A warm greetings to you all, fellow crafters! Rory Pond, here, to bring you Crafter’s Corner, where I will keep you up-to-date on all Final Fantasy XIV:ARR crafting news and theory. Whether you’re struggling to get past the “Diremite Web” hump on your Weaver or wondering which ilevel 70 item would be the most profitable to craft with the current changes in cost of philosophy-tome items, I’ll be here to keep you informed and productive on your path to become a true “Builder of the Realm.”

First and foremost, considering that we’re nearing 2.1, many of you may have several crafts at 50, or have possibly just hit your first crafting 50 and are wondering what’s important gear-wise. Furthermore, in the future, I’ll be backtracking to help those that are still in the lower levels (<10) with basics and easy-to-do leve’s that will help you gain those levels quickly. This week, however, I’m going to help you decide on what gear to sink your hard earned gil into – and, depending on what you leveled, what to craft.

One of the easiest to forget (and yet, most vital) tasks is to keep up with your quests. As you level, your crafting quests award you main and off-hand tools, or normal-quality gear (which could be a huge help if you’re in super savings mode and not worried about being fully HQ’d before you hit 50). Most importantly, however, is the final quest for each crafting class – the one that will award you your main-hand crafting tool. These tools are the best you can get at the moment, with the only exception being the stat-equivalent tools awarded for completing the achievements that give you the “___ of the Luminary”­ tools. We’ll get into the luminary tools next time.

So, you’ve completed your final crafting class quest, you’ve got your ilevel 55 crafting tool, and you’re wondering what to do next. First, let’s talk about the importance of HQ items, then we’ll get into what materia is best. One important thing to keep in mind – it’s always cheaper to farm/purchase your own mats and craft an item yourself, rather than spending “retail” amounts on the market boards. If this is your first crafting 50, however, you may have no alternative to purchasing your piece of gear outright. It’s not necessary to be completely HQ’d and materia’d the moment you hit 50, this is just to give you an idea of a short-term goal you can reach.

For each crafting class, you’ll have a full set of ilevel 55 greens. Each class will have unique pieces for: Head, Chest, Hands, Legs, Feet and off-hand. The reason you’ll want these to be HQ is because you want the maximum amount of Craftsmanship and Control possible. This will lower your dependence on food/materia when you’re trying to craft 1 and 2-star items later on. Depending on what you leveled, you may be able to craft your gear yourself – if not, as I said earlier, farm or purchase the materials and hire another crafter to make the piece for you. (An important tip when utilizing other crafters to make gear for you: HQ mats = Higher chance of HQ piece. Don’t come with all NQ mats and expect an HQ guarantee. The crafter may not be skilled enough to produce an HQ ilevel 55+ piece with all NQ materials.)

Now let’s talk about belts, necks, earrings, wrists and rings, or, your “Auxiliary” set. These slots will be shared among all of your crafting classes, so it’s most cost-effective to put materia into these first. Additionally, these are the pieces that you will spiritbind quickest (especially if they have materia in them – any piece of gear with materia will spiritbind at a faster rate), and everything (besides the rings, I’ll get into that in a bit) will convert into Crafting-related materia, which will save you gil in the long run. As of this date, I can tell you the exact pieces you will need because they’re currently the best you can have. The stats for each of the following pieces is reflected as the HQ-version only.

For your belt, you will want Raptorskin Merchant’s Purse (48). Like some of the other pieces you’re about to obtain, it may not be level 50, but it is currently the best belt you can have as a level 50 crafter.

For your convinience, the stats and recipe:

Goldsmith will craft the remaining pieces of your cross-class gear. For your necklace, you’re going to want to get Electrum Choker (49).

Next up are the Red Coral Earrings (45).

Now we come to your first auxiliary ilevel 55 piece – Militia Wristlets (50). To craft these yourself, you will need a minimum of 255 Control. If you just hit level 50, you may not have reached that stat amount just yet, so this is a good time to call on a friend who has leveled Goldsmith themselves.

Finally, your rings, also ilevel 55. You’ll want two Aetheryte Rings (50). These are the only pieces that will not convert into crafting-related materia. Instead, I’ve seen results such as Ice, Vitality and even Piety-Materia. Unfortunately, if you’re converting to sell the materia, these do not sell for nearly as much as crafting-related materia sells for. However, the stats are definitely worth it. They give the highest amount of CP than any other ring, yet the Spiritbond Gain itself is what makes these rings your best bet.

So, to sum up your auxiliary set:

Control + 26

CP + 124

Increased Spiritbond Gain + 2

The stats are the same across all classes for the pieces in your main set, as well, so:

Control + 155

CP + 9

Craftsmansip + 98

If you’ve filled up your crafting class’s Set pieces and Auxiliary pieces, it’s time to move on to what materia would be best – and it all depends on what your goals are. To save your head from exploding, we’ll get into that next week on Crafter’s Corner. In the meantime, work on upgrading your normal-quality gear into high-quality, and have a great week!

Have a question you’d like answered in next week’s article? Comment here or E-mail Rory Pond at [email protected]