New player here wondering about gearing

[MaxRager]

Hi I just started playing a couple days ago and I completed the hall of the novice and was given a pretty decent set to start off with. I'm approaching level 30 now and im still wearing that set and cant seem to find much stuff better stat wise it. Is there any new gear sets going to be thrown my way or do I just have to piece together the best gear I can get my hands on? Thanks in advance.

[ErikTheRedXIII]

You won't really earn gear from quests again until you get to the lvl 45/50 job quests, and the questline from 2.1-2.55 and beyond. For now getting gear from haukke manor (28) and brayflox's longstop (32) are both good options, though they might take a few runs to flush out the set. Another good option would be to seek out a crafter to make you high-quality leveling gear. I would not recommend the grand company gearsets as you should be saving the seals currency for your companion and rank promotions. Note:!It has also been a while and i didn't check the 2.0 questline for accuracy on this response.

[NotALegend]

You get decent gear from the dungeons if you farm them, or if you just happen to get lucky and all your pieces drop in one run. Other than that, I agree with ErikTheRed as far as searching for a crafter to make you some HQ gear. I personally love helping out new players in my free company and have quite often provided them with a good set of HQ gear for around level 30 or so. If you decide to make the switch to Brynhildr, hit me up! I'll hook you up with some good gear!

[Taika]

The best gear for leveling usually comes from dungeons, so you should roll Need on all caster gear you see when you run those. You can also buy weapons (really good ones!) from your Grand Company with seals, and they also offer some gear pieces. Gear also comes from questing and you can buy it from NPCs or the Market Board. You can use sites like http://xivdb.com to browse all different gear options.

When you reach level 30, remember to unlock White Mage and continue with that instead of Conjurer.

[ErikTheRedXIII]

You should get gear from the 25+ main story quests (msq) thst has better stats. Other than that, getting gear from haukke manor (28) and brayflox's longstop (32) are both good options, though they might take a few runs to flush out the set. Another good option would be to seek out a crafter to make you high-quality leveling gear. I would not recommend the grand company gearsets as you should be saving the seals currency for your companion and rank promotions.

[MaxRager]

Thanks everyone for the help I feel better knowing what I'm working towards now.

[NotALegend]

Oh! Another good option is if you can get a high level player to do unsync'd dungeon runs with you for gear. It takes a fraction of the time and you should pretty much get all of the gear! Most of the gear you don't need can be traded in for grand company seals. Only thing is you dot get any exp when you unsync.

[Urthdigger]

A note on gear that I see a lot of new players mess up on: Item level trumps everything. The color of the gear is less consequential, just serves as a sign of where it comes from. So, a level 20 crafted set is still better than ilvl 18 dungeon drops for example, despite the latter being green.

[Niwashi]

Only thing is you don't get any exp when you unsync.

That can actually be a good thing if you farm dungeons for leveling gear. It can be a little frustrating to farm for good gear for your level, only to finally get it and realize it's no longer good for your level because you leveled up too far trying to get it.

[Frizze]

Entire sets being dropped on you is a fairly rare occurrence in game. The Novice Hall does it, and itll happen maybe 3 more times currently as you level up(all around level 50). Farming out dungeon sets and seeking crafted alternatives are fine if you want your gear to match. With that said, just using a mish-mash of the best stuff you have available typically works fine. If youre worried that your gear is behind then focus on the most important pieces first. Your weapon is far and away the biggest driver of your ability to cause and heal damage, so this is always the first thing to check. The next most important pieces are chest and legs, being worth a bit less then half what the weapon is to your overall improvement. The next tier down would be head gloves and boots(at roughly 3/5 the value of a chest or leg upgrade). Then belt, and lastly jewelry.

And finally, if having a matching set IS the most important thing to you(it is to me) then help is on the way. When you get to level 50 theres a quest you can do to unlock the Glamour functionality. This allows you the change the appearance of any visible piece of gear. So your collection may be from 4 or 5 different sources, but you can set up your glamours so they all look perfect together.