Any pointers/advice for starting CUL?

[Mirarara]

Well, you need to have most crafter class at 37 to 50 before you start with levelling CUL to 70.

[Frizze]

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

Over the long run, being able to make your own stuff is always a benefit gil-wise(if we count time, that can be another issue). Afterall, once youre done leveling you can reap the rewards of being leveled up for as long as your level is relevant... so, this whole expansion cycle most likely. And while youre only looking at it from the perspective of the item you can make yourself to save gil, if you choose so later on you could also make other meals for profit. All up to you.

[Ziggyzapps]

I'd level botany along with cooking, and just quick synth the base mats that require 3-5 botany items. Get the 5 scrolls each week from squadrons that give 2 hours of +20% crafting exp(doesn't stack with guild bonus) and if you can get a bunch of the engineering manuals that give 300,000 exp. Gather as much mats as you can handle, botany retainer is very nice to have for this, and then quick synth for as long as you can. Save leves for when the exp slows down or use them to make sure botany keeps up with cooking. Botanist gather every ingredient for jellied compote and almost all the easy cul recipes, leveling them together is a lot easier than leveling them separate.

[Deckout]

Well, you need to have most crafter class at 37 to 50 before you start with levelling CUL to 70.

This certainly isn't true. Culinarian is my only level 70 craft and I got there without using a single cross-job skill. Having botanist and taking the time to gather your own materials is, however, very useful.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

I do get the feeling that leveling craftsmen up may actually not be economically a win over just buying food as I need it

Just using the Crafting Log to level (and doing each Leve exactly once, making up the difference with Collectible hand ins for the Master books as necessary) I'm making a decent amount of gil. Whether crafting is profitable (necessary for it to be "an economic win") is dependent upon actually having stuff to sell to recoup the costs. If all you do is Leve (and Quick Synth) your way up, you will be facing an economic loss and not start to recoup anything until you start factoring in savings by not buying the HQ foods you are after. Making stuff and putting it on the board, ideally stuff that moves, is the key to recouping the cost of leveling. Do that, and you may find that your crafting can not only pay for itself to be leveled, but also for the stuff you wanted out of it in the first place.

Bear in mind though, I'm leveling all 8 crafting classes from 60 to 70, not just one from 1 to 70.

[Elamys]

Culinarian probably gives the most "essential" abilities, so I would say it's very feasible to level CUL and HQ easily with just the one craft. It also has very, very few mats required from other crafts. If you were only going to level one or two other crafts, I'd say maybe CRP to 50 for Byregot's Blessing, and ALC to 15 for Tricks of the Trade.

[ManuelBravo]

Make sure you have FSH and BTN leveled , MNR as well if possible, have retainers gather ingredients for you. Cross class also helps a lot.

[QT_Melon]

I found CUL after level 50 (52) to be one of the easiest classes to level up. Ishgardian Muffin is a godsend in leves and as a collectible. The materials with the exception of Yak Milk could all be purchased from a vendor in Gridania.

This was an old leve guide from 1-60 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...#gid=795395908

Mango has one for Stormblood - https://goo.gl/uDCzzC

Also to help with preperations - http://www.ffxivcrafting.com/ I think may still be rather relevant to leves you decide to do as you level up. Good luck!

[Ksenia]

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

Any time something is crazy expensive in crafting, it's because there is a time sink connected to it. You will get to a point in Culi where you find it all hinges on one or two components that if you buy you lose Gil on making an item but getting said components means leveling other classes. Gathering in this case. I looked at the recipe for Jellied Compote and that's going to be the case. Level Gathering classes with the intent to make Jellied Compote. You might end up selling resources used to make it and get enough Gil you don't even need to make your own.

[Mirarara]

This certainly isn't true. Culinarian is my only level 70 craft and I got there without using a single cross-job skill. Having botanist and taking the time to gather your own materials is, however, very useful.

You can get to 70 without cross class skill, that's for sure. But it will be extremely difficult to 100% HQ 66+ stuff (which I supposed it's his intention) without cross class skill or heavily melded lv 70 eq.

Edit: I supposed it's still doable but I don't think most people would want to solve a puzzle of 100% HQ for high level recipe without cross class skill such as byregot blessing, piece by piece, ingenuity and careful synthesis II. If they like this challenge they won't even ask how to in the first place.

Edit2: As stated by OP, he wanted to craft Jellied Compote, a lv 70 1 star recipe. Cross class skill is almost certainly needed.

Edit3: Also, I find levelling from 50 to 70 much less expensive if you have the required cross class skill, due to how you can craft your own leve item or collectible easily. While I have my own gathering at max level, I never gathered my own item to level CUL because it take much lesser time to just buy from marketboard, and sell the crafted item at around the same price. You just need to do some research on the MB.