Please increase crystal sand amounts

Before I begin, I really want to say how much I appreciate the halving of costs for umbrites. It makes it that much easier for people, such as myself who have less time to play, to finish that stage of the relic.

Having said that, I now find myself struggling to acquire a decent supply of crystal sands, and my umbrites are stacking up faster than I can acquire sands ):

I am, to be honest, rather shocked that they didn't ease the requirements of the crystal sands (perhaps by doubling the amount given when trading items in, or adding crystal sand to an existing repeatable quest?)

Could we please have the number of crystal sand obtained increased also, to be in line with the changes made to the umbrites?

Please and thank you!

You're probably just not using the most time effective method of obtaining sands. I have on many occasions helped friends obtain 50-60 crystal sands in as little as two hours with minimal effort (i.e., a lot of standing in one spot and not even moving).

Crystal sands have never been a major limiting factor in relic completion time. The umbrite change was expected because there was literally no other way to get umbrites than to buy them with lore. Crystal sands have many sources, one of which is absurdly easy and abundant.

The sands were by far the easiest part of the quest for me - I had 75 sands by the time I bought my 40th umbrite. I just did vilekin farming and blue crafter/gatherer scrip trading. The GC squad helped a lot with the latter since I get 200-2000 scrips daily from their chemistries.

Still, I was also a bit surprised they nerfed one and not the other.

Try cheesing the levequests. Get one levequest. Start it up. Fly around and look for a chest. No chest? Fail the levequest by giving up on it. Keep doing this until you find a chest. Each chest has 1 amberkin. One amberkin = one sand. When you get the chest, fail/cancel the levequest. Keep doing this until you no longer have levequest allowances.

Alternatively if you have money to spare, buy rank IV elemental materia and trade those in


And if you can bother to desynth?


dSkill 42-65: Tortoiseshell Armillae (r49) [36% - 79%] (1-2x BC1)

That's from GSM, it needs 3 adamantoise shells, and 6 wind and 6 fire shards

dSkill 55-80: Aetheryte Ring (r55) [50% - 92.5%] (1-2x FC2) (only if you can make them for under 3k)

GSM, needs 1 rose gold nugget and 1 water cluster, when you desynth you'll only get a field craft II/Clear Demi II/rose gold nugget(I actually got about 47 from this, 9 field IIs from the end result)


LTW dSkill 60-80: Militia Choker (r55) [60% - 92.5%] (BC2)

LTW dSkill 53-60: Raptorskin Ring (r48) [60% - 73%] (FC1)

Both are really easy to make
After an hour or so I had enough mats to in total get about 30+ of each demimateria

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Originally Posted by Bacent

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Dude this post is super helpful, thank you.

Those numbers are from the Desynth guide that's on the forums, so thank them for that~

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Originally Posted by Bacent

Those numbers are from the Desynth guide that's on the forums, so thank them for that~

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Brass Ring and Brass Ring of Crafting are VASTLY faster sources of BC1 and FC1 Demimateria. They're also from the main city vendors so they're much faster (and probably cheaper) to desynth.

I think sands are not much problem. I have like 170 sands and only 50 umbrites with my current Anima :S. Sands are really quick to obtain due to the big number of sources available. I must says that Vilekind and Scripts are probably the fast ways to obtain. With blue scrips which have no weekly limit is pretty quick.

You can probably get like 4,000 scrips in a single gathering Diadem if you know where to go. I routinely get 2,500-3,000 in a group of three, which means we spend a lot more time farming the primary objective and less time doing unspoiled nodes. Granted, this requires level 60 botany and mining to take advantage of each unspoiled node. 4,000 scrips = 80 tokens = 16 sands.

Like others have said, the sands aren't really that concerning if you know fast/effective ways of obtaining them. I use a mixture of leve farming and gathering blue scrips for my sands.

I just wish there were more ways to get the umbrite. I'd like to be able to buy them with poetics as well. :x I have all the sands needed to finish my AST relic (it's the fourth one I'm doing), but I can't allocate the points because I gotta grind out lore for the umbrites. I am thankful for the reduction in cost, but I still would like to see SE allow us to buy them with, at the very least, poetics. And maybe GC seals.

