Hand or Land

[krall2069]

Is it smarter to level up DoL first or Hand? I was thinking it would be cheaper to be able to gather all of my materials and then level up crafting and such. Thoughts?

[XiXiQ]

yeah, you'll want your DoL's about 5-10 levels ahead of the crafters so they can supply them.

[krall2069]

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply

[Urthdigger]

Well, I find it helps to keep them more or less even. Sure, you want to be able to get the materials with your DoL... but you also want to be able to make your gear with your DoH.

[krall2069]

Would it be wise to start doing that now? Or wait till level cap

[Niwashi]

Would it be wise to start doing that now? Or wait till level cap

The advantage to starting crafting/gathering early is that if you get it up to around the level of your main class you can make your own gear while you level up. You'd have access to High Quality crafted gear whenever you want it and the ability to upgrade everything for free every time you gain a level that makes the next tier of gear available.

The advantage in waiting until level cap is that leveling your crafting and gathering can take up a lot of time (either that or a lot of gil if you prefer power leveling your way through it with purchased materials and turn-in items). Lots of players don't want to interrupt the story or advancement with such a time consuming activity. (And at low levels gil is harder to come by as well, so it can be harder for players who want to power-level their crafting.) They'd rather advance through the game quickly, and later once they reach the end take the time to go back and advance other classes.

There are people who prefer either way. Pick which is more important to you: better leveling gear and the satisfaction of creating it yourself, or uninterrupted advancement through the storyline and earlier access to endgame.

[Urthdigger]

I'd say get to cap first. Quests give you enough gear to gear up on the way, and you can unlock a lot of stuff you may wish to work on while leveling crafters and gatherers (especially daily/weekly things where starting sooner rather than later is a good idea)

[Frizze]

I would say to start sooner rather then later. The reason i would say that is that just starting also unlocks some things. Specifically, even being level 1 in crafting or gathering opens up grand company turn ins. Once per day your GC will ask for a specific item crafted or gathered by each class you have started. This adds up to be a decent amount of exp(can be close to half a level per turn in under some circumstances) that requires only a minimal amount of effort, and can still be skipped on any days you dont have time or arent in the mood. It also gives you a project you can work on anytime you want a break from leveling/story, and an extra use for your leve allowances. And if you end up liking crafting/gathering, it gets you into it earlier so you get more enjoyment.

[Sida]

To add about GC turn ins. If you turn in an item that is starred that day, you get double reward, both in company seals and in experience. If you turn in HQ item, you get double reward. And yes, if you turn in starred item in HQ, you get quadruple reward, that is, four times the usual. Also to note, regardless what class you are in when you do the GC turn in, the experience of those goes always to the respective class. So even if you turn in a row a weaver item and leatherworker item while having your main job on, you get experience to your weaver and leatherworker clsses respectively. Before level 35-40 I used to get a whole levels worth of experience from the turn ins per day since I adamantly turned in HQ items.

Another note of leveling, when you craft always use the skills to increase the quality. They increase the experience you get even if the result will not be HQ item. If you have increased the HQ chance to about 50% for example, even if you get normal quality result you get about 200% exp or so (can't recall the exact ration but seem to remember 300% is maximum) takes slightly more time but can cut ingredients needed to level a lot.

[krall2069]

Thanks guys, appreciate the responses