Is crafting and gathering really worth it?

Hello, I have been playing this game since Aug 2018. I love the game. I'm a huge a huge FF fan and have been since the very beginning. When FFXIV came out I hated it at first because frankly it was unplayable. That was at beta in 2013.

Starting back up last summer has been more than a pleasant surprise. SOOO much to do in this game. Initially I enjoyed crafting and gathering for about a couple of weeks until I got to the higher levels and it became very stagnant IMO. The payoff on the MB isn't very substantial until end game.

So my question: Is the amount of time put into crafting and gathering really worth it?
You can acquire gil in many different ways and you don't really need to craft your own armor since side quests and DF give you gear. On top of that, you can get spoiled from FC to make you gear and supply material. So what do you think?

In the long run it's probably worth it. Personally I don't craft, but I do level a few classes for beast tribe quests when they come out. I also level a gatherer so I can get treasure maps. I have 0 issues making gil by selling anything that may be of value. New patches and expansions are prime times for gil making, though I don't do too bad between patches. You just have to know what sells and what doesn't.

It all depends. There’s not just gil earned, but also gil saved. If you want to decorate a room or house, you can save millions by being able to craft your own furnishings. Similarly the latest glamour items always are easier to make than their price on the market board will imply. Also if you raid, you can save yourself a lot of gil by making your own food/potions.

I’ve only recently started getting my crafting jobs leveled and can say once you get to 50, the effort to level becomes a lot easier with custom deliveries, moogle/namazu dailies, and GC turn ins. The only real pain is that for crafting it’s 8 separate jobs to level, and the 1-50 leveling is a real slog.

If you do choose to do it, definitely focus on gatherers first (miner and botanist are really easy to level with guildleves) and then you’ll be more able to supply your own materials to craft.

Primarily I really enjoyed the stories from all of the crafting and gathering classes. I'd personally recommend leveling them just for that alone, though that is a significant time investment so its up to you. I'm not really crafting or gathering much right now as i'm on break playing the Witcher trilogy lol... the market is a complete mess atm too though and I've already far exceeded my original goal of stockpiling enough gil to buy a mansion before the next expansion releases a new housing area. Really, if you're going to do a lot of crafting you're going to want to do it because its fun for you. The gil will come naturally along with it. I also enjoy that I can craft a full set of i380 gear for any of my other secondary classes without much fuss.

In general I think so - I have fun with both. Crafters takes a while to level because there are so many. But when I need something it's cool to be able to make it/get it yourself. I also like not having to find a repair person when my gear needs repair - I an do it myself. Note you can make your retainers gathers so then you don't even have to go get most items. My opinion for leveling gathers is BTN, MIN, FSH. i.e. BTN is more useful than MIN.
For crafters its hard to decide on an order. It somewhat depends on your main job. If you wear armor then blacksmith, armorer are high priority - but I main SMN - so I find weaver and leather worker more useful.
I use culinarian a lot - probably the most of any of them.
Goldsmith is nice because you make right side items for most anyone.
Alchemist makes weird stuff - but it often seems to sell at high prices.
Blacksmith and armor have been the least useful.

If you're asking this question, the answer is almost certainly NO with two caveats.
Crafting - Being able to repair your own gear
Gathering - Being able to get daily treasure maps

Aside from these two things, I find that anyone that asks the question, the answer is generally NO. If you are on the fence about spending the time to level the jobs, you're equally unlikely to invest the time to use them to make money. If one or both of the above two things are useful to you, then I highly recommend it, otherwise not.


Personal anecdote:
I have leveled everything to 70. I do not use my DoH/DoL classes except for the above two things. Do I think it was worth it? Yeah, but I can see why others wouldn't. I have a lot of free time. I have acquired far more gil from selling loot from recently-released content (Pyros was VERY lucrative for me), than I have using DoH/DoL, but making money with those jobs is boring as hell in my opinion. [Insert comment about Eureka being just as boring here]

Yes you can make a lot of money and I'm talking billions of gil from gathering and crafting. Put in the time and the effort and it will pay off. Personally I made most of my money from gathering and legendary nodes. Yes it takes time and monitoring the market but definitely worth it.

I also agree with the comments about making your own housing and glamour items from crafting because you can save a lot of money that way.

It depends.

