Starting Crafting & Gathering...

[RiversideGuy]

AND I have a newb question! If I equip my main weapon slot with, say, a pick axe for mining, how DO I level it up? Leveling up seems to be fighting and killing things, soooo... how does this work?

Next, as befits my experiences elsewhere, my thought is towards that which I can make food & potions to support myself in fighting... so Alchemist first. Then should my gathering be Botanist/Fisher to get mats for Alchemy? For buff food, Culinarian which I assume is supported by those 2 Gathering abilities.

Lastly, I DO hear a lot going for being able to make one's own gear... curious if y'all think this is more important to work on then what I think I want to work on (detailed above)?

[Aetharon]

Experience for mining/botany is obtained by successfully getting items from the nodes, and for each successful catch when fishing.

Alchemy uses materials gained from all three gathering classes and from mob drops, so i would suggest starting with mining, as that will ensure you have a source for the shards used in each recipe, and the very first recipe needs muddy water (mined in central or western thanalan, not far from city gates).

While there are no hard and fast rules about which crafting classes to take, and indeed, i know people who haven't touched crafting at all, it is generally advised to level them all to a degree, so you can get the cross-class skills for your chosen classes. However, being able to make your own gear has its perks, as not only will it save you gil, you can also get better stats by crafting high quality. If you don't mind buying the gear, go for the ones you prefer, and dabble in the others to get the cross class skills.

[RiversideGuy]

Ah, logic told me I'd need to wear my good stuff until I get to a place to "gather." I sure hope various nodes are pretty obvious, like sparkling and noted on mini and main map!

So there are cross class skills in gathering/crafting just like fighting eh? Good to know.

So I'll start w/gathering... off to find where to get the implements (main hand basket for picking herbs?)!

[Aetharon]

Main hand gear for gathering will be provided when you first take up the craft (hatchet for botany). However, should the class quests not see you geared up sufficiently, you can get NQ gear from the fieldcraft merchants in any of the cities (i think), or you can look for HQ on the MB (or train Weaver/Leatherworker to make the clothes and jewellery, and Blacksmith for the main hand/off-hand tools).

Nodes that you're able to gather from will appear on the mini map with the appropriate skill active (fishing is a bit different, as a button on your hotbar will become active when next to water that can be used for fishing), but other than that, they're highlighted by a bright ball of light, and the name/level of the node above it.

As far as cross class skills, mining and botany each provide three that are worth using, as they increase the number of shards you get, but they're pricey on the GP. The crafting classes have several options that can be crossed.

[Niwashi]

You'll get your level 1 starter tool from the quest unlocking the class. After that, you can get upgrades from vendors or the MB. When vendor NPCs that sell gear offer "Battle Gear" and "Field Gear", the Field Gear is stuff designed for crafting and gathering classes. For your crafting classes you'll want stuff that boosts Craftsmanship, Control, and CP (Crafting Points), whereas gathering classes want stuff that boosts Gathering, Perception, and GP (Gathering Points).

As far as leveling other crafting classes for cross-class skills, there are cross-class skills at levels 15, 37, and 50, except you can mostly ignore the 37 part, since the only really useful one there is Culinarian's Steady Hand II skill. If that's one of the two classes you plan on primarily focusing on, you'll get that one once you reach the right level. For the other classes, level 15 is the main pre-endgame concern.

I sure hope various nodes are pretty obvious, like sparkling and noted on mini and main map!

Two out of three, at least when it comes to Botany and Mining. There will be a sparkling location on a tree or rock with a label overhead showing things like "Level 5 Mature Tree" or "Level 10 Mineral Deposit". Their locations also show up as icons on your mini-map (though not on the full-sized map, so you need to be close enough to get them in mini-map range). They appear in groups of four, disappear once you've finished gathering from them, but then reappear once you've gathered from a couple of the others, so you can keep circling around that group of four nodes gathering the same items. Oh, and for finding stuff, you'll get a Gathering Log which lists all the items you can gather and the region and area where they can be found. You then just need to find the appropriate set of nodes in that area.

For fishing, just head to anywhere you see water and try casting your fishing line. If you've found a good spot, you'll see a notice something like "You cast your line in the Undiscovered Fishing Hole". Once you catch something there, it becomes discovered and is added to your fishing log. (Thereafter that "you cast your line" message will show it by name.) Your fishing log gives information on each fishing hole you've discovered, including a link to a map showing its location (though oddly, this doesn't show on your main map, only when linked to from your fishing log).

[RiversideGuy]

Thanks one and all, feet are definitely wet now, got all 3 DoL going, I DID notice that the basic mining spell is cross class, so I CAN have it running when I'm BLMing around! I had asked about "sparkling" because when I got my pick axe, I went to the first location (quest text) and spent 15 mins running around seeing nothing. After I posted here, I figured to try the second are and found a ton of nodes to mine!