Beast tribes and general advice for "ft" gatherer? :o

[Neela]

Hi there,

im a bit tired of all the endgame discussions and community arguments about war/magic deciples job balance and decided to start the complete other side of FF14 - and to be honest im totally new to this side. Nearly no experience with gatherer & crafter at all.

I started with gatherer on a twink and did some research though i guess the generell way to lvl is doing leves, gc daily delivery and first log obtainables?

Now i wonder if there are any specific beast tribes for gatherer as well like mogs are exclusivly for crafter? : o
And if there are any sides/blogs around for more specific informations about gatherer one should know? ^^

Im a bit exciting cause after 4 years this is fairly new to me in this game :'p


Thx in advance and have a nice day
Yuni ^__^ /

[Solarra]

A Few Tips to Get You Started

I see you have Fisher and WVR at level 50 so I know you aren't exactly starting from scratch but I hope this is useful to you.

Crafting
First, I'd suggest thinking about your long-term goals: Do you want to be an omni-crafter/gatherer or are you just interested in levelling a couple of classes so you can repair your own gear and make a few things?
If you're not sure, the best advice I can give you is to level all the crafting classes to 15. This will give you cross-class abilities that will be a great help even if you decide only to level a single class from then on.
The vendor in each Crafting Guild sells most of the materials you'll need for those early crafts. Complete the log for a nice chunk of XP and if you have a Friendship Circlet you can wear it to further boost XP (works for gatherers, too).

If you decide to go the omni-craft route, level all your crafters together. You will get very useful cross-class skills by levelling all to 50.

Gathering
It pays to level your gatherers slightly ahead of your crafters, especially if you omni-craft (that's why I suggested thinking about your crafting goals first). I had no problem levelling my gatherers just by getting materials to craft. I didn't need leves at all.
If you are only levelling a few crafting classes you may find you need leves to level.

Advantages of omni-crafting
You will be able to make all your own Gathering and Crafting gear in HQ (you won't get HQ quest rewards for gathering or crafting class-quests). You will also be able to make your own food, potions etc.
This is the cheapest way of doing things. It certainly involves a lot of effort but if you enjoy it, it's well worth it.


Odd Classes
If you are only going to level single classes here's 2 to avoid: Culinarian and Fisher

Culinarian is fairly easy to level but it is excluded from some very useful abilities. eg. You cannot learn how to affix materia as a Culinarian.
You will also get less scrips for your crafts when you make Collectables for Rowena (needed to buy master crafting books at higher level, materials and gear).
However, if all you want to do is craft food for your battle class it's obviously the one to go for (Botanist is a good complimentary gatherer).

Fishing is basically Gathering Savage. It is easy enough to level but it is peculiar and has it's own set of rules. You can very easily end up with your bag full of different baits and only a very small proportion of fish you catch are actually useful. So it's of little use for making gil, although some end-game fish can be profitable. Going after specific fish can be very frustrating (you'll catch everything else).
However, it's fun to do as a relaxing side-activity and there is a certain satisfaction in filling up the fishing log if you are the collector/completionist type. There is also a very challenging series of quests at level 50.
Spearfishing which was introduced in Stormblood is a lot of fun (easier to catch what you want too, in my opinion).
Level it if you enjoy it, but don't expect to make a lot of gil.


Retainers
I would get one battle (your main class) and one gathering retainer. The battle retainer will be able to bring back animal products like skins, fleece, horn. For gathering, I'd choose Botanist or Miner.
Level them up and keep them geared. They will be invaluable at higher levels.

Gear
For both crafting and gathering keep your gear up to date in the same way you would your battle classes. Tools and Chest are a priority.
Trying to craft or gather with low-level gear is frustrating and difficult (I had a few friends who wanted to get into crafting who just couldn't get their heads around this). Treat gathering and crafting the same as your battle-class, upgrade as often as you can and go for HQ. It will make your life so much easier.

Beast Tribes
There are no beast-tribes for gatherers unfortunately. Ixali are for ARR Crafting (some gathering involved though for all classes) and then you have Moogles in HW (Moogle quests don't involve gathering but are very quick and easy compared to Ixali).


