Any pointers/advice for starting CUL?

Doing web searches for crafting advice in general, or CUL in particular has yielded nothing but what appears to be out of date information. Does anyone have any advice/tips/tricks/references for starting a CUL and leveling to 70? Thanks in advance.

Most of the old information still holds up. Leveling crafting happens in phases. 1-51, 51-61, 61-70.

1 to 51 can be done with a basic rotation that relies on cross class. Getting all 8 classes to 15 is still the best way to go. If you plan to level all 8, getting them all to 18 is my suggestion. At level 18 on all skills you get Standard touch. It's the quality skill that has 80% success so you can steady hand, standard touch with 100% success.

Inner Quiet, steady Hand, waste not (leather 15)
Standard touch x 4
2xCareful synth (weaver cross class)

This not only improves the chance of HQ but increases experience through crafting.

Crafting and Leve for 1-50, raw grind to 51. That's not as bad as it sounds. 33x3 bouillabaisse will get you pretty close to the level and the bouillabaisse will serve you until you can make baked onion soup.

51 to 61 you aren't trying to fill the quality bar through brute force like you do up to 51. You need to stack inner quiet and Byregot's Blessing or Brow if you chose to only level culi. Either way the stacking is the way to go.

61 and on seems to be a version of 51-61 but they are adding more in class abilities. Careful Synthesis III for example happens at 62 and it allows you to clear the progress bar with 2 hits on basic stuff in the Storm blood recipes. It's still inner quiet stacking for a blessing or brow.

Gear always matters and having all 3 gathering will make things much easier on you unless you are sitting on plenty of money.

Don't forget to do your Ixal dailies when you are under 50 - they give a decent chunk of EXP and you don't need any mats outside of what you are given, so it's cheap and efficient. Moogle dailies are the same, and you'll want to do those everyday once you hit 50. GC turn-ins are also something to do each day, and you get double EXP when you turn in HQ requested items.

I recommend Carpenter and Alchemist to level 50 at the least. Others help, especially for leveling, but these are the two skills from cross class you will use the most in pretty much every situation.

Other than that, just do the easiest leves available at your level range, making HQ stuff can be hard but with steady hand II, hasty touch, and byregots blessing you should be at least mostly successful.

Once you reach level 66, you'll be pretty much set with manipulation 2 and prudent touch, these two skills (along with initial preparations if you are a specialist) are OP and get rid of almost any need for CC skills (aside from the two I already mentioned). It's just getting there that may be a hassle for you.

One thing to note: I've found CUL more than any other crafting class is going to suck up an entire retainer if you plan on crafting at 70. GSM, BSM, and ARM can share a retainer to store everything (rocks from the ground), CPT, LTW, and WVR can hold all their bits and bobbles on one person, but CUL will suck up a whole 175 slots by itself, between all the ingredients. You can share some with ALC but be prepared to make some space for CUL more than any other DoH class.

The issue is moot if you don't plan on cooking past 70 as a means of making gil, though.

Everything to 15 first.

To get any craft to 15 just do every recipe once. The guild shop sells everything you need, except the cooking guild doesn't stock fish, you buy fish at the hyaline just off the aftcastle. The guild quests provide more than enough shards. Check with the local levemete before you dispose of the stuff you crafted, some of it will be levequest fodder.

CUL is the most annoying class to level as nearly all the recipes require 5 unique ingredients which have to cross usage to other crafting classes. That said, in each tier (every 5 levels) there is usually one recipe that only requires one gathered ingredient, with maybe one other ingredient you could purchase from the FC material supplier. Usually a juice. I remember making a lot Grape Juice, Chamomile Tea and Dark Vinegar.

Thanks for all the pointers! I didn't appreciate how important getting all the crafters to 15 is, in particular.

Having all of the crafters at 15 helps when leveling to 50 (as does taking CUL to 37 but you're planning on maiming CUL so ....)

Having all of the crafters at 50 helps when leveling from 50 to 60.

