Some of the very best crafting and gathering content in Final Fantasy XIV is also the most daunting. The Ishgard Restoration project completed with the launch of Endwalker, but the hard work forges ahead nonetheless. Players can still enjoy one of the best ways of leveling the crafting and gathering classes.

Diadem, The Firmament, Skybuilder’s Scrips, and all of the other key parts of Ishgard Restoration are overwhelming at times. Fortunately, we’ve got your backs with a basic overview of all of the major systems that make up Ishgard Restoration. From expert crafting recipes to Fetes and everything in between, here’s what you need to know to get started.

Ishgard Restoration Overview

Ishgard Restoration arrived back in FFXIV Patch 5.11, providing crafters and gatherers the chance to rebuild a piece of the Heavensward hub city. The Firmament is the home of the project and the basis for the Ishgard housing wards we now have available.

The general idea of the project is to have crafters and gatherers involve themselves in the process of bringing this area of Ishgard back to life. This happens through the gathering of special materials and the crafting of unique recipes that further the restoration process.

In exchange, the Ishgardian Restoration project provides players with plenty of rewards through the Skybuilder’s Scrips you earn and the loads of experience you gain over time. The idea of the restoration project was to figuratively rebuild this area and pave the way for Ishgard housing.

Despite this premise, Ishgard Restoration isn’t time-sensitive content. Players can still hop on over to The Firmament and contribute forever more for the purpose of gaining scrips and special rewards. Even now, post-Endwalker, Ishgard Restoration is highly recommended for anyone looking to level up their crafting and gathering classes.

Unlocking Ishgard Restoration requires the player to have a level 60 Disciple of War or Magic and complete the Patch 3.3 main story quest, Litany of Peace. Thankfully, this quest is part of the free trial, so no worries there if you don’t pay for FFXIV.

After completing that main story quest, head on over to the Recruitment Notice at Foundation (X:9.7, Y:11.5) and start the Towards the Firmament side quest. Upon completion of that quest, you will formally unlock the major parts of the Ishgard Restoration project.

The Diadem – Ishgard Restoration

Diadem is the home of Miners, Botanists, and Fishers. The current iteration of the Exploratory Mission takes players to the Sea of Clouds to gather materials with a maximum of 72 players in total. You have up to three hours to take your time, gathering the various items that the Ishgardian Restoration requires.

The best part about Diadem is that you don’t even need to have a level 60 or higher gatherer to access this location. Level 10 is the minimum required, which makes it one of the best places to grind experience and level up your gatherers these days.

Talk to Aurvael at The Firmament (X:10.8, Y:14.0) to enter The Diadem. Miners and Botanists scour the islands using the easily unlocked mount flying to repetitively gather from nodes. Meanwhile, Fishers can use Skyfishing to bring in their own materials.

There are enemies in this area that you can typically avoid, but Aetheromatic Auger is a special ability that dispatches them in the event you run into trouble. It requires special Aether energy you gain while gathering items.

The materials you gather aren’t useful until you leave Diadem and speak with the NPC Flotpassant (X:10.8, Y:14.0) in The Firmament. After approval, you are free to sell those special materials on the Market Board to other players or trade them in for Skybuilder’s Scrips in order to get unique rewards and XP.

Skybuilder’s Scrips – Ishgard Restoration

Skybuilder’s Scrips are a form of currency in FFXIV unique to the Ishgard Restoration project. Players gather scrips in one of three ways: gathering in Diadem, crafting Ishgard Restoration recipes, or completing Fetes.

These scrips aren’t easy to come by and generally require a fair bit of grinding to amass large amounts of. Once you have Skybuilder’s Scrips you wish to turn in for rewards, head on over to Enie in The Firmament (X:12.0, Y:14.0).

Players have access to different types of rewards here ranging from clothing dyes to materia and even Ishgard Restoration-exclusive clothing items. For the Orchestrion Roll enthusiasts out there like myself, those are also available.

By far, the most expensive items you can unlock using Skybuilder’s Scrips are the exclusive mounts, which are as follows:

Albino Karakul Horn: 8,400 Skybuilder’s Scrips
Ufiti Horn: 8,400 Scrips
Megalotragus Horn: 8,400 Scrips
Big Shell Whistle: 8,400 Scrips
Pegasus Whistle: 4,200 Scrips

Beyond that, there are still more items including haircuts, emotes, and even a handful of minions.

Expert Crafting – Ishgard Restoration

Crafters have their hands full with plenty of recipes to create in The Firmament. All crafting classes have special Ishgard Restoration items in their crafting log unique to them. You can find these recipes by tabbing over to the second section and scrolling down to the Ishgard Restoration crafting items. They are divided up by the four phases plus a few additional recipes.

What you will find about the Ishgard Restoration recipes is, unfortunately, you can’t easily purchase the required materials from NPCs or anything like that. Instead, you have to either gather the materials yourself in Diadem or purchase them from the Market Board.

Unless you are killing two birds with one stone by leveling a gatherer and crafter at the same time, the Market Board is your quickest and best option. Crafting recipes range from level 20 at the minimum to level 80 for the hardest expert crafting items.

