Am I doing something wrong? (Regarding gear and gil)

Hey everyone. I recently started playing FFXIV, and I have to say that I'm enjoying myself but, an aspect of this game strikes me in a puzzling manner, namely in how to attain new gear.

As I type this I'm a lvl 20 Thaumaturge and the only equipment I've been able to replace with items appropriate to my class are the hands and body slots. I also picked Weaver so I could craft armor for myself but that as proven extremely difficult since it seems every piece of equipment always requires something from another class and that thing also requires something from another class, making it a chain of materials I'd need to spend days gathering, just for one piece of equipment, which, by pure bad luck, I could even fail to make.

So, faced with this, I thought I could just level Weaver to repair my equipment and buy the gear I'd need from the Market Wards. That also didn't seem like a good idea since most gear costs around 100,000gil per piece and I'm struggling to even have half of that.

So, my question would be if I'm doing something horribly wrong with regards to acquiring new equipment. Because, as it stands, I'm likely to reach lvl 30 with my current lvl 5-10 gear. Unless I'm supposed to do that, which I doubt.

Sadly, the only way I've noticed to keep on the up and up is to sell all of your crystal shards in the markets. They go pretty quick and give you the cash you need. Sadly this also leaves you with few or no crystals for tradecrafting.

The economy is pretty crazy right now (high level stuff is widely available and less expensive than the scarce selection of level 20~30 items).

Some NPC vendors in the wards such as in the Lower Tailors Wards should be in the center that can sell a few upgrades.

An NPC near the Adventurer's Guild desk (in the same pub area) may sell two upgrades or so to weapons and/or other tools.

You're right about the crafting. Our adventuring classes level up so fast that it's not probable to keep the necessary crafting classes leveled up with it to make the items we need to adventure.

If the leather costs appear feasible (significantly less than the cost of the finished product) whether from NPC or other players in market wards, you might consider buying a few pieces to finish off your weaver products.

Feel free to send a tell, I'll try to assist with little pieces you may be having difficulty acquiring

My advice is if you're taking up crafting is to take advantage of leves. They give you a ton of shards and free materials. As far as making your own gear, since you are a returning player I'm going to assume you might be using an outdated database. Crafting got revamped a while back and everything is a LOT easier to make. You might not be able to gather or make all the materials for something you want to craft, but if you look in the wards or check out NPCs, low level materials are quite affordable and available.

Mooglebox.com is one of the more commonly used sites. Looking at that, it looks like you are able to purchase materials for a Level 21 set of gear for around 8-13k for a single piece of gear. That should be affordable for a low level player if you do leves (and the evaluations after clearing 8 of them) and selling your drops. Also, if you do take up crafting, you yourself are proof that there is a market for these items so you can make a few pieces to sell (although remember extremely overpriced, 100k gear won't sell =P)

Even if you don't have a craft leveled up, if you use the Auto-translate there is a good chance you will be able to shout and have someone craft it for you for no charge.

You can also take Eden Archangel up on his offer =)

all i gotta say is get 1 high level to go kill the low level nm for their gear or do low level dungeon and wear those gear til your high rank.

Okay a couple things to try:

1. Check and see if an NPC is selling a basic version of what you are looking for. Then, if you want to upgrade it (either by adding materia and/or changing it from ____robe to a ____robe of casting, all you need to do is ask a crafter either in your ls or via /sh in town.
2. Do battle leves for leveling your battle class (thm) Every now and then, they drop a piece of low level gear that you can use.
3. Around rank 30, there are 'little' NM's that drop equipment you can use. Also, if you have access to toto-rak, there are some nice pieces in there. (You will need either a party or one level 50 friend to get this gear)Some notable pieces include:

Thalassian Targe: Shield Opt. Rank 25 (MP : +5, Int : +1, Pty : +1,Magic Evasion : +10) Dropped from Slippery Sykes
Seer's Cowl: Opt Rank 35 (MP : +30, Mnd : +4, Pty : +4,Att Magic Pot : +4, Magic Acc : +4) Dropped from Prince of Pestilence
Anathema: Opt Rank 35 (MP : +24, Int : +4, Attack Magic Potency : +17) Dropped from Unknown Soldier
Ascetic's Tights: Opt Rank 30 (HP : -9, MP : +9, Vit : -2,Att Magic Pot : +2, Evasion : +3, Magic Eva : +5) Toto-rak chest

Another pro to farming these items, is that when you're done with them, you can turn them into your guild company for seals (How you can get a chocobo).

4. Level your crafting via local leves. This way, you don't burn any mats/shards. Also you will be rewarded mats you can use each time you do a leve. (You can use these mats to make your own gear/make gears people buy fast for Spiritbonding.

