Sometimes, you just want a good 'ol grind

[ronibosch]

Thank you for your main post, Gemina. This will get me more involved in my hand and land jobs!

[Shialan]

I don't mind the soulless gathering and crafting, especially because you only need to click 2 times for every craft. But I really hated the tomestone grind for the mats. I had zero fun, even though I like to grind. I mean, I was farming for hours in Ragnarök Online, just to get that Marc Card for WoE. Or slaughtering thousands of Pupas. But in theme park MMOs like WoW and FF 14? I can't be bothered. It's just not fun.

[Gemina]

I don't mind the soulless gathering and crafting, especially because you only need to click 2 times for every craft. But I really hated the tomestone grind for the mats. I had zero fun, even though I like to grind. I mean, I was farming for hours in Ragnarök Online, just to get that Marc Card for WoE. Or slaughtering thousands of Pupas. But in theme park MMOs like WoW and FF 14? I can't be bothered. It's just not fun.

I can think of a lot of other things in game that are more fun to do than crafting and gathering for scrips. It's not really about that though. It's all about working towards a goal. Similar to saving up money to buy something you really like, going to the gym to lose weight and/or gain muscle tone, or having a hobby. These are all things where the destination is far more rewarding because of the work you put in to get there.

In terms of crafting and gathering, for me it is also very relaxing and brings my mind to state of peacefulness. A grind like this you don't try to get done in one day, or even a week. Maybe not even a month. You just chip away at it, but still break off of it to do other things in the game you do enjoy so you don't burn yourself out. Like I said before, I know it is not for everyone. However for me personally, I like to incorporate 'delayed gratification'. I could easily buy or partially buy my way into the i620 gear, but by doing so I lose out on the rewarding experience of having to travel uphill to get there and having my own signature on all the gear. Only though delayed gratification do you gain a certain appreciation for the work put in, and the end result.

As Deceptus pointed out, this is the last set of DoH/DoL gear this expansion, and it will last well into the next expansion. I am actually still using the i490 accessories on my DoH/DoL classes. I did upgrade the left side to i590 and melded only what I needed to in order to meet the requirements to craft the i620 gear and gather the materials from the newer nodes. Even then, I still need food to help.

[Knot_D]

T

What do you mean? Literally I've done it with same method as what you listed, farmed the Gripgel by myself with Rarefied Draught, do spearfishing at Upper La Noscea, gathered them unspoiled node mats, and crafted the gear. All done in a week (or 2 cuz farming tomestones).

[Gemina]

What do you mean? Literally I've done it with same method as what you listed, farmed the Gripgel by myself with Rarefied Draught, do spearfishing at Upper La Noscea, gathered them unspoiled node mats, and crafted the gear. All done in a week (or 2 cuz farming tomestones).

Keep reading your initial post over and over until it comes to you. Let me know when it happens.

[Hanaya]

tbh, one of my favorite parts of the game is gear upgrade grinding. I always wake up at 2 am for patch release and speed gather/craft all the new gear and housing items in a basement-dweller monster energy fueled frenzy. It's probably because I grew up playing runescape, but I love relaxing, mindless grinding where I can just click buttons and listen to music/podcasts and eventually be rewarded. It also feels so good when my gear is finally crafted/pentamelded after 15 hours straight of working on it lmao; it's genuinely as satisfying as clearing ultimate/savage for me. I also stockpile materia for months pre-patch, so I end up making a ton of gil just selling off the excess from pentamelding.

Honestly, I really love gathering/crafting in this game. It's not super complex, but it scratches the runescape-grind itch so well.

Also, this is maybe an unpopular opinion, but I love pentamelding. I love stacking up ridiculous amounts of materia (when this patch dropped I had 500 of each of the crafting materia, and like 300 of the gathering ones) and pentamelding everything in one go.

my only gripe is I really hate having to use tomestone mats to craft gear. I like the mindless aspect of crafting because it helps me chill out and relax, so it's annoying to have to turn my brain back on and go fight stuff just so I can actually make my gear without getting price gouged for them on the marketboard. It is nice that non-crafters can make money off of selling the mats, and it provides a use for tomes when you don't have any classes to gear at the moment, but I just really want to hit trees that don't hit back sometimes...

[ICountFrom0]

Today I finished making the left and right side from 2 patches ago, upgrading the purple scrip set to the crafted HQ stuff.
Melded the left side out completely, left the right as 3's and 4's.
Didn't bother with the tools and offhand.

Then I started on the right hand side of the new stuff. Managed 2 rings and started the earing before I ran out of purple crafting scrip. I'll get more of that in 11 hours, so I'll pick up then.

[Knot_D]

Keep reading your initial post over and over until it comes to you. Let me know when it happens.

But I did the challenge- Alright then bestie, you do you

[TaleraRistain]

I have most of the materia already for the most part. Since we can't pentameld all of the current highest grade materia, everything that is grade IX and below I have an abundance of as we get quite a bit of it from materia extraction, and getting to a point where excess scrips are spent on materia due to not having anything else of worth to spend them on. I'll still have to grind some scrips for the grade X's though.

Haha, you may not want to see a scrip or collectible again when you get done with all the gripgel and immutable solution.

Btw, not sure where your current gear and stats are but you can get earthbreak aethersand fairly easily from aetherial reduction to save on having to farm some scrips. Especially if you have a fisher. You can spearfish guppies for sands in the new Bronze Lake location and also get sands from their predator, Nosceasaur.

[Gemina]

Today I finished making the left and right side from 2 patches ago, upgrading the purple scrip set to the crafted HQ stuff.
Melded the left side out completely, left the right as 3's and 4's.
Didn't bother with the tools and offhand.

Then I started on the right hand side of the new stuff. Managed 2 rings and started the earing before I ran out of purple crafting scrip. I'll get more of that in 11 hours, so I'll pick up then.

Nice job! Every step forward is a step towards your goal. Keep at it.

Haha, you may not want to see a scrip or collectible again when you get done with all the gripgel and immutable solution.

Btw, not sure where your current gear and stats are but you can get earthbreak aethersand fairly easily from aetherial reduction to save on having to farm some scrips. Especially if you have a fisher. You can spearfish guppies for sands in the new Bronze Lake location and also get sands from their predator, Nosceasaur.

Oh, thanks for the tip! Garland tools didn't mention aetherial reduction can be used to acquire the sands, and they're usually a pretty reliable source. Luckily I didn't put too much time into farming those scrips, but it was also one of the easier and more relaxing portions of this grind.