Levelling a single DoH from 50-60

I want to level WVR to 60 and ideally be able to actually craft every (end game crafting) WVR recipe. I'm currently at level 53.

The biggest road block I've encountered for leveling is gearing up. I'd like to hand in HQ items daily to my Grand Company, for example, but with my current gear it's not easy to make HQ hand ins without spending a fortune on all HQ mats.

For leveling 1-50 there was at least vendor gear, but is it now essential to purchase crafting gear from the market board? A full HQ set would cost nearly a million gil, and last... 2-4 levels.

So I started levelling ALL the other DoH, just for the stupid cross class abilities. To give me a little more edge. All done except CUL now. I have to say it's nice having them levelled, but I will always begrudge that ridiculous grind just to have a useful WVR.

So, now I just want to get back onto WVR and get to 60, but even with new cross class abilites, I can't make my own gear without HQ mats. Holy water for example is pretty pricey, and I don't have a chance in hell to make it myself. And when I checked, it seems that even if I could make my own HQ mats, the mats themselves would actually sell for more than the final crafted piece. Meaning an omni-crafter would make more money selling the mats and buying the final crafted piece of gear? @_@ Rediculous, right?

So, am I looking at this the wrong way? Should I be "investing" in crafting gear from the market board to level my WVR, and will I easily make that money back later? Will I still need CUL to level 50, just to be a good WVR (i don't think my inventory can take it, and I'll be damned before paying for extra retainers)? With specialization, will everything change or will I still need to level up everything to 60? Seems pointless to add specialisation, but still require new crafters to level everything to 50.

Am I missing something? Has someone else had an easier time levelling a single DoH to 60 without throwing all their gil away? It's just a so different when levelling a DoW/M comfortably and being able to spend 0 gil if you're not in a hurry - so I'm hesitant to spend out on crafting like it might be a mistake. Please advise.

I took the time to level all the DoL and DoH to 60. You are going to want to level ALC to 60, as well as LTW, unless you are happy buying refined materials off of the Marketboard. A lot of the higher WVR recipes use Chimerical Felt and Cocoon Silk, which are made by WVR, but they also use Ampipthere (sp?) Leather, which is made by LTW. And most/all of the WVR recipes for DoM/DoW use the Grade 1 stat Dissolvents, made by ALC.

You don't specify what level your CUL is. You imply it is still very low, but do not say what it actually is. If it is under 37, get it to 37. You do not need to raise it any higher if you do not want to. But, you do want Steady Hand 2.

For what its worth, there is a level 55 set of storebought gear. That is the last set of crafting gear you can buy off of a NPC, though you can buy MH tools and level 59 OH tools from vendors as well.

Thanks for reply Roth.

Well my CUL is 0. That's why i'm reluctant. I'm concerned it'll require a lot of mats. Steady Hand II does seem like an excellent ability. Would allow me to build up Inner Quiet stacks 100% with Basic Touch, right? I've been using Standard touch with Steady Hand I but run out of CP quite fast. Since I've gone all the way to 50 with the other 7 DoH I may as well bite the bullet - it's just a shame that the game requires you to grind other classes that you are not interested in. I feel this should be optional, rather than essential in order to become good at even one DoH. If Specialisation has not changed this (a new crafter still needs to level a bunch of crafts to become good in one craft), then I'm confused in the point of specialisation.

I'll definitely try to save some gil on store brought lvl55. Hopefully regular quality will suffice.

I don't mind trading at all - i.e. I need to buy mats made by an ALC for WVR recipies, but I can sell mats made with WVR that other DoH require. The only issue is where I am unable to make a profit because materials cost as much as or more than the finished piece of gear. I suppose this is the result of high lvl60's being able to craft the same item more cheaply with NQ mats.

So, as it currently stands I see that there are a few options for levelling DoH:

1. Level a single DoH / no cross class abilities - you'll need a fair amount of gil for gear and mats just to level. Not sure if you'll stand a chance in hell at end game crafting without any cross class abilities (even with specialisation).
2. Level all DoH to get cross class abilities. Level one DoH to 60 - you'll need to spend quite a bit of gil on lvl50+ gear and mats for levelling. At end game crafting you should be fine as long as you don't mind buying mats? Still profitable recipies?
3. Level all DoL/H to 60. - You don't have to buy anything unless it's dead cheap and you CBA to craft/gather it yourself. You own the market boards.

