This guide is filled with old info. I'll update when I get around to it.

Too much stuff in the old guide and too many changes to make sure I didn't miss anything, so here's a shiny new thread! No pictures because I am a lazy bum. Like the last one, this guide is focused on grinding levels though because of how it works now some of the things applied here can work for HQing.


CRAFTING LEVEL
The first things to worry about are having the correct crafting tool equipped in your hand and your crafting level relative to the item you are trying to synth. You can only attempt crafts up to 10 levels above your own which are harder to pull off, but reward more base exp. Some dated recipes can require you to level other crafts in order to have a better chance at succeeding. You can still finish these types of synths without leveling other crafts, but it will be much harder to do. Crafting level also effects the crafting gear you can wear.

CRAFTING GEAR
Believe it or not, crafting gear actually helps the grind now. Better gear equals better chance of getting quality high which equals more exp and less synths toward your level. For grinding on the cheap and saving bag space if you level more than one craft, try and stay within 10-15 levels of whatever you are synthing and keep a good balance of Control, Craftsmanship and Magic Craftsmanship. As of this typing, some levels are still screwed out of stat balance, so just equip what you can as you try and keep up with the level. Only the stats of the tool you use is used when synthing, so you can save money/space by not buying/making an offhand. Straight stats like STR and DEX effect quality, so equip some rings if you have them for whatever is appropriate for your craft and the tool your are using. It's not 100% necessary though. Stat list is as follows:

CRAFT = MH / OH
ALC = INT / PIE
ARM = VIT / STR
BSM = STR / MND
CRP = VIT / DEX
CUL = MND / PIE
GLD = DEX / INT
LTW = VIT / INT
WVR = DEX / MND

EXP BUFFS
The rested EXP bonus you get for logging out of an Inn can count toward any job, crafting included. It is not used up by exp given at the end of a leve if you choose to use leves to grind.

All food, no matter if it buffs crafting skills or not, gives a 3% bonus to EXP gained for the duration of the buff. Since you can get crap food for cheap there isn't any reason you shouldn't always have a food buff running while grinding. The sole exception to this is if you are using Hasty Hand, which is piss poor exp so you shouldn't really be using it while grinding unless you are rich. Experienced gained from Hasty hand does not benefit from the food buff.

Company-issue Engineering Manuals which can be purchased from your GC will last for an hour, or until a certain amount of exp has been reached. Unless you go AFK you should hit the cap long before the buff runs out. The rank 1 manual is 200 seals, while the rank 2 manual is 400 and requires you to have at least 3 promotions in your GC to use.

Also, those Qiqirin NPCs in each city sell the manual for 10k (level 1) and 100k (level 2)Silvano Conri

The Black Market Qiqirin will also take seals from your Grand Company in exchange for the manuals, or anything else they sell.

QUALITY EXP BONUS
Gone are the days of pressing the button while not paying attention at all. This is where most of your exp will come from. The more quality you have by the end of your synth, the more EXP you get for successfully completing it. It only counts for quality earned, so you can't cheat using HQ materials. With good abilities you can get around 300-400 quality frequently which reaches 250-300ish% bonus exp. With average abilities you can expect around 200-250 quality frequently. With no abilities… I am not sure! Probably 100-200.

To achieve the highest quality you can without botching the synth, try to standard/rapid(with ability boost) to 50%. Then judge your durability and Careful from there if you can. You get no EXP bonus if you botch, so don't risk it.

For those that care/have the time to make it ridiculous, this is my pattern:
Standard Synthesis > Perfection(CRP 36) > Rapid Synthesis (This should take you to about 50% with 80-90 durability left) > Insert some generic ability that either helps with Careful or general success > Careful Synthesis till the end, with some Standards if I get unlucky. This strategy assumes Perfection doesn't fail, but is 300-400 quality easy. Use synths that are around 7 levels above you for a good balance of risk vs. reward. Add in Hand of the Gods(ALC 36) if you want it to be even easier.
Note: Since the recent crafting ability nerf it is a little harder to hit 400 with NQ materials now. This is still a great way to get the most out of your grinding though.

