Final Fantasy XIV Miners travel the whole in-game world in search of rare materials. Usually, you wind up selling those on the market board: helping form the backbone of the in-game crafting economy. As such, any form of gathering — not just mining — is a wonderful way to earn Gil. But where do you start? Let’s look at the basics with an easy table of quest locations (including coordinates to pesky gathering spots along the Miner quest log).
FFXIV Miner Quest Locations
Finding your next Job quest in FFXIV can be tedious. You can search through your log of completed quests, which tells you the last mission you completed for any particular class, as well as the name of the NPC you need to speak with for the next one. But where is that NPC? Are they in the same place as last time, or did they move? Assuming you haven’t played a particular class in a while, where the hell was “last time”?
To help with this, we’ve laid out a simple table to indicate the region, coordinates, and required level for every Botanist Job quest. Note: The first quest, “Way of the Miner,” begins at the appropriately named Miners’ Guild in Ul’dah, the capital city of Thanalan. The coordinates are listed below, but it’s worth noting the guild does have its own Aethernet shard. It’s on the southernmost side of the Steps of Thal. There’s a good chance you’ve already unlocked said fast travel point if you’ve been to the city (and attuned to all its Aethernet nodes as you should).
In addition, because this is a gathering class, there’s a lot more travel involved than just the quests. You need to hit up some gathering nodes in the wider world. These are listed in the table below as well — alongside any special notes, such as when limited-time “Unspoiled” gathering spots are available in-game. Take a look!
| Level | Quest Name | Area | Coordinates | Gathering Location | Gathering Coordinates | Special Conditions |
| 1 | Way of the Miner | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | N/A | ||
| 1 | My First Pickaxe | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Western Thanalan | (X: 26.7, Y: 25.6) | |
| 5 | Know Thy Land | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Central Thanalan | (X: 3.6, Y: 6.4) | |
| 10 | The Cutting Edge | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Western Thanalan | (X: 22.3 Y: 28.6) | |
| 15 | Getting in Deep | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Western Thanalan | (X: 24.4, Y: 18.6) | |
| 20 | Old Wisdom, New Ways | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Middle La Noscea | (X: 15.6, Y: 9.9) | |
| 25 | Water from Stone | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | South Shroud | (X: 16, Y: 19.4) | |
| 30 | Obsidian Race | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Eastern Thanalan | (X: 26.3, Y: 16.6) | |
| 35 | Amethysts Are Forever | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Central Shroud | (X: 14.1, Y: 22) | |
| 40 | To Die For | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Coerthas Central Highlands | (X: 24.2, Y: 19.9) | |
| 45 | Gulley of Woes | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Upper La Noscea | (X: 9.7, Y: 4.8) | |
| 50 | Canyon of Regret | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | Coerthas Central Highlands | (X: 27.5, Y: 19.9) | Available from 01:00-04:00 Eorzea Time |
| 50 | Breaking New Ground | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | N/A | ||
| 53 | Sellspade | Ishgard – Foundation | (X: 12, Y: 12) | Coerthas Western Highland | (X: 31.3, Y: 12.5) | Hidden |
| 55 | The Same Vein | Ishgard – Foundation | (X: 12, Y: 12) | The Dravanian Forelands | (X: 30.3, Y: 15.1) | Hidden |
| 58 | Digging Deeper | Ishgard – Foundation | (X: 12, Y: 12) | The Dravanian Hinterlands | (X: 3.7, Y: 3.5) | Hidden |
| 60 | The Hole Truth | Ishgard – Foundation | (X: 12, Y: 12) | Azys Lla | (X: 23.7, Y: 5.9) | Available from 00:00-02:00 and 12:00-14:00 Eorzea Time |
| 60 | Gift of the Gob | Ul’dah – Steps of Thal | (X: 11, Y: 14) | N/A | ||
| 63 | Thick Skin | Idyllshire | (X: 7.1, Y: 5.9) | The Fringes | (X: 24.3, Y: 14.8) | Only available during the quest |
| 65 | Pedal to the Metal | Idyllshire | (X: 7.1, Y: 5.9) | The Ruby Sea | (X: 25.3, Y: 36) | Only available during the quest |
| 68 | Where the Money Takes You | Idyllshire | (X: 7.1, Y: 5.9) | Yanxia | (X: 36, Y: 19) | Only available during the quest |
| 70 | A Miner Success | Idyllshire | (X: 7.1, Y: 5.9) | The Peaks | (X: 26.5, Y: 11.5) | Available from 08:00-10:00 Eorzea Time, only during the quest |
| 70+ | The Crystalline Mean | The Crystarium | (X: 11.2, Y: 8.3) – Speak to Qeshi-Rae | N/A | ||
| 80+ | Studium Deliveries | Old Sharlayan | TBD | N/A |
Notes on The Crystalline Mean
Starting at Level 70 on all FFXIV crafters and gatherers, including the Miner in this case, there are no more class-specific quests. Instead, you gain access to “The Crystalline Mean.” This is a small gathering spot for special NPCs in The Crystarium, back on Norvrandt, after you reach the capital city during the Shadowbringers campaign. It has its own Aethernet point (simply marked as “The Crystalline Mean”). It’s on the upper floor of the city near the Amaro Launch if you have trouble finding it initially. Crafters and gatherers of sufficient level will further find their eyes drawn there by the blue side quest marker. The opening quest is also simply called “The Crystalline Mean.”
