So... what now?

[Lexis]

I'll try to make this as short and straight-forward as I can:

I just finished the 5.3 MSQ, which means just 2 more to go before I'm done with the story until Endwalker. Question is... what should I focus on once I do? I'm a little lost, and not because of a lack of options but rather an overabundance of them. I want to do everything, and obviously I won't have time to get it all done before the expansion is upon us and I embark on another emotional roller-coaster. And so I turn to you, veterans of the forums, and your infinite wisdom.

One thing is for certain, I'll keep doing my daily roulettes for Tomestones and hopefully buy a few 520 gear pieces before Shadowbringers bows its reverence, but then what? I kinda what to level a gathering job (Got my eyes set on Botanist) and a Crafting job (Carpenter sounds like a lot of fun!). I'd like the means to earn some Gil and buy myself an apartment in Ishguard when the time comes, and crafting/gathering sounds like a good way to do that.

I also want to level a tank (I hear Warrior is the easiest to play for my newbie self) and a caster DPS (Summoner, maybe, since it's already at 50?) to complete the two associated questlines in the Crystarium and unlock the elusive 5th questline I keep hearing about. This, of course, would be quite the undertaking and I'm not sure there's enough time left x.x

I currently have both MCH and WHM at 80, planning on maining MCH but keeping up to date with WHM for roulettes (faster queues, plus as much as I like DPS, I love healing). I bought a full Exarchic set for my dps and have been buying 490 pieces with my tomestones for the WHM. Is that sufficient to go into endwalker? or must I invest the gils in a 2nd Exarchic set, least my healer class be rendered useless?

Should I focus on unlocking all the optional dungeons, trials n stuff? I unlocked the Ruby weapon trial but it looked extra complicated in the guide I watched so I haven't dared queue up for it. Should I? Is there a point? What about the alliance raid? (don't even know what it is to be honest)... Are relic weapons still a thing? Should I try to do my MCH one or is that stuff for the more hardcore raiders?

I tried looking up guides n stuff but they all tell me I absolutely need to do about a million things I clearly won't have time to complete before it's too late.

HALP!

[KageTokage]

Normal mode raids and trials are meant to be done blind and doing those was advised by the devs themselves due to several tying into Endwalker in various ways.

[Vahlnir]

Honestly, this is a decision only you can make. "What now?" you ask? What now indeed. The world is your oyster. Do whatever you want. Your forum join date indicates that you've been around awhile. I'd imagine you know the drill.

[nebby00]

The Nier alliance raids drop coins that you can upgrade your Cryptlurker gear; ilvl 520, so getting those out of the way is recommended plus once you're done with the raid story, you can do a weekly quest afterward tied to the raid storyline to eventually get "Witness to the Dark Apocalypse". If you haven't done Eden, I recommend you do that as well.

Also, if you want to get into Bozja and get your relic for any class, I would also recommend getting that out of the way as well. With EW getting closer, there is no guarantee that Bozja will remain populated after it is no longer current.

If there are optional dungeons you haven't done, get those out of the way too as well as do the Sorrows of Werlyt (The Ruby Weapon stuff); the lead writer for EW recommends to do that as it does tie into lore that may be important later on.

What I'm personally doing right now is getting as many jobs and classes geared up as well as focusing on any relic weapons I can squeeze in, might even do some mount farming. Over all, it's pretty much what you want to focus on before EW.

[StriderShinryu]

If you're focused on the storyline, head into the Eden raid series and finish up the MSQ. That's really it. The MSQ is, well, the MSQ and the Eden series ties really well into sort of putting a nice cap on the story of ShB.

For storyline focused stuff on the side you can look into the extra 5.0 dungeons if you have time. You can also look into the Sorrow of Werlyt series as it fills in some perspectives from the Garlean side of things. This is all good, story focused stuff but is more supplemental content than "You need to do this now!" stuff.

If you find yourself with a lot of extra time you can consider going into Bozja and at least getting through the story there. It's more just background content with some nice lore and a decent story of it's own. It does have a bit of a deadline on it as it requires at least a small group of active people to actually complete it but, again, it's more side content and less "You need to do it!"

There are also the Nier raids but they really do exist as nearly a completely separate slice of content altogether. Plus, if you're okay with braving a possible long cue time later, you can always just hold off on them as there's extremely little chance that they'll connect to anything in the future (and if for some reason they do, bunches of other people will be pushing through them at that time too so you can just tag along in that rush).

As far as gearing is concerned, don't worry about it. As long as you have one class decently geared (and it sounds like you do), you'll be getting gear as good as or better than that from quest rewards and dungeon drops within a few hours of starting on Endwalker. Just make sure the main class you want to start the EndWalker MSQ with is capable and you're fine.

So, yeah, other than the MSQ and Eden, the only thing you really might want to put a rush on is the Bozja content since that will actually require other players to do (and most of those other players still doing the content will move on very quickly once EW drops).

