Of course, many items can be made trivial by outleveling the requirements or simply advancing in the game, but this is not so with every item. Whether due to strict requirements of character build, the basic difficulty of acquiring the items in question, or just a particularly strenuous set of requirements, there are items that may have been in the game for quite some time but are still very difficult to craft. Ultimately though, they’re worth the effort.
8 New Crafting Tier Gear
When players first hit the level cap of crafting jobs in each Final Fantasy 14 expansion, they can expect to have gear available for each given class via the scrip currency earned from crafted collectables (often part of a daily or weekly routine). This is a good thing. But the best crafting gear is always obtained by actually crafting it, and every time a new tier of crafting gear is released, this process is repeated. The next set of crafting gear in the game will be the same way.
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The difficulty of this is, of course, explained right in the concept. A new tier of crafting gear requires the same challenges as crafting a new tier of combat gear, but without the benefit of improved stats from that gear to make hitting the high requirements nearly as easy. This leads to some nail-biting challenge as players try to produce a full set of high-quality gear, which will lack the usual 100% HQ chance most crafts expect. It does help for gil farming, however.
7 Artifact Armor Augmentations
Every combat job in the game gets a new set of iconic gear with the launch of a new expansion. There is always a way to unlock a dyeable version of that gear if, say, someone wants to play a Red Mage walking around in purple armor. The jobs of the base game, however, have what is at once an easy and difficult system. All that is required is trading the original artifact armor, along with Augmentations that must be crafted.
The materials in question, unfortunately, require gathering from old time-limited nodes and spending many company seals with a player’s Grand Company, which can be prohibitive and difficult. The actual crafts themselves also require access to Master Crafter recipes that are not bought via scrips. This makes them a bit harder to obtain and successfully craft, especially for players who joined later.
6 Blank Grade 3 Orchestrion Roll
Who doesn’t love the music in this game? Most players do, which is why they eagerly collect Orchestrion Rolls so that the songs can be played in inn rooms, apartments, houses, and even the Island Sanctuary. But some music can only be acquired as faded scrolls, which require Blank Grade 3 Orchestrion Rolls to restore, and that’s no small task.
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This grade of Orchestrion Roll requires Red Moko Grass, which can only be obtained via the airship and submersible voyages available to free companies with a house. As those systems are ornate and difficult to navigate without a guide, not to mention not universally available, it can be expensive and difficult to craft these valuable items.
5 Potion of Harmony
Players who seek to explore the optional area of Eureka, perhaps for its immersive story, will need to acquaint themselves with Elemental Level. This separate leveling system makes a big difference in clearing through enemies and finishing tasks in the content. The Potion of Harmony is a valuable means of increasing Elemental Level more quickly, but crafting them is more complicated than it appears.
Crafting a Potion of Harmony requires a quartet of items which are all farmed within Eureka. New players will have to either buy potions sold by others, or wait until they can acquire the materials to craft these potions themselves (or have a friend craft them). The result is that a valuable buff for the area is gated behind already being able to clear enough of the area to construct it.
4 Skysteel Tool Materials
Expert crafting was introduced in the Shadowbringers expansion (a popular expansion, but not the one that saved the game). While it was chiefly focused around Ishgardian Restoration, it is also used as a central feature for the various materials players must craft to fully augment Skysteel Tools. There’s a full set of these tools, one for each crafting discipline. Fortunately, they are no longer the best tools available for crafters.
However, they do still have a unique glow effect and valuable achievements, which means that there’s still good reason for players to buy and gather the necessary materials before attempting to craft these ingredients. Just be warned – Expert crafting requires a great deal of luck and random chance. There are no simple macros that can be used to ensure a perfect success rate, even for this content that’s been subsequently surpassed.
3 Island Sanctuary Otter Fountain
Fans of the Island Sanctuary will need to take part in Expert crafting as well. There’s a hidden landmark building (an otter-themed fountain) that can only be successfully crafted by players who are prepared for the work of gathering and crafting a new set of Expert components.
The upside to this particular recipe is that failing to craft it does not limit the player’s sanctuary in any serious fashion. Players are not limited to lower returns by using easier-to-acquire landmarks. The downside, of course, is that the bragging rights of this particular fountain combined with the recent nature of it will make it an exercise in challenging crafts that cannot be resold.
2 Magicked Bed
Who wouldn’t like to be able to fly through the sky without ever leaving the comfort of their own bed? The Magicked Bed mount allows players to do just that, but it’s both expensive and difficult to craft. It also requires items only available from the aforementioned airship voyages, but that’s actually not the trickiest component to acquire.
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Crafting the Magicked Bed requires three Enchanted Elm Lumber, which can only be acquired from randomly-spawning portals from treasure maps in now-outdated content. While there are many recipes that require either airship/submersible components or treasure map materials, the Magicked Bed is that rare example that requires both – and commands appropriately high prices on the market board as a result.
1 Windswept Barding
The latest patch for the game introduced players to the fiend Barbariccia, an air-themed villainess who even has her very own chocobo barding that can be crafted. But this one isn’t just a master recipe (although it is that) and it doesn’t just require a rare drop from the Extreme version of the Barbariccia fight (but it does require that). It’s also a specialist recipe.
The Specialist system has been in the game for a long time, but is relatively underdeveloped and rarely necessary. However, not only does this barding require Leatherworker Specialization to craft, it is also the only current recipe that does. This makes the recipe not just hard to craft, but hard to find someone who is able to craft it even with the requisite materials.
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