Are tomestones the only route to item level 460?

[Omedon]

Ok, so I come and go from FFXIV in stints as WoW lulls and surges, and I'm now at the point where I have to run the Heroes' Gauntlet... and I need 20 item levels to progress. And, like... I'm on my way out of the game again in a couple weeks.

Leveling through other expansions, quests mostly outfitted me (there was that generous chest o' gear every now and then) and I imagine when ShB is a "passing through" expansion, something like that will happen too... in quests I'm already past.

I am, however, a level 70 omnicrafter (a product of my last stint!). Will that help me if I level those jobs to 80?

What I'm basically saying is I am not interested in a protracted dungeon grind of days or weeks in what is really a "secondary game" for me. Does that mean I'm... like... done in FFXIV? Like eventually I'll return... and still be here. Needing to run dungeons. Not even high enough to run them with trusts. Where, outside a daily dungeon grind does one get the gear to progress? Can my crafting help me?

And even beyond 460, will crafting, traditionally, serve me when I hit these bumps? I've never had crafting at the endgame while the expansion was fresh so I feel this is a valid question!

Again, I'm just interested in seeing the story, not burdening people in raids and such. Just me and my trusts... and I'm not even good enough for THEM right now haha!

For future reference when I return likely next expansion (but even for now, or if I return before that!) : What are my options that aren't gated by duties that I'm not interested in roulette'ing?

Or is this a "FFXIV isn't meant to be a secondary/vacation game" kind of thing? Is this a "you're not meant to quit right now" thing?

Thanks in advance for any and all helpful replies!

[Zyky]

I'm fairly confused by your post, but you can purchase or craft 510 gear for your toon, you can then trade that in with Allegory in the main hub to turn the crafted gear into 520 gear. But maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're overall asking?

[Shakzor]

Crafted 510 gear, last nier raid gives 520 (1 piece peer week), Bozja Southern Front 510, Zadnor 520, last Eden raid ( 4 last bosses) 510 ( farmable now, formerly 1 piece per week), last dungeon.... 505 I think, Red Tomestones 520, white tomestones 490 (iirc)

[Echo of Soul]

You can always buy some pieces off the market board. 460:isch gear should be really cheap.

[Cattleya]

There are multiple ways to get 460 or higher gear, most of them are duties yes but it's not a grind that would take weeks.

First off, if you don't want to run duties at all, you can buy 510 gear (or lower, I suppose) from the marketboard as others have said. You can level your crafting jobs and craft them yourself too, but that would take a fairly big investment, which may or may not be worth it depending on how much you plan to craft.

Second option is Bozja, which rather than a dungeon is an open zone where you grind FATEs and boss fights called Critical Engagements. I suggest unlocking this place just for the free 485 weapon you get from it if you don't have that yet (and if you didn't just buy a 510 weapon). If you reach rank 10 in here you can also buy 495 gear (no accessories, belt or weapon though, just head/chest/gloves/legs/boots). Later on in the Bozja chain of content there's also 510 and 525 gear for these slots. The weapon is a relic that you can upgrade through a chain of quests but some steps are rather grindy.

With all that said, if you want to do it through dungeons/raids after all, duties that you can actually do at your item level: Anamnesis Anyder (the dungeon before Heroes Gauntlet) drops 455 gear, Copied Factory (first 24-man raid) drops 460 gear, Eden's first tier (8-man raids) drops 455 gear.

At item level 455 you can unlock Eden's second tier, which drops 480 gear.

And of course any tomestones you'd get from all of these can be traded for 490 (uncapped tomestones) and 520 (capped tomestones) gear.

Finally, just as a heads-up, the final current story dungeon requires 490 gear, so you know what to aim for if you want to do only the story.

[Kyriani]

The crafted 510 gear can also be upgraded to 520 though that does require some tomestones to do. Still if tomestones are an issue to acquire, 510 is not a bad item level to be at going into Endwalker.

[Twen]

Aside from above you can also buy Deepshadow gear (460, same as Gauntlet's req) with nuts that you can get from daily/weekly hunts from the board in Crystarium. It requires you to open all the hunt levels from previous expansions first if you haven't yet, but that's mostly just a bit of talking.