How to maximize your island sanctuary in Final Fantasy 14 without being too sweaty

GamesRPGFinal FantasyHow to maximize your island sanctuary in Final Fantasy 14 without being too sweatyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 14 Island Sanctuary guide

The Final Fantasy 14 community is one of the best and most welcoming in the world of MMOs, but that doesn’t negate its sweatiness. In August 2022, Patch 6.2 introduced the Island Sanctuary as a private space for Warriors of Light to relax and unwind while participating in some Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley-adjacent tasks like planting crops, building structures, and decorating a tropical paradise.

The space is meant to be what the name implies—asanctuary, ahaven, anoasisaway from the pressures of extreme raids and saving the world. Catch animals and give them stupid names! Keep Christmas decorations up all year! Roleplay with yourself and spam emotes to your heart’s content!

To no one’s surprise, it took approximately 2.8 seconds for the most elite FF14 try-hards to effectivelysuck the fun and intended purpose out of the new game mode. Spreadsheets quickly appeared on Reddit, listing exactly what to harvest and craft each day to hit the next level as fast as possible. Instead of enjoying the ride and the vibes, there was suddenly a sense ofurgency, with people treating the Island Sanctuary as a limited-time event and not a permanent addition to the game. And to be honest, it sucks. Why can’t we just go at our own pace and appreciate the gift Yoshi-P has given us?

Accept this simple fact before you begin: if you’re just now starting Island Sanctuary, you will not catch up to everyone at Island Rank 20 in a day or two. It’s going to take real-world time. That’s okay. That’s the point. Don’t open another tab right now to search “Island Sanctuary max level in two days.” Make peace with this and fix your character a mai tai. No grinding allowed.

As it turns out, reaching Rank 20 is much more enjoyable as a marathon and not a sprint. The mounts, minions, and glams you can earn aren’t going anywhere, and your sanity won’t either if you just follow these easy guidelines.If you’re new to the massive world of FF14, you’ll need to finish the Endwalker expansion before you earn the right to relax in your own private paradise. Save the world first, drinks in a coconut with a little umbrella later.

After getting caught up with the main story, head to Old Sharlayan and find the Clueless Crier to pick up the quest “Seeking Sanctuary.” That’s all you need to do to trigger the Island Sanctuary questline.

Complete Visions as soon as they become available

(Image credit: Square Enix)

FF14 Island Sanctuary guide

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The first four Visions alone will grant you almost 15,000 Island EXP, so get them done before focusing on anything else. After constructing your cabin, some land for crops, a pasture, and your first workshop, you’ll be in a good position to start making some real headway on your since-untouched utopia. Finishing these quests will also reward you with a few fat stacks of Seafarer’s Cowries, the main currency for the Island Sanctuary. Earning Island EXP will increase your Island Rank, giving you access to more tools, upgrades, and places to explore. Seafarer’s Cowries aren’t only used for buying baubles–you’ll need them to improve your facilities.

Automate as LITTLE as possible

(Image credit: Square Enix)

FF14 Island Sanctuary guide

Your island is filled with little mammets—workers ready to lend a helping hand as you refine your space. As tempting as it is to send these little guys out to chop wood and pick up rocks, that’s just throwing experience away. Send mammets to do some supplementary gathering if you’d like to have extra crafting materials on hand, but whenever possible, do it yourself.

If you’re dreading it, put some YouTube on and turn your brain off as you pick flowers to put in your pouch, just as Yoshi-P intended. Squeeze in a bit of time each day gathering and tending to your animals and crops while waiting for dungeon queues to pop. Spending just 20 or 30 minutes a day completing simple tasks on your island is enough to keep things running smoothly.

Also, if you’re not at Island Rank 10 yet, I’m sorry. No flying mounts for you. At least you’ll get your steps in.

Conserve your Seafarer’s Cowries (to start, anyway)

(Image credit: Square Enix)

FF14 Island Sanctuary guide

As you tend to your island, the Seafarer’s Cowries you earn can be used to purchase exclusive mounts, minions, glamours, Orchestrion Rolls, home goods, hairstyles, Materia, and lots more from the Horrendous Hoarder in your Cozy Cabin. In particular, it helps to save up the 100,000 cowries you’ll need for the most expensive mount on offer—the Garlond GL-IIT, a half-motorcycle, half-tiller for all your sowing needs.

