Final Fantasy XIV‘s Island Sanctuaries got a huge update with Patch 6.4, including the ability to place outdoor furnishings as glamours, new items, handicrafts, and more. With this update, players have a new area to unlock called the Mountain Hollow that contains even more goodies.
Players will have access to the quest to unlock the new area when they’ve reached rank 12, but they won’t be able to complete the quest until rank 13 of their Island Sanctuary. This is because there are certain tools locked behind rank 13. The quest can be activated at rank 12 and progressed to a certain point, but the mammet standing by the new spot to be dug out will have a red quest marker over its head until that condition is met.
To reach rank 13, players will need to ensure that their island handicrafts are all set up for the week and that they are tending their gardens and animals by hand to increase the amount of experience gained. Otherwise, the only way to increase experience and rank up is by spending hours harvesting nodes for 10 EXP each until you’ve reached the hundreds of thousands of experience points required to rank up.
Those still at rank 12 will be able to investigate the spot in the marked area and the Determined Digger mammet will appear, but at some point he will ask for some tools that are only available for crafting at rank 13.
Once you’ve reached rank 13, follow the quest back to the mammet by the mountain and he’ll ask you to make Mammet-sized Spelunking Tools, which requires some materials to make. Those materials are listed below.
- 10 Island Palm Log
- 10 Island Iron Ore
- 10 Island Quartz
- 10 Island Resin
- 10 Island Wood Opal
After you’ve crafted the tools, talk to the Determined Digger again and a cutscene will play of them digging into the mountain. After this, you’ll be able to explore the Mountain Hollow area, which houses four new items. The Island Coal, Island Glimshroom, and Island Effervescent Water don’t require any additional tools to gather, but the Island Shale and Island Spectrine both require players to make the Islekeep’s Steel Hammer. Those ingredients are listed below, and includes the Island Coal, which can only be farmed from the Mountain Hollow area.
- Three Island Log
- Three Island Iron Ore
- Three Island Wood Opal
- Four Island Coal
There are some new animals to capture in the mine, as well as some additional Coblyns. There is also an area called the Shiny Spring that makes for a great rotation for gathering items if players are looking for a fast and mindless way to gather materials in order to gain EXP to increase their island’s rank.
