Almost Finished With Patch 2.0

I'm almost finished with the Seventh Umbral Era Quests. Those are the original level 1-50 quests released in Patch 2.0. I finished the last of the level 49 quests this weekend. I only have to run two 8-character raids, Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium, to finish out the chain.

One of the interesting parts of reaching this point in the game is that my white mage job along with all gathering and crafting classes are over level 50. Given that after running The Praetorium I will still have 100 quests to complete before reaching the Heavensward expansion content, I definitely will have an easier time of things than the people who ran the quests back in the original ARR release.

Winning the armorer's contest

Speaking of over level 50, I finished the last 3 level 50 crafting quests this weekend. The armorer's quest showed an overconfident person unable to learn from others. The blacksmith's quest was a cliffhanger of sorts that sets up the class' Heavensward expansion story. And the alchemist story? I didn't really expect that.

Riding a hoarhound

I also managed to finish grinding in the Gold Saucer for the Fenrir mount. One million MGP. The motion riding the mount is funny, but looks pretty cool. Now that I have the mount, I can pick up an item or two every week.

What's next besides the 100 quest grind to Heavensward? NPCs! I'm doing fairly well with my retainers, with over 500,000 gil to my name after a good week of sales. My next task is to reach second lieutenant in my grand company so I can get access to adventurer squadrons. At a certain point, the NPCs become advanced enough so I can run dungeons with them. Not only do I hear doing so is very profitable, but also is a great way to level up secondary jobs. I might even use the system to level up another healing job, the scholar.

A new gathering outfit

Finally, I also unlocked all the items in the Gold Saucer boutique. I can't show any off, because I didn't have enough MGP to buy anything after purchasing the mount. I finished with another 90 point effort in the Fashion Report. The key piece of the outfit was the New World Jacket, dyed Kobold Brown, along with my trusty Extreme Survival Slops dyed the same color. I chose the Anemos Hat and Expeditioner's Moccasins dyed Snow White. Usually I put all the clothing items in the glamour plate, but I bought a pair of Archaeoskin Gloves of Gathering, which allowed me to give my three gathering retainers level 55 gloves. Not only do I think I look good, but I increased my earning potential at the same time.

That's all for now. Hopefully I don't tear my hair out trying to heal PUGs. As the dungeons get more complex, I have the feeling I'm going to run into some pretty impatient types. But I'm getting closer to Heavensward.