returning player, completely lost!

[Rongway]

Current patch content is 3.57. No further content is scheduled until Stormblood launch (but fixes and adjustments to existing content can still happen).

Augmented Ironworks (130, tomes of poetics) and Dreadwyrm (130, Final Coil) gear is the highest gear until 54, and decent until you hit 60. The HW main story will periodically hand you HQ crafted gear.

At 60, uncapped tomes can buy 230/240 gear and capped tomes buy 260/270 gear. The Alexander raids will drop tokens for 180(Gordias)/220(Midas)/250(final) with no weekly loot cap.

If you know what jobs you want to play in Stormblood, you can take one or two of them through 2.1-2.55 story quests (Lv50~54ish), then the 3.0-3.56 story quests (the rest of the way to 60). Then work toward a 270 average to prepare for Stormblood*. If you're interested in PvP, you can get some fair Lv60 gear through that, which will help you meet the minimums for Alexander and Lv60 dungeons.

If you're not sure what jobs you want to play, unlock Palace of the Dead via the Lv17 quest "The House that Death Built" in Gridania Adventurers' Guild, and then complete floors 1-50. After beating 50, you can enter at floor 51 as an acting Lv60 character. This will allow you to take jobs for test drives before you commit to leveling them.




* If you want to play RDM, you'll want THM/ACN gear for both Lv50 and Lv60. SAM will wear PGL gear.