Advise on powering through storyline that will be gone in 2.0

[Doki]

If I understand correctly... it's the grand company storyline(?) that will be gone/different with the changeover to 2.0
I just started up about 2 weeks ago, and have Monk to 36 now. I'm sure in another week I will be up to the mid 40s possibly 50 soon after (work sux!)
So I am wondering what the best way to go about the storyline stuff I don't want to miss is. From what I can gather browsing around places, it sounds like I should go for leveling WHM, RNG or BLM if I want a better chance at a slot for these fights. Is this pretty much the case, or is most of the content pretty easy for a group of 50s? It seems like that final fight versus the Judge looking guy is pretty intense.

[Jennestia]

Anything related to 7th Umbral Era and the push of the Garlean Empire (phase 1 so to speak) won't be in 2.0. Basically you want to:

1. Do Grand Company Quests.
2. Do the main scenario as that will be changed but not removed.
3. Do your class quests for Pugilist.
4. Sadly, yes you do want to level BLM/WHM/WAR/ARC(BRD) if you plan to play with the general community as they want the path of least resistance and no challenge.
5. If you can, the Primals as they will also be changed come 2.0

[Doki]

Was sorta afraid of that. With that thought in mind, and after seeing some nuke happy BLM vids I do sorta want to mess around with the job. Gawd I wish I had pick this up about a month earlier! Hmm, so reasonably, how far should I level CNJ before just straight focusing on leveling BLM all the way? So far I only have LNC at 15 and MNK at 36.

Also, once you do the quest that locks you into one grand company are you locked in forever, or can you do them all and then swap companies to see the other storylines?

[Jennestia]

Well, BLM pulls from THM and Pugilist IIRC, but since you'll also be using THM itself at times -- I'd say level till at least 34. Yes once you get into a GC you're there for life in 1.0, come 2.0 though I believe they mentioned you may be able to switch at a price, similar to how you lose rank and outpost warps when you switch nations in FFXI.

[DrJackal]

i was on the same boat 3 weeks ago(PGL 30 at the time)
first let me say i think both city state and grand company storylines will be gone by 2.0 but not 100% sure
city state storyline will give you very good Exp & gil, once you reach 50 they are pretty much solo-able
GC storyline quests are not solo-able mostly duo the requirement of 2~4 to enter raids & primal fights
so if you can find 2~4 ppl you can reach the last 2 quests very fast.
the only fight where people are picky about classes is the last one "to kill a raven"
and remember the hard version of ifrit & garuda are not needed just the easy version

[Skies]

From what memory serves me, every battle before In For Garuda Wakening is pretty easy for an average group of level 50s, most can also be doen at level 45 but it's harder.
You'll need to fight some NMs, not that hard, get halfway through one or two dungeons, I think only in Dzemael you'll need to get past the mini-boss. That's doable even with a smaller party (actually don't remember if Dzemael is part or not, but Toto-Rak should be vastly easy to accomplish with two 50s)
And then there is In For Garuda Wakening, if you're careless you WILL wipe, but it's no end of the world. Then there is United We Stand, that is also difficult since not only it requires going through Castrum Novum but also takes a bit of skill and attention as the fight is quite unusual and the nthere is To Kill a Raven that is, from what I hear, pretty hard.
That said: Also there will be at least one or two NMs to be killed for promotions.

[yukikaze_yanagi]

From what memory serves me, every battle before In For Garuda Wakening is pretty easy for an average group of level 50s, most can also be doen at level 45 but it's harder.
You'll need to fight some NMs, not that hard, get halfway through one or two dungeons, I think only in Dzemael you'll need to get past the mini-boss. That's doable even with a smaller party (actually don't remember if Dzemael is part or not, but Toto-Rak should be vastly easy to accomplish with two 50s)
And then there is In For Garuda Wakening, if you're careless you WILL wipe, but it's no end of the world. Then there is United We Stand, that is also difficult since not only it requires going through Castrum Novum but also takes a bit of skill and attention as the fight is quite unusual and the nthere is To Kill a Raven that is, from what I hear, pretty hard.
That said: Also there will be at least one or two NMs to be killed for promotions.

Yep. None of this require you to be the flavor of the patch, you can do it with every class.
Different story if you're planning dungeon speedrun (every primal can be done with melees- yes, even ifrit since we have a thing called regen now, moogle is some king of easy and garuda need melee), but that aren't related to the umbral era, and will not removed, just changed

[REDace0]

You should be able to use MNK50 on all the required fights for the Grand Company story. I'll only start with the ones that can't be done solo and require some skill.

Vanguard fight - get a WHM and a PLD from your shell to help you. If you don't have a shell that helps out with quests like these or doesn't have a good PLD or WHM (or you don't have a shell at all! :-O ) get one!

Garuda - Use Howling Fist and Dragon Kick combos on Garuda, try to AoE plumes with Aura Pulse, put the minimap somewhere you can easily see and watch it when she teleports. You want to get behind one of the stone pillars relative to her ASAP. Try to stay at full health and make sure your WHM keeps Protect on everybody, or you may wipe when she uses Aerial Blast. After, stay behind her and finish her off.

The first of two quests in Mor Dhona can be solo'd. Just be careful to avoid aggro.

United We Stand - This guide and especially this image are very helpful. In the fight your job will be to eliminate imperial soldiers, especially mages, and using your heaviest combo hits on the transmitter.

To Kill A Raven - Your job will be to simply attack Van Darnus as much as possible without pulling hate. When he teleports, you want to run to the mages until he's on the tank again. When he prepares his final ability (~10% HP), go up to the very top level and wail on him as he's casting. After, just finish him off.

Hope this helps! You don't have to complete Toto-Rak (Imperial Devices) or Dzemael Darkhold (Into The Dark) to progress in your GC, but you may find the seal rewards useful. Good luck!