Having any other crafter leveled is not necessary for the 61-70 run. Its quite possible (though you'll be NQ'ing a lot early on) to level from 60 to 70 without using a single ability from another class.

Yeah, CUL is the one I want at 70, because Jellied Compote is prohibitively expensive. I do get the feeling that leveling craftsmen up may actually not be economically a win over just buying food as I need it, but I'm going to ignore that feeling and see how it pans out. :P

Well, you need to have most crafter class at 37 to 50 before you start with levelling CUL to 70.

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Originally Posted by Lyraele

I do get the feeling that leveling craftsmen up may actually not be economically a win over just buying food as I need it, but I'm going to ignore that feeling and see how it pans out. :P

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Over the long run, being able to make your own stuff is always a benefit gil-wise(if we count time, that can be another issue). Afterall, once youre done leveling you can reap the rewards of being leveled up for as long as your level is relevant... so, this whole expansion cycle most likely. And while youre only looking at it from the perspective of the item you can make yourself to save gil, if you choose so later on you could also make other meals for profit. All up to you.

I'd level botany along with cooking, and just quick synth the base mats that require 3-5 botany items. Get the 5 scrolls each week from squadrons that give 2 hours of +20% crafting exp(doesn't stack with guild bonus) and if you can get a bunch of the engineering manuals that give 300,000 exp. Gather as much mats as you can handle, botany retainer is very nice to have for this, and then quick synth for as long as you can. Save leves for when the exp slows down or use them to make sure botany keeps up with cooking. Botanist gather every ingredient for jellied compote and almost all the easy cul recipes, leveling them together is a lot easier than leveling them separate.

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Originally Posted by Mirarara

Well, you need to have most crafter class at 37 to 50 before you start with levelling CUL to 70.

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This certainly isn't true. Culinarian is my only level 70 craft and I got there without using a single cross-job skill. Having botanist and taking the time to gather your own materials is, however, very useful.

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Originally Posted by Lyraele

I do get the feeling that leveling craftsmen up may actually not be economically a win over just buying food as I need it

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Just using the Crafting Log to level (and doing each Leve exactly once, making up the difference with Collectible hand ins for the Master books as necessary) I'm making a decent amount of gil. Whether crafting is profitable (necessary for it to be "an economic win") is dependent upon actually having stuff to sell to recoup the costs. If all you do is Leve (and Quick Synth) your way up, you will be facing an economic loss and not start to recoup anything until you start factoring in savings by not buying the HQ foods you are after. Making stuff and putting it on the board, ideally stuff that moves, is the key to recouping the cost of leveling. Do that, and you may find that your crafting can not only pay for itself to be leveled, but also for the stuff you wanted out of it in the first place.

Bear in mind though, I'm leveling all 8 crafting classes from 60 to 70, not just one from 1 to 70.

Culinarian probably gives the most "essential" abilities, so I would say it's very feasible to level CUL and HQ easily with just the one craft. It also has very, very few mats required from other crafts. If you were only going to level one or two other crafts, I'd say maybe CRP to 50 for Byregot's Blessing, and ALC to 15 for Tricks of the Trade.

Make sure you have FSH and BTN leveled , MNR as well if possible, have retainers gather ingredients for you. Cross class also helps a lot.

I found CUL after level 50 (52) to be one of the easiest classes to level up. Ishgardian Muffin is a godsend in leves and as a collectible. The materials with the exception of Yak Milk could all be purchased from a vendor in Gridania.

This was an old leve guide from 1-60 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...#gid=795395908

Mango has one for Stormblood - https://goo.gl/uDCzzC

Also to help with preperations - http://www.ffxivcrafting.com/ I think may still be rather relevant to leves you decide to do as you level up. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Lyraele

Yeah, CUL is the one I want at 70, because Jellied Compote is prohibitively expensive. I do get the feeling that leveling craftsmen up may actually not be economically a win over just buying food as I need it, but I'm going to ignore that feeling and see how it pans out. :P

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Any time something is crazy expensive in crafting, it's because there is a time sink connected to it. You will get to a point in Culi where you find it all hinges on one or two components that if you buy you lose Gil on making an item but getting said components means leveling other classes. Gathering in this case. I looked at the recipe for Jellied Compote and that's going to be the case. Level Gathering classes with the intent to make Jellied Compote. You might end up selling resources used to make it and get enough Gil you don't even need to make your own.