You’ll earn enough for a few of these goodies pretty quickly, butstop and turn your head away from the store until you’ve expanded your home base and upgraded your island.Conserve those pretty blue shells until you’ve done everything that needs to be done—the shop isn’t going anywhere.

You’ll need about 11,000 Seafarer’s Cowries for all upgrades and quests. It’s worth noting that collecting 100 materials in your sanctuary and crafting 20 Isleworks Handicrafts each week will reward you with an extra 2,000 Cowries as part of your challenge log. If you have any excess inventory, you can also sell materials for a few extra shells if you’re particularly desperate.

Upgrade your buildings (and build everything you can)

(Image credit: Square Enix)

FF14 Island Sanctuary guide

Tempting as it sounds to shun civilization and instead chat with a volleyball named Wilson while relaxing on your faraway cay, industry is the key to success. Building workshops, landmarks, and granaries will net you thousands of EXP. The only caveat is that building things takes actual time to complete–but that’s a great opportunity to take a break from the brain-melting monotony of harvesting popotos and cracking boulders.

Oh, and once an upgrade is complete, interact with the signboard near the impacted building. Lots of people don’t do this and wonder why their next quest isn’t triggering.

Keep your workshops active at all times—and don’t overstress about efficiency bonuses

(Image credit: Square Enix)

FF14 Island Sanctuary guide

We’ve reached the predominant way to maximize your island with minimal stress and interaction. Once your buildings have been upgraded as far as they can be, Island Sanctuary becomes less of an oasis and more of a sweatshop. Production should never stop, because as long as you’re crafting something, you’re going to get EXP and Seafarer’s Cowries.

If you have all four of your workshops stacked full of projects, you’ll get almost 7,000 EXP each day. The amount of Cowries you’ll get depends on what you’re making, but passive income is passive income.

When picking what to craft, grouping certain items of the same type will trigger an efficiency bonus. For example, if you craft two accessories back to back, you’ll get two of the second accessory while only expending the materials for one.

Understandably, this is where the sweaties appeared during the early weeks of Island Sanctuary, and this is where the spreadsheets and outside programs come in. Jumping onto Reddit, there’s adedicated postmapping out what you should make each week to net the most rewards. But does this matter in terms of EXP?

No. No, it doesn’t.

Craft what you want. Make 8,000 puka shell necklaces. (That’s not an in-game item, but it should be. ’90s fashion is back. Someone inform Square Enix.)

Handicrafts with higher popularity will be worth more Cowries, and the predicted popularity of an item is listed in the workshop interface. It’s decidedlynotsweaty to look at the Reddit post if you’ve already reached max level and just want to make the most moolah without taking the time to map it out yourself. There are only so many hours in a day, and you’ve got Hildibrand quests to do. Also, you need all those Mandragora mounts.

Keep all of the above in mind and follow these instructions if you’re getting burnt out

(Image credit: Square Enix)

FF14 Island Sanctuary guide

Internalize everything written above. Then follow these steps if five minutes is all you’re willing to spend on island growth each week. Sometimes, you need a break from the content designed to give you a break.

It’s impossible to fully automate your island, but the above method will take care of 95% of the work. All you’ll need to do is harvest a few logs each week to maintain enough materials to keep the workshops working. If the last few levels of your Island Sanctuary feel daunting, just set it and forget it.

“People will surely want to take a break once in a while and lie around on the beach or relax at home with friends, family, or their partners,” FF14 director Naoki Yoshidasaid in an interviewabout the Island Sanctuary back in early 2023. Somehow, he was both totally right and utterly wrong.

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Complete Visions as soon as they become available#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Automate as LITTLE as possible#

Conserve your Seafarer’s Cowries (to start, anyway)#

Upgrade your buildings (and build everything you can)#

Keep your workshops active at all times—and don’t overstress about efficiency bonuses#

Keep all of the above in mind and follow these instructions if you’re getting burnt out#

Complete Visions as soon as they become available

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Automate as LITTLE as possible

Conserve your Seafarer’s Cowries (to start, anyway)

Upgrade your buildings (and build everything you can)

Keep your workshops active at all times—and don’t overstress about efficiency bonuses

Keep all of the above in mind and follow these instructions if you’re getting burnt out