Benefits of Specialist Crafters?

[kwsapphire]

I recently unlocked crafting specialization. All of my crafters are level 70+, but I only just started unlocking most of the location-specific gatherer/crafter stuff & master recipes.

I did some research, please can someone tell me if this is all still accurate?

- You can specialize in a max of 3 crafting jobs
- Can't specialize in more than that, even if you get more Soul of the Crafter stones?
- No gatherer specialization?
- Specialization unlocks certain recipes that can only be crafted by specialists
- These recipes are limited to the current patch & become craftable by non-specialists when a new patch comes out

Is all this accurate?

If so, what classes do you recommend specializing in? What kind of special recipes do specialists get? Is that how you craft the level 80 gear?

I appreciate any insight, and thank you!

[Canadane]

While you cannot specialize in more than 3, you can change your specializations around. It does require more Soul of the Crafters, and you can only change 3x a week.
Everything else you said is accurate. You did miss the part where it adds extra stats though, so that's a big plus to crafting is making normal things easier.

[kwsapphire]

Excellent, thank you for the clarification!

[Frizze]

To answer a few more. No, there is no gatherer specialization(there are only 3 DoL classes, so it probly seemed redundant). As for the types of recipes that get specialist-locked, they used to put important recipes behind the lock. This lead to a lot of complaints, so the most recent patches have seen most locked recipes be vanity items. Housing items, bardings, minis, mounts, glamours, and music rolls. Right now if you wanted to turn a piece of plating from Ruby Weapon into a trophy for your house, youd need to be an ARM specialist to do so(or hire one).

[kwsapphire]

Ahh, very helpful, thank you! Good to hear specialization isn't required to craft max level gear, I was worried. Tho I think the facet and ishgardian gear still require recipe books that I don't yet have access to. All my crafters may be 70+, but most of them are still in the mid-50s quest chain.

[Frizze]

The recipe books dont come from quests. If you havent done so yet, unlock the collectables turn ins for Rowena's shop. Then its probly a good idea to do the follow up quests for each expansion. Finally, unlock at least 2 of the clients for custom deliveries(Zhloe in idyllshire was the first, Kai Shirr in eulmore is the most recent... dont know if youre allowed to skip). Most of the master recipe books are purchased with Yellow Crafter Scrips. Yellow scrips are earned by turning in collectables to rowena and are rewarded for doing custom deliveries(the crystalline mean quests reward them too but arent repeatable, its also possible to get squadron members who reward them as a chemistry). You can buy the Master recipe books 3-8(some or all) from most scrip exchange NPCs. The most relevant recipes will be in books 7 and (mostly) 8. As the rest of the 5.x patchline is released, new recipes will automatically appear in the correct book(which will mostly be 8, but we might get some lower level glamour recipes still) and you will automatically know them as long as you have used said book. The other books(masters: 1, 2, demi, and prism) are exchanged for crafted items(1 and 2), for specific materia(demi) or just purchased for gil(prisms). These exchanges take place in mor dhona. The books roughly correspond two per expansion(so 1 and 2 are ARR, 3 and 4 are HW, 5 and 6 are SB, and 7 and 8 are current), though the lower level ones are going to mostly be used for glamour/furniture at this point. You wouldnt be able to use books 7 or 8 on a given class until you hit 80 with said class, but nothing is stopping you from buying the books early and having them set to go when you hit max level.

Im sure i could type more, but probly best not to throw everything at you at once. Keep asking questions, and im sure someone around here knows the answers. Best of luck!

[Mhaeric]

I didn't see it in your list, but you get a small boost to each gathering stat for your specialists. I forget the exact amounts, but something like 20 craftsmanship/control and 12 CP.