Leveling crafting whilst leveling DoW/DoM classes

How do people manage it?

My highest is currently a 36DRG and I'd like to level armourer so that I can try and gear myself as I go (partly, and partly because I kinda like crafting in this game - a surprise for me). However, I've hit the stage where it's become difficult due to money. I don't have the time to level all my gathering skills, so often have to resort to buying materials but can only get huge and expensive stacks.

How can I level crafts without making myself bankrupt, or do I need to level gathering and other crafts too so I can supply myself with materials?

I leveled up LTW ARM FSH and MIN all along with my GLD. Just for making my own gear and be able to meld. Anything else I needed I bought with money that I had made from selling items that I didn't need. Heck I also bought up people greatly undercutting prices and reselling them at the normal prices, made a ton of Gil doing that. Buy low, sell high.

Actually my ARM is a higher level than my PLD.

Unfortunately, levelling a crafting class while you're still on your way to 50 is painful precisely because of the lack of income. Later it's not hard to establish a steady flow of income, but in the meantime it can get very draining.

Levelling yourself a gathering class can help immensely, of course. Other shortcuts that can help include knowing what materials you can get from NPCs (some things can be bought from very specific locations - and only specific locations!), using crafting levequests to maximize your experience-per-craft (and get some rewards back), etc.

If it's becoming too expensive, feel free to back off of it for a while.

It's definitely smart. First don't do what I did and buy gear in advance. You can literally level without having to buy any make gear till towards cap. As long as YOU don't ignore quests. Completing the quests will typically reward you with gill and a choice of gear. Aside from the quest rewards. Main and side Drury dungeons also provide gear. You will if course have to purchase any missing pieces. But that week save you money. As for crafting- while you are leveling definitely don't sell your crystals if your serious about crafting. And levequesy lvling craft is cheaper. Farming mats is even cheaper. Unless anyone has anything to disavow my input. That's my two cents

Gathering and crafting go hand in hand, that is the best advice I can give you. Besides the more you gather yourself, the bigger the profits can be and the lower the cost for things you need for yourself.

I was afraid the only was was going to be gathering. By the looks of it though, I also need to be able to craft. For instance, some armour needs aldgoat leather, but that's crafter (I think) rather than farmed. Do I really need to be levelling all the skills at the same time to make it smoother? If not, is there a particular complementary skill to go with armouring? The market boards don't seem too bad for ores, it's the other materials - lumber and leather - that are pricing me out mostly.

You farm the skins that you then craft via leatherworker to leather. Lumber you get from logs that you gather or buy and then craft with carpenter. If you are serious about crafting you will probably want all the crafters just because of the cross class skills. As for gathering might find someone that will gather for you with some preferential prices and such.

Are there particular gathering/crafting skills that would complement armourer? Unfortunately I only get a couple of hours an evening to do anything, if that, so would rather try to avoid having to level 4 additional skills. Obviously mining for ore, but would leatherwork or carpenter be better? I'm leaning towards leatherwork since if I can get skins by just playing and craft the hides from that it would be preferable to gathering, crafting, then using those crafts to craft more.

If i recall right, arm and bsm have some of the same recipes, but, doing one in arm isnt going to lvl up your bsm too. Something to consider when it comes to gathering mats for arm, bsm may use some of the same ones. Cross class skills help out, ie: gsm's manipulation, and become important when you want to hq stuff especially at 50+ recipes.
I look at it this way:
If you don't craft or gather, then you can't complain about gear/consumables/items prices.
If you craft and don't gather then you can't complain about mat prices.
If you gather but don't craft, you get the gist :)

It is nice to be able to make your own stuff cheap to nothing in cost.

If you are going to go ARM, even though ores seem cheap it will eat up a ton, especially if you need HQ items. Mining would be a good way to go, then you can get HQ ores. Also you will need a ton of ice shards for ARM, so again mining, as shards are getting real expensive. As for LTW, yes alot of ARM recipes need leather, which is why I did all 3 classes.

When you get higher level the guild quests that come up every 5 levels will require you to craft HQ items, and those mats can cost a ton on the market board. For me it was just easier having all 3 classes. I saved a ton of money and made even more.

Also some recipes require fish items. Which when I cam to one I needed 1 piece of white coral. The market boards had a ton of them, but all I could find were stacks of 99 for over 6 figures. White Coral was only a level 5 item for fishing, so I took up fishing. But then again, you can sell the fish items on the board and make even more money.

Each class at some point will require an item from another class and its only available through that class and not from any NPC. Just need to decide if its worth leveling that class to get the items, or buy them.

Leveling a single craft class without support of other classes (gathering as well as crafting) is fairly hard and IMO not worth the effort if you don't have time or really enjoy it. The higher you'll get the more difficult it gets and not only due to the dependence of the gathered mats and crafted parts from other classes but also due to the need of the cross-class skills to be able to craft the high level recipies. I've actually fully leveled all my DoHs and DoLs prior reaching 50 at my first DoM / DoW class as I've really enjoyed it so much but that might not be the case for you as it's pretty time consuming but the resulting independence and self-suffiency is great - especially now with improved self repair system.

You will have leve quests ( of course you would have to have done the battlecraft ones first) and guild quests from a npc in the adventurers guilds to help with leveling.

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'll level my THM whilst gathering skins for leatherwork and mining then.

Honestly, if you're going to craft as you level, you'll want to level all DoH/DoL together. You can share gear between all crafters and between all gatherers, and having them all together means not really having to purchase things off the market boards. I also highly recommend having a battle retainer and fishing retainer, as those are the hardest to get items for reliably.

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Originally Posted by Kydi

How can I level crafts without making myself bankrupt, or do I need to level gathering and other crafts too so I can supply myself with materials?

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I think you answered your own question there. You can either do it the expensive way or the time-consuming way. Most people who really get into crafting opt for the time consuming way of leveling all (or most) of the crafting/gathering classes together.

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Originally Posted by Garlyle

Other shortcuts that can help include knowing what materials you can get from NPCs (some things can be bought from very specific locations - and only specific locations!)

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The Libra Eorzea app is good for checking these.

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Originally Posted by Garlyle

using crafting levequests to maximize your experience-per-craft (and get some rewards back), etc.

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And the supply/provision missions from your GC. They're limited to once a day, but they give a huge XP boost (as well as GC seals). Even up into the upper 20's and low 30's, I can still gain a level every couple turn-ins or so just from supply missions alone.

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Originally Posted by Kydi

Are there particular gathering/crafting skills that would complement armourer?

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Leatherworker would be good for supporting armourer, but then you'll find leatherworker itself needs support from weaver, etc. All six of the main gear-focused crafting classes end up being co-dependent on each other for materials. Culinarian and alchemist stand apart as somewhat less necessary in that regard. (You may still need an occasional item from ALC, but not often.) But they provide good cross-class skills useful to other crafting classes. (At level 15, those are Hasty Touch from CUL and Tricks of the Trade from ALC, both of which help at dealing with a shortage of Crafting Points common while leveling up any crafting class.)