Final Fantasy XIV Island Sanctuary Workshop guide

Final Fantasy XIV’s Island Sanctuary allows you to build a number of helpful structures to aid your time in this new side content. However, doing so requires both time and a lot of seafarer’s cowries. Although this unique resource is abundant to begin with, it must be learned through workshops. Mastery of your workshops is key to earning a plentiful amount of seafarer’s cowries (and some decent sanctuary experience), and is worth setting up as soon as possible. Our Final Fantasy XIV This workshop guide will help you maximize your profits every week at Island Sanctuary.

Final Fantasy XIV Basics of the Island Sanctuary Workshop

You’ll first be introduced to Workshops during the quest “A Workshop of Wonders”. You’ll be able to place down your first rank 1 Workshop instantly during this quest, though later ones require real-world time on top of materials. It’s possible to build 2 workshops initially, with 1 more unlocking after the first area expansion — building both workshops ASAP is recommended.

Upgrades to the Workshops will be available at specific Sanctuary Ranks. These give a slight boost to crafted item values, while also changing the building’s appearance and offering sanctuary experience.

• Workshop I – Default, available during quest “A Workshop of Wonders”. Requires 10 Islands Logs, 10 Isle Palm Leaves and 10 Island Limestone. 5 Island Vines and 5 Island Sand.
• Workshop II – Only available at Sanctuary rank 6. Requires 15 island logs, 15 island limestone, 10 islands hemp, 5 island clay, and 5 islands copper ore.
• Workshop III – Sanctuary rank 8. Requires 15 Island Iron Ore. 15 Island Leucogranite. 15, 15 Island Logs. 10, Island Hemp. Three Raw Island Garnets.

Once you have built at least one Workshop, the Tactful Taskmaster NPC is available in the Island Hideaway. Talking to it lets you access the Isleworks Agenda, where you’ll set mammets to automatically craft items for you. When dealing with the Isleworks Agenda, there are some basic terms you need to remember:

Cycle: A 24-hour period. The cycle start time differs from the normal daily reset timer.
Seasons: There are seven cycles to a season. Current and next seasons will be shown at top of the list. Seasons begin on Tuesdays. However, they start at a different time than the weekly reset timer.
Rest Cycle: A Rest Cycle must be completed within 2 days of each Season. Crafting will not be allowed during this time. You can adjust this for the current or next Season by clicking the deckchair icon.
Agenda: This is the timetable for Islework craft. It takes real-world time to create items, which will be displayed visually by the length of the agenda once chosen. Each Workshop has its own agenda.

Workshops are organized in a way that allows you to pick the items you will craft each day and then make sure you have enough materials. You don’t need the materials on hand when setting the agenda, only when it becomes time to actually craft them. The Material Allocation option in the Islekeep’s Index will let you see which materials are needed — materials you don’t have enough of are represented by a negative deficit value.

While setting random items will net you some seafarer’s cowries, the highest profits require you to take into account 2 things: efficiency bonuses, and demand.

Island Sanctuary Workshop – Efficiency Bonus

Each item you can craft has up to 2 categories, listed in both the “Set Agenda” menu and in the item description. You will receive an efficiency bonus if you set an item to craft and then create another item with the same category. This allows 2 items to be crafted at the same time, and requires no additional time or materials. This can be constantly chained during a Cycle, as long as you don’t craft the same item more than once in a row.

An item crafted with the efficiency bonus will also add to the “Groove” stat, found in the top right of the Isleworks Agenda. The more Groove you have, the better quality items will be. You can increase your maximum Groove by creating landmarks in the Island Hideaway. This will improve profits even further. After a new season has begun, Groove is completely reset.

Island Sanctuary Workshop – Item Demand

The graph icon in the Isleworks Agenda will open up the supply & demand menu. This will show you the expected market value for each craftable item as well as any possible changes.

Popularity: This is a seasonal change. Higher popularity means higher prices for handcrafted items.
Supply: This is a dynamic cycle, where lower supplies lead to higher selling value. The number of items you make directly affects the supply (i.e. Making lots of the same item will increase the supply, which in turn will lower profits over the long-term.
Demand Shift: This determines the popularity for next Season.
Predicted Demand is the prediction of the future demand for an item. Supply will decrease over time if there is higher demand (represented by 2 blue arrows).

Taking this into account, you’ll want to sell high popularity, low supply items later in a Season once your Groove has increased to max (or close to it). It’s best to spend the first Cycle or so crafting 4-hour items, pairing up the right categories to get the efficiency bonus each time. It’s possible to fit 6 4-hour items into a cycle, meaning that you can build 15 Groove daily once all 3 workshops are active (the first item of a cycle can’t have an efficiency bonus).

One you’ve boosted your Groove value, it’s then possible to go after longer, higher value items that are in demand. Foraging expeditions are a key ingredient in many of the most lucrative crafts. Make sure you start saving these materials now.

If you won’t be able to check on the agenda every day (or aren’t too bothered about high profits), it’s possible to set everything for 2 Seasons ahead of time. The best items for this are ones that don’t require drops from expeditions, crops, or animals.