Coming back to FFXIV after Dawntrail?
You started Dawntrail and lost the thread partway through. This is the shortest catch-up on this site and the most common one, because the 7.x patches have kept rolling the whole time you were away. The main scenario picked back up and is now mid-finale: Patch 7.5 opened a two-part ending that closes out in 7.56, so you're arriving at a good moment rather than a dead one. The Arcadion raid series ran to its third and final tier, the alliance raid crossed over with Final Fantasy XI, and a couple of genuinely new things landed that aren't story at all: a field operation in the Occult Crescent, and crafting-and-gathering content in Cosmic Exploration. None of it is mandatory. Push the story first, and treat the rest as a menu you order from.
Pick up where you left off
Choose the closest match and the planner opens with it filled in. You pick the goals.
What's in this expansion
No new expansion has launched since you stopped, so nothing here is a wall. If you drifted off partway, this is what Dawntrail itself put on the table.
New jobs: Viper (Melee DPS), Pictomancer (Magical Ranged DPS).
- The first big graphical overhaul since 2.0
- Level cap 100 and a fresh story arc
- Female Hrothgar and two-color dyeing
The big changes to know
- Heliometry tomestones were retired. Exchange any you still hold for Mathematics.
Want the whole thing in one place? The complete catch-up pathlists every patch from A Realm Reborn to now with a reason for each step. The planner cuts it down to just what's ahead of you.
Build my return planWhat's in the live patch