random short FPS drops?

[KokonoeAiyoko]

You can do a few things for this, one is buy a cheap solid state drive for 50$ and put FFXIV which will cause mobs (players, enemies, NPCs) to load practically instantly thus improving consistent frame rate. (It makes a group of people load instantly)

As for in-game settings, turn off Ambient Occlusion, tone down your Shadow settings, Glare, and Reflections (If you're using Direct X11), and enable "Use Low Detail on Distant Objects (LOD)".

This will help with frame rate dips.