Returning Player Questions

[Niwashi]

The MSQ of all the 2.x patches is required before entering HW content, along with all the trials and dungeons it incorporates. Some of the others are useful for unlocking Level 50 Roulette (at least, I don't think all of those are included in the MSQ), but the MSQ is the only gating for entering Ishgard.

The Relic Reborn quest chain provides a cool looking weapon, which if fully upgraded would be useful through perhaps the first 2/3 or so of HW leveling, but there are other weapons that can be acquired much easier that can do the same. The initial non-upgraded Thryus would probably be just glamour even when you first get it, and by the time you reach 60, even a fully upgraded Nirvana Zeta would turn into a glamour item. (If fully upgraded to Zeta, you get glamour versions of each step along the way.) You also get a job specific title for the initial Relic Reborn quest ("The White" in the case of WHM), and another title ("Z") for completing all the upgrades on any ARR relic.

You do NOT need to have done any part of the ARR relic in order to get the HW relic, but if you have a fully Zeta upgraded ARR relic, you do get to skip one step (a quite long and grindy step from what I've heard) of the quest to get a HW relic. While that's a nice nod to those who did all the relic grinding as it came out, it's not worth a full relic to zeta grind just to avoid one step of the new relic's grind. Personally, I'd recommend perhaps doing the initial Relic Reborn quest, which is varied enough to be interesting and gives you both a cool looking (glamour) weapon and a title. But it's probably not worth bothering with all the long grindy upgrade steps after that unless you're a completionist who finds the sense of accomplishment rewarding in itself (which is what I'm doing, but I'm kind of crazy that way ).