Totally new to crafting

[Caimie_Tsukino]

Actually, my old original crafting guide still applies to any new crafter these days:
http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/ff14-ad...ie-tsukino.39/

Your question 3 was answered by "Ch1: A Reason to Craft"
Your question 1 was answered by "Ch2: Picking a Few Main Crafting Classes for your DoW/DoM", "Ch3: The Benefits of Leveling All Crafting Classes to Level 15 for Cross Class Skills", "Ch4: The Importance of WVR & BSM to Crafting", and "Ch5: The Importance of CUL & food". Chapter 3 has also given you a sequence of which class(es) to level up first for cross class skills.
Your question 2 was answered by "Ch13: Leveling Crafting Classes"

Carpenter lets you HQ easier with Byregot's Blessing crossclass skill at Level 50.

In my opinion, although it is true that Byregot (CRP 50) is a very desirable skill, there are other priorities that can help one to push a class towards lvl 50, and that's obviously all the level 15 cross class skills.

Do you want to make glamour gear? Then culinarian is the worst first choice.

As to which class(es) to reach lvl 15 first, I actually recommend LTW, CUL and ALC. With these Waste Not, Hasty Touch and Trick of the Trade, it allows someone to HQ items very early... as early as lower than level 15. Thus, even though CUL appear useless if you're only interested in making furniture or glamor items, it's important to get Hasty Touch for the sake of leveling a class that will eventually be used to make furniture (even though we understand that furniture does not require the use of any "touch" at all).

[KinnisonArc]

In my opinion, although it is true that Byregot (CRP 50) is a very desirable skill, there are other priorities that can help one to push a class towards lvl 50, and that's obviously all the level 15 cross class skills.

Yeah but even after getting every classes to level 15 (which I forgot to mention), OP eventually has to decide which class to push to level 50. Just listing out what each crafter class can provide on higher levels.

[OoglieBooglie]

As to which class(es) to reach lvl 15 first, I actually recommend LTW, CUL and ALC. With these Waste Not, Hasty Touch and Trick of the Trade, it allows someone to HQ items very early... as early as lower than level 15. Thus, even though CUL appear useless if you're only interested in making furniture or glamor items, it's important to get Hasty Touch for the sake of leveling a class that will eventually be used to make furniture (even though we understand that furniture does not require the use of any "touch" at all).

Well yes, that's true. I was referring to just what the class made though, not the cross class skills. There's more to choosing which class to level first than 'which skill is most useful to me?', although it does play some part. Culinarian is a very good choice to get to 15 early on for Hasty Touch. Blacksmith is good for Innovation or Ingenuity or whatever it is that lowers the recipe level, which can be surprisingly useful even when leveling. Leatherworker is kinda meh at lvl 15, although it becomes more useful in a few rotations. Armorer is very very useful for Rapid Synthesis, although it does still require some RNG luck. Goldsmith is useful for the 35/40 durability mats with Manipulation, and it's 4 cp less than Master's Mend I as well. Alchemist is VERY VERY VERY useful if you need to replenish cp, with Tricks of the Trade. Weaver is good for consistent progress with Careful Synthesis. Carpenter is also useful for restoring cp with Rumination, although it's pretty much dropped completely once you get lvl 50 Carpenter for Byregot's Blessing.

That's my general opinion of the lvl 15 skills for crafting. As the title of Caimie's third chapter points out, it's a good idea to get all the crafting classes to 15 before shooting for 50 on one. If you only go by skills in order to make leveling them easier, especially the first one, then I'd probably choose culinarian, alchemist, or armorer to get to lvl 15 first. Keep in mind that you can't use all 10 cross class skill slots that you have at 50 while levelling, so it helps to pick the ones that are most useful to leveling to get to 50 if you want to get them all to 50 or even 60.

Also, while the option to make super awesome crafting food might seem super useful while leveling other crafting classes, it's not as useful as you would think because it's based on percentages. So while a 2% or whatever craftsmanship increase with a 50 max cap boost from the food (I just made this up as an example) might seem super duper awesome, it's not going to be as useful if you don't have the high craftsmanship required to cap it.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

Yeah but even after getting every classes to level 15 (which I forgot to mention), OP eventually has to decide which class to push to level 50. Just listing out what each crafter class can provide on higher levels.

I see. That makes sense.

Well yes, that's true. I was referring to just what the class made though, not the cross class skills. There's more to choosing which class to level first than 'which skill is most useful to me?', although it does play some part. Culinarian is a very good choice to get to 15 early on for Hasty Touch. Blacksmith is good for Innovation or Ingenuity or whatever it is that lowers the recipe level, which can be surprisingly useful even when leveling. Leatherworker is kinda meh at lvl 15, although it becomes more useful in a few rotations. Armorer is very very useful for Rapid Synthesis, although it does still require some RNG luck. Goldsmith is useful for the 35/40 durability mats with Manipulation, and it's 4 cp less than Master's Mend I as well. Alchemist is VERY VERY VERY useful if you need to replenish cp, with Tricks of the Trade. Weaver is good for consistent progress with Careful Synthesis. Carpenter is also useful for restoring cp with Rumination, although it's pretty much dropped completely once you get lvl 50 Carpenter for Byregot's Blessing.

That's my general opinion of the lvl 15 skills for crafting. As the title of Caimie's third chapter points out, it's a good idea to get all the crafting classes to 15 before shooting for 50 on one. If you only go by skills in order to make leveling them easier, especially the first one, then I'd probably choose culinarian, alchemist, or armorer to get to lvl 15 first. Keep in mind that you can't use all 10 cross class skill slots that you have at 50 while levelling, so it helps to pick the ones that are most useful to leveling to get to 50 if you want to get them all to 50 or even 60.

Also, while the option to make super awesome crafting food might seem super useful while leveling other crafting classes, it's not as useful as you would think because it's based on percentages. So while a 2% or whatever craftsmanship increase with a 50 max cap boost from the food (I just made this up as an example) might seem super duper awesome, it's not going to be as useful if you don't have the high craftsmanship required to cap it.

Yea, speaking of food, most people have a tough time understanding what the "%" vs "max number" mean. A lot of lower levels thought they could boost stats by a lot when using a high level food, when in reality, the high level food provides no more stats than a low level food to them to due to the % vs max restriction. Lower level food mostly have a higher %, but low to medium "max" number, like "15% craftsmanship, 8 max". Where as high level food could be something like "8% craftsmanship, 40 max". If a young crafter's base craftsmanship is 100, then 15% = 15 craftsmanship. So the low level food would add up to 8 craftsmanship, since 8 is max. But if the crafter's base craftsmanship is only 100, then for the high level food, 8% = 8 craftsmanship. So the high level food would only add 8 craftsmanship as well, even though it has the potential for 40. To utilize that 40, one would need a base craftsmanship of 500... then 8% of 500 would be 40. Therefore, there's no reason for a low level crafter to acquire high level food. Else the expensive food would just be wasted. This is something that new crafters probably have to learn early and pay attention to... I might add this into my old crafting guide soon. Thanks for the input!