Crafting... for what purpose?

[tocsin]

I craft so I can make gil, so I can give it away and feel charitable, since I cant afford to give away money in real life.

for realsies.

[Shadygrove]

Its like this. If you enjoy crafting then craft.

If you don't craft, gather, or wish to buy a house you don't really need gil.

[Caoihmin]

If you don't enjoy crafting, there are other ways to make gil that are just as good.
If you like to know that you can make whatever, whenever you need it, that's my reason for crafting.

How? Especially if you plan on relic upgrades and endgame play?

[Gillionaire]

How? Especially if you plan on relic upgrades and endgame play?

Spiritbonding. I know people who spiritbond 4-5 hours a day and make 3 million gil.
I've personally tried it too, and it has real potential, I just choose to craft since it's easier and I don't have to compete for mobs.

You can fully SB a set (6 crafter set from Mor Dhona, 5 Accessories) in about 40 minutes. that's at the very least 6 craftsman's materia III, and 5 materia III. Get a tier 4 on any of them bad boys (10% chance), and it's more than likely 300k+ right there.

EDIT: Whoops I meant III

[Caoihmin]

The ones the NPC sells?

[Talia_Hailwind]

Self repair at ANY time.
Glamor Prisms
Food for raiding.
Potions/Posions for raiding.
Making the best Crafting/Gathering Gear.
Housing items.
Minions.
Making Gear to Spiritbond.
Making Gear to Desynthesis.
Making weapons for your first relic.
Making Zodiac quest items.
To get some use out of all those shards and crystals.
You'll be useful in your Free company.
Making those Elitest crafted accessories which are a huge Gil sink.
Gil.
More Gil.
Even More Gil.

Trust me I know this stuff.
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[Sessurea]

I love crafting and the marketboard. I love filling up my retainers and then go off gathering unspoiled nodes. Feels gloriously efficient. Crafted gear isn't exactly irrelevant though, especially when it is just released ( usually with a new raid tier too ). Currently gonna put some gil together for expansion I guess. I can imagine myself wanting a crafted lvl 60 set asap.

[Squand]

What seems to be the point? When I look at the loot progression:

Top Tier Content --> Tome Content (Myth, Sold, Poetic, whatever else is next) --> Dungeons --> Crafting?

You can run the hardest content in the game with fully melded crafted gear. A fresh level 50, pops on 110 crafted gear without melds and can roflstomp everything up to turn 5 maybe more.

Time considerations, you can't gear up all of your classes in Tome and dungeon gear.

You put dungeon drops ahead of crafting in your branching. But that's not really how it plays out. Yes the highest tier dungeon drops are better than crafted gear. But you can't run that dungeon without high level gear. If you don't pony up for 110 gear, you have to run all the mid level dungeons that you already did with your main ad nauseum.

Challenging content isn't locked behind BiS. BiS makes things easier; it isn't necessary. This goes for crafting & gathering as well.

[baopee]

It is nice that don't have to worry about gils and repair bills. all 4 star gears only take couple mins to make and it sells for million gils. Plus it is fun to help other people out as a crafter.

[giantslayer]

Ultimately, there are three reasons to craft:

1. Make gil by making items and selling to other players.
2. Save gil by making items for yourself instead of buying.
3. For the enjoyment of crafting, playing the markets, or feeling like an entrepreneur/small business owner.

The only equipment that you can make that is arguably superior to the higher ilvl items you can get as drops or with tomes are crafted jewelry overmelded with materia to have two primary stats (usually Vit + your class's primary). Since these are tradeable, this technically falls under reason #2.

As far as left side equipment, it isn't much better than comparable non-crafted and falls behind higher ilvl pieces. It takes a lot of time and work to be able to craft i110 and afford the materials. Crafting is ultimately not an efficient way to gear your left side in the grand scheme of things.