Difficulty hiearchy (PvE)

[Nora_of_Mira]

I would say from easiest to hardest:

Expert Roulette
Normal raids
Alliance raids
Extreme trials
Savage raids
Ultimate trials

Hope this helps

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if you want more challenging content than expert roulette, start with the Omega raids (delta-, sigma-, and Alphascape).

This is when the content of FFxiv takes a significant "jump" in difficulty. If you conquered the entire Omega Normal Raids and you're still itching for harder content, start the Extreme primals and join a learning party. Imo, the biggest difference between expert roulette/Omega raids and Extreme Trials, is that the Extreme trials will have mechanics so confusing at first you may need to look online to figure out whats going on. There are TONS of guides out there and a ton on Youtube if you prefer that. Or you can go blind, just depends on your own level of patience. do not expect to clear extreme content on the first pull, or even the first several hours of trying unless you're being carried by experienced players. It can take days or weeks of wiping for new starts to Extreme content, but its hard for a reason.

MY personal experience below leaving casual content:

I started learning extreme trials in HW, learning Bizmark and Ravana after I had cleared the story mode of Alexander. During HW, I think i cleared every extreme primal except for Nidhogg and Zurvan.

In SB, I made it a goal to get every primal mount. So I started joining learning parties for each primal as they came out (im caught up on mounts, currently). Once that was done, I felt like giving Savage raids (Sigmascsape) a try. This is where everyone's experience varies, but i applied to a static via PF and we set a schedule to learn each fight, every week and we managed to beat 3 savage fights before disbanding.

Then when Alphascape savage came out, I applied to a new static via friends in-game and we did the same thing: schedule times to fight each raid a couple times a week. After 6-8 weeks (i lost count) we managed to take down the final Omega fight and it was amazing. It's the first Savage weapon I earned in a current raid tier, and my first savage mount. It's pretty exciting! And the people I met along the way are still valuable in-game friends, which is a huge plus.

tl;dr; try it out, be patient, get humbled by the ridiculous fights, use that to hone your skills and try not to get discouraged. oh, and try to have fun. :0