A few questions from someone trying to figure all this out!

[Murdock_27]

I have been playing FFXIV for close to a year although I am a very casual player. Only a few hours a night. My main is only level 64. I was going broke trying to keep gear on him so I thought I would try crafting. Crafting started to get a little pricy so I thought the smartest thing to do would be make a miner and botanist so I wouldn't have to buy anything. Turned out I really like the gathering classes. I have both up to level 56 now. Okay now my questions...

Can I level my gatherers and then crafters higher than my main if I have never gotten one all the way through the msq? (plan on leveling all the crafting classes next I hope)

I am leveling a few retainers. What is the easiest way to earn Ventures?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

[Remyogic]

Hmmm, though I'm not 100% it is required to max a Battle class in order to max a Gatherer; I believe it is. If nothing else, you want to anyways, because in order to max your gatherer, you will need to unlock all the Stormblood zones, (optional) gain flying in every zone (gathering without the ability to fly is VERY tedious), and unlock the NPC's at Rhalgr's Reach (which I believe doesn't happen until near the end of MSQ).

Easiest way for Ventures:
1. Beast Tribe Quests
2. Do your daily Grand Company Provisioning turn in (HQ for max seals) for GC seals and use the Seals to buy Ventures.

[Shouko]

Can I level my gatherers and then crafters higher than my main if I have never gotten one all the way through the msq? (plan on leveling all the crafting classes next I hope)

I am leveling a few retainers. What is the easiest way to earn Ventures?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

It's usually best to go through the whole MSQ before trying to max out a DOL/DOL (gathering/crafting)

Best way is just to straight out buy them from the GC once you're high enough rank and enough seals, buy 99 at a time, otherwise it's just a pain to get enough to keep them going.

[Elamys]

You can level gatherers and crafters past battle classes (have a former FC mate that had all their crafters at 50 while their main DoW was still level 25 ish), though as others have mentioned, you need to follow the MSQ to have access to more areas to gather in.

[MistakeNot]

Can I level my gatherers and then crafters higher than my main if I have never gotten one all the way through the msq? (plan on leveling all the crafting classes next I hope)

You certainly can, but keep in mind that to get full access to all zones you will need to do the MSQ.
So if your gatherer outlevels your main class you may not be able to access all gathering nodes you want.

I am leveling a few retainers. What is the easiest way to earn Ventures?

By far the easiest way is simply to buy them with GC seals. GC seals can be earned many ways, but the easiest ones are likely doing the daily turn ins for your crafting/gathering classes as well as expert turn in of unneeded dungeon gear.

[Murdock_27]

Thanks for the pointers, much appreciated! I think I will start doing the GC turn ins and other exp earning activities on my two gatherers until they run out of zones to fly in. That makes sense not to mess with trying to run around. At that point I will probably be about caught up with my DoW main. Then I will dive back into crafting. Maybe I can get them high enough to be able to gear up my main, and as I do the msq I will just bounce around all of them. LOL at my pace I'll be about 6 months or so to get there but I'm in no hurry. Just enjoying the ride

[Frizze]

Another potential source for ventures is from allied seals. Try to join a hunting focused linkshell(there are several of them on your server), and participate with the level 50 hunts that get called when you have time. And remember that any loot you get in dungeons/raids that you dont need as an upgrade or glamour can be turned in at your GC for more company seals too. And your level shouldnt hold you back much on the gathering front. At 64 you probly have access to all of HW, and close to half of the SB nodes right now. Yes, flying makes things SO much easier(not to mention the nodes that are effectively flying only based on their location), but theres nothing stopping you from dodging monsters while mounted to get to your node then activating stealth to safely gather all you want. And dont worry about taking longer to get to the end. Itll still be there for you when youre ready.

[Shadygrove]

You also get GC seals from leveling roulette.

As for your crafting classes, I made gil leveling mine. Levequests and GC turning eat gil but advance you. Ixal and moogle quests for your crafters will also get you ventures.

[Squintina]

Money wise I would also recommend that when you do quests as a battle class, you sell your quest rewards.

Do not pick the money bags (eg. Allagan Bronze Pieces). Pick gear or items that you can sell on the marketboard.

By the time I finished SB, I had 5 mil almost entirely from selling my quest rewards instead of using it for myself, and using poetics to buy gear instead.

If you queue for MSQ roulette that's 400-500 poetics to use to buy gear instead of using gil.

Also you can use poetics to buy gear you don't need to then trade in for GC.