End-game questions

[Frizze]

Ehr and Eve did a good job on this, but ill clutter up your thread with my words too.

1. As was answered, these are currency that is exchanged for gear. You earn then doing content(dungeons, raids, trials, etc) at the level they represent(50/60) and then you exchange them for whatever gear upgrades you need(which doesnt necessarily have to be gear for the class you earned them on - get tomes on DRK and buy new healer pants if you like). They also get updated a couple times a year. So while right now we're fighting for Lore tomes to buy ilvl 230 equipment(and getting Esoterics as the 2nd tier for ilvl 210 gear and quest items), after the next patch Lore will be moved to 2nd tier and we'll be chasing Tomestones of Scripture so we can get ilvl 250(estimate, not confirmed) gear. As was mentioned, the top raids(8 and 24 man) also drop end-game gear. Different classes emphasize different stats, so the optimal set of gear for you will likely be a mix(though your set will be perfectly fine if its all tome gear with no raid pieces - i would say or vice versa but if you can raid then youre earning tomes and can buy any pieces that are better then the dropped version).

2. The ideal path is to learn the class really well. Know what your skills do and how to use them best. Know your rotations for tanking, off tanking, and DPS. Know what to do when things start to go wrong so you can stop them. Know how your abilities interact with the rest of the group so you can get the most out of everyone. Get your cross-class skills and learn them too. Then learn the fights. At any given time the end game only consists of a few raids trials and dungeons(as new ones are added in future patches with better stuff, people stop focusing on the older ones), so learn what to do in the fights youll repeat the most. In this game all your gear will eventually be outdated, so whatever i might tell you to try to run today would be different by november. One thing to remember though, your weapon is your most important piece of gear in determining how effective you are. So find a path to a good one(savage raid, tomestone, quest, ex trial).

3. I dont pvp, so im not 100% on this answer. However, once a glamour is assigned to a piece of gear it stays. You can remove a glamour or write over it with a new one, but unless you do that piece of gear will forever look the way you changed it to look.

4. Sell things and challenge log. Though this game really doesnt require much gil. The expensive stuff is all optional(glamour equipment, housing, crafting mats) and much of it player made.

5. Do you want to? The game will never ask you to craft anything unless you unlock a crafting class. There are a very few quests that ask for crafted items, and the ones that do all use items that are tradable(and some can even be gotten by other means). Many people playing have never made a single thing themselves, while others have all 8 crafting(plus 3 gathering) classes maxed out. So yeah, this one is entirely your call.

Finally: Welcome to Eorzea, enjoy your time here, and if theres more info you need then dont hesitate to ask!