EDIT: if you aren't so much into gathering, you can still do diadem to get the lockboxes. They can contain elemental tier IV materia, battlecraft and fieldcraft demimateria, moonstones, and vilekin. You can also get the crafted items (High Allagan Chimera Leather, Celestine, Garlean Steel) from them as well. All those items can be used for sands, too.

I have been in this stage of relic for over a month
mainly due to farming crystal sand, on the other hand, I could get like 5 times umbrites, since I have no use of Lore
since I stop gathering at lv50, and never done any crafting class over 25
many have suggest to farm amber, I m not sure does the leve level have any effect of the chance of the lockbox pop up
so far I have only try 6 lv52 leve and do not have any luck
should I go for level 58 leve instead?

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Originally Posted by Misutoraru

I have been in this stage of relic for over a month
mainly due to farming crystal sand, on the other hand, I could get like 5 times umbrites, since I have no use of Lore
since I stop gathering at lv50, and never done any crafting class over 25
many have suggest to farm amber, I m not sure does the leve level have any effect of the chance of the lockbox pop up
so far I have only try 6 lv52 leve and do not have any luck
should I go for level 58 leve instead?

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Leve level doesn't matter. 100 leves will usually get you 10-20 chests, depending on how lucky you are with RNG. Trying 6 leves and giving up isn't nearly enough effort for this type of farming.

I recommend the leves "Dance Magic, Dance" or "Don't Come Back" since it's easy to spot the chests in their relatively small areas. If you do Don't Come Back, note that chests can also spawn underneath the yak that you're supposed to escort. Start the leve, look for chest, abandon leve, rechallenge leve, repeat.

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Originally Posted by seekified

Leve level doesn't matter. 100 leves will usually get you 10-20 chests, depending on how lucky you are with RNG. Trying 6 leves and giving up isn't nearly enough effort for this type of farming.

I recommend the leves "Dance Magic, Dance" or "Don't Come Back" since it's easy to spot the chests in their relatively small areas. If you do Don't Come Back, note that chests can also spawn underneath the yak that you're supposed to escort. Start the leve, look for chest, abandon leve, rechallenge leve, repeat.

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do I have to go back to Foundation to take leve or there is a way to take those leve at designated map like ARR?

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Originally Posted by Misutoraru

do I have to go back to Foundation to take leve or there is a way to take those leve at designated map like ARR?

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you can actually abandon a leve without removing it from your log and re-initiate it. No need to leave the area. I stood in the same spot right outside moghome for a leve I farmed for amberkin cause the chest spawns were all within sight of the spot I was initiating from. Initiate, look for chest, abandon, re-initiate. Rinse and repeat for as many leves as you have or are willing to spend.

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Originally Posted by seekified

Still, I was also a bit surprised they nerfed one and not the other.

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The beast tribe tokens were added as a new option to get it

I found script gathering to be the most efficient method along side everything else. I also used spare Poe from roulettes to buy the Thav stuff in mordhona to exchange for crystals.

I already used up all my leves, and scrips make me want to hurl (no joke.. scrips are the reason I quit crafting/gathering in 3.x)

Could people please explain all these 'super' easy methods of sands? (I'm honestly clueless, I did all my sands before with only leves)

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Originally Posted by Mayoyama

I already used up all my leves, and scrips make me want to hurl (no joke.. scrips are the reason I quit crafting/gathering in 3.x)

Could people please explain all these 'super' easy methods of sands? (I'm honestly clueless, I did all my sands before with only leves)

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Do the weekly Aliapoh thing for scrips... its super fast and super easy and will cap your red scrips (and give a ton of blue) if you do 6 max collectibility turn ins. That's right 6 to cap reds for the week. You can convert them into red tokens and convert those into a ton of blues for sands. You can also turn in the blue scrips you got for tokens as well.

I just do gathering red scrip and change the red tokens for blue, and crafting turnins at the new NPC and do the same thing (mats are cheap compared to actual red scrip synths). Doing this usually outpaces the amount of umbrite I get so I don't usually have to do anything else to get them. Takes about an hour or two every week.

