At the start of August, I wrote about the goals I had for the remaining time in Shadowbringers, before Endwalker came out in Early Access ready to play.
I thought it would be fun to check back in and see how I’m doing against those goals, with 50 days left to go until Early Access opens up for all.
All Jobs to 510 Item Level
This one is mostly done! There’s a little bit still left to do, a couple of jobs still lagging, but I’m right on the cusp for the most part and with the remaining resets, I should make it just fine. Here’s my combat job gear levels:
With the time left, I’m probably going to lean more on crafted gear and Exarchic shuffling to get stuff in priority jobs for me, so any non-520 slots I have left for healing gear, mostly. Every job is close, if not already there, and simple changes like a new weapon or a couple of accessories will fill out the rest!
On the crafting and gathering set front, the best right now for white scrips is item level 500 armor, and that is worse than the Aesthete’s set at 490 but with Materia slots and overmelding possible (and done on my sets). So for those jobs, I’m going to get near item level 490 and be happy with that.
Maiming and Healing Level 70 Sets
Not quite there yet. I started with Maiming first for Reaper because I figured it would be the first one I tried, but well, Sage hit my radar extra during the recent Live Letter, so I need to pivot to Healing sets straight away, just in case.
Finish Unlocking Shadowbringers Recipes/Regional Folklore
Almost there! I think I have a few low-rank recipe books to buy still, but I’ve got what I need for Shadowbringers and am ready to leave those behind to make Endwalker my first viable crafting time! On the Regional Folklore, I have all the Shadowbringers ones, but have a couple Stormblood ones to pick up and then Heavensward, so this may not happen in time as I haven’t been seriously crafting outside of finishing up the last few Crystalline Mean questlines I had left.
Five…Million…Gil
My broke ass said “nah” to this one, at least so far.
To be fair, I’ve never been seriously encumbered by a lack of funds in FFXIV, and with new questing, new items to sell off, and leveling crafting and gathering simultaneously as I go should help on the funding front. I’ve already got a house, got my gear up, and can craft most of what I need for my Exarchic shuffles, so it’s fine.
Retainer Goals
Haha, no. I have no ventures on-hand currently and my retainers, while high, are still in that mid 450 range and not up to 485. As I finish up gearing my combat jobs, this will likely improve slightly (and it will also likely not matter that much in early Endwalker ventures) so I am not too focused on this yet.
Bozja
I’ve played a lot more Bozja content, and I found the point where it got good and I am happier with it. I still have not finished the last legs of my first full Resistance Weapon, and to be honest, I’m not sure I will. I don’t feel a lot of disappointment on this one, because I’ve now at least seen most of the Bozja gameplay, save for later Zadnor pieces and the Dalriada.
Blue Mage to 70!
Still not there! 62 and growing. Might not make it for launch, pretty okay with that.
Finding a Savage Raid Team
Still debating on this one. I would like to play some Savage content, very much, but at the same time, with WoW back in the rotation from when I first set these goals, I’d have to work around my biweekly Dungeons & Dragons game and also two nights of WoW raiding. I’m sure I could find a group, but I might look closer to launch as I assume that rosters in a lot of statics start to solidify and openings become clear around there.
Deciding My Starting Job
In my post breaking down the Sage stuff from the combat Live Letter, I was mostly sold on starting the expansion as Sage, despite the MSQ being the thing I am most hyped about.
Well…I think I’m going Sage to begin. So much of what Sage offers is really appealing to me and it is the kind of thing I want to play with early on, both for fun but also for future content here. It will also be my true first time taking a new expansion job right at the start and leveling through.
For now, it is just a careful climb towards the goals I find most attainable while we all sit patiently in the waiting room, and given how much more into FFXIV I am now compared even to Shadowbringers at launch, I am eagerly anticipating playing everything on-offer in Endwalker.
Kaylriene 
For me, I think I’ll try to get the level 70 Maiming and Healing sets for Sage and Reaper so I’ll be ready to go on that, but other than that I can’t bring myself to care much about goals in advance. I’ll be able to use Poetics to “catch up” my gear at that time and I don’t care about rushing through the leveling process or new story line, so… I’m more or less just waiting for the release and then I’ll start playing again in earnest, but that’s about it.
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