Is crafting and gathering really worth it?

[Jimmymagic]

Hello, I have been playing this game since Aug 2018. I love the game. I'm a huge a huge FF fan and have been since the very beginning. When FFXIV came out I hated it at first because frankly it was unplayable. That was at beta in 2013.

Starting back up last summer has been more than a pleasant surprise. SOOO much to do in this game. Initially I enjoyed crafting and gathering for about a couple of weeks until I got to the higher levels and it became very stagnant IMO. The payoff on the MB isn't very substantial until end game.

So my question: Is the amount of time put into crafting and gathering really worth it?
You can acquire gil in many different ways and you don't really need to craft your own armor since side quests and DF give you gear. On top of that, you can get spoiled from FC to make you gear and supply material. So what do you think?

[Vahlnir]

In the long run it's probably worth it. Personally I don't craft, but I do level a few classes for beast tribe quests when they come out. I also level a gatherer so I can get treasure maps. I have 0 issues making gil by selling anything that may be of value. New patches and expansions are prime times for gil making, though I don't do too bad between patches. You just have to know what sells and what doesn't.

[wereotter]

It all depends. There’s not just gil earned, but also gil saved. If you want to decorate a room or house, you can save millions by being able to craft your own furnishings. Similarly the latest glamour items always are easier to make than their price on the market board will imply. Also if you raid, you can save yourself a lot of gil by making your own food/potions.

I’ve only recently started getting my crafting jobs leveled and can say once you get to 50, the effort to level becomes a lot easier with custom deliveries, moogle/namazu dailies, and GC turn ins. The only real pain is that for crafting it’s 8 separate jobs to level, and the 1-50 leveling is a real slog.

If you do choose to do it, definitely focus on gatherers first (miner and botanist are really easy to level with guildleves) and then you’ll be more able to supply your own materials to craft.

[ElazulHP]

Primarily I really enjoyed the stories from all of the crafting and gathering classes. I'd personally recommend leveling them just for that alone, though that is a significant time investment so its up to you. I'm not really crafting or gathering much right now as i'm on break playing the Witcher trilogy lol... the market is a complete mess atm too though and I've already far exceeded my original goal of stockpiling enough gil to buy a mansion before the next expansion releases a new housing area. Really, if you're going to do a lot of crafting you're going to want to do it because its fun for you. The gil will come naturally along with it. I also enjoy that I can craft a full set of i380 gear for any of my other secondary classes without much fuss.

[NosamKin]

In general I think so - I have fun with both. Crafters takes a while to level because there are so many. But when I need something it's cool to be able to make it/get it yourself. I also like not having to find a repair person when my gear needs repair - I an do it myself. Note you can make your retainers gathers so then you don't even have to go get most items. My opinion for leveling gathers is BTN, MIN, FSH. i.e. BTN is more useful than MIN.
For crafters its hard to decide on an order. It somewhat depends on your main job. If you wear armor then blacksmith, armorer are high priority - but I main SMN - so I find weaver and leather worker more useful.
I use culinarian a lot - probably the most of any of them.
Goldsmith is nice because you make right side items for most anyone.
Alchemist makes weird stuff - but it often seems to sell at high prices.
Blacksmith and armor have been the least useful.

[Raldo]

If you're asking this question, the answer is almost certainly NO with two caveats.
Crafting - Being able to repair your own gear
Gathering - Being able to get daily treasure maps

Aside from these two things, I find that anyone that asks the question, the answer is generally NO. If you are on the fence about spending the time to level the jobs, you're equally unlikely to invest the time to use them to make money. If one or both of the above two things are useful to you, then I highly recommend it, otherwise not.


Personal anecdote:
I have leveled everything to 70. I do not use my DoH/DoL classes except for the above two things. Do I think it was worth it? Yeah, but I can see why others wouldn't. I have a lot of free time. I have acquired far more gil from selling loot from recently-released content (Pyros was VERY lucrative for me), than I have using DoH/DoL, but making money with those jobs is boring as hell in my opinion. [Insert comment about Eureka being just as boring here]

[LaylaTsarra]

Yes you can make a lot of money and I'm talking billions of gil from gathering and crafting. Put in the time and the effort and it will pay off. Personally I made most of my money from gathering and legendary nodes. Yes it takes time and monitoring the market but definitely worth it.

I also agree with the comments about making your own housing and glamour items from crafting because you can save a lot of money that way.

[Derio]

It depends.

I do gathering and crafting for food. Then sell it during raid tiers. Even though I dont raid, I still make a good chunk of gil from the food.
Same with my armourer when the time comes to craft HQ gear. Now that the raid tier is over its not really worth it until 5.0 starts and raiding starts back up.

But there are other things like crafting minions/bardings for chocobo/ housing items that supplement cash during downtime.

IMO its worth it, and for many others it is not, but I appreciate those people because if everyone did crafting and gathering I wouldnt make money.

[Niwashi]

I leveled crafting and gathering more to make my own gear/food/furniture/etc than to make gil off of it. (I've also been able to make gil whenever I decide to spend some time crafting stuff to sell, and I like having that option, but I don't do it often and it wasn't why I took up crafting in the first place.) I enjoy the sense of accomplishment it gives me to be self-sufficient in making my own stuff. I also enjoy the class quest stories and the crafting mini-game itself.

Since the game has plenty of other options, so crafting/gathering isn't necessary, it really comes down to personal preference. For the people who enjoy it, it's worthwhile. For the people who don't enjoy it, it isn't.

[InkstainedGwyn]

Raldo's comment probably works out the best. It all depends on what you're looking for, what you plan to invest in it, and how much you enjoy it. I personally love the fact that I can make anything in the game now, but not losing any money to it (i.e. gathering everything) or just buying what I absolutely cannot easily get my hands on, takes quite a bit of time. I invested a lot of time and gil and weekly turnins into my gear and my melds. But I also enjoy this, and I don't mind spending hours gathering all of the mats I need to make a set of gear or a bunch of furniture/consumables to sell.

A friend of mine crafts, but she often buys her mats, but she hates gathering and would rather spend the time doing other things.

There are other ways to earn gil, and if you're hoping for the answer that crafting and gathering will get you a ton more money than you're making elsewhere - it can, but only if you put in the effort to get there, maintain it, and use it (make the most out of it). If you'd rather not craft/gather, then you probably won't be able to utilize them to their fullest.

However being able to repair all of your gear is a boon (I can go for an entire night of current EX farming without having to repair once if I do my own repairs) and being able to gather maps requires you to only level one gatherer, and you don't even have to solidly outfit them as long as they have basic 65-70 gear. At that point, it's worth it, since the maps themselves sell well, as do the items dropped in Canals. And gathering can also be lucrative quickly just by farming and selling basic materials people use a lot of.