News Tag: FFXIV Dawntrail Preparation

With the much-anticipated FINAL FANTASY XIV: Dawntrail drawing near, just under 2 months away, are you feeling prepared? Here's an extensive list of everything you should do to ensure you're fully ready for the exciting launch!

Main Scenario Quests

Your first priority should be to catch up on the Main Scenario Quests (MSQ). You can't start Dawntrail if you haven't finished the existing MSQ content. If you're starting fresh with Endwalker, be ready because there are 108 quests to get through in those 50 days. For the Post-Endwalker MSQ, those quests number is a total of 47. Start getting to work on those now.

You'll have to do this as part of the MSQ anyway since the Post-Endwalker quests are Level 90, but make sure you get one job to the level cap as this is the level that the Dawntrail quests will start at. Even if you can complete them at a lower level, like Level 88, it may hamper you when it comes to dungeons, trials, so make sure you're as high as you can be.

Tomestones

Speaking of Tomestones, these are obviously going to change with Dawntrail. However, once you reach Level 100, you'll be able to turn all Comedy Tomestones into the next lower tier. So, for the release of Dawntrail, you should ideally be capped on the Allagan Tomestone of Comedy because that will give you an immediate gearing advantage.

You could also cap your Allagan Tomestone of Causality and the Allagan Tomestone of Poetics, especially if you haven't played the game in a while and you're lacking in Allagan Tomestone gear because all the item level 650 gear that you can get from vendors now. The Tome of Allagan Poetics will be available immediately after the expansion launches and you'll be able to exchange these Tomestones with Auriana in the Mor Dhona.

One very efficient and fun way of farming Allagan Tomestones before the expansion is doing the Hunt Trains. There's a Conductor who leads players from A-rank to the next, and each one that you slay in an Endwalker zone is going to give you both Allagan Tomestone of Comedy and Allagan Tomestone of Causality.

Duty Roulette

If you do want to level via Duty Roulette in FINAL FANTASY XIV: Dawntrail, then you should make sure to unlock as much of the content in the game as possible before the release of Dawntrail. I would strongly consider leveling a Healer or Tank on the side using roulettes because you're going to get the adventurer need bonuses pretty much every time.

Materia Transmutation

Now let's talk about how you can make some easy FFXIV Gil whenever the Dawntrail comes out. First of all, right now is a good time to store and stack up on all material that is available in the FFXIV. You can actually do something called the Materia Transmutation. This lets you turn 5 pieces of unwanted material into another type of material that can even be of higher level.

Meaning all of your Level 9 and 10 material that are basically worthless right now have a chance of giving you material that might be worth 10,000 to 15,000 Gil whenever the Dawntrail comes out. This is a much better use of material than trying to sell it for 500 or 400 Gil on the Market Board.

Grand Company Seals

Something else that you can prepare without having a crafting job is the Grand Company Seals. This is the currency that you can use to get various materials at your respective Grand Company. There's a good chance that there will be new materials added to the Grand Company vendor that will be used in crafts all throughout FFXIV. And it's just a good resource to have either way.

So before the Dawntrail comes out, you should make sure to get this as high up as possible. You may be capped, and all of this is going to be very time critical. So within the first few days of the launch, you should be checking this out if you want to get as much Gil as possible out of this. Everyone will be in a rush to make all the new gear and various other consumables.

Today, let's dive into the essential aspects of getting ready for the Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail: retainers, currencies, and gear. They all provide us with fantastic opportunities to amass a significant amount of Gil and set ourselves up for success.

Farm Gil With Retainers

We'll first look at retainers. These can take a good while to level to 90, so start getting prepped now to be ready for the Dawntrail. In addition to new materials selling for reasonable amounts on release, expect new Retainer minions, which will fetch hundreds of thousands, if not millions, for a decent period after the expansion launch. So, it is great for farming for gil.

There are 4 unique sets of rewards of retainers: one set unique to each of battle, Fisher, Miner, and Botany classes. Within battle classes, the specific battle job doesn't actually affect the type of items you can obtain. It just affects the type of gear you'll be able to equip to the retainer. For the majority, sticking with 2 retainers is fine. Just make sure that each retainer is set to a different class type.

One very important factor, which should influence not only which types you assign but also which battle job in particular you pick, is the fact that your retainers can only level up to the same level which your actual character is for that job. You can't change the job of your retainer without it going all the way back to Level 1.

If you are looking to level Pictomancer or Viper first and want a matching retainer, then you can level a battle retainer now, picking any star in battle class. But do not assign it a specific battle job at any point. Instead, level it to Level 90 as a base class, then simply wait for the Dawntrail, where you'll then be able to assign the new jobs.

At Level 1, setting your retainers on just 2 18-hour exploration missions should get them to Level 10, where they will unlock the important Quick Ventures, which do not have any gear or stat requirements all the way to Level 90. And you're also not required to have actually gathered certain materials before you can send your retainer out to get them.

Currency Crafting & Gathering

The next section about currencies, and kicking off with those related to battle classes. With a view to making some FFXIV Gil come in FFXIV 7.0, I would strongly recommend capping Bicolor Gemstones from FATEs, Sacks of Nuts from hunt trains, and Faux Leaves from Unreal trials. These have all stayed consistent across both expansions, so there's an outside chance they remain the same in the Dawntrail.

Next on currency are those related to crafting and gathering. I would strongly recommend capping all white and purple scrips. Purple scrips will likely have very valuable new crafting and gathering materials added to them, and potentially new fishing baits.

All crafting items and white scrips should become convertible to gain you more purple scrips. The purple scrips will likely be needed for new gathering tools and crafter recipe books, so it's good to be kept to get a head start in unlocking those valuable new FFXIV 7.0 materials and recipes.

It's also extremely easy to cap white and purple scrips if you start now, as you can net 2,000 plus of each per week for about 10 minutes' work via custom deliveries. You can do some serious prep by stocking up on turnning in collectibles, as all of these will be tradable for purple scrips after FFXIV 7.0 launch.

Gear Preparation

The final section is gear. First up, battle gear for your main class. You'll already be in high enough gear to get into the Dawntrail. You may want to prepare gear to support leveling for a class that you are looking to level outside of your current main, including the new jobs Pictomancer and Viper.

Pictomancer and Viper's opening quests will give you a set of item Level 550 left side gear, along with a weapon. In preparation, I would recommend stashing away a set of Level 80, item Level 530 accessories, purchasable from your Mor Dhona for Poetics. Remember that Pictomancer will utilize the caster gear set and Viper will utilize Scouting gear, the same as the Ninjas. It's then a pretty good idea to prep a set of Level 90 gear to support the leveling of those jobs.

I'd recommend any combo of 640 crafted gear off the market board or current gear from the latest Alliance raids. Ideally, utilizing whatever pieces you may already have. The other option is to cap your Allagan Tomestone of Phantasmagoria, as on FFXIV 7.0, our current gear, pre-upgraded to 660, will be available for purchase for Poetics.

Lastly, gear prep for crafting and gathering. If you're already highly geared, close to the BiS, then you're all set. You should find yourself being able to head straight to Level 100 and craft the new top crafting and gathering gear without the necessity of upgrading your own gear first.