If you’ve just begun your crafting journey in XIV, you may feel a little bit overwhelmed. The crafting world is rich and full of complexity. It’s a surprisingly deep activity, with its own storyline, NPCs, and plenty of gil to be made for savvy players. Crafting basically comes down to a mini-game. You’ll unlock new skills to make that mini-game easier. But really it’s all just balancing an item’s progress with its durability. Once the progress bar fills, the item is complete. But if the durability empties before then, it’s a wasted effort. Alongside crafting the item itself, you’ll also be determining its Quality via the materials you use and the smart application of “Touch” actions. Touch actions increase Quality, and the Control attribute (which you’ll find on your gear and accessories) increases the amount of Quality they can bestow.
What’s The Point In Crafting High Quality Items?
High Quality items cannot be bought from vendors. So you’ll be entirely reliant on other players for these. When it comes to gear like weapons and armor, High Quality variants will have much more desirable attributes at the same level requirement. This also means that if you’re looking to profit from your crafting career, High Quality is usually the way you want to go. If you’re not making High Quality items, you won’t be making that much money! Just go and take a look at your nearest Market Board and compare the High Quality version of an item with the normal one. Usually there’s going to be a drastic difference in price. This is unfortunate if you want to buy them, but great news if you can make them!
What Else Do I Need To Craft High Quality Items?
High Quality materials help. I’d recommend leveling a couple of gathering jobs too if you’re serious about crafting, otherwise you’ll be spending more gil than you can make for a long time. Beyond that, it’s really just getting comfortable with the skills you have available to you. I’d suggest doing some further reading on your job’s specific rotation using a resource like FFXIV Guild. Follow the guides as closely as you like – they can help you make sense of all your options and paths to success. Don’t feel like you have to stick to them dogmatically, though. It’s important to still have fun with this! Getting items to High Quality can feel like a bit of an arcane mystery at first. But once you’ve got some decent gear behind you and a deeper understanding of the tools at hand, it becomes much easier. It’s also worth noting that some skills are shared between crafters, which is why so many people serious about the activity tend to level everything up.
How Do I Increase My Control in FFXIV?
It all comes down to gear. Without decent gear, your control won’t be high enough to impact Quality in a reliable way. Unfortunately, getting your hands on decent crafting gear can present a bit of a challenge if you’re new to it. The crafting job quests will intermittently reward you with new pieces of gear. But you absolutely cannot rely on that for the solid, regular upgrades you’ll need. If you can afford it, the easiest thing to do is head to the Market Board and splash out on some High Quality gear at your level. If you’re in a Free Company, it may be worth asking if a fellow member is able to craft something for you. They may do it for cheaper than Market Board prices, or just ask you to cover the material costs. The alternative is taking on Custom Deliveries. This isn’t something that’ll be available to you straight away. You’ll need to be at least level 60 on a Disciple of the Hand or Land job, and be able to access Idyllshire. Then after completing the quest “Go West, Craftsman”, you’ll be able to grab another one called “Arms Wide Open” from an NPC called Geimlona. This will get you started with the Custom Delivery system. Custom Deliveries are available to crafters and gatherers. They basically task you with delivering specific items to people that want them around Eorzea. Completing them will improve your relationship with the client, potentially increasing the rewards for deliveries to them down the line. By completing these deliveries you’ll be rewarded with yellow and white scrips, which can be used to purchase better gear (among other things)! And one last thing: Once you’ve got the High Quality gear you need, don’t forget to meld it with Materia. This can add up to substantial stat boosts, and give you great increases in Control.
