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.

Hello players! FFXIV Dawntrail is nearly two months away from its official release, so here I want to talk about the 5 best classes to start the new expansion to help you prepare.

In this guide, we’ll consider factors such as ease of use, versatility, and enjoyment of the game to find the class that best suits your play style. So, let’s start finding Final Fantasy XIV class that’s right for you!

1. Dragoon

Anyone who knows me knows that Dragoon has been my dominant class for the past many years, and there’s definitely a reason for that!

First, it’s easy to learn. Rotations slowly increase as you level up, and early level actions are focused on restoring health while dealing extra damage.

What’s more, with the role ability, Second Wind for emergency healing, limited support actions, and the ability to jump in and out of combat almost at will, Dragoon’s versatility is very high, while the required skill level is quite low. This is very advantageous for players who are short of FFXIV Gil early in the game.

The biggest problem with this class is that some people find the repetitiveness of the lower level rotations too boring. But if you find it fun to stab things with a stick, or enjoy jumping around an arena, Dragoon is definitely a good choice!

2. Paladin

I know a lot of players are tired of the advice to play tanks, but even if tanks aren’t for you, Paladin is a great option to help the class level up.

With excellent defense and the ability to heal himself, Paladin is the king of tanks in single-player games. Whether you’re fighting your way through MSQ, farming for XP, or guiding your Duty Support team through dungeons, Paladin is the best early-game tank class with incredible forgiving abilities.

You don’t even have to master your rotation to accomplish most things, and your various magic and physical AOE attacks make you the most powerful killer on the field early on.

Paladin is easier to learn than other tank classes and is a lot of fun with massive giant sword AOEs. If you like a class that has both survivability and damage, Paladin might be a superb choice for you!

3. Machinist

Physical ranged classes are very useful for some low-level players, as they allow you to run anywhere on the battlefield dodging AOEs and still have the ability to damage what you want.

Machinist is very good at damaging enemies and has some amazing burst damage. But they also have the benefit of having nothing expected in group content other than being the major force between battles. You don’t have to worry about supporting actions like Bard, choosing a dance partner like Dancer, or helping healers with raises like some Magic DPS.

You just jump into whatever fight you’ve got lined up and do your thing. Once you get good at understanding all of your abilities and adapting to your rotation, you can summon your Automaton Queen to the battlefield. She can ignore the mechanics because no one can tell her what to do.

You have to reach Ishgard during Heavensward to unlock this class, but when you do, it starts at level 30, allowing you to bypass the starting area as you level up. If you just want to experience immersive combat and own a Flamethrower, Machinist might be for you!

4. Samurai

If you are looking for a more up-close and personal class, Samurai is the answer. Like Machinist, Samurai is a DPS with almost no party utility. No matter what happens, your role is to deal as much damage as possible in order to end the fight faster.

Keep in mind that the rotation of each Samurai takes a little time, but once you understand how it works, the class is relatively easy to play. It’ll provide the capabilities to suit almost any situation you find yourself in.

This isn’t available until you reach level 50, though, so it’s a bit of a wait for new players. But it starts at level 50, so you don’t need to go through the usual leveling process from scratch. If you’re not interested in your current class, this is a great option to try new things without feeling like you’ve lost any progress in the game.

5. Summoner

Maybe after reading this you are still not sure what you want to choose after entering Dawntrail. If you want to try everything, but you don’t have the time to play to upgrade everything you want, then maybe you should check out Summoner.

Summoner has been reworked to be easier to learn than before, and rotation has been made easy, but there’s still some wiggle room for refinement for those with a desire to learn.

You can pick Arcanist at level 1 so you can grab this from the start, and pick Summoner as your job at level 30. You also get a raise so you can help out the healers during tough times and get some extra rewards for being a valuable member of the team.

Perhaps the most rewarding part of playing as a Summoner is that it also automatically increases your Scholar level. Even if you haven’t accepted the job yet, when you do, it will be at the same level as your Summoner.

This way, if you want to complete healer role quests in Dawntrail, or are brave enough to try a healer, you don’t have to spend time leveling up!

So what do players think? What class do you want to play? What classes do you think I’ve missed that are more early-stage friendly? See you in the game!