Gathering
General Information
Gathering classes, also known as Disciples of the Land, harvest natural resources around Eorzea. These natural resources can be used by Disciples of the Hand classes to craft new and useful items. Gathering classes consist of Botanist, Fisher and Miner.
Players wishing to unlock these classes may do so, after reaching level 10 (or higher) in a Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic class, by talking to the Guild Receptionist in their respective Guilds.
Gathering classes are ill-suited for combat. They learn to hide from enemies at higher levels, though doing so reduces movement speed. They cannot participate in any Duties, as there are no resources to be found in any of them. They also have their own selection of levequests focused entirely on gathering specific materials.
They do not have access to any cross-class abilities from the other disciplines (Disciples of War, Disciples of the Hand, and Disciples of Magic,) while they share their various tracking and increased "Crafting Catalyst Yield" abilities with the other Gathering classes (though only Miner and Botanist have a use for them. Fishers cannot increase their Fire Crystal (for example) yield, as they cannot directly harvest shards, crystals, or clusters.) They gain one cross-class slot every five levels up to level 50.
They primarily gain experience by gathering items. Botanist and Miner gain an increasing temporary bonus to the amount of experience earned for your current gathering node by successfully increasing their Gathering Chain. A Gathering Chain is an in-game term used to describe the process of successfully gathering multiple items in a row without missing, before you run out of gathering attempts. If you gather multiple high-quality items in a row, you increase your HQ Chain. If you fail to receive an item (either by missing or running out of attempts) your chain is broken. All three classes gain a significant bonus whenever they obtain a high-quality (HQ) item, and a smaller bonus when they obtain any item for the first time. The base amount gained depends on the level of the item gathered, not the level of the resource spot, though most items are of similar level.
- To switch to a gathering class, simply equip the tool of that class from your armory chest.
- Botanist and Miner:
- Gathering resource spots can only be seen with the appropriate ability active and only if the corresponding class is high enough level to harvest them (4 levels lower at most). For example, a level 21 Botanist can locate level 25 and lower spots. The tracking ability can be used cross-discipline.
- Both classes have a secondary type of resource they can harvest, starting at level 11, harvesting and quarrying respectively. These are colored in blue on the map and require the secondary tool of the class to be equipped as well.
- After reaching certain levels, both classes can identify special conditions at certain gathering spots that will result in various bonus effects if a certain stat is high enough, such as increased gathering chance, HQ gathering chance, extra attempts etc.
- Higher-level resource spots will have a number of unknown items that are fairly difficult to gather at first (usually a 25% base chance). After being identified with a successful gathering, they will return to their normal rates. Certain items also have additional attributes:
- Hidden: Cannot be harvested from every spot.
- Rare: Can only be harvested once per spot. Abilities increasing the amount gathered per attempt do not affect these.
- At level 46, both classes gain an ability to spot "Unspoiled" gathering locations anywhere in the current zone. Unlike regular gathering spots, these only spawn at specific times on the ingame clock, one at a time, for about an hour ingame, and can even despawn while you're gathering from them. Furthermore, their contents are obstructed (out of reach) when you begin gathering, requiring you to clear the bar on each slot with gathering attempts before you can obtain them. This applies to every slot, even if they are empty, but these will also be cleared away in just one attempt. At level 50, the "Toil" ability can immediately clear away these obstructions for 300 GP, making it easier to gather normally. These nodes contain rare items that cannot be found anywhere else, including every item that can be "collected". They always grant 6 gathering attempts.
Botanist
The Botanist harvests resources from the various flora and growth (plants and trees) of Eorzea. They gather raw materials for various crafting classes such as carpenter, weaver, culinarian and alchemist.
Fisher
The Fisher harvests fish and other sea creatures from the waters of Eorzea. The raw materials they gather are mainly used by the culinarian crafting class. When you fish, Fishing Tackles are expended. Different fishing tackles are used to catch different fish in various environments.
Miner
The Miner extracts minerals from grounds of Eorzea. The raw ores and gemstones they acquire are utilized by the blacksmith, armorer and goldsmith crafting classes.
Gathering Attributes
- Gathering - increases your likelihood of receiving an item while gathering. The higher the level of the item, the more Gathering Points are required for a 100% chance.
- Perception - increases the probably of the item you receive to be high quality, up to a maximum of 15% base chance. No effect on items that cannot be high quality until reaching level 42 for miners and botanists, which unlocks a trait that allows perception to grant a chance of gathering up to 10 additional items for many of these. In Heavensward, Perception also determines the effectiveness of abilities that increase collectability.
- GP - Ability Resource Points used for gathering abilities (though Fishing does not make use of it until Heavensward). Slowly recharges over time while not gathering from resource spots and with each successful gathering attempt. The current amount is shared between classes, though points can be lost if switching to a class with a lower maximum, including any non-gathering class (which lowers it to the base pool without any gear bonuses).