If you've done option 2 like me, then I guess you're already well on you're way to, and may as well go for option 3. Option 1 seems like a waste of time. I'm a bit disappointed with this all or nothing design to be honest, and hoped that specialisation would change things, but seems not? At least I can see that specialisation has prevented the "requirement" to level all crafts beyond 50, but when you have taken them to 50, another 10 levels is hardly the issue. Well, if that's how it is, I will just have to go all in I guess, but I hope in future this situation can change.

Really, the point in this thread is just to check that i'm not missing something before divining fully into omni crafting.

Culinary has two highly useful abilities for you : Hasty Touch, and Steady Hand 2.

Hasty Touch is a 50% ability, but otherwise is a 0 CP version of Basic Touch. Under the Steady Hand ability you have, that 50% becomes 70%. With Steady Hand 2, it will become 80%.

Hasty Touch is a key ability in building IQ stacks. Basic Touch is valuable, and ideally you want to turn as many Hasty Touches into Basic Touch in order to minimize the effects of RNG on your crafting. But, a 0 CP Touch is incredibly valuable, and it lets you use your CP for durability restoration, thus getting a lot more steps out of any given craft.

Thanks again Roth. I must say that's quite a motivation for me to get CUL levelled :)

I also recommend doing the supply missions every day! \o/ A lot of the time you won't even have to make it yourself, you might be able to buy a cheap one off the mb or from an NPC. It is the lazy way of leveling crafter XD The exp you get is very significant, especially if there is a star, and especially after level 55.

As for crafting all the endgame items, there are some choice cross-class skills that would really give an advantage, as others have pointed out. A crafter without these skills would still be able to craft everything, but there would be a much lower chance of high quality. If you were able to start out with as many HQ materials as possible, I'd be willing to bet you'd get HQ maybe about half the time, provided you used each specialist skill to the fullest. We gotta remember that normal quality is not the end of the world, there are plenty of people who can use those items for glamour and they don't want to pay the HQ premium.

Also, ask your Bonzai buddy if you need help with some of the materials from other classes :D

Thank you Bonzai :)

Supply missions are awesome, but I've found the hand in items for level 53 WVR a little expensive material wise (holy water for example) - that said I'm normally trying for HQ (to double xp) and therefore looking for the HQ mats. I'm pretty sure now I'm gonna go with leveling everything up at once. I wanted to give just weaver a chance as much as possible, but it's not really working out and I don't believe I would ever make back the gil I put in.

I know what you're saying regarding the normal quality being ok. But my previous experience as level 50 weaver (1 star) and few cross class skills was that I had to HQ to make any profit on an item - therefore buying HQ mats was a risk when I had only 60-70% chance of HQ success. I think it's a bit of a mistake in the design, that a single DoH can't really compete selling items, where another crafters can produce the same thing with cheaper normal quality mats. Omni crafting is great for those who enjoy it, but being 100% effective with a single DoH (or using cross class skills of one other like a DoW/M) should be possible too. I was hoping specialisation could remove the need to obtain any additional cross class abilities - i.e when you specialise you gain many skills, but lose your cross class abilities. This way omni crafters would be effective in all DoH with either specialisation skills or cross class skills, and single DoH's would be effective with specialisation skills. I understand there are no more cross class skills to obtain from 50-60, but when you already levelled many DoH to 50 for cross class skills, another 10 levels is not the concern anyway. That's my issue with the design. It's all (nearly) or nothing, and specialisation skills do not aid the single DoH player significantly enough to prevent them needing to level everything else up to 30/40/50.

That said - I've come to terms with it and will bite the bullet. I'd always intended to get all DoH to 50/60 eventually, but kind of kept going stubbornly with WVR alone to kind of test the design.

I know it seems crazy that to be an effective specialized crafter, you need to be an omnicrafter. That does not match Real Life, where a Weaver has no need of any knowledge of how to set diamonds or other precious gems, or of how to cut logs into lumber.

However, I personally cannot understand the desire to be a specialized crafter in FF14. The system is used for all the crafts; there is absolutely no difference in terms of game engine between crafting an Adamantite Lorica of Fending and crafting some Clam Chowder. The only question is whether or not someone is being self-limiting by not having all of the cross class skills.

It's just based on how much time you want to commit to crafting. I believe omni-crafters should be rewarded for the time they have dedicated, but other players who have leveled a single DoH and spent a significant amount of time/gil gearing up deserve a capable crafter too. I mean it's not all doom and gloom - a WVR (without cross-class abilites) can gear up their DoM/W a little while levelling and make some decent pocket money on low level gear / mats, or glamour prisms. It's only really once you hit 50 starred recipies that everything becomes overwhelmingly difficult with a single craft.