Gathering after level 50
HW Gathering is quite complicated. There are a lot of timed nodes with some items only being useful as Collectables (Rowena) or for Zhloe (Custom Deliveries in Idyllshire). You also have Aetherial Reduction from Ephemeral Nodes and Favors (don't bother with Favors, you shouldn't need them).
You will be using different rotations for Collectables, Aetherial reduction and gathering materials.
There's not much point in overwhelming you with information, so I've taken the lazy route and linked the guide that got me through it below.

Collectables
You can start these in Mor Dhona but apart from doing the quest to unlock them, I wouldn't bother with them until you get to HW. The XP is positively stingy.
However, they are definitely worth doing once you can get scrips. If you don't want to level all your crafters, these will be your cheapest source of gear. Crafted is slightly better when melded but the scrip gear is almost as good and can be uprgraded.


I seem to have written a lot about crafting. For me, it's hard to separate Crafting from Gathering as they just seem to go together. Anyway, I hope this was useful. I'm sure I haven't covered everything.


Here are the guides I used to level my crafters and gatherers:

Gathering is very simple in ARR, no guide needed. However, from level 50 onwards, you'll probably need a little help. This should help you make the transition:
Camie Tsukino's HW Gathering Guide

You may find this site useful for keeping track of timed nodes and fish:
Garland Tools


My Crafting Bible:
Camie Tsukino's ARR Crafting Guide - Part I up to 50
Part 2 Heavensward Crafting - Level 50 - 60
Part 3 Stormblood Crafting - level 60 - 70

I see we are on the same realm - feel free to give me a shout if you need advice/help

[Hasrat]

No, no Beast Tribes for gatherers. But yes, leves/turn-ins more than make up for it. As anecdotal evidence, I leveled my MIN/BTN from level 50 to 53 in the span of a couple lazy hours exploring new HW mechanics. Doing leves, you always want to make sure you hit the +25% evaluation bonus on the ones that offer it. I did burn a fair pile of allowances there, mostly on the big 10-allowance leves, but dunno if they're worth it; just wanted to do them myself for that sweet green check.

Turn-ins, it'll take some extra time, but typically always worth gathering up the HQ to turn in. It's not really much extra effort, so double the reward is pretty hefty.

There is the collectible game to play, like a specialized turn in system, but tbh, the exp reward from it seemed fairly pitiful. Mostly I just did that while waiting on Unspoiled nodes. Which, as another point, is probably something you'll want to check guides/listings for times and item slots, to simplify things.

That's just been my experience with early HW, though. But pretty sure exp gains have been buffed a ton in the last year or so, making it super quick/easy to level. What you do with it at the end (especially if you're not chasing crafting as well), couldn't say. Guess it's all about selling mats if you're not going to use them, if that's something that appeals to you.

[TaleraRistain]

Twink, I haven't heard that term in years

[Roth_Trailfinder]

While I agree with most of what Solarra said, there is one part I cannot agree with.

You will want, if you are not leveling all of your crafting classes, Culinarian to 37, not just 15. This is because the level 37 cross class move is so valuable. Some would say 54 (for Muscle Memory) but that’s a long enough trek, and not much of an improvement over a level 50 cross class (Piece by Piece, by Armorer) that you can get by without it.

[Solarra]

@ Kicking Hammer - Good catch! You're absolutely right, Steady Hand II is pretty much essential, I should have mentioned it.

[Neela]

A Few Tips to Get You Started

I see you have Fisher and WVR at level 50 so I know you aren't exactly starting from scratch but I hope this is useful to you. (..snip...)
I seem to have written a lot about crafting. For me, it's hard to separate Crafting from Gathering as they just seem to go together. Anyway, I hope this was useful. I'm sure I haven't covered everything.

Here are the guides I used to level my crafters and gatherers: (...snip...)

I see we are on the same realm - feel free to give me a shout if you need advice/help

Heya first of all thanks for your post (as for everyone else as well) - was a bit knocked off with fever and a cold... so sry for the late reply.

Actually I got weaver and fisher on 50 yeah.. but that was just a try of my fc to get me interested back in the days - that being said both of them were more or less leeched by fc members or bought with gil via MB and leves. think nearly a year ago... honestly I never jumped on the train and they got more or less forgotten.

now playing an alt/twink I want to learn the basics and enjoy their lore/quests instead of power-leveling just for the sake of it - therefor im really happy & thankful about your sum, tips and links. And dw worry about the crafting stuff... they will follow if I get deeper in this facet of FF14 - so even here thx a lot :3

so long
Yuni :3