Topic: FFXIV:ARR catchup advice needed

I've been absent from the world of Eorzea for a good 8 months or so now (apart from a couple of days in August), but having done a quick bit of googling I can see that the latest patch begins the final stages of the story, and that the Heavensward expansion is set to drop sometime in Spring. With that in mind, it seems like it would be a good time for me to get up to speed with things. However, that is quite a daunting task, as I am assuming that there has been quite a lot introduced in my absence beyond the story additions, and I would like to experience as much of what's been brought in as possible.

To put it into perspective, when I stopped playing I had just beaten Leviathan but had not yet started the 2.3 storyline, I was in the process of Atma farming for my Bard character (so far pretty sure I only had one), most of my gear was iLvl 80-90 as I hadn't really gotten many soldiery tomes, I've not played more than maybe 1 or 2 of the dungeons introduced since Patch 2.3, I've done the first 3 turns of 1st BCoB (maybe 4), and have completed Syrcus Tower. Can't remember where I was up to in the Hildibrand quests, but don't think it was all that far after the first fight with Gilgamesh.

I know it's a bit of a vague thing to be asking, but is there a specific order in which you would recommend I tackle content when I go back in, to help me progress the fastest whilst making sure I see everything that's worth seeing? There are guides online that give a good idea of how to do it as of Patch 2.3, but I'm conscious that a lot of that info will be different now, as drop rates for tomes and methods of getting some gear etc may change over time, meaning that info (particularly re quickest farming methods) can change dramatically. Also, did they ever nerf the atma drop rates, as they were just ridiculous?

Never mind, just found the "So you just hit level 50 in Patch 2.5" thread on Reddit. For some reason it didn't appear on the first Google search I did. This should be me sorted for now!

I've been playing since launch and still haven't cleared Coil 5. I have 4 jobs ilvl125+ and the rest ilvl110+... but my crew of 4 can't seem to find 4 others who are able to do it.

I recommend working on unlocking your roulette as fast as possible. That's how you'll progress your ilevel the fastest (as long as you cap your weekly tomes). After that, practice some coil runs and see if you can find time to join a static.

As for your weapon, getting your relic finish is pretty 'EASY" these days. Atma drop rates are much better.. that step should only take a few hours tops. Completed all the books for your animus is still a massive chore.. Luckily, getting the alexandrites for your nvous is fast/easy and getting light to finish your nexus is even faster/easier. The Zodiac questline to 'finish' your relic is fast/easy.. but it's a tad expensive. I RECOMMEND that you do these in your spare time and pursue getting a tome weapon instead.... relics are becoming more of a glamour item and are mostly outclassed with final coil/ironwork weapons.

Oh man that sucks, is your FC only 4 people, maybe you should consider branching out? I know my old FC on Cerberus had at least a few people with experience of clearing it, but not many. And tbh I'll be amazed if the FC even still exists - last time I took a break from playing it was for about 2 months and when I came back they'd disbanded! Luckily I was friends with one who then brought me back together with most of them, as they'd split off and reformed for some reason.

Anyhow cheers for the pointers man, I did some reading up last night and I've got a pretty clear idea of where I need to start to get on the fast track to catching up now!

Also, gotta say that's pretty impressive if you have every class at a minimum of i110! How do you manage to balance out that level of progression with playing other stuff? One of the main reasons I stopped playing previously was simply that I was finding I just didn't have time for anything else. Like, a couple of runs of CT and you were suddenly down c.2 hours for pretty minimal gain, whereas that time in another game is normally pretty good progress!

We don't really have too much interest in playing with strangers in all honesty. We've been a 4 man since the Phantasty Star Online Ep 1&2 days. To gear up, I just focused on doing my daily roulette EVERY day for a while. Eventually you get way more tomes than you know what to do with haha. The two newer 'crystal towers' are a lot faster than the first in my opinion. Syracus Tower can be finished well under 30 minutes even without a premade. The newest Crystal Tower dungeon (forgot the name.. haven't played much in a month or two) is a bit harder, but still fast.

Otherwise, I was able to progress like that since I was playing very consistently from launch until about last month. I didn't really finish that many other games unless it was for review or something I really loved (Freedom Wars!).