You can also exchange about 450 poetics for 1 sand if you do the other roulettes.

Leve abandon/retry for vilekin is decent but really boring so I stopped doing it.

I am having issues with this step as well since I dont craft or gather. It would be nice having an increase in the amount of sand you get.

As you guys might be aware there are several options to get sand, hence the list key item. SE has made it super easy to get sand and I feel people just don't want to put time and effort into it. First Umbrites were too many tomes. OK they cut them in half, now sand? WOW people really want it easy. It's call a relic for a reason. Unlike FFXI were it really was a grind the sand item conversion part here probably one of the easiest step out there. Here are a few a tips:


First PLS NOTE The Bonus sand doesn't kick in until half way through it. After the Anima chooses to grow more. The secret is to turn in all sand at once. If you do that you can usually get more bonus sand that way. At least for me it has worked. I have done a total of 5 relics and the only one that took 72 umbrites was my initial one. Afterwards I just saved items and usually end uo only using 60-65 umbrites. as long as I trade items for sand all at once. Experience can vary of course but hey 4/5 isn't that bad for me.

Second I find Airship crafting items to be the easiest ones to get, unless you have no airship access, FC won't give you the items, or you choose not to raise crafting. I prefer the airship crafting items if you have access to them. Farm gear for CS and craft them.

The leve amber farming is a nice way to kill time, raise jobs, make gill ect while waiting for queue as well. It's a longer process but hey knock off a few things at once.

If your doing Palace of the Dead Hoard elemental materia IV can be a good one if your farming weps or leveling as well.

Crafters scripts are a nice alternative IF you have enough materials and retainers constantly farming so you don't waste time doing it your self. I find people who have DoL and DoH all at 60 have an easier time. Otherwise you can level them as you collect items and grow that way.

Lastly Demiteria;

Unless you have plenty of time, High enough desynthesis and gil I would personally avoid.

If after all these tips you still feel it's hard, you may as well just focus on something else. For the time being I doubt they will nerf the sand until perhaps they start nerfing the next step in relics around the time of new expansion. Ask fellow crafters, FC, for assistance to make it easier. Otherwise, not to discourage people you WILL hate the following step after the singing cluster. ***SPOILER***Rune light farming.

It'd probably suffice to just reduce the amount of poetic items you need per sand.

If you have a gatherer leveled, sands are the least of your issues. It's only an issue for DoW/DoM, because leves are time gated and the other DoW/DoM issues impractical and/or inefficient.

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Originally Posted by ManuelBravo

WOW people really want it easy. It's call a relic for a reason. Unlike FFXI were it really was a grind the sand item conversion part here probably one of the easiest step out there.

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First of all... I played FFXI for 6 years and did in fact own a relic, as well as several empyrean weapons... so I am full aware of what 'grind' is....

Second, you clearly didnt read the initial post where I stated that I don't have loads of time (anymore) to be sitting grinding shit like POTD for a 'chance' of a IV elemental, of which I need 3 specific ones to get even a single sand.... it's not time effective

Third, airship based crafting is great until you run out of the old mythology mats (aqueous whetstones, etc), have no seals to buy said items and the MB is jacked up ridiculously on my server

I also stated that I have run out of leve allowances in a reply further down. So instead of getting on your high horse about "OMFG ITS SO EASY.. blah blah", try realising that not everyone has loads of time to be online, and that requesting to have the requirements for sand eased too is not such an unreasonable request

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Originally Posted by Zojha

If you have a gatherer leveled, sands are the least of your issues

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Would you care to elaborate... I see so many comments about "oh DoL have no reason to complain" but no one actually explains properly why this is so (which would be more constructive). Sorry, I dont mean to single you out but its such a common approach for people on here to dismiss ideas without explaining why

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Originally Posted by Mayoyama

Would you care to elaborate... I see so many comments about "oh DoL have no reason to complain" but no one actually explains properly why this is so.

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Well, it's kinda implied - Farming blue scrips is a very time efficient and uncapped way to get the sands. In other words, you have a high sands/minute rate compared to the other uncapped options.

