Many Questions: New Adventurer, Squadron, Triple Triad & More

Is there a mount that looks like the Tender Lamb minion? I saw a player (lalafell) and it looked for all the world like he was MOUNTED on a Tender Lamb minion. But I can't find a mount on any of the lists that looks like a lamb.

That's a brand new mount recently added in the 5.25 patch, that is gained with currency given for participating in the Ishgardian Restoration as a Disciple of the Hand or Land (I'm not a crafter or gatherer though so I have no idea how easy it is to get). If you've finished HW's storyline and are onto SB's one head back to Ishgard and unlock access to the Restoration if you haven't already. :)

Its fairly easy to earn skybuilder scrips. You earn them by gathering in the diadem instance and having your materials inspected, or by crafting collectables to turn in to help the ishgardian restoration effort. You also get "points" for doing either task, which unlock minions(one for 50k on any gatherer, one for any crafter) and another mount(waaaaaaay too many points on all 11 classes). As the players on your server contribute items to the restoration, a gauge slowly fills up. When it gets topped off, the server spawns a one-time event where all the crafters and gatherers are invited to pull together and pull off a bigger part of the reconstruction process(basically an in-town non-combat Fate). Your server(Behemoth according to your thingy on here) has completed the first 10 such projects(breaking up large chunks of debris and carrying them off was a stage, sweeping up was a stage, laying concrete was a stage, completing the fountain was a stage - these are the ones i saw or did anyway), and is currently filling the gauge to trigger the 11th(the server who has progressed the furthest so far is currently filling the bar on the 20th stage - no one knows how many total there are to get through). Participating in one of these "Concerted Works" gets you a good chunk of exp on whichever crafting or gathering class you do it on(every time ive been there for one, the "fate complete" message has been accompanied by my chat filling with a few dozen level ups), plus 500 scrips. While earning scrips isnt that hard, the mounts(the lamb and a gorilla) are fairly expensive(8400) and take a little bit of work to earn. The scrip vendor also sells emotes, music scrolls, minions, glamour items, and a handful of other things.

Also, almost everything the skybuilder scrip vendor sells can be listed on the market board. So you can also buy this mount for Gil, or if you like crafting/gathering you can get a second(third, fourth, etc) one to sell.

WOW, great information, thank you so much! :D I think I unlocked the Ishgardian restoration effort, but haven't done anything with it. I didn't realize it's such good XP, I will definitely give it a go! Thank you!!

Regarding the Ishgardian Restoration, I was able to find out that you must be level 60 with your DoL/H to begin. Do you also have to be caught up to your level 60 class quests? Many of my classes are about 4-5 quests behind their actual level. ;)

I dont believe that is correct. You need to have A class at 60 to do the quests to unlock it, but you also need to complete the 5.3 HW MSQs(to the point where you officially ended the dragonsong war) which requires level 60 as well. There are collectables to make and turn in as low as like level 10 for the restoration effort, the diadem gathering doesnt require a high level at all. And the in-town fates are level agnostic(you dont need to be 60 to carry stuff or sweep afterall). One thing to clear up, incase my wording in the last post was unclear. I said that my chat filled with level up messages. Those are from the dozens of players around me mostly each gaining a level. I happened to already be 80 on all the appropriate classes before these were added and didnt want to leave the impression that a single fate was earning a character a dozen levels. That said though, the IR collectables are worth a TON of exp too so anything you still need to level will go quickly.

Ahh, very helpful, thank you! ^_^

The official pronunciation of Au'Ra is shown as "ow-rah" on this wiki:
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Au_Ra

Does this mean it would rhyme with "wow-la?" I read it as "no-la" - with the "au" as in the French "au jus."

Nope, not french. The Au is pronounced Ow

Got it, thank you! That is gonna trip me up for a long time, I can tell. ;)

I talked to all of the people in the Ishgardian restoration area. I also checked out the Diadem. Please can yall let me if I correctly understand how this works?

1. Gathering jobs go into the diadem to collect "grade 2 ishgardian" versions of various crafting materials.
1a. You get XP for gathering in this way, but there's no big bonus.

2. These materials are inspected, some of them are stamped with approval
2a. Approved materials can be traded.
2b. Materials that didn't get approved cannot be traded, can't be used to craft anything, but can be sold to NPCs for gil.
2c. None of these types of materials stack, meaning the space needed to hold all your crafting materials could double in size.

3. Crafting jobs can use approved materials to craft the items currently listed as needed.
3a. You get a big crafting XP bonus for turning in these items.

