Gathering - tips appreciated!

[Dravus]

So I've recently decided to push myself to level MIN and I'm hoping to make a decent amount of gil in due time. Truth be told, though, I'm a little overwhelmed by it all since gathering in this game is a lot more in-depth than it is in the other MMO's that I've played.

 

Which isn't a bad thing! I'm just wondering if anyone could be kind enough to offer me any advice or throw some useful links my way to help me keep track of everything. I've heard that certain gathering spots only become available at specific times (and during specific weather conditions) so if there are any useful sites for detailing all that then I'd love to be pointed in their direction!

[Maril]

http://ffxivclock.com/ is about to become your best friend. It appears to be fully updated for heavensward. Basically it follows the in game time and plays an alert depending what you have asked it to track, along with slot-information. When you gather at a rare node, you will get 9-ish different slot options of which you have to uncover the right one to get to your target. This can be done with a GP skill, but that leaves you with little GP for any other moves, therefore it can be very nice to know what slot to go for. 

 

Other than that, for levelling, always buy survial manuals rank II from your GC whenever possible. They give you a big exp boost lasting for 2 hrs (or up to a certain amount of bonus exp) and really help. 

 

And as a closing note, I can craft the gathering sets (up to and including 60) with a good chance of HQ, so if you need any of that done, you can always approach me with materials ^^ I can't craft the endgame blue stuff yet though, it'll be a while before I am up to snuff with my melds for that.

[V'aleera]

Until you get to level fifty you won't need to worry about the Unspoiled Nodes (the gathering nodes that appear at set times during the Eorzean day). Detailing all the high level stuff is a huge post on its own so for now I'm just going to lay out the basics.

 

Gathering revolves around two key numbers: the % chance to successfully gather a material and the % chance that material will be high quality when you gather it. The stat Gathering increases the likelihood of successfully gathering the item; likewise the stat Perception increases the likelihood you will get a high quality item.

 

There are three ways to gain experience: harvest regular nodes for materials you can use or sell. This is the slowest method but but depending on the materials you farm you can still make a little money on the side. Additionally, any time you gather an HQ material you gain a large boost in experience for that gather attempt. You also get more experience the more times you gather without missing.

 

Leves are the next (and most preferred) method and will net you the most experience for time spent, but you don't get anything of value to sell other than the leve reward. Of significant note is that none of the leve gathering nodes have materials you can HQ. What this means is that if you are leveling via leves and not gathering regular mats the perception stat is entirely useless.

 

Finally, once per day you can turn in items listed by one of the GC NPCs. The value you get from these turn ins is quite large and can even be increased: with each new day a random number of the listed turn ins will be marked with a star, doubling their exp reward. Beyond that if you turn in HQ materials you will double the experience reward again (this can be done whether the item is marked with a star or not).

 

As mentioned above your GC will sell fairly cheap consumables that will buff your experience gains for a set amount of time.

 

The mechanics of Gathering are very simple: you have abilities that influence your gather rate and abilities that influence your HQ rate and a set amount of GP to budget in using them.

[Kellach Woods]

All right.

 

Many efficient ways exist to level BTN/MIN (FSH grants so much XP per catch that just fishing you'll get there)

 

First, you'll want a Survival Manual Rank 2 from the GC, 2h or 40,000 bonus XP, whichever comes first. Any bonus XP = Good XP.

 

Second, you'll want to check where your usual GC turn ins spawn and how fast you can get them to HQ - HQ Star turn ins = best source of XP overall. Equivalent level in HW will grant at least 200k XP... at level 50. It's 750k at level 53.

 

Third, understanding leves. For MIN/BTN, evaluation leves are the best possible thing you can have for leveling when nothing else is available. However, you need the secret to always getting that +25% bonus rewards. It's fairly simple but to understand how it works, it requires understanding how the evaluation leves function.

 

You have a limit on how many nodes you can gather (usually from 4, 6 or 8) and of those, you have 6 strikes on those nodes. Each of these nodes has two items, a regular one worth 6 points (equal level to your character) and a rare one worth 9 (always worth 9, think it's +4 base to your character).

 

Since we're not aiming for nothing but the best, you'll be wanting an average of 40 points per node you gather. Ideally, you want to stay where you'll have a chance to gather all 6 nodes so you can recover from a botch on another one. So, quick calculation 6 x 6 = 36, and even 5 x 6 + 9 = 39 makes you one point short of the vaulted 25% bonus.

 

However, if you raise the level of the leve by 1, then the regular nodes are worth 8 points instead, for not that much more difficult a gather, making the calculation 6 x 8 = 48 per node! In Heavensward, sadly, it's 7 points, making it 6 x 7 = 42, requiring that 6th node to hit - You can mitigate that with getting all first 5 gathers then hitting that skill allowing you to have 100%/100% chance and go for the rare, making it 5 x 7 + 9 = 44. It's only two points, sure, but overall, it allows you 1 botch per 2 nodes as opposed to 1 botch per 4 nodes.

 

Always raise by 1 when doing these leves unless you absolutely cannot (because you're already at +4/+2 to the level­).

 

The other leves aren't really worth doing.

[Delilah Scythewood]

If you have a dual monitor set up, gathering is a great way to make money while also giving you way to watch Netflix or all those shows and movies you haven't gotten around too. It also helps it feel less grindy and monotonous!

[Aris]

I followed the tips in this guide to rotate between evaluation leves when leveling BOT. I'm not sure if it still works, but it did for me last month while leveling. I don't believe it does in Heavensward content, though. You do go through more GP this way, but at later levels I found I didn't mind having a break while waiting for it to replenish because it gets very grindy. Cordials are often quite cheap, too.

 

Best of luck! I can also make any gear up to 50, so feel free to give me a shout.