Note: This article is based on real information from community discussions of ffxiv and game sources.

Besides crafting jobs there also exist Gatherers of the Land. They are harvesters, that gather natural materials from nature. The two groups differ a lot, but they are involved in the process of crafting.

FFXIV Crafting and Gathering Basics

To expand gatherers like Botanist, Miner and Fisher together with crafters, you need to care about planning, good experience and optimization of tools.

crafting in ffxiv is much more complex than in other MMORPGs. It includes a mini-game, that can be fun after one understands the basics. A nice part of the system is, that almost always exist several ways to end a recipe in high quality.

Even so it requires a bit of learning. Because of that, to craft the highest level recipes of masters, one must grind for gear and many materials, to push that gear to the max by means of overmelding of materia.

Best to end the mainstream storyline before diving into crafting. To expand crafters, one can use guild leve quests, that make it fast. Without access to new areas, gathering materials becomes difficult.

Only experience from crafting lists does not suffice to roll a crafter entirely. Leve quests help to pass that gap and reach the next grade of crafting.

crafting is fun, but costs a lot. It requires investment, because getting all crafters until level 80 is required to truly start too win money. At level 80, there exists a skill, that makes any crafted gear automatically high quality, if the materials are ten levels lower.

After reaching that milestone, winning money becomes simpler. Self-repair and melding of gears is also possible.

The real income comes in every new tier of entry. Crafted gears become the best for progress in fights. High-quality overmelded gears sell for a lot, especially at the start of a new expansion.

Crafters must also have their own overmelded gear. Also, selling middle crafted gears between levels 30 and 70 can be surprisingly profitable, because few compete here.

crafting deals about turning materials into something more precious than the bits. Sometimes crafted objects sell for more than their materials. Compared to other games, crafting in ffxiv has its own stories, what makes it a rewarding experience on its own.

Tools like Teamcraft help to plan rotations and create macros, while Raphael works as anoptimizer for rotations. Many players pass more time crafting than in combat content.