How to level up quickly in Final Fantasy XIV Online

There are many ways outside of grinding to get your job level to its max.
Screengrab via Square Enix

Like in other MMOs, Final Fantasy XIV Online requires a decent amount of grinding for your character (in this case, your character’s jobs) to level up. While leveling up in the beginning of the game may be simple, once you begin to reach higher levels, the amount of experience needed becomes much more intense, thus requiring even more grinding.

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FFXIV offers multiple methods for players to gain efficient experience regardless of their level, thus giving players ways to get their jobs to the coveted max of level 80. Outside of grinding random enemies or completing dungeons over and over, these methods offer players large amounts of experience that they won’t be able to get anywhere or any way else.

Here are the most effective ways to level up your jobs quickly in FFXIV.

Never go adventuring hungry

Although food isn’t essential in FFXIV, every food item does come with great benefits. Most food items grant the user different levels of stat buffs depending on how developed the food platter is, but every single food item grants the user an experience modifier for a specified amount of time.

Eating one piece of food will provide the player a 30-minute experience bonus, and this can be stacked up to two times to last for an hour max. The modifier is a three-percent increase to all experience earned by defeating enemies and does not affect static experience earned, such as when completing a quest. It is noted within the chat log as a percentage modifier after the base experience gained from defeating an enemy.

Since all food provides this experience bonus, it’s best to buy cheap items from the chefs and culinarians around Eorzea so you’ll never run out of this easy way to increase experience gains within your inventory. More expensive food should only be bought depending on the stats buffs that it offers, as Gil is a luxury that is a lot harder to come by.

Find sanctuary in sanctuaries

Perhaps the most vital form of gaining experience in FFXIV is through Rest Experience. This type of experience is only gained through ending your game via a Sanctuary, which can be noted by a crescent moon symbol next to the player’s experience bar. Almost every location with an Aetherite will also be a Sanctuary, and if not ending the game in one the player will be notified that they are not in a Sanctuary and will miss out on Rest Experience.

By simply ending the game within a Sanctuary and relogging in later, you receive a small bonus multiplier to all experience gained to a cap through Rest Experience. This bonus stacks with food bonuses, so it’s best to have the two activated simultaneously.

While Rest Experience works with all enemies defeated and greatly reduces the need to grind excessively, it does not work with set experience gains, such as those rewarded with main story quests (MSQ) or after completing a dungeon. But it will work on enemies defeated within dungeons and during quests, so be sure to use that to your advantage.

Complete the daily leveling quest

Within the Duty Finder lay the daily leveling quest, allowing players to rack up large amounts of experience once a day. By queueing up for this quest, you will join a dungeon or primal battle that you have already beaten alongside other players (who have the possibility of being new to the duty), though all experience earned within the quest, including end experience, will be boosted exponentially.

The experience boost in the daily leveling quests stacks with both food multipliers and Rest Experience. The static experience gained after completing the quest is tied specifically to the level of the job you currently have equipped. Higher-level duties that can be randomly selected via the daily leveling quest have the potential to provide players with hundreds of thousands of experience, making the grind to level 80 less difficult.

While the daily leveling quest will remain listed in the Duty Finder after its completion, it will inform the player that they will not receive the experience bonuses offered for first time daily completion upon consecutive attempts. Although this quest is the most efficient way to level up jobs, the single daily attempt encourages players to use the game’s other grinding mechanics to continue their progress.

Tackle the next main story quest

Most MMO players often become so inundated with side quests that they forget about main story quests (MSQ) and leave them for much later. But in FFXIV, skipping MSQ could result in players lacking a vital source of free experience, most of the time for simply sitting through dialogue.

All of FFXIV’s MSQ work hand-in-hand with the job level that the player should be at that time. While the base game, A Realm Reborn, offers the least amount of experience per MSQ before its conclusion, it provides an ample amount of experience to ensure the player remains at a stable level to complete all the content. The same is true for the expansions, though starting with Heavensward the amount of experience gained per MSQ is increased astronomically. Side quests, however, do not offer the same amount of experience outside of job quests, which offer experience on par with MSQ.

Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers provide the player with over 100,000 experience per MSQ, with many of the quests being fairly simple outside of required dungeons and raids. Those MSQ that are not as simple as speaking to a character normally require players to venture to a specific location and defeat a few enemies, which offers even further experience.

Endwalker, which releases this fall, will also likely include this substantial amount of experience per MSQ. But if you’re looking to use these quests to level up a new job, you might be out of luck. They require jobs to be at a specific level, almost all of which are above level 50, so these MSQ act as more of a way to late-game grind.


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Author
Ethan Garcia
Ethan Garcia is a freelance writer for Dot Esports, having been part of the company for three years. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Magazine Journalism from Syracuse University and specializes particularly in coverage of League of Legends, various Nintendo IPs, and beyond.