Shadowbringers made us laugh, cry and face the hardest raids to boot in the franchise, and we finally made our way to Endwalker. Daunted by the task to level up our classes, here are the top 5 ways to level up fast in FFXIV’s new expansion.
The critically-acclaimed MMORPG which offers a free trial up to level 60, and free access to the expansion Heavensward, caught the eyes and hearts of the masses after years of being treated as obscure and niche. Shadowbringers, their last expansion, cemented their place in history as the most-played active MMORPG of recent years and for a good reason.
So you went through Shadowbringers and survived the long queues of release, congratulations! You might be wondering now what to do next to get your favorite job up to speed, look no further as we give you the top 5 ways to level your job in Endwalker.
5. Do your Daily Roulettes
Make new friends, don't just play alone!
Most people should be familiar with the Duty Finder option now, but if you aren’t you can access it by pressing the letter U on your keyboard (default binding) or by going through the Menu > Duty > Duty Finder
The first thing that pops up should be the page for your Roulettes. These duties offer tomestone, gil and experience rewards that are far greater than just spamming dungeons. It’s a good idea to do all of them once per day and should only take roughly an hour or two to complete.
4. Take advantage of the Trust System
In the Scions We Trust
FFXIV’s Trust System lets you take NPCs as your team members instead of waiting for the queue to pop with the normal duty finder. It saves time, especially for those long, DPS queues and would ensure that your other members will be doing the mechanics correctly.
With a few differences from Shadowbringer’s Trust system, the Endwalker version allows you to take your Trust mates from level 81 onwards and spam dungeons based on your level. Unlike Shadowbringers, you don’t need to level up your Trust members as going in the dungeon will rely on your level and item level only.
Gone were the days when you need to spam the dungeons until your Trust members are up to speed. To access Trust just go to Menu > Duty > Trust
If you are someone who has fun leveling with other people instead of using NPCs, then the next way would be better for you.
3. Fight in Frontlines PVP
Test your mettle, but don't bring kettles!
When people talk about FFXIV, they always fail to mention (or purposefully leave out) PVP. And while it’s not the best PVP system in an MMO game, it’s still quite fun and rewarding. Aside from getting wolf marks that lets you buy the snazziest glam gears available in the game, it also rewards EXP.
The way Frontlines work is that you are divided into three teams, each representing a grand company in the game. The objective is to capture as many towers as you can, defeat other teams, get objectives that spawn in the map, all for the sake of racking up as much points as possible for your team.
What’s magical about this system is that you can go in as the job you want to level then switch to a job you have already mastered inside. You can switch as much as you like even as the fight starts so you won’t have to play a class you’re not really familiar with but still get the experience for them in the end.
To access Frontlines go to Menu > Duty > Switch to the PVP tab Frontlines should be listed there!
Alternatively, you can access it on the Duty Roulette page as well.
If you don’t like PVP but would still want to play with people without getting stuck in endless dungeon runs, the next option would be perfect for you!
2. Shared FATEs
Mobs=gems and gems are good for Gil!
If you’re a fan of old style grinding in MMOs, this place is perfect for you. Introduced during Shadowbringers, this type of EXP grinding utilizes the various world events that FFXIV spawns every couple of minutes in the map overworld.
You get tons of EXP and gil everytime you beat one and you’re guaranteed to have people always doing them with you.
Aside from the gil and EXP, you also get bicolor gemstones (Shadowbringers and Endwalker FATEs only!). These stones are pretty valuable as they are used to buy certain furnishings and crafting ingredients that you can’t get anywhere else. It’s a good way to hit level cap and get rich at the same time!
The last one is a no-brainer, and it should be the main way of getting you up to speed.
1. Sidequests and Main Scenario Quests
Get some tissues ready, you're in for an emotional ride!
This method is self-explanatory. Final Fantasy XIV garnered critical acclaim because of the way the story is told. People can argue that this is one of the best storylines in an MMO and the numbers it generated every expansion can attest to this fact.
The Main Scenario quests are mandatory to progress through the endgame and give loads of experience, but what about the sidequests?
Everytime you get to a new map, you will see yellow exclamation points or with blue crosses. These are the side quests you can get for each map. They award various items from gear to emotes once finished and can rack up your experience.
I would suggest doing the MSQ for your main job (do the blue quests too since they award Aether Currents which you would need to fly over that zone), and leave the yellow quests for your alternative jobs.
Happy leveling, and see you in Eorzea!
