Newbie here. I've searched high and low in every forum, fansite and wiki and literally every guide out there about crafting is for high-end, 2 star/3star min-max or contains outdated information. (I might have missed something though!)

There seems to be nothing out there for new-entrants about the crafting and every discussion I've seen about low-end crafting invariably ends up with a ton of posts saying 'everything to 15, culinary to 37, max all, spend gil, have fun!' but nothing of any real substance in regards to these queries:


a) How important is crafting for those who are not going to be investing billions of gil or spending all day macro-crafting?

b) Can we get by without it?

I get the feeling dungeon loot is superior to crafted goods at the moment. Is it an optional hobby craft that can be a very powerful self-sufficiency tool? Or should everyone be taking it asap, even if its just to grind to 50 and wear that sweet moogle hat that does something.

c) If gear is obtainable quicker and easier via other means, what does crafting bring that is vital for a new player somewhere down the line? I've seen talk of materia melding, but is that something that is important at any point outside of crafting? Do you need to craft to materia meld?

d) Disregarding gear itself, what else does crafting bring to the table?

e) Is it viable for players to just pick up one or two things and casually progress through them? Say for example, I'm a strange type of guy who doesn't mind fishing as a 'break' from defying the laws of physics and making big numbers pop up. Would it be sustainable for me to buy equipment and whatnot to progress in fishing without gimping myself or destroying the bank balance?

Say, I decide to add a crafting class to that, let's say I go for Culinary because it seems to tie into fishing. Can I casually fry eggs and make chicken nuggets all day long without so much as being murdered financially due to gear requirements or reliance on other crafting classes?

Or in the end is it TLR Level everything to 15, culinary to 37, spend gil, max to 50, enjoy? (I hope it isn't!)