How to Unlock & Level Miner in FFXIV

Final Fantasy XIV has an abundant variety of jobs for players to choose from, and they’re suited for all types of adventures in Eorzea from combat to crafting and gathering. The latter two especially go hand-in-hand, as gatherers are responsible for, well, gathering all the necessary resources that crafters need to make their desired items.

One such gatherer is Miner, which is a job that you can start early on in the game. Granted, you may not know off-hand where exactly to started, but we’ve got your covered there. Here is how to unlock and level Miner in FFXIV.

How to Unlock the Miner Job in FFXIV

Like many other jobs in the game, Miner is first introduced and unlocked for the player by visiting their respective guild, in this case the Miner’s Guild. It can be found in Ul’dah, specifically in the Steps of Thal area at (X:11, Y:14). Speak to the Guild Receptionist named Linette (seen above) to pick up the Level 1 quest called “Way of the Miner”. Completing this will give you your first pickaxe, and kick off the job quest line for Miner, which will help level and guide you with excavating each area of the game.

Also, while you can get better pickaxes and sledgehammers off the Market Board, they can be overpriced due to seller inflation, and it can be rather inconvenient if you’re just starting out in the game, or are just low on gil in general. There is a nearby lala vendor NPC at the Sapphire Avenue Exchange named Yoyobasa (X:14.2, Y:11.1) who sells gathering equipment all the way up to Level 49. The higher level ones don’t go for more than a few thousand gil a piece, so make sure you don’t overlook your local merchants, as they’re typically the better bargain for basic necessities.

How to Level the Miner Job in FFXIV

Like other gathering jobs in the game (Botanist and Fisher), Miner has two main ways of gaining EXP. The first is literally grabbing your pickaxe and gathering resources in various open-world areas of the game. With the job equipped, you’ll see shimmering gathering nodes scattered across the map, and you can pinpoint them with your mini-map in the top right corner.

As soon as you obtain them, make sure to always have your Prospect (Level 1) and Truth of Mountains (Level 46) passive actions active, as they will allow you to see these nodes and gather from them. They can be found under ‘Gatherer Role’ in the Actions & Traits menu.

The second is your Job Quests, which for gathering classes goes up to Level 70. Upon completion they give you substantial chunks of EXP, as well as some supplementary items to help you along the way such as gear, primary/secondary tools, new abilities, DoL (Disciple of Land) food buffs, and extra gil.

It is possible that you can pitstop during your quest grind and awkwardly forget where you left off, or how many quests are left for you to do. One VERY handy reminder tool added to the game is the job quest notification at the top left of your screen (as seen above), right underneath the MSQ quest bar. It will tell you what your next/current quest for the job you’re currently equipped as is, and clicking on it will show the pickup location for it. Doesn’t get much better than that.

If you want a broader look at the entire quest line for Miner, here are all of them in order of Level, along with their NPCs, locations, and coordinates.

You can also sprinkle in some Miner Levequests between these job quests, which you can pick up in various areas of every expansion up to Endwalker, depending on your Miner’s current level. They involve completing errands in the immediate area, and upon turning them in you’ll get a good EXP boost, gil, and some materials.

Beyond the point of these quests, from Level 70 onward your next main source of EXP gain for your gatherer comes from any or all of the following four methods:

• The Crystalline Mean – The Crystarium (X:10.7, Y:8.4) upper floor; teleport via the Main Aetheryte
  • Pick up the blue quest “The Crystalline Mean” from here to unlock all the quest lines available in the area.
  • Here you can pick up multiple quest lines specifically for gathering jobs that are similar to high-level ‘Role Quests’ picked up by combat jobs.
• The Diadem – Foundation – The Firmament (X:10.8, Y:14.0)
  • Speak to the Elezen NPC named Aurvael to enter The Diadem
  • Any gatherer can be leveled in this special instanced area. They must be a minimum of Level 10 to enter.
• Studium Deliveries – Old Sharlayan (X:5.6, Y:8.4)
  • Very similar in concept to The Crystalline Mean
  • Must have a gathering job at Level 80 minimum to pick up these quests
  • Must first complete the following pre-requisite quests: “Sound the Bell, School’s In” (Level 82 MSQ), “Inscrutable Tastes” (Level 50; Foundation), and finally “The Faculty” (Level 80; Old Sharlayan).
• Beast Tribe Questlines
  • The following beast tribes utilize gathering jobs for their questlines:
    • Namazu – The Azim Steppe – Dhoro Iloh (X:6.1, Y:23.6) – Stormblood expansion
    • Qitari – The Raktika Greatwood – Hopl’s Stopple (X:37.1, Y:17.4) – Shadowbringers expansion
    • Omicron – Ultima Thule – Base Omicron (X:31.2, Y:28.0) – Endwalker expansion

That concludes our guide for how to unlock and level Miner in FFXIV. We hope you find this helpful, and let us know which gathering job you prefer the most.

Be sure to check out all of our other quests for Final Fantasy XIV, such as our weekly updated Fashion Report guide.