What to do when leveling

[Gristuth]

Hello, I've been playing this game on/off for a while, and I am asking about a few things. Bear with me. *majestic growling noises*

Is it worth it to try to craft whatever "maxed" gear is for the base game/expansions for crafting? Or should I just speed through it?

Do the base game factions still matter for the later game if I don't care about their rewards (mounts, minions, mats)? And are there any other allied rewards aside from the minions? I'll probably max sahaugin to help some culinarian friends or something, but aside from that? Also, did they change the accessibility of the dyes at some point? It seems kinda weird that Ixali offers soot black, when I can more easily make soot black dye with a crafter... Does this mean all the dyes the factions offer, I can just craft myself?

Is there a good website to look up cosmetics/armors? The wiki seems kinda dead for it, and I don't see anything on Dulfy. I wish they did something like GW2, where everything you can ever get cosmetics-wise, is previewable in a sorta database/wardrobe regardless of if you own it or not. And how does the new glamour system work? Do I use a glamour prism to place an item into the wardrobe, and I can apply the item as many times as I want to my gear without any cost? Or do I need to use more glamour prisms each time I wish to apply? From what I can see, they made the prisms all-purpose.

Also, what would be the most efficient way to level from 1-whatever the heck the max lvl is these days? (for combat)

Thank you very much for your time.

[Avenger]

Is it worth it to try to craft whatever "maxed" gear is for the base game/expansions for crafting? Or should I just speed through it?

I'm not entirely what you're asking, but I can say that the max HQ crafted gear, currently i380, is upgradable to i390 and is definitely useful at lv70.

If you're asking about leveling gear, you burn through it so quickly that frequent upgrades seem like a waste of time (and possibly gil and/or materia.) NQ gear is also fine for leveling.
For several dps and healer jobs I ignored crafted leveling gear almost entirely from 50-69 and used tomestone gear (ARR/i130/ironworks and HW/i260/shire) instead.

Beast Tribe Quests: I don't think the ARR beast tribe quests are necessary if you don't care about their rewards, but they may have some purpose that I'm unaware of.

Glamours: I don't know of a good web site for glamours (though for gear and melding I recommend ffxiv.ariyala.com). I wish FFXIV had a system more like GW2!! Putting an item in the glamour closet doesn't cost anything, but applying a glamour to an item uses a glamour prism.

Leveling: I am not a leveling fiend, but I do have some thoughts. The fastest path from 1-60 might be to purchase a skip potion, but I don't recommend it since leveling is fast and fun. The fastest way to get to lv50 is to be a RDM or a SAM, which start at lv50. However, XP rains from the skies these days, so leveling from 1 to 50 isn't bad; I usually equip an XP item if possible (such as allagan earring which gives 30% to lv70), use the rested bonus on my highest-level job, run roulettes, complete my hunt log, run challenge log, beast tribe quests, etc.. Guildhests also give bonus XP the first time you do them and also count toward a challenge log. Even FATE grinding still works - I leveled up a bunch while I was grinding FATES for the hellish Yo-kai event. From 50 onward, Alliance Raid Roulette seems to give a lot of XP, and regular hunt marks also give XP. Many people still level via Palace of the Dead, which has the nice property that you don't need to worry about gear – and you get other rewards too. From 60-70 I really appreciate the beast tribe quests as a bonus XP source. And last (but not least!) at-level dungeons give a lot of XP!! More so if you stack rested and other bonuses.

[Ha, now that I'm writing this I want to log on and level a bit!]

Oh, and until they fix it in 5.0 you can cheat by having people power-level you in the overworld by killing enemies that you tag - I believe you get full XP even if a lv70 char kills it. This seems like it might not be much fun, but they announced that they aren't going to fix it until 5.0 and they won't ban you for doing it. Apparently it's been this way for a long time, but it's particularly apparent now with BLU, which uses overworld leveling and gets crazy bonus XP.

[Risvertasashi]

https://ffxiv.eorzeacollection.com/glamours

This website is good for looking through glamors (Albeit some screenshots are very oversaturated/photoshopped). It lists all gear used, but you may have to do your own research on how to obtain that gear. As for the glamor dresser, simply applying a glamor plate doesn't cost resources. However, editing a glamor plate may consume dyes when you push the save button.

As for gear, well, it's a good idea to keep up at least for your first job. Crafted/vendor is usually a tier below dungeon drops, but it's definitely better than letting a piece get far behind your current level.

After you've leveled your first job, you no longer have to enter dungeons/trials/story instances, so you could just level through Palace of the Dead (potd) or PVP content - both ignore your gear. PotD is efficient for leveling, but can be repetitive. Otherwise, I'd recommend doing your roulettes daily to level up efficiently.