The new level cap inFinal Fantasy XIV: Dawntrailbeing 100 means players will have another long grind ahead of themselves. With twenty-one jobs (twenty-two if you count Blue Mage), there will be a lot of players coming back just so they can progress all their favorites once again. While the reward was lackluster in Endwalker for leveling up all the battle jobs up to max, Square Enix has gone back to the Shadowbringer rewards of a mount in order to incentive you to get everyone up to snuff.
Looking past just going through the main story quests, which will almost entirely generate you enough EXP to get to level 100 by the time you finish everything, there are quite a few means of leveling in Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail. This is mainly used to facilitate your alt jobs, although if you do need an extra little bit of EXP on your main, they will help.
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5Societal Relations (Beast Tribes)
Low payout, but fast reward
Experience Points
3,373,176 per three
Formerly that of Beast Tribes, Societal Relations are a daily that will generate some decent EXP. These are story and relationship-based activities in specific areas that have you getting involved in some of their conflicts and internal struggles. They are generally made to better improve the tribes’ situations, increasing what they have to offer or coming to resolution over issues they may have.
All you need to do is pick up three quests per day and increase your relations with them by upwards of eight levels. Unfortunately, ever since Shadowbringers, the number of battle tribes has fallen from two to one, with Square Enix favoring a little more variety in crafting and gathering. As of this moment, the Arkasodara are the only decent option, spawning from Endwalker. This is a good source, offering around 3-3.5 million exp per day, but because you can only have three turn-ins a day, it makes it the least appealing option. At least it does contribute if you want some quick EXP until the Dawntrail relations are set up later down the road.
Slog of a grind, but kills two birds with one stone
~300,000 per skirmish
Released in Shadowbringers, the Bozjan Southern Front and Zadnor were even more divisive than Eureka. While Square Enix greatly improved upon the reward system and activities to partake in, such as one-on-one duels, it was still a massive grind, going from one skirmish to the next and the visual aesthetic was far from appealing, especially when compared to its predecessor. Thankfully, it allowed for a lot of experimentation with the logograms (or Forgotten Fragments), turning healers into killing machines or casters into speed kings.
Regardless, the experience output was high during Shadowbringers and even Endwalker, especially for the amount of time you had to put in. Skirmishes were fast and easy, while Critical Engagements, while much longer, at least paid out at a higher rate. Since Dawntrail, though, it’s less of an appealing offer, since the EXP requirements are much higher, from 90-100, and you may as well just go do FATEs (which are essentially what skirmishes are) in the general world. With that said, if you haven’t progressed Bozja much, this is a fine opportunity to do so.
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3Dungeon Spamming
Prep your AOE builds as you’ll be here for a while
Upwards of 8,000,000 per run
A tried and true method of leveling up, dungeon spamming is arguably the quickest way to level up, mainly because there is no cap on how many times you can go into a dungeon. Your EXP bonus (the blue bar that overlaps your EXP bar) will go a long way with dungeon spamming, more so than daily roulettes, as each boss you face in each dungeon is what generates you the massive amounts of EXP that will let you level up faster.
The major downside is just how repetitive this becomes. While it’s only fifteen to twenty minutes to complete (closer to the former if you have a good farming group) each run, it’s draining on the soul to run the same dungeon over and over again. You also have to consider the amount of time it takes to queue, as DPS queues are less than appealing. The one upside is you at least get to change each dungeon every two levels and you will passively earn dungeon gear (and through loot rolls) that can be either used as glamour, used on other jobs, desynthesized or turned in for grand company credits. At the current time, too, you can run alliance raids for a lot of EXP, with Agalia, the first Endwalker raid, being the most popular.
Requires a lot of attention but fast and high EXP generation
~500,000 per FATE
Full Active Time Events, or better known as FATEs, are timed events in the world that will pop up randomly and have various tasks to complete. There are defense missions, gathering items, boss fights, but the most common one is killing a certain number of monsters. This is a fast and easy way to earn not only quick EXP, but a lot of EXP.
In Dawntrail, each FATE generates around 500,000 EXP per run, and the amount of time to complete it is roughly a minute (provided you have a party). Sometimes it can take a little longer, but generally speaking it’s over before you even realize it. There are even bonus FATEs that can spawn, alongside creatures that will help boost the next FATE’s rewards, making the rewards upwards of 3x that of normal. It can be a grind, but you also progress a certain unprovoked quest and get gemstones that can be traded for materials and goodies such as minions. This is also something that can be done during queues or waiting for a party to fill, making it one of the most appealing means of leveling.
1Daily Roulettes
Keeps you logged in every day
~1,000,000 to 13,000,000
The most important thing to do every single day is your daily roulettes. It can’t be stressed enough how much some of these dailies payout. Main Scenario (as soul sucking as it may be), Alliance Raid, Leveling and Frontlines are some of the best value for your time, generating upwards of two-thirds of your EXP bar for a fifteen-minute adventure. Even smaller, shorter roulettes such as Trials can be worth your time, especially when they proc an even greater EXP reward.
This also helps players who are just progressing through the story or side quests with their queues, as no one wants to be stuck in what seems like an infinite wait to just get through an early trial. With the endgame material currently being worth a lot of gil too, some of these will earn you extra cash if you take note of the Adventurer in Need, although the vast majority of the time it’s either a tank or a healer.
Regardless, daily roulettes are easily the biggest EXP earners, especially when you consider the time value. The only downside is that you can’t spam them like you can FATEs or dungeons as they can only be done once a day. Still, there’s a reason for that, given how much they’re worth. If you’re looking to play the long game, this is really all you need to do every day and you’ll be maxed out in a few months.
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Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail
The fifth expansion to the award winning MMORPG, Dawntrail takes the franchise into a whole new direction, hopefully kicking off another ten-year long adventure.