I think it would have been nice, and fair, if omni-crafters maintained their ability to excel in all DoH, but through specialisation skills, to allow a player with a single DoH to excel in that DoH. For this to work, the specialisation skills would need to be on par with a full set of cross-class abilities, but only available for the specialised class. The omni-crafters would need to also sacrifice thier cross class abilities, but only for classes they decide to specialise, otherwise they would be given a further advantage in that class making it harder again for non-omni crafters to compete on the market board. That would make more sense to me. This would be my personal feedback to developers.

As things are however, I see that you're right. I'm going for omni-crafting now and will recommend this to any new crafter, or otherwise to be aware that they will reach a point where it's extremely difficult to continue with a single DoH.

This is bit of a parallel but..

If I want to be a healer, I level a healer class, let's say WHM which is what I did. Can I be decent healer just by that, yes. Can I be good healer with that, no, I need the Swiftcast for which I need to level BLM, that being damage class I'm not at all interested about. I'm sure other DoM and DoW classes have such "required" cross class skills. And yet I'm not complaining that I need to do it, I take the richness the cross class skills offer as nice chance to spice up the effort I spent on that class I do want to play.

When it comes to DoH, I leveled them all the same time. I would recommend that to everyone as that gives less hassle with different level gear, and you can pretty much make all ingredients you need on some other class.

I agree Sida, except there would be uproar if there were important cross-class skills for WHM ranging from levels 30-50 in 8 different DOW/M classes. The fact is that many players do complain and find it a burden to acquire swift-cast for their healer if they are not interested in BLM. But the issue of requiring cross-class skills is far less dramatic for WHM (or any DoW/M) than with DoH - a WHM without Swiftcast can still be extremely effective and continue to progress, but a DoH without many cross-class abilities from many other classes is severely limited.

Personally I found obtaining cross-class skills for my DoW/M much more achievable/acceptable and wouldn't complain about the design decision in that case at all. If my WVR could excel with just one cross-class ability obtained by one other DoH around level 26, I would really not be complaining.

I understand you are all illustrating the bright side, and I don't mean to come across as negative, but I want to represent the frustration of players like myself who would prefer to concentrate on a single DoH without being so heavily disadvantaged.

You have stumbled I to the came that I know has the richest and most intriguing craft system. Youd want to unravel that to make it on par with some more straight forward "pick your class" systems from other games? I might sound being on high horse but... There is plenty of games with simpler craft systems to pick, why ruin the one that's got it well. And on my experience, you are fairly able to craft everything with the one class skills only. That might mean HQ stays rarity though..

The crafting system is great in many ways. It's an involving minigame rather than click and wait, and I enjoy that aspect.

I don't want to see the existing system unraveled. Crafting with a low chance to hq (single DoH with insufficient cross-class skills) is pointless in my experience, unless you're desperate to have your name on the crafted item and willing to lose gil in the process. You will spend more gil on mats trying to HQ the item than if you brought the thing completed. Your NQ items will often sell at a loss - I mean, how can you ever hope to sell as cheaply as another player that's able to make the same item with NQ mats 100% HQ chance, and still make a profit, when you are spending out on HQ mats and praying for luck with HQ results.

My suggestion is to allow omni crafters to continue using all their cross class, abilities and be able to excel with all classes. However, if you specialise in a class you lose your cross-class abilities for that particular class. Using specialist skills vs cross-class skills would present similar chances of successful results, but allowing both to be used together breaks the entire purpose of specialisation.

What in your opinion is the purpose of specialisation? To me it's surely to remove the requirement to omni-craft unless you want to, and it's not succeeded since you still need most of the existing cross class skills anyway.

yea, specailization was a joke... on top of the fact that you need to hit level 55 on a DoH to even unlock it, meaning you'd still be struggling from 1-55 (assuming you had nothing else leveled) just to get some half-baked abilities :\

I don't think I could manage crafting without those cross-class abilities.

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Originally Posted by Velo_Vandore

What in your opinion is the purpose of specialisation? To me it's surely to remove the requirement to omni-craft unless you want to, and it's not succeeded since you still need most of the existing cross class skills anyway.

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As long as it is just about skills, giving edge to those who want to level only one class, I don't mind, could give it even earlier in the game, imho. However, if it turns out that it locks some recipes away I will hate it from the depths of my heart. To me being able to have every craft class is not to compete on the market, it is to be able to craft every item in the game without having to choose, which is what I hate in the games that force me into choosing one class, making me require alt chars to have all crafting professions.In this ones, on fight side everyone can be everything, without any silly limits so no need for alt characters. Why then enforce such limits on crafts. More so, why do it now when people have already committed to leveling all classes on one character.