Updated strat for those with both Perfection(CRP 36) and Hand of the Gods (ALC36):
Standard Synthesis > Perfection > Rapid Synthesis > Insert generic success/Careful Synthesis ability here > Careful Synth until ability runs out (average 3 turns) > Hands of the Gods(ALC 36) > Careful Synthesis till the end, with a Standard Synthesis if I was really, really unlucky, or until Hand of the Gods runs out (average 3 turns) > Insert generic success/Careful Synthesis ability here if you have a decent amount of Durability, or an ability that lowers Durability loss if your Durability is low > Win.

QUESTS
All story/side quests (not leves) can be turned in by any class, including crafting classes. If you still have these you can get a nice boost by switching to your crafting class before you turn it in. Keep in mind that there is an EXP penalty for turning it in below the recommended level. Repeatable quests, such as Ifrit and Moggle Mog, are great for this. Choco escorts can be used for this as well, if you can manage to switch to your crafting class before the escort ends.

MATERIALS
As stated in the "Quality EXP Bonus" section, the quality received from HQ materials does not count toward your EXP bonus, so don't bother using them unless you are actively trying to HQ an item.

CRAFTING FACILITIES
Do not bother with these unless you are synthing dated recipes. Some dated recipes require "advanced facilities" to make the synth easier. You can check which one it needs under "Recommended Facility" on the synth. Go to the proper crafting guild and select only the one that it needs. Don't go any higher or lower. there are 3 facility types at each crafting guild. The repair NPCs and the crafting NPCs at each camp only offer the lowest type (a bit more expensive than at the guilds). The price is determined by your level and raises every 10 levels. The synths that ask for facilities are doable without, but it is far more difficult and I wouldn't recommend it unless you out-level the synth.

CRAFTING MINIGAME
Just the basics:

Progress - Shows how close you are to finishing a synth.
Durability - Shows how close you are to failing a synth.
Quality - Shows how likely you are to HQ a synth and effects your bonus EXP.
Yellow Bar - Shows how much time you have until you have to make the next action. If it runs out you take a durability hit.
Synth Orb (Visual on the crafting table) - Shows one of 4 colors which shows the likelihood that you will succeed the next action. White is the best condition, then yellow, red and rainbow (pulsing multicolor). Failing increases the invisible risk stat (makes success harder), decreases durability by the highest amount (amount determined by the synthesis action taken) and has a chance to cause an Unstable Element or Aetherial Sparking. Waiting or using Harmonize has a chance to change the color of the ball.

Once the mini game starts you have some options to choose from:
Standard Synthesis - The safest type of synthesis. Can add up to 25% progression. Durability loss upon failure is usually 11-12.
Rapid Synthesis - The type most prone to failure. If successful you can boost your progress up to 35%, though sometimes you can gain less than you would if you had done a Standard Synthesis. Using an ability to boost it before you use it is recommended.
Careful Synthesis - If you succeed it has a chance of boosting your quality really high. The amount is somewhat random, but seems to be loosely determined by your level relative to the synth and your gear. It has the lowest potential durability loss on a failure (8-10, usually 9), but it only increases progress by 3-5%. It also always has durability loss, even on success. If you are in a situation where you have 10-11 durability left and 99% progress, Careful is a safer bet than Standard due to the invisible risk factor.
Wait - Skips a turn for a chance to change the color of the synth orb or stabilize an unstable element in exchange for durability loss. The loss starts at 1 and adds 1 each subsequent Wait. So the first Wait takes 1, the second takes 2 for 3 total and the third would take 3 for 6 total. Using any synthesis type or ability (Harmonize is great for this) resets the durability loss back to 1.
Abilities - All abilities you have equipped have a chance to appear under the Wait command. You gain ability slots as you level, up to 8. Only a certain amount can appear at one time, so to shuffle them you have to take a turn.