5. Ask around in your ls if people have anything they can loan/make for you.

6. If nothing else, keep your weapon upgraded and eat food to boost your mag acc/int. At least that way you can solo effectively.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Now, in regard to what most people said:

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Some NPC vendors in the wards such as in the Lower Tailors Wards should be in the center that can sell a few upgrades.

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Thanks for mentioning that, since they're very easily confused for retainers. I noticed those NPC's while trying to put up my retainer to sell some items I made. (Unsuccessfully though, said I could not summon any more retainers in that area). Unfortunately, all those items are for crafting professions, and while it did help my weaving success rate, it couldn't help much more.

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Looking at that, it looks like you are able to purchase materials for a Level 21 set of gear for around 8-13k for a single piece of gear

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I did actually use Mogglebox, though you're right, at the beginning most databases I found were extremely outdated. What gear are you talking about in particular? Looking through it, for my level, what gear I found that I could use were the Cotton and Canvas sets. They seem fairly easy to make but I have never found in the Marker Wards in Ul'dah a single of the leatherworking items needed to craft them.

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Even if you don't have a craft leveled up, if you use the Auto-translate there is a good chance you will be able to shout and have someone craft it for you for no charge.

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I'd rather not do that. I don't really like to impose myself on people and I'd fear I'd come out as a beggar If I did that. Though, I may take Eden Archangel up on is kindness.

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Around rank 30, there are 'little' NM's that drop equipment you can use.

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I had no idea about the existence of NM's. That does seem like an excellent way to acquire new gear. Thanks for warning me about them.

About leveling my craft via leves, that's what I've been doing since I began, 4 battlecrafts and 4 local leves. They've been my main source of moko grass and cotton boll. And the battlecrafts are a hit and a miss as to the gear they give me. I've found some very nice pieces but it seems to be completely random so it's not something I can rely on.

Stick to the main quests (with ! above NPCs heads) its how I got gil n exp the fastest, leves are OK but there is so much travelling in between and the rewards arent really that much IMO but its definitely better than just grinding

Also suggest becoming a Gatherer (Botany/Fisher/Miner) you can extract raw materials through their little mini games, but would take the focus off leveling your battle classes though, its just another way to make gil here n there.

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I did actually use Mogglebox, though you're right, at the beginning most databases I found were extremely outdated. What gear are you talking about in particular? Looking through it, for my level, what gear I found that I could use were the Cotton and Canvas sets. They seem fairly easy to make but I have never found in the Marker Wards in Ul'dah a single of the leatherworking items needed to craft them.

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Specifically these pieces:
Cotton Dalmatica of Casting
Cotton Breeches of Casting
Cotton Coif of Casting
Padded Sheepskin Duckbills of Casting

There's no level 21 gloves in that set but there are L16 Dodoskin ringband that you can upgrade at 26. I believe they aren't under gloves, so you might have missed them. They're in Jewelers Row > Armband.

Canvas isn't actually used anymore. Any "dated" recipes are old and not worth making now. If those pieces I mentioned are the gear you were looking at, though, you can purchase all the required mats from NPCs if there is nothing for sale on the wards (but that is very very unlikely). The Ul'dah leather shop is in the street on the way to the elevator that takes you to the airship dock. Also, just keep note of how much materials cost from NPC, you might get overcharged on the wards.

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I'd rather not do that. I don't really like to impose myself on people and I'd fear I'd come out as a beggar If I did that. Though, I may take Eden Archangel up on is kindness.

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Honestly, no one will care enough about your shouting to take offense if they aren't willing to help you in the first place, and there is bound to be people out there that would love to help a newbie out. If you shout, just make sure to mention that you have all the materials. There's a big difference between someone shouting for a craft that has the mats and someone that doesn't, and most people wouldn't mind helping the former.

Yeah as Estellios said: don't forget that NPC's sell mats too. And again, Mooglebox will let you know which npc (and their price) if you click on the 'purchased' link...even a map with their location usually pops u).

Also, if you do go and farm the NM's for that gear, most of those items will last you until at least your mid-40's. By that point, gear is MUCH easier to find on the wards.

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Any "dated" recipes are old and not worth making now.

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Eden Archangel actually just told me that and I had absolutely no idea that was what Dated meant. Apparently, some of the equipment I was trying to craft had materials that weren't even available anymore! And thank you so much for that list, among all those Dated recipes in Mooglebox I never even knew those existed. And they're easily crafted to boot. :) Seems there's actually a light at the end of the tunnel. Again, thank you and to everyone that responded. Now I just need to get Weaver a few levels up. :)