Leveling your crafting classes in Final Fantasy XIV can be a rewarding journey, opening up new avenues for gil and gear. While the Rest EXP bonus offers a passive boost, there are several stackable buffs, gear enhancements, and strategic methods you can employ to significantly accelerate your crafting EXP gains. This guide will detail the most effective ways to maximize your EXP and level up your crafters in Eorzea efficiently.
Road to 80 Buff: The Preferred World Advantage
Players on Preferred Worlds in FFXIV benefit from the invaluable “Road to 80” buff. This powerful bonus grants a flat +100% increase to all EXP earned until you reach level 80 in any class, including crafting. This effectively halves the time and effort required to level your crafting jobs, making Preferred Worlds an ideal starting point for new players or those looking to quickly level alternate characters or crafting classes. If you are starting fresh, consider creating a character on a Preferred World to take full advantage of this substantial leveling bonus.
Engineering Manuals: Essential Early Level EXP Boost
Company-Issue Engineering Manuals or Commercial Engineering Manuals are indispensable tools for crafters, particularly in the early levels from 1 to 21. These manuals provide a significant +150% bonus to EXP gained specifically from successfully crafting items. While their effect is limited to crafting completion EXP and doesn’t impact other sources like levequests or Ishgard Restoration hand-ins, the substantial boost they offer in the initial levels makes them practically mandatory. Even beyond level 21, Engineering Manuals can still contribute to faster leveling, especially when combined with EXP scaling methods, by reducing the total number of crafts needed to advance.
Helping Hand II: Free Company Crafting EXP Buff
For players belonging to a Free Company, activating the “Helping Hand II” Company Action provides a beneficial +10% EXP bonus to all successful crafting endeavors for a duration of 24 hours. This Free Company buff offers a consistent, albeit smaller, boost to your crafting EXP. It’s important to note that this buff, like other crafting EXP bonuses, typically does not apply to EXP rewards from Ishgard Restoration deliveries. Coordinate with your Free Company to activate this buff during your crafting sessions for a steady increase in your leveling speed.
Bonus EXP Gear: Wearable Leveling Advantages
Several pieces of gear in FFXIV offer direct bonuses to EXP gain, making them valuable assets during your crafting journey. Notable examples include:
- Friendship Circlet: Grants a +20% EXP bonus, effective up to level 26. This is often obtained through promotions or in-game events.
- Ala Mhigan Earrings: Provides a more substantial +30% EXP bonus, lasting until level 51. These are often acquired as pre-order bonuses for expansions or through specific in-game promotions.
The bonuses from these gear pieces are stackable with other EXP boosts and can be worn without interfering with crafting macros, allowing for seamless integration into your leveling process. However, similar to other buffs, the EXP bonuses from these items generally do not enhance EXP gains from Ishgard Restoration content. Equip these items whenever possible while leveling within their effective level ranges to maximize your EXP intake.
EXP Scaling: Strategic Crafting for Maximum Reward
To optimize EXP gains from crafting Ishgard Restoration recipes, utilize the principle of EXP scaling. This method involves delaying hand-ins until you have crafted the necessary quantity of items to reach the next crafting tier. The EXP awarded for crafting items scales down as your crafting level increases. Therefore, by crafting a larger batch of items at the lowest level possible before leveling up, you capitalize on the higher EXP rates at lower levels. This strategic approach ensures you extract the maximum possible EXP from each Ishgard Restoration crafting cycle, significantly boosting your leveling efficiency, especially when combined with other EXP enhancing methods.
By strategically combining these methods – utilizing Preferred Worlds, Engineering Manuals, Free Company buffs, bonus EXP gear, and EXP scaling – you can drastically reduce the time required to level your crafting classes in FFXIV and efficiently reach endgame crafting content.
