Guide to Passive Experience Bonuses (2024)

Last updated on Oct 30, 2021 at 12:30by Mandl2 comments

This guide offers a detailed list of methods to passively increase your experiencegains in Final Fantasy XIV through use of special buffs and items.

Final Fantasy XIV offers many methods to passively increase the amount ofexperience you gain from nearly everything you do. You can gain these benefitsthrough completion of specific in-game activities or by meeting certaincharacter-based requirements. Here are the best methods for passively increasingthe amount of experience your character gains in Final Fantasy XIV.

Creating a new character on a Preferred World automatically grants the charactera buff doubling any experience gained, up to Level 70, for as long as the worldmaintains this status. If a world loses its Preferred status, characters older than90 days will lose this bonus, and characters created while the World was Preferredwill continue to benefit from the buff until their character is 90 days old. Newplayers will earn additional rewards including a special currency and even free gametime! These bonuses are very appealing when starting out, especially if you haveno ties to any specific server.

It is worth noting that this bonus will typically cause you to significantly out-levelthe MSQ before completion of an expansion's story. If you would prefer the MSQ contentto remain challenging, you may consider leveling multiple jobs simultaneously toavoid becoming drastically over-leveled on any one job.

Final Fantasy XIV, like other MMOs, features a Rested EXP buff that awards a bonusexperience gain based on time spent in sanctuary locations, even when your characteris not logged into the game. While in a sanctuary, you will gradually accrue a 50%additional experience gain bonus up to a maximum of 1.5 bars of experience. Thisbonus applies only to EXP earned from combat, crafting, and gathering. You willnot consume, or benefit from, rested EXP when receiving quest rewards.

You can and should make use of this by always making sure to use the Returnaction before logging out, or logging out in any encampment or city featuring anAetheryte crystal. You can check to make sure you are earning Rested EXP by lookingfor the crescent moon icon next to your character's experience bar.

Final Fantasy XIV not only allows a single character to learn every available job,you can also freely switch between leveling these jobs. The Armory Bonus is activatedwhile playing any jobs which are both lower leveled than your highest job and lower thanLevel 70. Similar to the Rested EXP bonus, you will earn 100% bonus EXP from combat,crafting, and gathering for as long as your character meets these requirements. Forany jobs past 70 but lower than your highest, the Armory Bonus changes to grant 50%bonus EXP.

For example, if you have Dragoon levelled up to 51, and you are currently Level 32as Paladin, all experience you receive while playing as a Paladin will be increasedby 100% until your Paladin also reaches Level 51. If you then level yourDragoon up to Level 70, your Paladin will continue to benefit from Armory BonusEXP until reaching Level 70 as well.

A number of items with experience bonuses exist within Final Fantasy XIV.Unfortunately, most of these items are tied to pre-ordering game expansions,making them significantly harder, or impossible, for new players to obtain. Eachof these items offer benefits up to a certain level and will typically work evenwhile Level Synced in random duties. Here is a list of all available EXP boostingitems in Final Fantasy XIV:

Joining a Free Company, Final Fantasy XIV's version of guilds, will grant accessto Free Company Actions which are special buffs that can be activated in exchangefor company credits or by use of Aetherial Wheels. Actions can only be activated bymembers with certain privileges within the Free Company. Actions will apply to allmembers of the Free Company for 24 hours or until cancelled, so you should definitelyconsider joining a Free Company to benefit from these bonuses (and to make newfriends)! You will find a full list of available Free Company Actions below:

There is even an Action that grants additional experience to your Chocobo!

Starting at Level 47, you are able to unlock Squadron Missions,which let you recruit and send NPC soldiers to complete missions. Adventurer Squadronsare unlocked upon reaching the Second Lieutenant Rank with your Grand Company. Werecommend checking out our guide to Grand Companiesto learn how to earn this rank!

Grand Company Manuals are exclusive mission rewards which grant exclusive,temporary experience bonuses to specific types of activities. Here is a full listof the Grand Company Manuals that increase EXP gain:

All buffs granted by food items in Final Fantasy XIV feature a +3% experiencebuff on them, in addition to their main buff. This is often overlooked, and while 3%is small, food is extremely cheap and easy to acquire. Many levelling quest rewardswill reward food items, and you can craft your own through the Culinarian job.Alternately, you can buy food from vendors located in Sanctuaries or simply fromthe Market Board in exchange for a small handful of gil. The type of food you eatdoes not matter for this bonus, and there is no level requirement or range. Ifexperience is the only reason you are looking at food, you can simply pick thecheapest option!