I do gathering and crafting for food. Then sell it during raid tiers. Even though I dont raid, I still make a good chunk of gil from the food.
Same with my armourer when the time comes to craft HQ gear. Now that the raid tier is over its not really worth it until 5.0 starts and raiding starts back up.

But there are other things like crafting minions/bardings for chocobo/ housing items that supplement cash during downtime.

IMO its worth it, and for many others it is not, but I appreciate those people because if everyone did crafting and gathering I wouldnt make money.

I leveled crafting and gathering more to make my own gear/food/furniture/etc than to make gil off of it. (I've also been able to make gil whenever I decide to spend some time crafting stuff to sell, and I like having that option, but I don't do it often and it wasn't why I took up crafting in the first place.) I enjoy the sense of accomplishment it gives me to be self-sufficient in making my own stuff. I also enjoy the class quest stories and the crafting mini-game itself.

Since the game has plenty of other options, so crafting/gathering isn't necessary, it really comes down to personal preference. For the people who enjoy it, it's worthwhile. For the people who don't enjoy it, it isn't.

Raldo's comment probably works out the best. It all depends on what you're looking for, what you plan to invest in it, and how much you enjoy it. I personally love the fact that I can make anything in the game now, but not losing any money to it (i.e. gathering everything) or just buying what I absolutely cannot easily get my hands on, takes quite a bit of time. I invested a lot of time and gil and weekly turnins into my gear and my melds. But I also enjoy this, and I don't mind spending hours gathering all of the mats I need to make a set of gear or a bunch of furniture/consumables to sell.

A friend of mine crafts, but she often buys her mats, but she hates gathering and would rather spend the time doing other things.

There are other ways to earn gil, and if you're hoping for the answer that crafting and gathering will get you a ton more money than you're making elsewhere - it can, but only if you put in the effort to get there, maintain it, and use it (make the most out of it). If you'd rather not craft/gather, then you probably won't be able to utilize them to their fullest.

However being able to repair all of your gear is a boon (I can go for an entire night of current EX farming without having to repair once if I do my own repairs) and being able to gather maps requires you to only level one gatherer, and you don't even have to solidly outfit them as long as they have basic 65-70 gear. At that point, it's worth it, since the maps themselves sell well, as do the items dropped in Canals. And gathering can also be lucrative quickly just by farming and selling basic materials people use a lot of.

Crafting and Gathering are both worth while, make your own gear and items, access to some content exclusive to those classes and the upcoming endgame craft and gatherer content as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Final-Fantasy

upcoming endgame craft and gatherer content as well.

---

Uh, what? Did I miss something?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Raldo

Uh, what? Did I miss something?

---

Crafters and Gathers will have endgame content in 5.0 to rebuild Ishgard and allow housing in that area.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Derio

Crafters and Gathers will have endgame content in 5.0 to rebuild Ishgard and allow housing in that area.

---

Meh. Smells like moogle quests all over again.

"Endgame" I'll believe it when I see it.

Watch it just be more Custom Deliveries. 6 items a week, how exciting.

It all depends on what you do with it. I can make money selling some basic crafting mats HQ pretty reliably. Granted it's not a ton of money; but it's a pretty easy turn around for a few thousand. I'm personally working on my crafting now, but it's mostly for something to do and also be able to self repair my gear. You only make tons of gil selling things within the first 2 weeks of new things being added. After that just go for housing decor since it always sells and otherwise go for gathering to sell some simple mats in reasonable stacks and make money over time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimmymagic

Hello, I have been playing this game since Aug 2018. I love the game. I'm a huge a huge FF fan and have been since the very beginning. When FFXIV came out I hated it at first because frankly it was unplayable. That was at beta in 2013.

Starting back up last summer has been more than a pleasant surprise. SOOO much to do in this game. Initially I enjoyed crafting and gathering for about a couple of weeks until I got to the higher levels and it became very stagnant IMO. The payoff on the MB isn't very substantial until end game.

So my question: Is the amount of time put into crafting and gathering really worth it?
You can acquire gil in many different ways and you don't really need to craft your own armor since side quests and DF give you gear. On top of that, you can get spoiled from FC to make you gear and supply material. So what do you think?

---

Lets say it is worth if you want to make or save gil, but if you would've to force yourself to do it then don't. Crafting and gathering is not enjoyable for everyone.

