I’ve just realised that Patch 6.2. is essentially my first current patch in the game. I finished Shadowbringers questline just a couple of weeks before Endwalker expansion release, and while I hopped on MSQ on day 1 of the expansion, I spent 6.0. and even a lot of 6.1. leveling alt jobs.
I skipped 6.0. normal raid farming until 6.1., so I had to catch up with gear in late spring and summer, chain runs on all my fresh leveled jobs – up until last minute before 6.2. So, technically 6.2. is my first patch where I can jump right into endgame from the very start.
And that requires a gearing road map. It is interesting that FFXIV, unlike many or all MMOs, doesn’t push you into raiding – or at least, it’s not the only option to get high end gear. You can simply craft – or buy at AH/market board – a full set of ilvl 620, which surpasses the current normal raid items of 610. You can do daily duty roulettes – re-runs of randomized older dungeons and raids via dungeon finder – to gradually earn currency and slowly get the very same 620 gear. In other words, if you need to gear up for running Savage raid version fast (the hard/mythic difficulty of the current raid), you have that option.
Call me oldschool, but this does not work for me for a number of reasons. As for crafting/buying – I’ve tried and dismissed crafting from my FFXIV experience, not even for the ability to make gear for myself, and I’m always broke in every MMO, spending all my gil for glam/transmog/mount/other items like that. As for currency – well, of course it’s rightfully earned, but: if I already have the gear that matches / surpasses the current raid, there’s a lot of interest taken away. The second wing of alliance raid is due in 6.3., and by the time it comes I’m already swimming in this ilvl gear? What’s to do then? A single run for the story and that’s it?
So, my gearing approach is this: of course I want to gear up and grow in power, but in doing so I try to make my raid resets worth it, artificially making the current raid gear my highest earned gear – even if the game does not demand that from me, and offers other (and sometimes easier) options.
And here we come to my favorite spreadsheets:
Ok, as colors go:
- 580 – is Asphodelos/Limbo raid gear from previous patch.
- 590 – is Aglaia raid/Aphorism currency gear from previous patch.
- 595 – is Fell Court of Troia dungeon gear from current patch.
- 610 – is Abyssos raid gear from current patch.
My gearing map for 6.2. and 6.3. is this:
- 580 gear is outdated and is due to be replaced.
- I’m focusing on raid reset weekly runs to earn as much 610 as possible during patch.
- I’m doing daily roulettes to earn enough Causality tomestones for Abyssos weapons.
- While I’m at it, I’ll be swiming in Aphorism tomestones, so this currency gear replaces 580 >590 whenever possible.
- Fell Court of Troia items are 595, so always welcome in roulettes as a small middle step up – besides, the dungeon glam sets seem very cool!
And upon the next Myths raid wing in 6.3., it’s another step up to 620. In that course, I keep Abyssos gear current through 6.2. and 6.3., and replace the “left part” with Myths raid set – thus making the raid activity current and worth every run, keeping me busy and motivated to run them :)
This is far from most effective gearing strategy, but this is how I play my endgame: a piece of gear is not just a piece of gear, I want it matter even if I sacrifice the actual ilvl, and I want my weekly resets to keep all jobs on toes and honed in a raid content.
Gnomecore 