Unstable Elements
Upon failure sometimes you can get swirly shit around your synth ball related to a random element. Each element has it's own nasty effect. You can use Wait and hope it stabilizes, use a "Brand of (element here)" if you have the right one equipped to re-stabilize it, perform a Standard Synthesis and hope that a success can wipe it away or fail so hard you create another Unstable Element to cancel out the first. The last one is no longer recommended because of the huge durability/quality hit you take, but sometimes you don't have a choice. I should probably note that there are some positive aspects to certain Unstable Elements, but the cons outweigh the pros by a considerable amount and are usually not worth the risk.

Aetherial Sparking
Upon failure sometimes you get little red lines spewing out of your synth ball. It increases your durability loss. Use Harmonize to wipe it away. I should note that Harmonize no longer has a 100% chance to remove Aetherial Sparking, but the chance is still very high.

Double Down
Halves your quality for a low chance to HQ an item and destroys the item if it fails. Don't use this if you are grinding.

CRAFTING ABILITIES
Here's a few abilities that I like for the current way of gaining EXP. Not covering the Brands, the stat influence increasers, abilities that have stupid negatives attached, abilities that are perhaps too situational or that I haven't used. Feel free to argue with me:

Long Lasting Abilities (3 turns average)
- Tender Touch (CRP 10)
Reduces durability loss by a few points when active. An extremely powerful ass saver. I always have this on my bar.
- Fulfillment (LTW 10)
Increases chance for success with everything a very small amount while active. Not bad, but not as powerful as other abilities. Great to use if you feel like you will be rotating different Synthesis types.
- Masterpiece (WVR 10)
Increases the chance for successful Careful Synthesis while active. Pretty strong if used early and helps keep your invisible risk stat from getting too low at the start. Weakens the longer you take to use it.
- Preserve (ALC 10)
Turns the synth ball white while active. Very powerful and one of the few abilities where you can actively see it work. A great one to use to stack abilities on to increase your chances further.
- Hand of the Gods (ALC 36) - Get this is you can
3 turns with no durability loss and reduced success while active. Extremely powerful the later you use it in a synth and can be a huge ass saver. Because of the reduced success, using it early raises your invisible risk stat much higher than it might normally be and makes the overall synthing process a tad more difficult after the ability fades. I always have this on my bar.


One Turn Abilities (Can be stacked with longer duration abilities)
- Harmonize (CUL 10) - Get this
Reduces risk, has a high chance of wiping Aetherial Sparking, has a chance to change the color of the synth ball and is also a very handy way of resetting the durability loss on the Wait command. An extremely powerful ability with no downsides. I always have this on my bar.
- Epiphany (GLD 10)
Has a chance to increase the amount of Quality from the next action, better for parts. It's ok, but the amount it gives you is random, so even on success it can seem a tad low. Good for resetting durability loss on wait, just like all the single use abilities are. Can fail to activate.
- Creative Urge (ALC 20)
Increases chance of success on next action, better for "enhanced parts" whatever the hell that means. One of the better single use abilities. I prefer to use this one early on to keep risk low, since the higher your risk the more chance this ability will fail on you. can fail to activate.
- Grandmastery (CRP 30)
Increases chance of success on next action, better for parts. Like Creative Urge I try and use it early on to keep risk low. Can fail to activate.
- Bold Endeavor (LTW 30)
Increases chance of success on the next action, better for decorations. Read Creative Urge and Grandmastery for more about how I feel about it. Can fail to activate.
- Inner Quiet (LTW 30)
Increases chances for more quality on the next action, better for materials. Just like Immersion. Can fail to activate.
- Immersion (WVR 30)
Has a chance to increase the quality of the next action, better for finished items. Exactly like Epiphany only supposedly procs better on final items. I tried testing both side by side for several hundred synths, but I saw no difference. Can fail to activate.
- Life's Purpose (CUL 30)
Increases chance of success on next action, more effective on materials. All of my tests point to everything having about the same success rate as the others no matter what you are synthing. Granted, I only really tested a couple hundred each. Can fail to activate.
- Close Inspection (LTW 30)
Reduces risk for next action, better for decorations. Use later in the synth if you have been getting strings of explosions. A nice one to use if you need your ability list to rotate. can fail to activate.
- Less is More (CUL 30)
Reduces durability for next action, better for materials. This is a huge ass saver. I always have this on my bar. Can fail to activate.
- Flawlessness (WVR 36)
Temporarily stops risk from increasing, better for parts. Pretty decent. Use half way through your synth before your risk gets to bad but after you've gained a little risk to make it worth it to pop. Don't use it too late.
- Perfection (CRP 36) - Get this if you can
Ensures success of next action. Amazing ability. Can fail to activate. I always have this on my bar.