These are all collectibles that you can’t trade or sell. The idea is to get the collectability to as high as you possibly can. The better gear you have, the easier it will be to do so. A little “cheat” way of doing this if you want to grind scrips easily is to be level 90 and quickly max out the quality that way. Unfortunately, Trained Eye doesn’t work for expert recipes but it’s still a much easier process regardless.

Skysteel Tools – Ishgard Restoration

Believe it or not, crafters and gatherers have their own relic weapons of sorts, similar to what the main Disciples of War and Magic Jobs have. These are known as the Skysteel Tools and you unlock them through first starting The Firmament.

After completing the quest, Towards the Firmament, head to the Skysteel Engineer in the Foundation (X:14.2, Y:12.5) and speak with them to start the Mislaid Plans quest. This quest requires a level 80 or higher Disciple of the Hand or Land and introduces you to the Skysteel Tools.

The quest is relatively short and straightforward, serving solely as an introduction to these Skysteel relic-style tools. The reward for completing the quest is a coffer that includes the base version of the Skysteel Tool for whichever class you have equipped at the time, so be careful when you open it.

If you open the coffer on the wrong class, you can acquire other Skysteel Tools from the Denys NPC at (X:8.0, Y:10.1) in Foundation but they cost 80,000 Gil each. If you’ve handled relic weapons for other classes before, you probably know what you’re in for.

Just be aware that the Skysteel Tools are a bit of a grind. The idea is to craft high quality items or gather unique materials, depending on your class, to upgrade the item to its next version. There is a lot of time and effort that Skysteel Tools require.

For crafters, you’re looking at roughly 50 items in total you need to make to upgrade a single Skysteel Tool for the first stage alone. On the other hand, gatherers need about 460 items for Miners and Botanists, and 40 high quality items for Fishers. Again, that’s just the first phase alone. Later versions are even worse but offer higher item level tools in exchange.

Fetes – Ishgard Restoration

Moving from one of the most stressful Ishgard Restoration-related projects to the most relaxing, we have Fetes. Introduced after the conclusion of The Firmament’s restoration, Fetes are a celebration of all the hard work that everyone poured into the project.

Fetes are essentially minigames, not too unlike the Gates found in the Gold Saucer, where you complete adorable limited-time events for prizes. These minigames are fun and an enjoyable experience with everyone, which is why I recommend grabbing some FC friends to have a grand ole time.

Part of the fun with Fetes is how stress-free they are. You still need to be a crafter or gatherer to participate but the level doesn’t matter and you won’t be dealing with any durability, integrity, or any of that. There are five minigames in total, and they take under 30 minutes to complete back-to-back.

They include neat little tasks like copying the emotes that NPCs use in the right order or giving presents to the right recipients. Like regular battle Fates, there are ratings you receive based on your performance. The more points you get in a particular Fete, the more rewards you receive, at least up to a point. Here are the required number of points to get a gold medal:

Presents of Mind: 6
Made of Softer Stuff: 3
Shear-a-Yak: 4
Toy Hunter: 4
A Twist of Fete: 6

The rewards are the best part, including 100 Skybuilder’s Scrips each at max and a present or two. The presents can be opened after the fact with mounts, minions, Fete Tokens, and other welcome gifts inside. These Fete Tokens are usable at the Scrip Exchange for their own set of items including Gunmetal Black Dye, Pearl White Dye, and Metallic Brass Dye.

All in all, Fetes are some of the most fun content you can find in The Firmament. The problem is that it only happens every two hours and that’s only on days when the Skyrise Celebration runs which is every two days so it is a highly limited event. Thankfully, you can alleviate this problem by visiting other worlds or servers to find one that is hosting Fetes that day.

Kupo of Fortune – Ishgard Restoration

There is more to crafting and gathering for the Ishgard Restoration than just receiving some scrips and experience. Each time that you provide a collectible, you will receive a Kupo stamp on your stamp card. When you reach five stamps (aka turning in five collectible items), that card will be usable at the Kupo of Fortune next to the Collectible Appraiser.

Kupo of Fortune is like a mini-roulette where you have a random chance of receiving a prize. For every completed stamp card you bring, you can roll for a chance of earning some items. There is a tiny level of control that you have in determining your reward but it is still up to chance most of the time.

There is a wide assortment of possible rewards, divided up in five rankings from first to fifth. The first-place prizes are the best, including the Dhalmel Whistle, Casual Attire Coffer, and Coffer o’ Kupos. On the other hand, the fifth-place prizes are the worst, including nothing but flashy but ultimately throwaway Magicked Prisms.

Each Kupo of Fortune features four randomly chosen chests to choose from. There is one chest on the left and three on the right. You can only pick a single chest of the four and you have no idea what you’ll get, outside of the list of items that the minigame tells you.

If you pick the chest on the left side, you are guaranteed an item from the second through fourth places on the list. Which one you get is randomized between the three and you won’t have a chance of getting a first place item, but you also don’t have to worry about those pesky Magicked Prisms, either.

On the other hand, the three on the right include possible items from all five categories. I always suggest picking based on the list of items at the bottom. If you really want the Dhalmel mount and it shows up on the possible list, it’s probably worth the risk of picking a right-side chest.

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