I did leatherworker for beast tribe stories. I feel it was worth it for that. But I don't really care for the crafting system enough to keep at it.

I'm glad I leveled crafting classes just for the ability to repair my gear whenever.

I've stopped bothering to try to make money by crafting/gathering mainstream items due to the ever-growing number of bot farmers tanking prices to a point where it scarcely feels worth it anymore, though (Selectively crafting/desynthing for items that aren't targeted by bots has been getting me way more gil for the amount of time spent).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jimmymagic

Hello, I have been playing this game since Aug 2018. I love the game. I'm a huge a huge FF fan and have been since the very beginning. When FFXIV came out I hated it at first because frankly it was unplayable. That was at beta in 2013.

Starting back up last summer has been more than a pleasant surprise. SOOO much to do in this game. Initially I enjoyed crafting and gathering for about a couple of weeks until I got to the higher levels and it became very stagnant IMO. The payoff on the MB isn't very substantial until end game.

So my question: Is the amount of time put into crafting and gathering really worth it?
You can acquire gil in many different ways and you don't really need to craft your own armor since side quests and DF give you gear. On top of that, you can get spoiled from FC to make you gear and supply material. So what do you think?

---

Like any game content, if you don't enjoy it then you probably shouldn't do it.

Personally, I enjoy crafting and gathering so I do it. Payoffs from the MB don't have to be substantial, they only need to be profitable. Small profits add up over time, especially if you focus on selling things in high demand so you're always having to list more.

If you have other ways to make gil that you enjoy more, then do that content instead.

I never looked to any of them, but I'm considering having at least botanist to 70 for:

1) Namazu quests, because of the Namazu mount and minion
2) 5.0 Ishgard rebuild

Why botanist? I've asked around and it seems that it's the easiest/fastest to level.

Level on crafter to 70, use beastribes if you haven't already maxed them out. Get mounts, get minions, get story. Then do turns ins at 60 and then 70.... get scrips, trade scrips for items, sell on MB, make about 300k+ a week

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Raldo

If you're asking this question, the answer is almost certainly NO with two caveats.
Crafting - Being able to repair your own gear
Gathering - Being able to get daily treasure maps

Aside from these two things, I find that anyone that asks the question, the answer is generally NO. If you are on the fence about spending the time to level the jobs, you're equally unlikely to invest the time to use them to make money. If one or both of the above two things are useful to you, then I highly recommend it, otherwise not.


Personal anecdote:
I have leveled everything to 70. I do not use my DoH/DoL classes except for the above two things. Do I think it was worth it? Yeah, but I can see why others wouldn't. I have a lot of free time. I have acquired far more gil from selling loot from recently-released content (Pyros was VERY lucrative for me), than I have using DoH/DoL, but making money with those jobs is boring as hell in my opinion. [Insert comment about Eureka being just as boring here]

---

Crafting/gathering on Balmung/populated servers:

You'll probably make more gil running treasure maps and selling the mats and Eureka drops right now.

However, I still craft/gather because I enjoy doing these activities...including Market Board PVP :D

Really depends on what you want to do. Just want to run dungeons, raids and do combat stuff? Probably not. Want to own a mansion filled with awesome furnishings? Then it's the best way to make money. I grinded all my gatherers and crafters to 70 over the course of a few months (between 4.2 and 4.3). It was a painful grind, but worth every second. Now I own a mansion filled with furnishings I made, can help my FC mates with gear they need, and can make money for certain glams I want pretty easily. Currently saving just in case Ishgard is given housing next expac.

Idk if gil utility beats the management hell that crafting is anymore.
Yes, you are much more independent to acquire, everything crafted and housing mechanics too, much easier. But i don't know if watching at endless lists of materials upon materials and having horrid interface clutter and the whole retainer interface can go and be thrown into a volcano... Um.

Maybe just do basic crafting or basic gathering.

I will tell you this OP, if you don't enjoy crafting, using it as a means to make gil will only feel like an actual job and you will likely burn out. Making gil from crafting is only one of many benefits it brings you, and crafting is only one of many methods to acquire gil.

Gil-wise crafting is definitely worth it, although the very richest players don't craft, they play the MB. But you can rake in hundreds of millions over time with work.

