for example) that you may have missed in the MSQ. For one, you will need them come expansion if you want to run Hard/Ex roulettes on a daily basis, and two it gives you more variety and will help prepare you for the upcoming content. The post-50 dungeons have a different speed and feel from the leveling dungeons. It will be good to get into the groove of them.

[Februs]

Even with the nerfs they made to the quests to make them less grind-y, this is not a realistic goal (especially in 3 weeks for a new player) if his intention is only to get a weapon to hold him over till 60. The only reason he should do this is if he wants to glamour the weapon onto his 60 gear.

Not so sure about that. The nerfs to the Relic quest have been EXTREME. A dedicated player can do Atma in a day, and the books are faster than ever. The only problem would be light farming... For tanks, it's not a big deal, but for Dps it's utter hell. Now that CT is all but shut down, the grind for light is worse than ever.

[Kaiser-Ace]

I don't normally bump old threads, bug an update on lost 3.0 gear, the Lvl 53 dungeon in 3.0 (I'll hold it's name for spoilers) drops gear the same item level as Augmented Ironworks and Dreadwyrm Hear so if it's not for the story or accomplishment (I did it for the Minnion) then there isn't even a lot of point in running final coil now.

[Kaiser-Ace]

I don't normally bump old threads, but an update on post 3.0 gear, the Lvl 53 dungeon in 3.0 (I'll hold it's name for spoilers) drops gear the same item level as Augmented Ironworks and Dreadwyrm Gear so if it's not for the story or accomplishment (I did it for the Minnion) then there isn't even a lot of point in running final coil now.

OK, fixed that mess.

For crying out loud Zexos, can we get an edit button for mobile browsers already? This is beyond QoL and becoming a straight up functionality issue.

[Jim_Berry]

Even with the nerfs they made to the quests to make them less grind-y, this is not a realistic goal (especially in 3 weeks for a new player) if his intention is only to get a weapon to hold him over till 60. The only reason he should do this is if he wants to glamour the weapon onto his 60 gear.

But, the Zeta will allow him to NOT have to worry about another weapon until he's near Lv60.