Drowning in crafting materials--Help?

I'm still fairly new to FF, and I've been working on my DoL and DoH classes. My retainer storage is filling up, and my bags are always full. I have no more room to keep anything, and I've already purchased a third retainer!

CUL is at 37, and I'm now working on WVR and other DoH classes as needed to level them all since materials from one class cross over to other classes frequently.

I'd like to be able to keep some basic materials on hand, but I have no idea which ones. I don't want to sell something on the MB, only to turn around and need that same thing for another craft later and then have to go out and gather it up again.

Is there a list of basic materials that are good to keep a stock of somewhere?

Thanks!

Not really, no.

Your best bet is to look online to see if the item is sold by a vendor somewhere. Have you done your Beast Tribe stuff yet? They sell materials as your faction with them gets better, and so you can find yourself no longer needing to stock, say, Undyed Velveteen, for example.

Sell off the materials that are easily re-obtainable, and keep those that you cannot easily re-acquire. Of course, it may be worthwhile not holding on to too many of a material you've outgrown - if you need more there are usually retainer ventures, or you can just go out and gather/farm the stuff up again (for the stuff not sold in stores). How many Yew Branches do you really need, after all?

This website: http://www.eorzeapedia.com/
Lists every item in the game and tells you if NPCs sell them. Sell everything that you can easily buy. Also there are many items, some even useful, that sell on the MB for the NPC sale price or less. Sell those too. Easy way to check: hit "sell items in retainer's inventory" then check prices.

I am at all crafts 52 and 53, Miner and Botanist 56, 3 retainers all on their 7th page, and occasionally on my 4th page. Continual and relentless pruning is the only way I don't drown in stuff.

you're only on your third? I have about 5 full retainers and about to buy a 6th; 4 of them are strictly crafting mats :\

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Originally Posted by TechnoTechie

you're only on your third? I have about 5 full retainers and about to buy a 6th; 4 of them are strictly crafting mats :\

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Relentless pruning.

Okay, thanks all! Let the "relentless pruning" begin!

I'm such a pack rat...

Leveling crafting is painful on your inventory, that's for sure. Get an extra retainer, or 6, don't carry anything that can be vendor bought and power through as quickly as possible. Once all your classes are 15 focus on them one at a time to narrow down the mats you need.

There are a large number of ingredients that aren't heavily used. For example, inks and their ingredients are only used for AST and ACN weapons.

Many materials can be purchased from vendors in cities or (if your FC has a house) at the housing vendor.

Finally, many ingredients are only useful at certain level ranges, most significantly by CUL and ALC, and to a lesser extent by GSM. The easiest way to look at this is the just-updated ffxivcrafting. For example, by setting it to look at every CUL recipe between level 37 and 160, we can check whether a material is used by that craft within that range. If it isn't, chances are pretty good that we'll never use it, and can thus sell it. You'll want to be a little more careful when you reach the level cap -- there's reasons you might want to make Bouilibaise rather than Seafood Stew -- but as you get higher in level you'll have a better idea of what that involves.

Especially the 51+ recipes throw a curveball to that though, requiring some surprisingly low level ingredients. While some of them can be easily obtained from vendors (cotton bolls) some are not. If you're meaning to head up there in fairly efficient pace, maybe look through those recipes from the aforementioned sources. It's also not bad idea for the leveling. You'll have use for stuff like Linseed oil in some HW recipes, so why not level your craft by crafting just that and saving it (or selling it in MB on good price for not so patient high level crafters).