Other Abilities You Might Consider
- Maker's Muse (BSM 10)
Increases chance of success on Standard Synthesis. Decent enough if you don't have any good abilities to get your synth to 50-60% before starting to focus on quality. Use it as early as possible.
- Blinding Speed (ARM 10)
Increases chance of success on Rapid Synthesis. A decent ability if you don't have any good abilities to get your synth to 50-60%, just like Maker's Muse but perhaps a little better since Rapids can get you farther. Use it as early as possible.
- Improvise (CRP 20)
Temporarily reduces the effects of Unstable Elements. If you are trying to craft outside in bad weather on a new moon with crap gear, this might be worth slapping on your bar if you don't have anything better.
- Ingenuity (BSM 30)
Temporarily reduces the difficulty of the synth. I tested this out on synths 10 levels above me and saw no difference, but it's probably better than nothing.
- High Return (BSM 36)
Increases success in proportion to your risk. Since risk is an invisible stat this ability is something you'd have to feel out. Use it near the end of a synth if you are getting a lot of failures.
- Ease the Burden (ARM 36)
Reduces progress to help with the invisible risk stat. Since risk is invisible you have to feel it out. Use only as a last resort.
- Clean Slate (LTW 36)
Resets the synth. Good if you botch a lot. Watch that risk!

Trying to Save Bad Luck Synths!
Everyone that has ever crafted has experienced getting progress to 97-99% with only 10-11 durability left. As of 2.0 your best bet for saving a Synth at this point, besides using Tender Touch(CRP 10) or Less is More(Cul 30) which you should use if you have them, is Careful Synthesis. Careful only costs 8-10 durability on an average/failure, usually 9. While getting a critical success with a Standard or a Rapid results in little to no durability loss, failure exceeds 10. So not only is Careful your safest bet, you also get more quality which increases your EXP. If durability is below 10, risking a Standard or a Rapid, hopefully augmented with some ability, is the way to go instead since Careful Synthesis always results in durability loss even if you are successful. Good luck!


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Below is actually a part of the old guide, but the tips should still work.



GRINDING TIPS
There are many different grinding styles. Here are a few:

Leve Grinding
+ It's free.

+ You get gil and mats for turning them in and a bonus for a high quality turn in.
SOME ADVICE: If you are leveling more than one craft some of the reward mats are nice for that. You can also avoid having to do some pain in the ass leves for that other craft. For example, you can do BSM quests to get ore, then use that ore to rank up ARM.

- You have to use leves. This isn't a huge deal if you don't use them anyway.

- If the dated recipes still exist and if you still have crafting books, DO NOT TURN THEM IN for useless points. The Dev team trolled crafters by keeping leves that still use them in the game. You can still buy the use of facilities to make it easier though. New recipes suppossedly do not use the facilities. There are both new and old recipes mixed in the leves.

- If "dated" recipes still exist by the time you are reading this, your level for other crafts can also determine the difficulty if you choose to rank up on them. Since many leves as of this writing still use dated recipes you might find warnings about how you need to level another craft. You can still complete these leves. They will just be a tad harder than the others.

- The leves granted are random, so you can get stuck with a crap selection. Especially in the 20-39 range which are all lumped together. Not only that, some leves of different rank share the same exact name, so you could accidentally pick the lower rank one if you are in a hurry.
FUN TRICK: Pick up leves you don't like and only turn in ones that you do. They will never appear in the roster so long as you have it in your journal making picking out the good ones much faster. Make sure you don't keep a leve with a higher level version though!

