An Overview Of Final Fantasy XIV's Gathering And Crafting

Unlike many MMOs, Final Fantasy 14’s gathering and crafting system is quite complex. Rather than pushing a button to create a shiny new weapon, there exists a myriad of classes dedicated solely to the processes of crafting and gathering, referred to as Disciples of Hand and Land (DoH/L) respectively. Every DoH class can produce several varieties of housing items, in addition to minions (collectable non-combat pets), cosmetic items, and gear.

The gathering and crafting classes are comparable to combat classes in that they get progressively better as they level up, gaining new abilities, recipes, and access to better and better gear, which in turn increases their ability to gather and craft. Gatherers can acquire better materials which are more likely to produce high quality results, and grant more experience. High quality items made by crafters provide a small stat increase, until higher levels, when the difference is often huge.

Crafters can desynthesize items relating to their class to gain back raw materials. For example, a blacksmith could desynthesize an Ancient Sword dropped exclusively from Stone Vigil. While not a craftable item, the sword will yield resources that similar craftable items at that level would. Some rare items can only be attained this way, and desynthesis is necessary for some recipes.

The act of crafting itself is rather interesting. The crafting HUD shows two bars, one indicating the item’s progress in the craft and the other represents the item’s quality; in other words: how likely it is to become high quality once the progress bar is filled.

Recipes also have durability, which indicates how many steps in the craft can increase progress or quality before it breaks, failing the craft and sometimes losing the materials. Crafters have to use skills to maximise quality whilst filling the progress bar. Crafting is not without some elements of luck, however. Every action that increases progress or quality has a chance to fail, but some skills can minimize the risk. Interestingly, crafting becomes easier the more crafting classes the player has leveled, because crafting classes can use skills learned by other crafting classes.

The gathering and crafting classes work rather well together. Between miners, fishers, and botanists, the crafting classes are more than well-stocked. While some items are most easily gathered by combat classes (such as meats and thread from mites), crafting classes supply themselves and gatherers with useful items to up their gathering and crafting abilities, repeating until endgame.

Because of how FFXIV’s class system works, a player could conceivably be entirely self-sufficient, leveling every non-combat class at roughly the same time so they could gather items for their crafters, to make things for the rest of their classes. If they don’t already have a class at 50 (60 with the expansion) this would be slow and tedious. But, such a process would make every class comparably more powerful than it would otherwise be, provided the player uses HQ armor and weapons as close to their level as possible.

Overall, I much prefer this system of gathering and crafting to that of any game I’ve played. It’s very interesting, intricate, and unique. New recipes are added for every class with each update, and I look forward to making shiny new gear on my blacksmith.