Overall a little confused...

[Joven]

I wanted to make a correction to this, since It doesnt look like anyone else caught it. AST auto attack damage is considered slashing damage, they are attacking with a card not just their hand. That makes AST and RDM the only mages that deal slashing damage.

I kinda thought that might have been the case, but every time I've seen it it just looked like a sideways slash with the edge of their hand. I guess because the card is so small. The more you know I guess

[DarkEiraStar]

Unless you upgraded the Shire Gear (one thing you can do with Poetics), dungeon gear will start replacing it around Violet Tides.

Every even level 60, 62, etc. Is crafted gear.
Every odd level 61, 63, etc. Is dungeon gear.

Check the item level of your gear. Higher item level gear = better gear.

End game is basically capping Tomestones every week, by running dungeons, raids, beast tribes (at 70), so you can get the best gear and reach higher level content such as Savage or Extreme fights. Gaining Reputation with Beast Tribes. Leveling other classes. Saving up for player housing if you're into it. Weekly/Daily Hunt Board. Boss Fates. Treasure Maps. Achievements. Gold Saucer. Weekly Challenge Logs.

But mainly just having fun and figuring out what that means to you.

[Hasrat]

If you're only running one job, and you're already in the 60s, poetics won't do a whole lot for you for now. If you enjoy grinding/farming content, you might consider working on the HW relic weapon, at least something to burn through some poetics for a bit.

Unfortunately, you won't get access to the SB tomestone vendor until you've cleared the expansion story. And even then, not entirely sure poetics will get you a whole lot for now. But, typically, when a new expansion releases, you'll be able to buy the previous expansion's best-ish gear for poetics, much like you've already done with Shire gear (and possibly previously Ironworks). So, give it a few months and that'll be available.

Mostly, poetics just seem to be the generic tomestone that buys everything once the devs have cycled/retired the more current tomes.

Also, seems to have been glossed over, all that trash dungeon gear can also just be turned into your Grand Company for seals. Good way to keep your squadron busy if you've got them unlocked.

[Niwashi]

1. Poetic Tombstones - What do I do with these things? My Astrologian is up to 63, I already have the Shire gear. I'm maxxed out again and feel like I should be spending them on something, but can't really find anything that's an upgrade to them. Is there no more point to these?

If you're focusing on just the one job, not really. For people who want to level all their jobs, and will be getting both the Ironworks set at 50 and then the Shire set at 60, it takes quite a few tomes to gear all roles twice, plus some more if you're doing relics. You keep getting Poetics because those players will want to keep getting them.

If you don't have a use for them, then as others have mentioned, trade them for something you can sell.

2. The weapon for an Astrologian - He doens't really have auto attack. So what does the weapon actually do? Aside from the stats on it, nothing? Does weapon damage for spell casters affect damage?

For Disciples of Magic, the "Damage" stat that shows up on your weapon's tooltip is your Magic Damage stat. It controls the effectiveness of your spells (so, pretty much everything except auto-attacks). Your weapons will also have a hidden Physical Damage stat that isn't even shown on the tooltip because it doesn't affect much.

So, for instance, a Koppranickel Planisphere has:
Physical Damage: 74 (NQ) or 82 (HQ)
Magic Damage: 101 (NQ) or 112 (HQ) <-- This is the one that shows up as "Damage"

For Disciples of War, it's the other way around. It's their Physical Damage stat that shows up on the weapons' tooltips as "Damage", while their Magic Damage stat is hidden and mostly useless.

The only jobs that can ignore the listed Damage stat are crafters and gatherers. For all combat jobs, it outweighs any other stat you have.

[EaMett]

1. Poetic Tombstones - What do I do with these things? My Astrologian is up to 63, I already have the Shire gear. I'm maxxed out again and feel like I should be spending them on something, but can't really find anything that's an upgrade to them. Is there no more point to these?
3. Dungeon Gear - I love running dungeons, they're just a fun way to get experience and, as a healer, really makes my class worth playing. Beyond that though, what's the point of all the junk gear? I mean, I bought the shire gear awhile ago, I run level 60 dungeons (I just started Stormblood last night, no dungeons yet, so maybe things change...), and the drops are all garbage. How does the gear loop work in this game? Is dungeon gear just trash?

Both of these are related.

When an expansion hits gearing up looks a little like this :
- Get dungeon gear
- Get first tier tomestone gear + upgrades
- Later Get second tier tomestone gear + upgrades
- Later Get third tier tomestone gear + upgrades
(Its actually more complicated because each tier has it's own normal raid gear + savage raid gear + crafted gear + 24 man gear, but you get the idea which is that you gear up for that tier)

No matter when you arrive (1st, 2nd, or 3rd tier) you can start with getting some dungeon gear then replacing it with the tier gear.

HW being over, the Shire sets are the third tier tomestone gear. You basically got your pre level 60 gear from dungeons and once you hit 60 bought your tier 3 tomestone gear.

SB follows this pattern, You will be getting some dungeon gear as you level to 70 and once at 70 you will aim at the current tier gear (3rd).
When ShB release you will repeat the cycle.

Now to touch on what can be done with the tomestones of poetic. As others have mentioned, you can buy gear for your alt classes, buy items to sell on the marketboard, buy gear to trade in to your grand company for seals. But you also need these tomestones for relic weapons (pretty cool glam weapons). And you need a lot of them for the relics, so maybe look into those and build towards a weapon of your choice.

2. The weapon for an Astrologian - He doens't really have auto attack. So what does the weapon actually do? Aside from the stats on it, nothing? Does weapon damage for spell casters affect damage?

Magic damage is actually a multiplier even for healing. So yes it is important. Physical damage less so, especially for AST since it only affects your auto attacks.

4. End game - Largely what do you do once you hit max level (I'll google this, but if anyone has any quick hitters to supply, cool.)?

Partially answered in 1&3 but here are a few extra things:
- Farm the normal mode raids as soon as you can for a quick gear upgrade
- Of course buy whichever tomestone gear is an upgrade for you. Tomestones of genesis are currently still capped at 900/week so it will take you a few weeks to get what you need.
- Farm the latest primal in extreme mode for a weapon (it'll be very decent for the effort put in)
- Unlock your expert roulette by doing all the required side quest dungeons