General Question(s) on Group content and midgame

[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%