Final Fantasy XIV Island Sanctuary Workshop Guide

The FFXIV 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. Our Final Fantasy XIV Island Sanctuary Workshop Guide will go over how to maximize your profits every week.

Seafarer's cowries are a unique resource that are plentiful to start with, but must eventually be earned via 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.

Final Fantasy XIV Island Sanctuary Workshop Basics

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.

FFXIV Island Sanctuary Workshop Upgrades

Upgrades for the Workshops will also become available at certain 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 Island Logs, 10 Island Palm Leaves, 10 Island Limestone, 5 Island Vines, 5 Island Sand.
• Workshop II - Available at Sanctuary Rank 6. Requires 15 Island Logs, 15 Island Limestone, 10 Island Hemp, 5 Island Clay, 5 Island Copper Ore.
• Workshop III - Sanctuary Rank 8. Requires 15 Island Iron Ore, 15 Island Leucogranite, 15 Island Logs, 10 Island Hemp, 3 Raw Island Garnets (via foraging expeditions).

With at least 1 Workshop constructed, the Tactful Taskmaster NPC will appear in the Island Hideaway. Talking to it lets you access the Isleworks Agenda, where you’ll set mammets to automatically craft items for you.

FFXIV Isleworks Agenda

There are a few basic terms to keep in mind when dealing with the Isleworks Agenda:

• Cycle - One 24 hour period. The start time for a cycle is different from the usual daily reset timer.
• Seasons - Seasons are made up of 7 cycles, with both the current and next season shown at the top of the agenda. Seasons start on Tuesdays, though at a time separate from the usual weekly reset timer.
• Rest Cycle - 2 days from each Season must be a Rest Cycle, where no crafting will be done. This can be adjusted for the current and next Season via the deckchair icon.
• Agenda - The timetable for Islework crafts. Items take real-world time to make, which will be shown visually by their length on the agenda once selected. Each Workshop has its own agenda.

The basic flow of workshops involves picking which items will be crafted each day, then making sure that you have enough materials to craft them. 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. Setting an item to craft, and then setting a different item that shares a category will result in an efficiency bonus. This causes 2 of the second items to be crafted, without using more 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 higher your Groove, the more items will be worth when crafted. Maximum Groove can be increased by building landmarks in the Island Hideaway, improving profits even further. Groove is fully reset once a new Season has started.

Island Sanctuary Workshop - Item Demand

The graph icon in the Isleworks Agenda will open up the supply & demand menu. Here, you can see the predicted worth of each craftable item and any potential changes to the market.

• Popularity: Changes every Season, with higher popularity equalling higher values for crafted items.
• Supply: Changes every Cycle, with lower supply leading to higher selling values. Supply is directly affected by how many of that item you have crafted (i.e. crafting lots of one item will cause the supply to increase, lowering profits in the long run).
• Demand Shift: Determines popularity for the next Season.
• Predicted Demand: Determines upcoming supply for an item. Higher demand (represented by up to 2 blue arrows) will cause the supply to decrease over time.

Taking this into account, you’ll want to try and focus on high popularity, low supply items, keeping in mind which items will be in demand later in the week. Many of the most profitable crafts require materials from foraging expeditions, so make sure to start saving those up ahead of time.

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.