FF14: The Collectibles Guide – Gathering Edition

Gathering

Gatherers and Crafters have another way to level in Heavensward, and that is from turning in collectibles. It’s a new addition to the game and a welcome one indeed. The extra experience helps in the lengthy grind to level 60.

At level 50, you can pick up the quest titled Inscrutable Tastes. Upon completion of this quest, it will unlock the ability to collect. An action called Collector’s Glove for all disciples of lands, and Collectible Synthesis for all disciples of hands. At level 56, you can collect items of that level to turn in for blue gatherer scrips and blue crafter scrips which is what we are eventually aiming for.

The scrips can be used to buy gear, as well as Regional Folklore tomes for gathers and Master Book III’s for crafters.

For now, if you are level 50, you want to focus on leveling. This means doing your Grand Company turn ins each day as well as gathering the collectible items. For Miner, it’s Yellow Copper Ore, and for Botanist, it’s Old World Fig. Fisher is a little bit different as the fish they want changes each day compared to botanist and miner which all but a few remain static(the static items for Botanist and Miner are Yellow Copper Ore and Old World Fig). The items for botany and miner are also from unspoiled nodes which spawn twice per Eorzean hour.

At the moment, just while we are leveling, we want quantity over quality. The quality means a little more experience if you met that threshold but that also means less items to collect per run. Getting two items at a 66k experience apiece is way less than gathering four items worth 60k experience apiece.

BOTANIST AND MINER

Activate Truth of Mountains/Truth of Forests depending on class. If you have already gathered from the unspoiled node before, activate collector’s glove. If not, go gather and then wait for the next hour.

When you have collector’s glove active, the gathering interface is similar to normal gathering. Click on the item you wish to collect, in this case Yellow Copper Ore, and you will be introduced to another interface. Kind of like a mini game! The numbers on the left, 0/30 are important. If you go over that, the chance of successful gather drops rapidly. Each time you try to increase the item’s collectible rating, the number will rise depending on what move you have done. You can get it to it’s max, 30/30 and be okay. You just cannot go over that.

Yellow Copper Ore and Old World Fig both need a rating of 240 for the collectible appraiser at Mor Dhona to accept. The rotation I used to gather four items at 240 rarity plus is the following;
– Activate Collector’s Glove.
– Use Toil of the Mountaineer(for Miner) or Toil of the Poineer (for Botanist), depending on which class you are.
– Click on the item you wish to collect to bring up what I like to call Collecting Mini Game.
– Use Discerning Eye.
– Use Methodical Appraisal.
– Use Methodical Appraisal.
– Use Sharp Vision if you’re below 100% to gather and don’t want to potentially miss.
– Gather your four items
– Hand them in at the appraiser in Mor Dhona and be rewarded with that sweet sweet experience.

Each time you gather the item, you will be greeted with another menu asking if you want to preserve the item along with it’s collectability rating.

Now, this won’t work very well with the higher level items needed. For those items, you need a rating of 450 otherwise the appraiser won’t accept it. There are several different ways of getting an item to 450+, however I will be listing the two that I use. One relies more on RNG but that can be helped by increasing your Perception rating. The more perception, the bigger the number. For example, Methodical Appraisal works by increasing the items rarity by Perception x1.

The first rotation which can be a hit or miss. There have been times when it’s worked and other times when I fall short a couple of points. You need a base of 500GP if not using Sharp Vision or Field Mastery. I recommend this if you don’t have fully melded Forager’s Gear.

– Collector’s Glove
– Toil of the Mountaineer or Toil of the Pioneer
– Field Mastery or Sharp Vision(if needed)
– Utmost Caution
– Impulsive Appraisal
– Utmost Caution
– Impulsive Appraisal
– Impulsive Appraisal
– Impulsive Appraisal
– Collect

The second rotation which can still be RNG based depending on perception. You need at least 600GP to accomplish this.
– Collector’s Glove
– Hit the node which contains the item that you are after
– Single Mind
– Utmost Caution
– Impulsive Appraisal
– Single Mind
– Utmost Caution
– Impulsive Appraisal
– Impulsive Appraisal
– Impulsive Appraisal
– Collect

A third rotation, which also costs 600GP. Doesn’t use Single Mind so lower levels can use, provided they meet the GP(which can be reached via food).
– Collector’s Glove
– Hit the node to reveal the item
– Discerning Eye
– Methodical Appraisal
– Discerning Eye
– Methodical Appraisal
– Discerning Eye
– Methodical Appraisal
– Collect

The higher your stats, the more you can play around and work up a rotation that best fits where your stats are.

FISHING

Collecting as a Fisher is different. The size of the fish directly affects their collectability, so the bigger they are, the better the rating.

When you fish a collectible fish, a menu will pop up asking if you would like to preserve the item as well as it’s collectability rating. Unlike in Botany and Mining, Fishing collectibles are more RNG based.

Fishing is also unique in the fact that, depending on the fish and level, you will be getting a decent chunk of experience. More than botany and fisher! So for gathering the blue scrips, it’s highly suggested that you go with botany and/or mining as you’re not as reliant on the RNG aspect, not as much as fishing.

Good luck on leveling, gathering and collecting those scrips! Hope you’re enjoying one of the new aspects of gathering, I definitely am, and if you have any questions or anything to add, just post in the comments!