Farming ambers via leves is faster, from what it seems - I can burn through 100 leves in around 40 minutes and get 20 ambers that way (roughly). My DoL colleagues were at around 10-12 sands in the same time IIRC. However, I then had to wait like a month for the leves to recover while they just kept going and had their sands done before the end of the week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCXGp80PPF8
I'm not overly proficient with gathering, but this looks like a daily turn-in to me. If it's representative, that would put gathering to about 10 sands per 15 minutes a day and allow you to finish in a week.

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Originally Posted by Zojha

Well, it's kinda implied - Farming blue scrips is a very time efficient and uncapped way to get the sands. In other words, you have a high sands/minute rate compared to the other uncapped options.

Farming ambers via leves is faster, from what it seems - I can burn through 100 leves in around 40 minutes and get 20 ambers that way (roughly). My DoL colleagues were at around 10-12 sands in the same time IIRC. However, I then had to wait like a month for the leves to recover while they just kept going and had their sands done before the end of the week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCXGp80PPF8
I'm not overly proficient with gathering, but this looks like a daily turn-in to me. If it's representative, that would put gathering to about 10 sands per 15 minutes a day and allow you to finish in a week.

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Nope. That's just one 12 Eorzean hour collectible rotation. You can do it twice per Eorzean day and as many times as you want per real day, limited only by the number of Eorzean days that fit in a single real day.

Diadem is still faster though.

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Originally Posted by Mayoyama

First of all... I played FFXI for 6 years and did in fact own a relic, as well as several empyrean weapons... so I am full aware of what 'grind' is....

Second, you clearly didnt read the initial post where I stated that I don't have loads of time (anymore)

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Look to be frank I have about as much play time as you do perhaps less. Work two jobs and go to school. What I posted were some hints/tips. I use airships do to the time I have hence I recommended that. Being that sand is a grind, if your time restricted it's a matter of patience and go at your own pace.

So lets break down your thoughts... I still play FFXI on and off just to max out when I'm bored with XIV, 3 maxed out relics 3 Myths, hated Empy. So I only compared it as an example.

Second Not having loads of time is up to the player and gave some examples of what they can accomplish on the down time, RELICS take time and dedication. IF you don't have plenty of time it's understandable but complaining to nerf it more is just being spoiled.

Third ; hence I suggested to trade in items while you do your normal runs for GC seals and get them that way. 20k in seals is about 99 of those items = 11 per full stack. MB can fluctuate, use Airships to sell materias and junk. Use gill for low items and use CS on expensive ones , I never buy things more than 1k each which to me is reasonable, then again I don't have a problem making gill being is very easy from years of experience and know how to work the market by having retainers constantly selling, well geared, and selling HQ / normal for weekly turn ins. ( HINT ). ( Business major also so helps to be educated )

As for running out of leves there something call change ups. I'm surprised that being all 60's your complaining about leves. You've done a few unless you just want change your way, take some hints, and want to do one method, can't help you there. My goal is to eventually do them all just for the hell of it and raise relics on the side for jobs I probably won't touch unless it's a light grind. So in other words IT"S EASY if you don't burn yourself out and mix it up. Unless your impatient can't help you there.

If you have a crafter at 60, there should be no excuse. My friend spent 550k in materials, lowered to about 450k after the gil she got with turning in 60 odd synths for 40 sands ( was around 180 scripts each) and in the mist of this, sold 2 mistakes of 40k each while selling off the elemental materia. (had huge profit after 2 days despite the initial gil sink) She did that from buying materials for them (miscounted and had go back a bit) and with trade ins, etc, total time was 4 hours. she did it in a single rl day, getting the 40 sands she needed to finish the step after she spent like 2 or 3 days? for umbrites.

Crafting is the best time/gil efficient (as in ratio), matiera is the best pure time efficient, using one of these gets you 70 odd sands faster then umbrites.

If you don't have a crafter or gatherer leveled and like actually using leves for leveling then it sucks. I was using leves for crafting leveling when I did my first one so I just spammed the 100 poetics dungeons. It sucks really bad. Even now I still have tons more umbrites than crystal sands.

