How exactly does Rested EXP work?

[Frizze]

Yeah, the key here is when the rested exp bonus is applied. When you kill something, rested exp. When you discover a new area, when you finish a quest, when you complete a challenge log objective, when you complete a hunting objective... none of those apply the rested bonus. However, each time you gather something does use the rested bonus. Each item you craft uses it(cotton to thread, thread to cloth, cloth to shirt - a single finished item could use a half dozen or more rested bonus hits). While out fighting, many people arent typically killing everything that moves - theyre killing the ones they need to, the ones in their way, and the ones that attack them first then going back to update quest objectives. If i have a quest to harvest 30 logs(or need them for some carpentry i plan to do) then im using 30 seperate rested hits - more if i need high quality.

[Niwashi]

When you kill something, rested exp. ... each time you gather something does use the rested bonus. Each item you craft uses it(cotton to thread, thread to cloth, cloth to shirt - a single finished item could use a half dozen or more rested bonus hits). While out fighting, many people arent typically killing everything that moves - theyre killing the ones they need to, the ones in their way, and the ones that attack them first then going back to update quest objectives. If i have a quest to harvest 30 logs(or need them for some carpentry i plan to do) then im using 30 seperate rested hits - more if i need high quality.

This makes it sound like it's about the number of times you get rested XP, when it's really the amount of rested XP you get. Gathering gives you small bits of XP very quickly, while combat gives larger XP rewards with a little more time spent for each. Since rested XP is a percentage (50%) of your base XP, it follows that same pattern.

But rested XP is relative to the amount of XP it takes to go up a level, which in turn varies by what level you are. If you just unlocked a brand new class at level 1, where making a single item or killing a single enemy will take you up an entire level, then that's a level's worth of rested XP in one shot. On a higher level class/job where leveling up takes a great deal of either gathering, crafting, or killing, then it would take a long time to use up a level's worth of rested XP.

So if you have plans to do content with both a high-level and low-level class during your gaming session, doing the high level one first will maximize the effect of the rested XP you begin with.