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Originally Posted by Deckout

This certainly isn't true. Culinarian is my only level 70 craft and I got there without using a single cross-job skill. Having botanist and taking the time to gather your own materials is, however, very useful.

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You can get to 70 without cross class skill, that's for sure. But it will be extremely difficult to 100% HQ 66+ stuff (which I supposed it's his intention) without cross class skill or heavily melded lv 70 eq.

Edit: I supposed it's still doable but I don't think most people would want to solve a puzzle of 100% HQ for high level recipe without cross class skill such as byregot blessing, piece by piece, ingenuity and careful synthesis II. If they like this challenge they won't even ask how to in the first place.

Edit2: As stated by OP, he wanted to craft Jellied Compote, a lv 70 1 star recipe. Cross class skill is almost certainly needed.

Edit3: Also, I find levelling from 50 to 70 much less expensive if you have the required cross class skill, due to how you can craft your own leve item or collectible easily. While I have my own gathering at max level, I never gathered my own item to level CUL because it take much lesser time to just buy from marketboard, and sell the crafted item at around the same price. You just need to do some research on the MB.

Im sure most, if not all, of us agree that getting more cross class skills makes everything easier. But single class CUL would probly be the best single class to go. As a single class youd be able to put your specialist on, so youd get byregots miracle(rather then blessing). You get versions of careful, manipulation, waste not(via prudent), and rapid. With all your tricks, 1 star should be doable.

WAY late edit: Almost forgot, CUL is also in a great position because it has SH 2 be default, and Muscle Memory is a great level 54 skill. But yeah, having everything is nice too. Thats why i leveled em all.

There was a discussion in the 4.05 Crafting disappointment thread if 1-2 star can be done by a single class. People were able to come up with rotations to HQ those items. The reason for the discussion was that people were saying the new skills were too powerful. I stated it's likely due to people who want to level a single class and not have to get all the cross classes to get what they want. So it's absolutely possible to do it without other classes leveled. They made the system easier overall for that and other reasons.

There are some really good specialist skills that help as well.

I guess some people are afraid to dump old mindsets since it's been around for 2 expansions, but they definitely made it more possible for people to have single crafters be able to craft items of their interest.

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Originally Posted by Frizze

Im sure most, if not all, of us agree that getting more cross class skills makes everything easier. But single class CUL would probly be the best single class to go. As a single class youd be able to put your specialist on, so youd get byregots miracle(rather then blessing). You get versions of careful, manipulation, waste not(via prudent), and rapid. With all your tricks, 1 star should be doable.

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I would rather you show me a rotation where you can get a high HQ chance for lv 70 1 star recipe with 1320/1220/522 stat without cross class skill. It's kinda impossible to do it consistently without ingenuity I/II.

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Originally Posted by QT_Melon

There was a discussion in the 4.05 Crafting disappointment thread if 1-2 star can be done by a single class.

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In that thread, cross class skill at lv 15 is used.

Edit: By High HQ chance I mean you can get it 90% of the time, including the chance from failing non 100% action.

Edit2: It's possible to do it with at least 90% success rate if you have cross class skill at 15, but the simulation I tried required 1373 craftsmanship (achievable by pentamelding), which is expensive for a new crafter.

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Originally Posted by Mirarara

I would rather you show me a rotation where you can get a high HQ chance for lv 70 1 star recipe with 1320/1220/522 stat without cross class skill. It's kinda impossible to do it consistently without ingenuity I/II.

Edit2: It's possible to do it with at least 90% success rate if you have cross class skill at 15, but the simulation I tried required 1373 craftsmanship (achievable by pentamelding), which is expensive for a new crafter.

