Update on my status:
I've managed to get my group to 24, stuffed those damn sheep in Selbina with 100 stacks of million corn per character to max out Sandy and Bastok fame, expanded my inventory to 60, got all my keys for the Kazham airship pass, and just killed the 2-3 dragon last night. I've spent around a million gil outfitting and upgrading characters. Kind of pricey, but a lot of that was on one time upgrades.
I was actually surprised how easy the 2-3 dragon was. I remember the thing being quite the pain back in the day. Was actually a nice confidence boost to walk in, go chop-chop, and watch the thing die. Makes me think I'll have a good deal of hope to box all the missions in the game.
Now I just have to trade in 630 pieces of zinc ore for Tenshodo Fame, 1200 Cornettes for windurst, and I should be done with rep building and can get back to focusing on getting to 30, unlocking some advanced jobs, and building my group.
Its going to be quit the adventure, in so much that my leveling from 18-24 has consisted of random xp from farming quest and mission items for subjobs, airship passes, etc. I'll likely get even further as I climb Delkfutt's for rank 4, but after that, I think I'm relegated to finding some good grinding spots for 20-37.