General Question(s) on Group content and midgame

[DawgPilez]

Oh I get it. Advanced jobs don't have their own level separate from the base class. I was thinking every job had its own separate level. I guess I can change out of a basic class once I hit 30 (and unlocked the adv class). I'll probably go THA next for sure cast then ARC and see where I'm at. I'm interested in WHM... I don't really care about the other ones.

I'm using 'class' and 'job' interchangeably. Also, I understood the hunting log. It was this GC hunting bill that was new to me. It doesn't look like I need to worry about it any time soon. I'm not seeing how I will get GC seals quickly if most of the stuff lvl locked. Sort of silly that I have the collector's ED and I won't be able to use my couerl mount for a while (unless that's separate from the choco license).

Good to know about the glamour system. I'm not able to store items in any kind of chest/bank that I've found. I don't ever get gear, so I guess it's not a problem.

[Estellios]

When you joined a Grand Company there was a new hunting log added that you can access by clicking the GC symbol in the Hunting log menu. You can get a lot of seals towards your mount very quickly that way.

I just checked and if you are using a gamepad you will need to switch to the GC hunting log using L1/R1 until the GC symbol is selected, so maybe that is why you are missing it.

[Erendis]

You can get enough seals to get a chocobo in a day (couple of hours) with GC hunting log. Part of it needs you to do Halatali dungeon which you can unlock with the quest that starts near Waking sands in Vesper bay.

And yes, to use any mounts you need to have GC chocobo.

[Niwashi]

Sort of silly that I have the collector's ED and I won't be able to use my couerl mount for a while (unless that's separate from the choco license).

Though it doesn't explain it that well in-game, when you get your company chocobo, that's also what unlocks the mount system in general, so yes, you'll effectively get both the chocobo and your couerl at the same time.

I'm not able to store items in any kind of chest/bank that I've found. I don't ever get gear, so I guess it's not a problem.

If you're in a Grand Company, then you've already unlocked the ability to hire retainers. (It was unlocked when you joined the Scions.) Talk to a Retainer Vocate at the vendors' area of any of the three main cities, and you can hire a couple retainers to help with that. (Though the game uses the term "hire", it doesn't cost anything.) Retainers do several things for you:
They can store your extra items.
They can sell items for you on the marketboards.
They can (once you unlock ventures with another quest) go on ventures to bring you back items.

[Spawnie]

dont u have to complete grand company story quest to unlock retainers??

[DawgPilez]

Hmm my comment didn't show up. I got my mount and am very grateful to you all. Someone even /hugged me in game without being prompted by some mediocre CNJ abilities in duty finder.

I don't know where to look for FC... but I'm not going to ask in game. Anytime I speak in game outside of /party gets me a random FC invite (which I never join) and a gold spammer...

Another question I have is in regards to dismantling (breaking down or whatever it's called). If heard you get 300 pts split between all of the crafts. You get 1 pt when you have at least 10 lvls in any craft. With a cap of 100, it would be wise to only lvl 3 crafts to max. Since I'm not considering going hardcore on crafting, is it a wise bet to only focus on a certain number of DoH? Is this dissassembly skill useful for CUL?

[Bixby]

Since I'm not considering going hardcore on crafting, is it a wise bet to only focus on a certain number of DoH?

Desynthesis aside...

Even if you don't take crafting all that seriously, it's nice to level as many of the non-cooking crafts as you can stand to at least 40 for self-repairs. Self repairs are cheaper than NPC repairs, and allow you to repair your gear to 100+current durability. So that's a max of 199% durability on any gear you repair yourself (since you can't repair it until it's at 99%), which is really, really nice. Also keeps you from having to remember to repair before you do a dungeon or something, since you can just repair inside the dungeon (as long as you remember to keep dark matter stocked). Being able to meld your own materia is handy, too, but if you're not a serious crafter or gatherer, that only comes up here and there.

It can also provide a decent stream of small-but-steady income, even without a lot of fancy crafting gear and cross-class crafting skills. Even if you can't find anything that reliably turns a profit on the market board, there are profitable crafting leves, which will help you burn through leve allowances when they pile up. And the weekly challenge log for crafting for a bit of bonus gil/XP.

IMO, it's difficult to dabble, just because once you start, there's so much to it that it's hard to not do that one next thing, then that other one, and so on. But that's likely my personality as much as it is the crafting in XIV. >.>

[Estellios]

The most useful desynth skill is Goldsmith because it's one of the few options for Mastercraft demimateria which is used in getting or crafting almost all top-tier crafting gear. Culinarian itself can only desynth fish which can get some rare materials but only from unbelievably rare fish, and then the materials are only for vanity items. I don't think it's worth it. Other than that Leatherworker is currently very useful for getting Fieldcraft 3 demimateria which are also used for getting high end crafting items, but it's not as necessary.

