Should I Just Merit Or Speed To 99?

I'm unsure if I should be speeding to 99 or if I should meritting a bit first. I'm currently sitting at 75 in merit mode, killing the eschan gobbs and bees to point grind.

Get to 99 then go back and work on merits. At 99 you can equip ilvl gear and then merits are trivial.

Do you kill the same mobs or do mobs at that level give you more LP ;o?

Depending on what you're trying to get out of it, grabbing a couple of merit abilities or something might make the last 24 levels a bit more fun. But overall, you do get a lot more Limit Points once you make the jump from Lv.98 to Lv.119.

In fact, if you want a really fun, eye-opening moment, grab level 119 equipment ahead of time (now, even) and equip it the moment you hit Lv.99. You really feel the surge of power from gaining 21 effective levels almost instantly.

NPCs Vesca and Craggy Bluff sell Lv.119 equipment for just a few Bayld each, the Seekers of Adoulin currency.

Hmmm okies. Should I try gearing up a lot between now and then then? I have mostly stuff from an old character I retired from years ago Dx lol

It's really up to you. The more efficient way is to just race to 99 and let your Trusts do all the heavy lifting, but I always find that to be boring. The last 10 levels are lightning-fast either way.

If you do want equipment, I recommend the Lv.78 Aurore, Perle, or Teal armor from Abyssea. It can be exchanged through the Auction House, or purchased using just a few Cruor from one of the starting areas. You can even upgrade it to Lv.90 by doing some Unity Notorious Monsters if you want. Those should last you until the Lv.119 Gorney +1, Shneddick +1, or Weatherspoon +1 equipment from Vesca.

Level 1-99 equipment
Rolandienne in Southern San d'Oria (G-10)
Isakoth in Bastok Markets (E-11)
Fhelm Jobeizat in Windurst Woods (J-10)
Eternal Flame in Western Adoulin (H-11)

Those guys don't sell a single piece of armor between level 51 and level 98, and the Lv.99 armor (and weapons) they do sell are only Item Level 117, not 119.

Push to 99 >
Get the 117 set from Rolandienne (or any RoE npc) >
Activate one V2 Ambuscade on very easy mode (109) >
Clear and get "Kupon I-AF 109"
Turn that into a dealer moogle for x12 REM chapters 1-10 each >
Take your 5/5 lvl 52-60 AF gear and 119 it using the chapters >
Then run through Rhapsodies of Vandiel and get as many KI as you can. (This will unlock a lot of things and speed up your next grind session due to the exp buffs per KI)

IMO this is the path I would take. No matter how you slice it, the first job grind to 99 will always suck. It gets better I promise.

Edit: If you can have a friend run you through any High Tier Battlefield or Delve clear, you can unlock Odoro npc in port jeuno to get a 119 weapon. This will make you ilvl 119 with the gear from above. Food for thought. In either event, good luck on your journey ^^

Speed to 99 will enable to merit farm faster.

Fantastic Guide on the Wiki

If you have friend that plays or a helpful LS you can skip a ton of this and go right to gearing for end game content. These days I advise leveling COR for the utility and movement speed for quests. Lots of leg work there to get access to a good bit of content.

Take your time and enjoy the fun of gringing a new char to end game :)

I wouldn't.

The 71k sparks needed for a full set of 117 armor, weapons, and accessories has an opportunity cost of nearly 700k gil. Even the bare minimum of 5/5 armor and a single weapon is almost a quarter million worth of sparks spent on gear you'll replace within a week or two.

Alternatively, 13k bayld(or 13 copper vouchers converted to bayld) gets you 5/5 119 armor plus a matching weapon from Vesca/Craggy Shield, and you can spend that 700k from sparks on cheap AH accessories instead.