Final Fantasy 14 has recently exploded in popularity thanks to its expanded free trial, that includes A Realm Reborn and Heavensward, as well as more content creators giving it a shot. As a result, the game has more newcomers than ever before but the sheer amount of content might be intimidating at first.

One thing that new players might not pick up on Final Fantasy 14 is how to level alternate jobs effectively. While the Main Story Quests are usually enough to get their first job to level 80, leveling other combat classes can take a while if newcomers aren't familiar with the Duty Roulette system or alternative methods of leveling.

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Preparing to Level in Final Fantasy 14

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Newcomers to Final Fantasy 14 will likely have limited access to a few of these bonuses but should still try to stack as many of these as possible. While the EXP gains from these individual bonuses might seem small, stacking them together will make leveling much easier.

Food is the easiest bonus as they will give a small 3% boost to experience gain as well as a boost to different attributes to help clear content faster. Free Companies also have access to an experience buff called "The Heat of Battle" and can easily give another 10% bonus. Secondary classes also receive something called "Armory Bonus" where additional EXP is awarded to any combat class that is below the player's highest level class. As a result, it's better to level alternate classes when their main class always remains at a higher level.

Each Final Fantasy 14 expansion has previously included bonus items that boost EXP gain under a certain level. However, these are no longer available apart from the newest "Menphina Earring" available as an Endwalker preorder bonus. For newcomers, their best bet would be to complete the Hall of the Novice to gain the "Brand New Ring" and the "Friendship Circlet" from the Recruit-A-Friend campaign. The final thing to note is that like other MMOs, Final Fantasy 14 will give a rested exp bonus for logging out in a safe area and this is represented by a crescent moon icon beside the EXP bar.

Which Duty Roulettes to Prioritize in Final Fantasy 14

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Most newcomers to Final Fantasy 14 will figure out the Duty Roulette fairly quickly and recognize that it's one of the best ways to gain EXP daily. However, there are certain mechanics about the Duty Roulette that isn't explicitly explained that players will have to figure out on their own. The Leveling, Alliance Raids, Trials, Normal Raids, and Main Scenario roulettes are usually the best EXP to time ratio but depend on the class and current level of the player. For example, leveling roulette is easily the best source of experience for tanks and healers but DPS characters might need to wait upwards of 20 minutes for the queue to pop.

Another important thing to note is that EXP gained from duties will scale with levels in Final Fantasy 14. While the MSQ roulette gives the biggest EXP gain of all roulettes, it also takes the longest to finish. This means that it might not be worth it for players who are in the lower levels where there's plenty of content with comparable EXP gain but it's highly recommended for players in the 60s to gain a massive chunk of EXP every day. The other Roulettes like Level 50/60/70 dungeons and Guildhests are rarely worth it.

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Leveling 1-60 in Final Fantasy 14

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The first 50 levels are usually the most annoying in Final Fantasy 14. Starting a new class from scratch is difficult enough, and to make matters worse, many of the duty roulette options remain locked until level 50. Thankfully, there's a lot of alternatives to leveling instead of merely grinding dungeons. Palace of the Dead is one of the alternatives and for DPS classes, it's the fastest method of leveling as well. Accessed in Quarrymill, players will be queued in with three other players to explore randomly generated dungeon floors. With so many people queuing for floors 51-60, Palace of the Dead naturally becomes a quicker leveling method for DPS classes that would normally be forced to wait for Duty Roulettes.

However, Palace of the Dead does scale with levels so it's recommended that Final Fantasy 14 players get their first 15 levels or so from other sources. Usually, the class quests and hunting logs will be enough to get over that initial hurdle before Palace of the Dead becomes the best method of gaining EXP. For the most part, Palace of the Dead is a great leveling tool all the way until level 60, and doing some Duty Roulettes, FATES, Hunts, or Beast Tribe Quests in between should make the process relatively simple.

Since tanks and healers are always in need, they also have the option to queue for dungeons with the daily roulette bonus. By completing dungeons closest to their levels, they gain a good chunk of EXP without needing to wait long for queues. DPS have the option to instantly queue into a dungeon through Squadrons and Command Missions but the AI can be unreliable at times. Nonetheless, it's a decent alternative for those tired of repeating Palace of the Dead.

Leveling 60-80 in Final Fantasy 14

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Once Final Fantasy 14 players reach level 60, they'll have access to Heaven-on-High, which is pretty much the same thing as Palace of the Dead, but in The Ruby Sea. The same concept applies in that DPS classes will use Heaven-on-High as their main source of leveling, while tanks and healers will typically run the highest level dungeons they can. However, Heaven-on-High's EXP gain falls off massively at level 70 and it's better to switch content again for the remaining 10 levels. Thankfully, there are a lot more options now and even DPS can fill in their long queue times with FATES or ignore them completely with Trust Dungeons.

The 70-80 stretch in Final Fantasy 14 is tough but the amount of content available also makes things smoother as players have more variety. Daily MSQ Roulettes will be one of the biggest sources of EXP here alongside the daily Pixie Beast Tribe quests. The weekly Wondrous Tails journal from Khloe in Idyllshire will also give a big EXP reward relative to level so this is highly recommended for the mid 70s. Finally, Shadowbringers FATEs are a good source of EXP, and players interested in relic weapons will find the Bozjan Southern Front to be another great alternative for the final 10 levels.

Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.

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