The House That Death Built

[BloodySunday]

So from what I read this opens up some sort of dungeon that is good for starting new classes? I just hit 30 arcanist and am about to start Therm. pushing me to summoner. Should I level up to 15 here?

Do I need to do the initial quest as my lvl 30 or can I be lvl one therm and start it?

Thanks I am a little confused as to how this works and if its better to lvl and learn there or just do fates or side quests.

Thanks!

[Taika]

You'll have to do the initial quests as level 17+ class, but you can use another class to enter. The quest unlocks Palace of the Dead, which to my knowledge is the fastest way to gain EXP currently in the game. So if you want to gain EXP as fast as possible and don't care about anything else, that's the way to go. Another options for leveling are dungeons (your daily leveling roulette and the highest dungeon you currently have unlocked), your class hunting logs and the weekly challenge log combined with side quests and FATEs.

In Palace of the Dead you will level up inside the instance past your true level. This means that if you enter as level 5 THM, for example, you can still be level 60 THM inside (the level you gain inside the Palace won't stick with you outside the instance, though, although you will of course gain some levels from the EXP rewards). Unfortunately, entering as a class means you will stay as a class, and not the advanced job you're supposed to change to at level 30. So you won't have any job abilities at your disposal inside the instance.

[BloodySunday]

Good info thanks!

[Niwashi]

If you're just looking at getting to the level 15 requirement to unlock SMN, your class quests and hunting log are enough to get that far. You could speed it up a little by adding in a FATE or two whenever you happen to run across them on the way, or doing sidequests if you have some on-level ones left over. (Adding those in would mean you could hit 15 before finishing the second set of hunting log targets.) Personally, I wouldn't bother with PotD until later. At higher levels, where the amount of XP you need starts going up, is where that's most useful. The early few levels just go by too quick to need it.

But if you want to try it out anyway, the requirement is level 17 for the quest to unlock it, but once unlocked you can enter as any combat class or job of any level.

The quest unlocks Palace of the Dead, which to my knowledge is the fastest way to gain EXP currently in the game. So if you want to gain EXP as fast as possible and don't care about anything else, that's the way to go.

It may be the fastest unlimited method. Leveling roulette beats it when its once-a-day bonus is in effect, so that would be the place to start (well, after that level 15 threshold anyway). And though I haven't measured, I think additional on-level or near-level dungeon runs are roughly on par with PotD, though that would depend on how long you're waiting on DF queues. Dungeons are also the best place to learn each class/job.

The class hunting logs and weekly challenge log combined with side quests and FATEs combination can be a bit slower, but has the advantage that it's varied enough to make burnout less likely. You can also combine it with dungeons by filling the time waiting on DF queues with any of those things (plus some of the challenge log is for dungeons anyway).

[Niwashi]

Oh and a quick note that has nothing to do with your question other than the fact that you're talking about starting THM:

Astral Fire makes your attacks stronger, but use more MP. Umbral Ice isn't as strong, but lets you regain MP. That's the distinction that determines when to swap between them. It's the most fundamental aspect of THM/BLM gameplay, and neither the skill tooltips nor your class quests actually explain it.

(Maybe you knew that or would find out quick enough anyway, but given the lack of in-game explanation there, a lot of new thaumaturges take a while to figure it out, so it's worth pointing out.)