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Well there's a few things to keep in mind. In this case, the OP shouldn't be trying to do it from 100% NQ (it was just a challenge because people were saying crafting was too easy because they were omnicrafters/got everything leveled to 50-70)

However, CP will be a factor regardless and you still need to overmeld the accessories to get a good amount of CP

They can get the stats with (Something like this http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/12B46 - I changed it to include the Soul Stone for the Bonus). http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...lding-Set-List

That's for 2 star at least, but the other factor would be the mats themselves.
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...e/73d6ee69d4d/
Nothing in there is expensive and if the person is gathering a majority of the mats his/herself then they can get some HQ items from that list

Protip (don't buy brass loach of the MB for more than 18 Gil, there's a fishmonger near the Aftcastle teleport in Limsa that sells the loach for Gelatin).

I didn't put in Gelatin because it's level is really low to factor in contribution for HQ

HQ Contribution
1459 - 70 - Othard Plum
1419 - 67 - Persimmon
1403 - - Dusklight Aethersand
1373 - 64 - Beet Sugar
1308 - Loquat
6962 Total.

Since Dusklight Aethersand may be the kicker if the person doesn't do gathering reductions, 5559 may be the total, but doing some runs, it seems to be doable with at least 4k quality

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Originally Posted by QT_Melon

Well there's a few things to keep in mind. In this case, the OP shouldn't be trying to do it from 100% NQ

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Fair enough. I do crafting as a mean to earn gil therefore I overlooked that aspect.

I've been plowing at it for 3 days now and have all the crafters to at least 16 (WVR 18 and CUL 27). No gatherers, I'm still hoping to avoid that. But we shall see, I'm kinda just playing it by ear with the crafting logs, NPC vendor gear (or self crafted gear) and company engineering manuals. Armoury and inventory space have big my biggest pain points this far. Thanks for all the guidance!

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Originally Posted by Lyraele

I've been plowing at it for 3 days now and have all the crafters to at least 16 (WVR 18 and CUL 27). No gatherers, I'm still hoping to avoid that. But we shall see, I'm kinda just playing it by ear with the crafting logs, NPC vendor gear (or self crafted gear) and company engineering manuals. Armoury and inventory space have big my biggest pain points this far. Thanks for all the guidance!

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My armory is a disaster as well. Mostly because dungeon drops and leve rewards default to the armory and it's stuff I will never use but never take the time to clear out. For crafting if you level them all together the one set will cover them all. For gathering as well, though I keep my Gathering gear as I level because I use it to level retainers.

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Originally Posted by Ksenia

My armory is a disaster as well. Mostly because dungeon drops and leve rewards default to the armory and it's stuff I will never use but never take the time to clear out. For crafting if you level them all together the one set will cover them all. For gathering as well, though I keep my Gathering gear as I level because I use it to level retainers.

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There's an option you can set that makes new gear you get go to your inventory instead of armory. That has been a life-changer for me (just hit up GC and sell after every dungeon run). But glamour gear plus gear for 8 new jobs really put a crimp in things, even with the sharing of crafter armor. I really don't see how people did it befor SB and the expansion of armory/inventory (the bad old days!).

My biggest advice would be to level a BOTANIST. So many gathering materials you get from there help out CUL. That and just do leves to level up :)

Leve quest are your friend cul has some easy recipes that will get you alot exp fast like grape juice and apple juice. Dont forget to level your gathers will save you alot of money if you can farm your own mats.

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Originally Posted by Lyraele

There's an option you can set that makes new gear you get go to your inventory instead of armory. That has been a life-changer for me (just hit up GC and sell after every dungeon run). But glamour gear plus gear for 8 new jobs really put a crimp in things, even with the sharing of crafter armor. I really don't see how people did it befor SB and the expansion of armory/inventory (the bad old days!).

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Weapons and ring were the worse with all job 60 I had 2 empty slots 1 was normally tooken up by relic so every time got new weapon i would have to move 1 to inventory