Any pointers/advice for starting CUL?

[Lyraele]

Doing web searches for crafting advice in general, or CUL in particular has yielded nothing but what appears to be out of date information. Does anyone have any advice/tips/tricks/references for starting a CUL and leveling to 70? Thanks in advance.

[Ksenia]

Most of the old information still holds up. Leveling crafting happens in phases. 1-51, 51-61, 61-70.

1 to 51 can be done with a basic rotation that relies on cross class. Getting all 8 classes to 15 is still the best way to go. If you plan to level all 8, getting them all to 18 is my suggestion. At level 18 on all skills you get Standard touch. It's the quality skill that has 80% success so you can steady hand, standard touch with 100% success.

Inner Quiet, steady Hand, waste not (leather 15)
Standard touch x 4
2xCareful synth (weaver cross class)

This not only improves the chance of HQ but increases experience through crafting.

Crafting and Leve for 1-50, raw grind to 51. That's not as bad as it sounds. 33x3 bouillabaisse will get you pretty close to the level and the bouillabaisse will serve you until you can make baked onion soup.

51 to 61 you aren't trying to fill the quality bar through brute force like you do up to 51. You need to stack inner quiet and Byregot's Blessing or Brow if you chose to only level culi. Either way the stacking is the way to go.

61 and on seems to be a version of 51-61 but they are adding more in class abilities. Careful Synthesis III for example happens at 62 and it allows you to clear the progress bar with 2 hits on basic stuff in the Storm blood recipes. It's still inner quiet stacking for a blessing or brow.

Gear always matters and having all 3 gathering will make things much easier on you unless you are sitting on plenty of money.

[Elleia]

Don't forget to do your Ixal dailies when you are under 50 - they give a decent chunk of EXP and you don't need any mats outside of what you are given, so it's cheap and efficient. Moogle dailies are the same, and you'll want to do those everyday once you hit 50. GC turn-ins are also something to do each day, and you get double EXP when you turn in HQ requested items.

[FoxyAreku]

I recommend Carpenter and Alchemist to level 50 at the least. Others help, especially for leveling, but these are the two skills from cross class you will use the most in pretty much every situation.

Other than that, just do the easiest leves available at your level range, making HQ stuff can be hard but with steady hand II, hasty touch, and byregots blessing you should be at least mostly successful.

Once you reach level 66, you'll be pretty much set with manipulation 2 and prudent touch, these two skills (along with initial preparations if you are a specialist) are OP and get rid of almost any need for CC skills (aside from the two I already mentioned). It's just getting there that may be a hassle for you.

[Catwho]

One thing to note: I've found CUL more than any other crafting class is going to suck up an entire retainer if you plan on crafting at 70. GSM, BSM, and ARM can share a retainer to store everything (rocks from the ground), CPT, LTW, and WVR can hold all their bits and bobbles on one person, but CUL will suck up a whole 175 slots by itself, between all the ingredients. You can share some with ALC but be prepared to make some space for CUL more than any other DoH class.

The issue is moot if you don't plan on cooking past 70 as a means of making gil, though.

[Shadygrove]

Everything to 15 first.

To get any craft to 15 just do every recipe once. The guild shop sells everything you need, except the cooking guild doesn't stock fish, you buy fish at the hyaline just off the aftcastle. The guild quests provide more than enough shards. Check with the local levemete before you dispose of the stuff you crafted, some of it will be levequest fodder.

[ChameleonMS]

CUL is the most annoying class to level as nearly all the recipes require 5 unique ingredients which have to cross usage to other crafting classes. That said, in each tier (every 5 levels) there is usually one recipe that only requires one gathered ingredient, with maybe one other ingredient you could purchase from the FC material supplier. Usually a juice. I remember making a lot Grape Juice, Chamomile Tea and Dark Vinegar.

[Lyraele]

Thanks for all the pointers! I didn't appreciate how important getting all the crafters to 15 is, in particular.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

Having all of the crafters at 15 helps when leveling to 50 (as does taking CUL to 37 but you're planning on maiming CUL so ....)

Having all of the crafters at 50 helps when leveling from 50 to 60.

Having any other crafter leveled is not necessary for the 61-70 run. Its quite possible (though you'll be NQ'ing a lot early on) to level from 60 to 70 without using a single ability from another class.

[Lyraele]

Yeah, CUL is the one I want at 70, because Jellied Compote is prohibitively expensive. I do get the feeling that leveling craftsmen up may actually not be economically a win over just buying food as I need it, but I'm going to ignore that feeling and see how it pans out. :P