Everyone has about three months to prep for Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, and I can say that it’s actually going to be quite the ride moving around the world trying to get up to speed to experience the new content.
Luckily, three months is plenty of time for even casual players to master at least one class and get it to the finish line in time.
Thanks to Reddit, I’ve been able to get around halfway through my own struggle to complete 2.55 as a level 50 Dragoon.
Let me impart some of the wisdom I’ve gained from others online to those of you who may be considering getting everything done with as much haste as you can muster.
The Finish Line and your iLevel
The finish line for everyone to unlock Heavensward content at the expansion’s launch is the completion of the main scenario storyline up to 2.55.
To get there, however, requires a high enough item level (iLvl) to undertake the various trials. The item level, as some players of various games may already know, represents the relative strength of your equipment to tackle various challenges.
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In the case of completing the storyline quests, the following Lodestone page linked to me by merly-werly on Reddit lists a required iLvl of 90 to access (though not necessarily easily complete) content.
The question is, how does one get to the finish line in this case? Well, you’re going to have to be patient and consider achieving certain minimum milestones as a fresh level 50 or even as an experienced level 50.
Tomestones of Soldiery and You
Aside from dungeon drops, Tomestones of Soldiery are going to be your main building block to success in gearing up as you complete quests. Tomestones of Soldiery act as the main currency you’ll want to earn as you complete content.
Basically, any dungeon content past 50 earns a little bit of this, but you can do random content (called roulettes) to sort of gain extra Soldiery: helping lower-leveled players get through dungeon content, take on random Primal trials, and so on.
There are a number of ways to go about gearing up, but your best bet, if you’ve completed your level 50 class quests and gotten the iLvl 50 and 55 armor, is to aim for jewelry at the offset (called a Right Side Piece) rather than armor, since your armor (called Left Side Pieces) starts at iLevel, but your right side items are likely weaker than they are.
As you gain more soldiery, you’ll want to save them up for either more jewelry or a iLevel 100 left side gear to replace an ivl 50 gear, or you could also just go wild and upgrade your armor, as that usually increases your survivability in general far better than jewelry.
There’s another currency, the Tomestones of Poetics, that I’ve not yet discussed, that is also important to note, but I myself have not earned enough soldiery for anything.
For an outline of content, I suggest looking at this guide for fresh 50s here to help you on your way, as I took advice from there to begin my own journey.
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Relic Weapons
Now, not exactly needed, but encouraged as part of your additional stuff to do while you go about in the world, is to complete your relic weapon quest.
The relic weapons are iLvl 80 weapons meant for your characters to earn through completing trials and dungeon content, and can easily be upgraded to iLvl 90 using items bought with Tomestones of Soldiery.
The quests begin in Vesper Bay, and you’ll want to check out this page for more information. Just remember, once you start the relic weapon quest, you’re gonna want to finish it eventually (and earn the Soldiery from the dungeon and trial runs in the process).
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Do your quests
The other thing you’ll want to remember is to actually go out and do the storyline quests to open up the new content.
Each patch added a series of quests and a trial to complete, from battling the Good King of the moogles to fighting a primal over the high seas.
Don’t skip the dialogue. Savor every bit of story, because everything you’ve been doing is to actually experience this, and while you could repeat it using your inn’s storybook while wearing a chocobo costume, that’s not as fun as watching it in your awesome battle-ready gear.
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You can also want open up additional content including the Crystal Tower raids that’ll let you earn stronger weapons and armor, though you’ll be in a 24-man raid to get through it, and jostle for the weapons you want..
If you’re like me, and you work a lot, don’t fret. Keep chipping away at the dungeon content to earn the gear for access to the storyline bosses, then fight them during the weekends. You’ll be able to get what you need in time, for sure.
That said, I’m off to continue my own questline, as I’m waiting to fight a lightning-bearing primal myself. Cheers!