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Originally Posted by Mayoyama

Would you care to elaborate... I see so many comments about "oh DoL have no reason to complain" but no one actually explains properly why this is so (which would be more constructive). Sorry, I dont mean to single you out but its such a common approach for people on here to dismiss ideas without explaining why

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Trading 5 Rowena's Token (Blue Gathering Scripts) (50 Blue Scripts per Token or 4 Tokens for trading 1 Rowena's Token (Red Gathering Scripts) which cost 50 Red Scripts) for sand is one of the fastest methods of gathering sands since Cuprite, Crownbrush and Morel can be turned in for 60 blue scripts base meaning each qualifying collectible is around 1/4 of a sand.

Cuprite is available at 2 am and 2 pm ET in the Hinterlands and every 12 minutes in the Diadem at 2, 6 and 10 ET.
Morel is available at 12 am and 12 pm ET in the Hinterlands.
Crownbrush is available every 12 minutes in the Diadem at 4, 8 and 12 ET.

It does suck for those that don't have a gatherer or crafter at 60. The alternatives aren't that good and very time/gil consuming.

I've also found sitting and fishing for the Illuminati Perch is quite fruitful, able to get em at max collect so 48 blue scrip per. If I want to idly play on my 3DS or if I'm chatting to friends its a more relaxed way of tackling sands. (I can usually get about 2 rounds of Patience II in before my Mistletoe/Morel/Cuprite routine run) which can be about 5-10 fish depending on my rng with the tugs.

Though today I did use all 100 leves to get 16 amber and sitting on 90 blue tokens (combination of gather/crafter) which is 34 sand right there... with some hope I might only need 30 more if bonuses happen. and I am building a collection of beastmen coins should I need to use them to get the unidentified to get sands that way since it got added in and my spare poetics (got all of my pneumite ready for the later stage) goes towards that 5/5 item.

The sand part really isn't as bad as I remember it to be.

1 real time hour will get you 3-4 sands on blue scrip gathering. In my rotation I have a 30min window before the next respawn. Enough for a Gubal HM.

Zhloe is the fastest especially if you don't need red scrips for anything else. 6 items for Zhloe and you have capped red scrips and have 900 blues. Together that's 54 blue tokens. Or 10 Sands. And can be done in about 10 minutes if you chug a cordial or 2.

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Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

1 real time hour will get you 3-4 sands on blue scrip gathering. In my rotation I have a 30min window before the next respawn. Enough for a Gubal HM.

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You should start going to Diadem, 1 hour = 10-11 sands.

I really feel bad for the people without gatherers leveled, Diadem made crystal sands ridiculously easy to get.

Umbrite is definitely the more bothersome of the two items needed due to the many mentioned ways to get Sands, but literally only one way to get Umbrite. Possible suggestions:

-A Daily/Weekly quest like Singing Clusters
-Multiple payment methods (Poetics, Seals, Scrips, etc)
-Obtainable from maps or something like with Alexandrite

As it stands the only way to get Umbrite is with lore and even at a reduced price it's 12,000 total, give or take if you ever get bonus (you won't).

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Originally Posted by ManuelBravo

use Airships to sell materias and junk.

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You're assuming I am able to simply use my FC's airship purely for my own personal gains? Maybe your FC is fine with that, but my FC isnt...

It takes about 20 days of work to complete this stage of the anime weapons. You need to get about 600 tombstones every day, and 4 sands from any source. I get my sands from gathering, although I think crafting might be faster.

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Originally Posted by Mayoyama

You're assuming I am able to simply use my FC's airship purely for my own personal gains? Maybe your FC is fine with that, but my FC isnt...

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Your FC won't lend you airships? wow that sucks. Anyone in my FC is free to use it as long as I get a notice in advance and are willing to repair it after use. Sorry if your FC won't help you.

I found sands to be one of the easier things to get. I used blue gathering scrips the most but I also farmed Astral and Umbral Materia in The Diadem. This is also where I obtained most of my Botany and Mining materials for scrips.