Typically when you run content with other players, everyone will have their level “synced” to the content’s level. That way everyone experiences the content with a similar level of challenge. But running unsynced offers a way to go through a huge majority of the game’s multiplayer content without that limitation.
What’s The Point Of Unsynced Content?
Well, it makes it possible to solo content that would be impossible to do synced. It allows you to enter the dungeon or trial with your character at full power. You can head into earlier trials with a level 90 character if you want, and absolutely walk through most earlier content with no problems. What’s the point in this? It makes it easy to farm bosses for things like mounts and minions. One example is pony farming, in which players repeatedly kill the first set of Primals for the mount. This is only possible due to unsynced. If you were doing it legitimately, it could take weeks. And that’s if you’re lucky! But unsynced has another benefit too – you can “boost” younger players through dungeons and trials. All they have to do is stand out of the way and hope they don’t get smacked by anything too powerful! They’ll be able to claim all the same loot as normal, in a fraction of the time.
Are There Downsides To Playing Unsynced Content?
Yes – you won’t be eligible to earn the same gil and experience rewards you would get by playing it normally. So you can’t just cheese easy dungeons and enemies to earn experience! The other downside is that while it can certainly be a power trip, you don’t get to experience the content as it was originally intended. For new players being boosted, this means you don’t get a lot of that vital experience in running dungeons normally. The earlier dungeons are structured in a way that gently introduces you to playing in a group, and eventually teaching you how to manage more complicated mechanics. If you get boosted through all these dungeons in one sitting (like I was) then you’ll probably miss out on some important early experiences. But if you’re looking for convenience, there’s really no faster way through a dungeon or trial than a boost. In my opinion though, you’re more likely to find high level players willing to play through the content with you normally. Everyone still gets experience and rewards that way. And once you’re a high level, you may find that you want a particular minion, piece of furniture, or glamour item that drops from a low level dungeon. Rather than queue to complete it normally, you could just run it unsynced and complete it in half the time.
Level Requirements To Play Unsynced Content
There’s no hard and fast rule for a minimum level on this. But generally you’d have no problem clearing A Realm Reborn/Heavensward content with a level 80 character. I’m not level 90 just yet, so I don’t want to comment any further. But if you’re considering soloing an instance, I’d suggest either jumping in and giving it a try, or doing some Google research first. You can start tackling the earlier dungeons and trials around level 50, with varying levels of success depending on mechanics. Ifrit’s trial, for example, can be absolutely dominated on normal difficulty. But fighting Titan on the harder difficulties implements mechanics that are much trickier to get around.
How To Activate Unsynced In The Duty Finder
Navigate to the Duty Finder by pressing the ‘U’ key. You’ll spot a cog icon in the top left of the window. Click that and you’ll be presented with the below list of Duty Finder options. The one you’re looking for here is “Unrestricted Party”. When this is toggled on, you’ll enter content without being level synced (unless you turn level sync on). And you’ll have to be the party leader to apply this to your entire group if you’re taking people with you. But with this setting on you’ll just have to select the content you want and go ahead like normal! Once you’re done with Unrestricted Party, go back to those same settings and toggle it off. It’s that simple! If you’ve Googled this question and came up with different results, don’t worry – the interface was changed. You would previously manage this setting by toggling on “Undersized Party”, but this option was replaced with “Unrestricted Party”, presumably because the term makes more sense.
