Productive weekend

I've spent a large chunk of the weekend playing FFXIV and I've raised my physical level from 14 -> 17, but also learnt loads about crafting. I've bought all the gear I need to become ALL of the disciplines and I've tried most of them out now. Thankfully I've also spent some time creating lots of macros so I can now easily swap disciplines with only one button, something that was previously quite a chore. Now I can happily be killing something and then see a mining spot, swap to miner and then swap back to kill more things, swap to do some fishing... I love how versatile it is :) Okay here's the pictures of all the new disciplines of war and magic that I've started on:

Archer (1 -> 4)

Gladiator (1 -> 5)

Lancer (1 -> 6)

Pugilist (1 -> 9)

I don't really like lancer all that much and find it kind of slow to fight (although I might be imaginging that). Likewise though I really like pugilist and that seems really fast to kill things! I can see archer being really expensive as you need a constant supply of ammo (something that ended up getting me killed once when I ran out!), but in that respect it's no different to the ranger in FFXI. Gladiator is okay and feels somewhere in between pugilist and lancer, I haven't really found a favourite job that I like yet though.

Now onto the crafting... I was forced to start doing this because my inventory keeps filling up AND so does my retainers so I had to start crafting to get rid of the things that are taking up space (and level up some disciplines at the same time!). Apparently we'll be allowed to purchase additional retainers (people to hold/sell our stuff) for $1/month, but they haven't released it yet... I wish they would... I'll take 10! :) Although I'll need some new names. My existing retainer I called Charlotte which I thought was quite a nice name, although the problem is each name has to be unique so picking a name for 2nd (and 3rd and 4th...) will be quite tricky!

Alchemist (1 -> 6)

Armorer (1 -> 7)

Culinarian (1 -> 5)

Goldsmith (1 -> 5)

Weaver (1 -> 4)

I even managed to "high quality" something - Hurrah!

Botany - Harvesting (1 -> 7)>

Botany - Logging (1 -> 7 as above)

This guy came to watch me do some mining (8 -> 10)

Cool eh? :) I still need to try being a carpenter, blacksmith and leather worker, but I need more crystal shards/component parts. Talking of crystal shards, it seems a bit disproportionate because I have like 900 earth and fire crystals... but only 30 wind crystals?! Huh? I guess it's relative to the stuff you're killing/harvesting though.

Doubt I'll get to play again for a week or so, but I figure I need to start working on getting myself some new gear the next time I play, the weathered stuff is just getting a bit old now (literally - it's all been repaired twice!)