The most important question however is "do you enjoy it"?
If you don't enjoy crafting, it's not really worth it except perhaps power leveling it with leve's and buying a lv70 white set for basic crafting/repair needs. But it isn't worth investing in something you dislike just for gil. There is very little to spend massive sums of gil on and many other ways to earn gil.

I personally love crafting, I enjoy the depth, leveling it, gathering items, melding, putting together rotations. That's what makes it worth it to me. But it's a whole different game in itself and not for everyone.

I enjoy selling, which makes crafting worthwhile for me.

Personally though, I've also found desynthing enjoyable, which is also related to crafting. Buy up surplus on the marketboard, break it back down into materials, and sell it back on the market.

Not anymore. If you like vanity, then maybe.

With all my doh/dol but one capped. It's easy to make 1m Gil in an hour.
Bear in mind it may take 48 hours to sell some stuff.

I have 80m Gil so I don't actively make Gil any longer also I don't have bis for any doh job..

Also repair gear anywhere

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Derio

Crafters and Gathers will have endgame content in 5.0 to rebuild Ishgard and allow housing in that area.

---

Rebuilding Ishgard is confirmed, but housing is not. It's pure speculation based on the fact that people have been wanting it for years.

You can aim to level your crafters and gatherers slowly over time, and make a lot of use of the "supply and provisioning" missions from your GC - some of the "crafted" items can be bought, especially at low levels, or you can hand in your own old equipment, and gathering is always a straightforward matter of collecting ten items from a gathering point appropriate to your level. Fishing requests are often for otherwise-useless fish and/or things you'll catch while attempting to clear guild quests. (See also levequests for clearing out extra catches, especially in Ishgard.)

Also once you unlock the Ixal tribe, they have a similar list of daily requests - though it works a little differently and you can submit multiple items with one class, up to a certain score.

Besides that, I'm slowly working my way through the crafting logs and trying to make one of everything - but wrangling with ARR endgame items at the moment is increasingly frustrating for the amount of back-and-forth looking up recipes for ingredients as well as for the actual thing I'm trying to craft.

It's been very nice for house decorating though. A lot of things I want that are either expensive or just annoying to craft (like garden pathlights! why so convoluted?!) can at least be made for myself when I want them, instead of waiting for someone else to bother with crafting one.

Plus I'm filling out my crafting log as I go - it seems different making ten different sorts of lights to see how they look, and selling those crafted items I don't want to keep, than to buy those ten lights and then have to sell them again!



Ideally, once I've caught all my crafters up to Lv70 and Shadowbringers raises the level cap, I think it might be useful to (of course) get through the game first, then level crafters/gatherers before other battle classes, so I can craft my own gear for those additional classes - instead of crafting them later just to fill out my crafting log.

I leveled my crafters casually to 60 through the moogle dailies in HW, but grinded them all to 70 via leve quests within the first week of SB.

Didn't regret it, since being able to make my own crafted gear saved me several million. Now I mostly use it to make food/infusions since I refuse to buy from those accursed bot farmers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Iscah

Rebuilding Ishgard is confirmed, but housing is not. It's pure speculation based on the fact that people have been wanting it for years.

---

It's not confirmed, but Yoshi teased the possibility during the Fanfest, not just because people wanted it for years.

https://youtu.be/OZ_CuzkJ84w?t=3658

1:00:58

A lot of crafters are lazy and wont bother gathreing their own matts so generally gathering is probably more reliable to make gil daily then crafting is.
It also depends on your server.Older servers there will be too many high level crafters so likely prices on mb will be devalued for high value craftables.
But then again those crafters probably lazy and you can make easy profits off crafting materials like HQ ingots and nuggets.

If the server has a big raid scene then end game crafting can net quite a bit particulary with gold smithing as they'll be pentamelding crafted jewelry.
The market for selling houseing items is quite dead at the moment probably on most servers but when the next free server transfers start you'll likely to make easy gil selling craftable deco.

ALso keep an eye on the fashion report weekly.As soon as the bis is confirmed on reddit start crafting those items and get them on the market before other people come along on undercut.
You can make really easy gil this way.I made over 300k on the friday just from selling normal quaility fluorite bracelets.The price dropped when the undercutters came but at first i was getting 18k for each one.