FFXIV: A Test-Drive of Duty Roulette Experience Efficiency

As FFXIV players perfectly know, the core of alt job leveling – up to 100% experience depending on player style – is group content, presented in a form of duty roulettes. Several types of group content, where you can receive a huge chunk of XP per your first daily run via group finder.

I’ve decided to calculate the income of experience for these content types – and for myself as well. Of course, you’re trying to maximize the XP income and trying to do the whole roulette options, but it may come handy, if you have a limited time to play before reset or for the day at all, and decide which content to go and is it worth it.

Conditions of the Experiment

• Level 65-67, which means all types of roulettes are available.
• No PvP, as I’m not into it – only PvE runs.
• XP modifiers: rested bonus, Menphina’s Earring, no food buffs. Actually it does not matter, as I’m counting in percentage, and conditions were the same. Add a food buff, and you get 3% extra for all types of activities, or take off an earring, and you get same less for all activities etc.
• We’re counting only flat roulette type completion XP – no boss kill XP or role-in-need extra. It is very important, and I will explain later.
• The numbers are approximate, I didn’t go all the way to .digits and such, but they provide the picture.

So, how much did the activities bring me?

Duty Roulette Experience Values

• Leveling dungeons 50/60/70/80: 27%
• Leveling dungeons: 33%
• Trials: 12%
• Main Scenario Meridianum: 25%
• Main Scenario Praetorium: 55%
• Guildhests: <1%
• Alliance Raids: 41%
• Normal Raids: 7%

So, the priority order would be this – if you have time to do them all:

Leveling Dungeons > Alliance Raids > Hard Dungeons > Main Scenario > Trials > Normal Raids > Guildhests.

The Case of Main Scenario

Surely, it provides a big chunk of experience we wouldn’t shun if we have time (and dinner to cook while Lahabrea, Nero and Gaius articulate their very important issues for a zillionth time), but time/rate value compared to other activities is disasterous. Still, if I want to maximize my leveling progress, I would normally do them.

It is interesting that Meridianum and Praetorium give drastically different experience, whatever people might say, but then again by time/XP rate is equal. Still, if we have time, Praetorium is king in the end of the day.

Note: I’m very well aware that 6.1. is bringing changes to their whole structure and XP, so we’ll revisit this part when it’s live!

The Case of Trials, Normal Raids and Guildhests

Very much recommended, as they take little to no time, 2 to 10 minutes in and out including queues, and summarily provide more than 20% of your level. Even guildhests, yes: a couple of times this 15k chunk pushed me over the next level threshold!

The Case of Current Content and Boss Experience

A-ha, this is where one of the biggest secrets lies! You see, the boss kill experience DOES NOT SCALE, and that makes all the difference. So, for example, a level 50 player will almost double his main scenario/alliance raid income by adding boss XP, while for a level 65 or 86 player this will be a very minor addition, the less the farther you are by level from Castrums and Crystal Tower.

The same goes for other activities. If they throw you into a current dungeon or trial, a boss kill is a very significant addition to your effort, while a lot earlier leveling content would not matter.

Let’s take an example. By preparing for this post, I ran a Leveling Dungeon duty roulette at level 65. They have thrown me to Sunken Temple of Qarn, one of the very-very basic dungeons, so boss kill XP was so ridiculous it’s not even worth mentioning. So I come out with 33% of level, blessed only by duty roulette reward.

Then I queued specifically for the highest available dungeon – Bardam’s Mettle. Boss kills alone provided… the mighty 51%! This is the highest rate among the roulettes, apart from Praetorium (but time/income rate, dudes).

So, if my Astrologian at her current level 67 will queue for a dungeon roulette and pop into the highest available dungeon, Doma Castle, she will get 51%+33% = 84% for a single run. Almost a whole level.

This brings us to a very interesting conclusion: the most effective and fastest way to level an alt job in FFXIV is actually not a roulette, but current dungeon chain runs – about 4 runs until you unlock the next one.

Still, there are some arguments why roulette remains my major leveling activity and is worth doing.

First and foremost, chain dungeon runs are a grind, nothing else. Especially in the case when you’re leveling many jobs at once – in my case, Astrologian, Warrior, Red Mage and Gunbreaker are today at Stormblood leg of the journey, and there’s only so many Shisui re-runs you can allow in a day or a week before you puke. Even for one job four consequitive runs is quite a lot.

Duty roulettes, obviously, provide variety. The activities themselves range from quick arena fights to longer dungeons, epic raids to dancing parties in Alexander. It is also cool to arrive in Haukke Manor with very few buttons to care about and be nostalgic about simpler, more naive times, or revisit a rare but super cool and spectacular trial :)

Second, you’re helping the sprouts and leveling alt characters. As you very well know, dungeons and trials are obligatory to proceed with the main story, and queues might be very, very long, especially on later levels. For example, I think I waited for an hour before I managed to defeat Elidibus for the story. Besides, experienced players make the runs and encounters way easier for the newbies, allowing them to make mistakes on their first approach to the boss.

And third, gear. By running roulettes, you’re more than able to buy the whole set for Allagan Tomestones for the next expansion. Only 55-65-75-85 dungeons would even start to match them by level, and in general this set is quite enough to take you to the next expansion. For example, you earn more than enough tomestones by advancing through Heavensward leg to buy 270 gear at 60, which is quite enough to sustain you through Stormblood 60-70, rinse and repeat. Saves you some gold :) Chain current dungeon runs are a gear lottery, you get some upgrades, but you might address market board to keep up, and why spend gil when you can get upgrades for free, earning currency on the way?

Which way you pick is up to you – as we see, the fastest are the current dungeon runs, and roulette is the second most effective way to level with variety and less grind. Pesronally, I choose roulettes and throw in an extra, single current dungeon if I have time and desire to run it. But now you have the numbers, so you can make an informed decision :)