There are five notable NPCs in the area with five unique quest chains. Each chain is tied to not just one crafting or gathering class, but several — meaning you can complete any step of the questline as any one of the appropriate classes. The sole exception is the Fishers; they get their own quests separate from any other classes.
Put another way: The Crystalline Mean functions very similar to Role Quests for the combat classes, where any DPS magic-user can complete any step of the DPS magic questline, and so on. In this case, Crystalline Mean missions for the “Facet of Gathering” are shared between Botanist and Miner. You can complete any quest in this series as either of these two Jobs (so long as they meet the level requirements). Said quests start at Level 70 with “On the Trail of a Myth,” after talking to the NPC Qeshi-Rae at (X: 11.2, Y: 8.3) in The Crystalline Mean.
Pretty much every Crystalline Mean mission involves talking to someone, crafting or gathering items, and turning them in — like Custom Deliveries for characters in Idyllshire, Eulmore, etc. You receive XP and Gil for every quest and delivery — as well as Scrips from the latter. This makes the quest chains an excellent way to level up your non-combat classes. You can also use the Scrips to buy useful items and gear as you progress your Disciples of the Hand and Land.
Note: You must complete the Level 72 Main Scenario Quest “The Crystarium’s Resolve” as any combat Job to reach and unlock The Crystalline Mean. You must also complete the Level 50 side quest “Inscrutable Tastes” in Foundation.
Notes on Studium Deliveries
Studium Deliveries function almost exactly the same as Crystalline Mean quests. The biggest difference is that they begin in Old Sharlayan. You can reach the area fastest through the appropriately named Studium Aethernet point.
To begin these deliveries, first complete the Level 82 Main Scenario Quest “Sound the Bell, School’s In.” After that is the side quest “The Faculty,” which requires at least one crafter or gatherer to reach Level 80 first.
FFXIV Botanist Basics & Importance
Miners mine. They mine rocks, ores, minerals, and a few other odds and ends (like different types of water and jewels). All of these are used in crafting. Much like its companion class, the Botanist, nearly everything the Miner gathers is used by Disciples of the Hand (a.k.a. crafters) to create gear, potions, and the like. This makes them incredibly valuable to the hardcore FFXIV community — especially raiders. Most of the very best gear in the game is made by crafters and then modified with Materia. So if you really want to maximize your power, you need to either craft or find someone who can. And those folks rely on gatherers like the Miner.
In FFXIV, a Miner is primarily responsible for the different metals used in weapons and equipment. That makes them especially valuable in the production of the top-level gear in the game. The downside to this, of course, is that equipment can last you throughout an entire patch (or even longer). That means the demand is often more universal than top-tier potions and food (which are mostly used by Savage Raid players). But there’s more of a cap on how many of the same item one needs to craft.
Even so, gatherers are great at making money in FFXIV. Many high-level crafters have more money than patience. Time is money, after all, and they could spend theirs better making things to sell instead of hunting for them. That’s where a Miner or a Botanist comes in to offload the raw materials in bulk on the market board. You might not make the big, huge windfall of selling a High Quality Master Recipe item, but the Gil will flow more consistently.
Speaking of which, FFXIV inventory space is quite limited. That has made gathering — and crafting, for that matter — a real strain on players’ backpacks. Thankfully, Square Enix removed the concept of High Quality gathering materials from the game in the 6.0 update, which marks the release of Endwalker. That severely reduces the number of inventory slots eaten up while harvesting materials as any one of the gathering classes. So you can focus entirely on bulk!
And there you have the very basics of how to unlock the Botanist (and why you should) in FFXIV. Not to mention you now also have a handy list of locations to check as you progress through the class quests and your adventure. Best of luck picking your way through the FFXIV economy.
