End-game questions

[Ehr]

1. Tomestones are a currency used to purchase endgame gear at 60. There are currently Tomestones of Poetics(from 2.0, these are actually for the last tier of gear from 2.0), Tomestones of Esoterics (used to purchase previous tier of gear in 3.0), and Tomestones of Lore (used to purchase current tier of endgame gear). Tomestones are earned from various content at 50 (50 content will only reward Poetics, not the other 2) and 60: Dungeons, Raids, Trials, PvP, and roulettes. The gear purchased with Tomestones is not the only endgame gear in the game, for example the current raid drops gear comparable to the gear purchased with tomestones.

2. Well once you get to 50, you cannot play Dark Knight right away, you'll need to complete A Real Reborns story through the story content from patch 2.55. Truthfully, gear doesn't matter until you reach endgame. I'm no Dark Knight so I can't speak specifically to what sub-stats they stack (i.e. the stats like determination, crit, parry, etc.). What content you need to do to get optimal gear is usually a mix of raiding and the aforementioned tomestone gear.

(A note on gear: the gear in FFXIV has iLvl's which denotes how "good" it is. For example, an iLvl 220 is better than an iLvl 210. The current highest iLvl of gear is 240, which is the iLvl of the gear that drops from the current difficult version of the raid, whereas the gear you purchase with tomestones is iLvl 230. Tomestone gear has to be upgraded to technically be 240.)

3. As far as I know, they have removed the PvP rank restriction on gear, so this shouldn't be an issue. Unless they put rank restrictions back in, but I don't think they have. (someone feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong)

4. There's a lot of ways to earn gil late game. The really rich people are crafters and gatherers. You can also make gil off of selling materia if you spiritbond and convert gear into it. Some people just get by on doing roulettes every day. The absolute best way to make gil is probably crafting.

5. Taking up crafting is not required at all. I know some people who haven't leveled them. Though having them leveled is very handy for being able to repair gear whenever you want.

Please do ask if you have more questions/need clarification ^_^