Long break in Final Fantasy XIV? With these 4 tips you can get back in easy

Final Fantasy XIV sometimes has stronger, sometimes weaker content patches. Accordingly, the number of players increases and drops during the extensions. If you now want to get in with the hotly expected content of Update 7.2, you can prepare with these tips in the best possible way.

Naoki Yoshida, the Director and Producer of Final Fantasy XIV, wrote as part of a column for Japanese magazine Famitsu about a fan question that reached him during a gamescom: whether there was a reason to play the MMORPG permanently.

He replied: It’s okay if you [Final Fantasy XIV] don’t play every day. Since it’s just a game, you don’t have to force yourself to do it if you find it difficult. […] So come back and play to your heart’s content when the big patch comes […]

The head of the games himself says that you should only play your game as long as you really have fun and 7.2, according to him, is one patches so far. But how do you really get into Final Fantasy XIV after a long break? We have four tips for returning.

Story is everything – continue where you stopped

Final Fantasy XIV is conveniently very resistant. If you have jumped off at one point, after a break you can continue almost seamlessly where you stopped. No matter how many patches have appeared in the meantime: raids, dungeons, exams and Co. remain relevant and playable.

First of all, you should catch up with the missed main story. All new content is behind the MSQ of an extension. Therefore, your focus should be on this.

The next accompanying quest appears in the scenario guide, a UI element that appears in the top left of the picture when setting.

If you are excreted at a point where the story was a bit tough, running-quest-heavy or maybe just boring, there are two options. The first would be to simply skip cutscenes at the push of a button.

However, if you not only have to catch up with one or two patch amounts of quests, but maybe even several extensions, you can take money in your hand: With the adventurers from the store, you can jump to the start of the DLCs that you want to play.

You cannot get closer to the current status of the expansion than with adventurers: endwalker. You start unlimited possibilities with the first Dawntrail quest.

Danger: If you use the adventurers, your desired job will not automatically be placed on the required level. So you have to farm experience points before catching up of the remaining quests – or buy a boost for the job.

Practice job or just start a new one

Depending on how long your path was, your old class got a few updates. Especially to the release of new extensions, jobs are often reworked. Accordingly, Final Fantasy XIV takes place slightly different from the time before.

It is best to get in again if you are looking for a training dummy. These can be placed in front of houses as a garden decoration. You can also find and control the following Level 1 dolls in the upper world as long as you have unlocked the area:

We focused on the level 1 dolls here. But there are also dummies for the levels of 50 in the corresponding endgame areas.

Alternatively, you can also unlock a new class and get to know the skills during the level process. You can read in our entry-level guide which level you need for the individual jobs of the extensions.

If you are looking for the current rotations of the jobs, the page Icy-veins.com has extensive guides for you.

Current armor is the be -all and end -all

So that you do not stand in the way of yourself, you should be sure to follow as soon as your current job is ready for the next challenges new armor look. Put the job crystal for your desired job and press the button for Recommended Gear:

Layers what the game suggests as optimized equipment. This can be done quickly with the attachment button.

If your armor class shouldn’t be good enough at the next fighting content, you can still exchange your allagic stones. You can read about the current endgame currencies in our guide. In it you also read how you can get the latest armor:

Alternatively, you can stock up on the market board with enough gil. There are crafted Gear, but also available at NPC. Before you spend a lot of money, the best in the next larger in-game city will check the NPC retailers. Their goods are usually sufficient for dungeons and normal exams.

A fresh Ui for a fresh look

Depending on how intensely you played the Final Fantasy XIV before the break, you have screwed to your UI and are now sitting in front of an outdated layout. Or even in front of a layout with which you can’t do anything anymore.

In fact, a functional and the game for worlds can make it easier for you. In combination with clever macros, Final Fantasy XIV is even incredibly comfortable. But macros are something for later.

You can read everything about the UI of the MMORPG in the official UI guide. In it you will find everything around the basics. If you are looking for inspiration, this Reddit thread is a good starting point.

If you do not yet know exactly which UI adjustments would be good for you to re-enter Eorzea, you can of course only do them if you have already played a bit. If you are overwhelmed with your previous creation, you can simply reset the layout to standard.

With these tips you should be prepared to start fresh in Final Fantasy XIV after your break. We wish you a lot of fun!

So it goes after the return

Already on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, Final Fantasy XIV continues with Patch 7.2. The developers bring new story quests, but also the new animal of the current 8-man raid. There is also a new exam in two levels of difficulty and a new dungeon.

Unfortunately, the other major content only follows in the course of the Patch series: The cosmo explorations will be live on April 22, 2025 with patch 7.21. The Kreszentia field excursion starts on May 27, 2025 with patch 7.25.

If you want to know how to get this content, you can read everything in our endgame guide. We update this to the patch release when the final patch notes are live.

Many players have been waiting for the Field Excursion Kreszentia for a long time-there was no similar content during the Endwalker Patch Cycle. At that time, the focus was on making the game more friendly for single players. However, there is still enough time until May to catch up with the story and prepare for the challenge. By the way, if you want to fundamentally change your character by then, you can still secure a free Fantasia until Tuesday: you can get one of the most popular shop items in Final Fantasy XIV for almost a week free of charge