4. The group events only spawn once enough materials are donated, you won't know how long this will take, so you have to keep checking back to see if that's done and then when the event will be.

--

How is all of this better than the Grand Company daily requisitions? I can get a level or two per day (in most cases) by turning in "normal" (i.e. not grade 2 special doesn't-stack) crafting materials and/or items crafted with them.

That is, this restoration thing seems like a lot more work and a lot more inventory space. Is it that much more XP, to make up for it? And how do gatherers make good XP with restoration?

1. Gathering jobs go into the diadem to collect "grade 2 ishgardian" versions of various crafting materials.
1a. You get XP for gathering in this way, but there's no big bonus.
To my knowledge, this is correct. My gatherers hit 80 well before this was an option, so i cant speak to the exp being awarded here.
2. These materials are inspected, some of them are stamped with approval
No materials are rejected, the issue is that they are approved in multiples of 10. Each node has 5 or 10 swings, so the best use of GP(provided you dont need to improve chance to obtain) is for the skills that give you +1 or 2 per swing for the entire node. That way your mats are always in multiples of 5.
2a. Approved materials can be traded.
And sold. Yes.
2b. Materials that didn't get approved cannot be traded, can't be used to craft anything, but can be sold to NPCs for gil.
You can vendor them off or you can stash them until next time. I tend to stash greens(there are only 4) and vendor anything else. Personally, i use the vendor IN the diadem near the exit for this so that my inventory is still ok when i leave. My non-greens are always in multiples of 5, so at most i have to sell 5 of a few stacks.
2c. None of these types of materials stack, meaning the space needed to hold all your crafting materials could double in size.
Correct. Approved and non-approved mats arent the same thing, so they dont stack. Hence my vendoring off extras before turning them in.
3. Crafting jobs can use approved materials to craft the items currently listed as needed.
The items listed as needed wont change until the next big patch(5.3), but this is accurate.
3a. You get a big crafting XP bonus for turning in these items.
Yes. Ive seen people gaining as many as 5+ levels at a time. Probly from crafting a few, then turning them all in rapid fire style. And as there is no limit, this could easily get you all the levels in very little time. The mats mostly being cheap doesnt hurt either.
4. The group events only spawn once enough materials are donated, you won't know how long this will take, so you have to keep checking back to see if that's done and then when the event will be.
You can look at the gauge in firmament to see how close it is to being filled(it is also viewable on the official website, but that one is only updated hourly). Once filled, it sets off a 30 minute countdown until the group event starts. Anyone anywhere in ishgard can see the timer on their screen. After 30 minutes, a group event spawns. Usually once the event is completed(or apparently failed, as a couple euro servers learned last week), it sets a second 8 hour timer that spawns an additional group event(not every stage has 2 group events, but most seem to). Once this second event is done, the next one doesnt spawn until the gauge is filled again. The event is worth roughly a level of exp for whatever crafting or gathering class you complete it as.

As for the overall inventory issue, my advice would be to work on one class at a time. You would therefore only be doing one recipe at a time, and only needing 3 or 4 mats at a time. Any extras others can be sold off. And honestly, if your gil situation is ok most of the mats are fairly cheap so you can just buy what you need(and only what you need) to craft with. Not as self sufficient, but if you only have 4 stacks of mats at a time your inventory is mostly free to fill with collectables before you turn them in en masse. None of this is better or worse then GC daily turn ins. Its quicker(as it has no daily limits), but takes more time and inventory space. Doing both(add whatever beast tribe quests you have available too!) is a quick way to zoom through the leveling process.

In all honesty, most crafter/gatherer content isn't terribly concerned with the experience gain part. Pretty much everything you do and everything available is easy fast levels. Once you're capped, there's not really much reason to continue doing GC turn-ins. Even beast tribes and custom deliveries won't have much to offer. But Ishgard does offer significantly more rewards that take much longer to grind out. It's effectively "end game" crafting and gathering content.

Ahh, really excellent info. Thank you both! :D

The Duty Roulette for Leveling Dungeons says that you will get additional exp and gil based on the discrepancy between your level and the dungeon. However, I can't seem to find this additional gil. The amount of gil awarded at the end (for doing the duty roulette) matches the amount shown in the queue window. An additional amount is awarded for being an adventurer in need. Where's the bonus gil? The mobs don't drop additional gil, and I can't find a line in chat showing any type of bonus awarded for level discrepancy. What am I missing?