That said, having Culinarian leveled up will be incredibly useful as making HQ Spicy Tomato Relish to turn in for Artisan's Spectacles for desynthesis is the easiest way of getting Mastercraft Demimateria.

If you aren't considering going hardcore on crafting you don't have to deal with the nightmare that is demimateria so just feel free to level up whatever desynth skills you want. Getting materials from random dungeon drops and aetherial gear is useful on its own.

[DawgPilez]

It seems like that Bixby. You guys are kind of talking me out of CUL. I figure it would be useful since I like fishing... but I figured that I would only cook for myself. I'm not looking to turn a profit (not initially) as I tend to do for myself and rely on my guild or in this case FC to help for anything else. Long have I been the guild crafter. It's draining, plus FFXI left a bad taste in my mouth for crafting. While it's better in this game (initially) I figure since I like gathering more, I would dabble more in DoL for any revenue making.

I'm starting to think I'll focus on Leatherworking, WVR, and CAR. I might mess around with goldsmithing (if mining helps for that). I don't plan on doing much more than that initially. My plan would be to work the middle ground of recipes in the market should I do so (making tools or parts of multi-crafts). I'm still not sure if it's wise to only lvl 3 crafts past 10 to be able to get said 3 crafts to the capped desynth levels. I don't have much time to think about it as all of the crafts are creeping towards 10 due to my interest in getting additional seals and being an achievement whore.

At some point I'm going to force myself not to craft beyond the 3 I pick. I'll probably ignore crafting since whatever FC that picks me up should have a say in where I direct myself. Find a FC seems difficult.

[Niwashi]

I'm still not sure if it's wise to only lvl 3 crafts past 10 to be able to get said 3 crafts to the capped desynth levels.

Personally, for choosing which crafting classes to specialize in, or how far to take them, I'd focus more on the actual crafting part than on the corresponding desynthesis skill, but maybe that's just because I haven't gotten into desynth very much yet.

At some point I'm going to force myself not to craft beyond the 3 I pick.

If you're dabbling in all of them through the early levels before specializing to three, level 15 might be a good target for where to bring the others. At levels 15, 37, and 50, each crafting class gets a unique skill that can be cross-classed by any of the other crafting classes. By getting them all to at least the first of those, the three that you continue further will have a variety of extra skills available to choose from.

The level 15 skills are:
Alchemist: Tricks of the Trade - Restores 20 CP. Can only be used when condition is good.
Armorer: Rapid Synthesis - Improves progress. Efficiency: 250%, Success Rate: 50%
Blacksmith: Ingenuity - Lowers recipe level to current level for the next 5 steps. (24 CP cost)
Carpenter: Rumination - Removes Inner Quiet effect and restores CP proportional to the number of times control was increased.
Culinarian: Hasty Touch - Improves quality. Efficiency 100%, Success Rate 50%
Goldsmith: Manipulation - Restores 10 points of durability after each step for the next 3 steps. (88 CP cost)
Leatherworker: Waste Not - Reduces loss of durability by 50% for the next 4 steps. (56 CP cost)
Weaver: Careful Synthesis - Improves progress. Efficiency 90%, Success Rate 100%

At level 37, most of the DoH classes (all except for Culinarian and Goldsmith) get a "Brand of <Element>" skill specializing in a different element for each of them. These are only useful for the small number of recipes that actually have an elemental affinity, which is rare enough that I wouldn't regard them as a high priority. For the two exceptions:
Culinarian: Steady Hand II - Improves action success rate by 30% for the next 5 steps (25 CP cost)
Goldsmithing: Flawless Synthesis - Increases progress by 40. Success Rate 90% (15 CP cost)
These two are useful, especially CUL's Steady Hand II.

Then the set that you only get on the classes you take all the way to 50:
Alchemy: Comfort Zone - Restores 8 CP after each step for the next 10 steps. (66 CP cost)
Armorer: Piece by Piece - Increases remaining progress by 1/3. Success Rate 90% (15 CP cost)
Blacksmith: Ingenuity II - Lowers recipe level to 3 below current level for the next 5 steps. (32 CP cost)
Carpenter: Byregot's Blessing - Improves quality. Efficiency: 100% plus 20% for each bonus to control granted by Inner Quiet. Success Rate: 90% (24 CP cost)
Culinarian: Reclaim - Increases the chance materials will not be lost after botched synthesis to 90% (55 CP cost)
Goldsmithing: Innovation - Increases control by 50% for the next 3 steps. (18 CP cost)
Leatherworker: Waste Not II - Reduces loss of durability by 50% for the next 8 steps. (98 CP cost)
Weaver: Careful Synthesis II - Improves progress. Efficiency 120%, Success Rate 100%