[Risvertasashi]

I currently have both MCH and WHM at 80, planning on maining MCH but keeping up to date with WHM for roulettes (faster queues, plus as much as I like DPS, I love healing). I bought a full Exarchic set for my dps and have been buying 490 pieces with my tomestones for the WHM. Is that sufficient to go into endwalker? or must I invest the gils in a 2nd Exarchic set, least my healer class be rendered useless?

Should I focus on unlocking all the optional dungeons, trials n stuff? I unlocked the Ruby weapon trial but it looked extra complicated in the guide I watched so I haven't dared queue up for it. Should I? Is there a point? What about the alliance raid? (don't even know what it is to be honest)... Are relic weapons still a thing? Should I try to do my MCH one or is that stuff for the more hardcore raiders?

I tried looking up guides n stuff but they all tell me I absolutely need to do about a million things I clearly won't have time to complete before it's too late.

HALP!

I would not worry about optional side content - at least not as a necessity. The main things I suggest, based on your interests and as general necessities, are this:

• Inventory. Clean out your armory, and general inventory, and really all forms of inventory. You don't want to go into an expac and then have to stop at some point because you ran out of space and need to clean up.
• In line with the above, make sure your gear for each job you will be playing is sorted out and ready go. You'll replace it, of course, but good gear still gives you a good start into the expansion.
• If you plan on leveling the new jobs, prepare level 70 (Augmented Scaeven) gear set for each.
• Might seem obvious but - do finish the MSQ, don't get sidetracked with other stuff on that.
• As others have mentioned, the current alliance raids will help you upgrade your gear. 490 is enough if you buy gear from NPCs are Endwalker's release but I'd personally shoot for 520 if you can. 530 would be "excellently prepared."
• If you have an abundance of time or just need a side project, you can pursue a relic weapon. They're good and some of them look cool. HOWEVER, you will replace your weapon in the expac quickly enough that 5 extra ilvls won't help much. If you get an upgraded Cryptlurker weapon, that is more than enough.

Annnnd... that's it, believe it or not.

You don't need to do that much. Gear, inventory, and MSQ are the bare essentials. to be well prepared. Everything else, you can do because you want to or for more minor reasons.

Good luck!

Edit: Oh, one more thing.
As a healer, when a new expac releases, you'll be dealing with a surfeit of tanks in crappy gear. So, even moreso, if you can compensate by having the best gear you can get, it can help a lot.

[Lexis]

Thank you everyone for your answers! You've given lots to think about and a much clearer path for me to take beyond: 'confused screaming'. Much appreciated!

And on a side note: I played FFXIV briefly in 2014, a few months worth, and then quit, only to recently come back about 3 months or so ago. So I've technically been playing since ARR but the gap between then and now is so monumental, I'm pretty much just another fresh-faced newbie learning their way.

Thank you again! <3

[Bacent]

Try out a new class. If you're gonna try sage/reaper, be sure to buy a level 70 ilvl 400 gear set for them in Rhalgar's Reach
Were you interested in clearing PotD/HoH?
Any glamours you want to work for?
Any achievements you really want?
Anything you'd like to prepare for 6.0? Your current gear level, Item space, potions, food, FC rank 3 actions/squadron manual for 15% EXP bonus, ect
Any side content that you haven't done yet?


But focus on what you know you'll be doing in the long run first, and when you have that checked off, then move to the next thing~

[kaynide]

You have a lot of options. A metaphorical buffet of options!

1) Try a new job to level up. You mentioned tank and magic dps- With a lack of time, I’d go with Gunbreaker and Redmage (they have the highest starting level).
2) Get sucked into the fun that is Blue Mage. Takes a bit to get going…but it’s a lot of fun.
3) Look into some glamour fun, or other collections you can work on.
4) Try some side stories (older raids/trials like Binding Coil or Alexander)

[Jeeqbit]

You don't need to do anything other than the story, so it depends what interests you. Usually if people want to give themselves things to do they set themselves goals like collecting all mounts or relic weapons, leveling all jobs, doing all sidequests.

Fights are designed to introduce mechanics to you one at a time in a way that is usually obvious. Later in the fight they test if you figured them out by combining them. So guides are not supposed to be necessary, but are recommended for the challenging versions (Extreme)/(Unreal), (Savage) and (Ultimate) so that you don't waste other people's time who may have already progressed through some of the phases.

While it's up to you if you watch a guide for the story versions, you should be aware that guides do overcomplicate it. They will spend 5 minutes showing diagrams and slow-motion clips of a mechanic that lasts a split second and turns out to be really obvious when you actually do it. It can leave you really afraid of this mechanic. It's not the fault of the guide makers - it's on us for looking up a guide for trivial mechanics.

There are pros to looking up a guide for trivial mechanics, because very occasionally they do kill first timers a lot and although guides cause anxiety, they can also help with it.

For the story version of a trial or raid, it doesn't matter if you die. You could die 10 times and the healers, who are half asleep doing their rotation, will just res you 10 times, so don't worry about it.