Time to move on?

I reached level 8 last night, and I can't find any NPC's with ! over there heads... I got what pre-searing armor was available from collectors, and a decent sword and a decent staff (sword is just for looks really, looks like a giant shard of glass on a brass hilt). I think I got all the skills I could get, I got the run-around from a bunch of NPC's telling me to talk to one NPC, who then told me to talk to another NPC... and noone offers anything else...

Quest log is empty... and I've got some gold saved up...

So do I talk to Tydus now?

Yeah if there is nothing left there to do. I moved on at lvl3 (but im impatient).

Yep, sounds like you've done everything. If you want to have an "official" checklist, head over to here and check out the article on Pre-Searing.

Did you find all 3 trainers for each perfession? if so go and enjoy the real world

My partner and I found it worthwhile to spend an extra day hunting for materials before crossing. As a result, we were able to immediately afford our upgraded armor.

When we crossed, he was 9 and I was 8.

Food for thought.