- Travel time really eats into your crafting time and you have to travel to turn in the leve.
FUN TRICK: You can pick up leves that you don't want to travel to and do them anyway. If you succeed in the leve, abandon it to pick it up again. You don't get the final reward, but it saves you time. If you failed it, retry and get more exp out of it without having to move. Failing too much eats away your leves fast though, so keep that in mind.

- The synths for the leves are static, so even if you only do the leves closest to your rank you get less and less exp as you level until you hit the next multiple of 5 (10, 15, 20, 25, etc) to unlock new leves.
SOME ADVICE: When you hit a multiple of 5, do leves that are around your level +5 and save the mats they give you. As you get closer to unlocking the next leve set and the exp starts to tank use the materials you have been hoarding to rank up on higher ranked recipes through the last level or two.

–As of 1.21 some leves no longer give exp because Square Enix changed the level value of certain synths. if you get a leve like this, do not take it again.


Milking Your Mats
+ The new exp bonus for extra quality allows you to get more exp for less. So you use less material in the long run, saving gil, and save some time gathering.

+You can use your own mats or leves.

+This is currently the fastest way to grind.

- You have to pay attention to get the Quality value high. Try not to fall asleep after the first few hours.
SOME ADVICE: If you are having trouble finishing a high quality synth, try Standard Synthing (Or Perfection(CRP 36)/Blinding Speed(ARM 10) > Rapid Synth) safely to around 50-60% progression. Evaluate how much Durability you have from there then Careful Synth to 100% if you think you can make it.


Spam the Button While Watching TV
+ Not as boring!

- A very slow way to level.

- Have to use your own mats.

- Have to use lower exp gain synths to get the most of it. After all, you are not paying attention!
SOME ADVICE: Around 400exp gain or less per success usually evens out in your favor. The lower the level of the synth the more success you will have. Personally, I would stop when successes gained me less than 200exp. Pick synths that have little mat/shard cost for better results.


Rings to Riches
Equip rings to Spiritbind for materia. You can sell the materia to people who want to try for the Gambler's Crown achievement or you can use it to try for it yourself. If you are lucky enough to be able to do this with Electrum Rings (or any other high level jewelry) without breaking the bank you can get some very nice materia.


Repairing
Repairing gear 10 levels above you is a very easy way to get some guaranteed exp. When you grind, pick a spot that people will go to repair their gear. Repair NPCs are a good spot. Near Ifrit's cave is also good during peak hours. It is not a lot but every bit helps.


Fail to Victory!
+ You can get exp for failing! Hoorah!
SOME ADVICE: Pick really high level synths. If you fail, you'll still get a decent amount of exp.

- With the quality changes failing makes for really slow grinding.

- High level synths take more expensive mats usually.
SOME ADVICE: Eliminate the expense. Use leves.

Also, those Qiqirin NPCs in each city sell the manual for 10k (level 1) and 100k (level 2)

I don't know that. I'll add it in.

Copy pasted the tips from the old thread. Most are not as important now, but still work. Also added some advice for those pesky 99% progress 10 durability moments.

Added Hand of the Gods to the list of awesome abilities to grind with. 3-4 turns at reduced success, but no durability loss at all. That coupled with Perfection is completely overpowered when it comes to crafting.

Its kinda wonderful isn't it? Also, very nice guide, PT. Looks like you've put a lot of work into this. ^^b

I have no life. lol

I need to try the hand of gods perfection combo. Sounds broken.

Also, another way to avoid the 99% completion/0 durability issue for me is to use an increased chance of success ability and go for broke with Rapid. That way success insures no loss of durability and you will complete the item. This tends to work better for items under your level.

Added and updated a few things. I've been doing a lot of crafting since the last mini patch to be sure, but in case you didn't know crafting abilities that used to last 4-5 turns have been nerfed (now 3 turns average) and it may be nerfed again in the future.

If you ever wanted to craft and haven't hopped on the train yet, now is really the time to do it since crafting exp gain is now under the watchful eye of the devs.

Filled out some more abilities and put some descriptions. Hoorah.