TheOnlyFrogs Shrines Final Fantasy XIV
✦ the crystal archives ✦ Final Fantasy XIV a soft little Eorzean journal of progress, treasures & tiny obsessions

✦ the forever list ✦

Long Haul

No progress bars. No giant numbers staring at me. Just things that take forever and are worth making a tiny dent in whenever I don't feel like doing anything specific.

I don't know what to do

Give me a long grind

Filter by mood or time if I have opinions. Otherwise let the website make the bad decision for me.

tonight's suggestion Anything could happen.

Hit the button when decision-making has failed.

Type
Mood
Time

ideas match

background forever grind

Live on Hunt Trains for a While

Chip away at the enormous A-rank hunt achievements, nuts, clusters, tomes, materia and whatever else piles up along the way.

Do this

Join one hunt train. If another one lines up nicely afterwards, great; if not, you still moved the giant hunt numbers.

♧ Social ☁ Brain off 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

This is deliberately not tracking kills here. Your achievement log already knows the ugly number.

opportunistic

Become an S-Rank Goblin

Keep slowly feeding the truly unreasonable S-rank achievements whenever marks happen to pop.

Do this

Keep an eye on calls while doing something else and detour for any S-ranks that are convenient.

♧ Social ⏰ Opportunistic 15 min 30 min 1 hour
why this is here

Much nicer as a background habit than as something you try to force.

easy to stack

Make a Dent in the FATE Mountain

Let the giant FATE completion achievements rise while also doing gemstones, relic steps, levelling, shared FATEs or event farming.

Do this

Pick a zone where FATEs pay you twice: gemstones, levelling, relic progress or another reward you actually want.

☁ Brain off ⚔ Actually play 15 min 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

The best version of this grind is one where the achievement is almost incidental.

roulette chaos

Throw Yourself Into Mentor Roulette

The Astrope grind is enormous, but Mentor Roulette is also a very good answer to 'I want to play, tell me what duty to do.'

Do this

Do one Mentor Roulette. Keep going only if the roulette chaos is still entertaining.

⚔ Actually play ♧ Social 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

No counter here. In-game achievement progress is the source of truth.

proper session

Disappear Into Deep Dungeon

Work on hoards, clears, solo attempts, titles, weapons and whatever Deep Dungeon achievement rabbit hole currently appeals.

Do this

Choose one Deep Dungeon and make the session itself the goal rather than staring at the lifetime counters.

⚔ Actually play ✦ Focused 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Palace, Heaven-on-High, Eureka Orthos or Pilgrim's Traverse can all live under this umbrella.

many grinds at once

Lose an Evening in the Occult Crescent

Treat the Crescent as a bundle of long goals: coffers, field progress, encounters, rewards and whatever achievement chains you still have hanging around.

Do this

Go into the Crescent with one small side goal and let all the hidden lifetime counters move around it.

⚔ Actually play ♧ Social 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Good when you want something busy without deciding on one exact achievement.

daily-friendly

Do the Frontline Forever Grind

Wins, KOs and the various Frontline achievements all move together, so the daily roulette can quietly feed several horrible goals.

Do this

Do your daily Frontline and consider that enough. Anything beyond that is bonus progress.

⚔ Actually play ♧ Social 15 min 30 min 1 hour
why this is here

This page does not care whether tonight gave you one win or none.

short burst

Chip Away at Crystalline Conflict

Long-term PvP wins and KO achievements become much less grim when CC is treated as a few quick matches rather than an all-night obligation.

Do this

Play a short set of matches and stop when it stops being fun.

⚔ Actually play ✦ Focused 15 min 30 min 1 hour
why this is here

The in-game PvP profile and achievement log can handle the actual numbers.

stack with other farms

Feed the Tank Mount Achievements

Use PLD, WAR, DRK or GNB for qualifying duties whenever another farm gives you the excuse.

Do this

Pick whichever tank mount still needs love and use that tank for the duties you were going to run anyway.

☁ Brain off ⚔ Actually play 15 min 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Much better as a default-job habit than as a dedicated hundreds-of-runs marathon.

second-monitor heaven

Go Rot in the Diadem

Gather restoration materials, inspect piles, earn Skybuilders' scrips and slowly chew through the huge gathering-side Firmament achievements.

Do this

Pick Miner, Botanist or Fisher, put something on the second monitor, and spend one comfortable session in the Diadem.

☁ Brain off ✦ Focused 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

The Diadem is still the gatherer half of Ishgardian Restoration and its materials feed Firmament crafting.

batch craft

Become a Firmament Crafting Cryptid

Craft and turn in Ishgardian Restoration supplies, build Skyward-score style progress and hoover up Skybuilders' scrip rewards over time.

Do this

Choose one crafter, make a manageable batch of restoration collectibles, hand them in, and stop there if that scratches the itch.

☁ Brain off ✦ Focused 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

The reconstruction is complete, but the Firmament still accepts restoration deliveries and awards scrips.

completionist project

Spread Firmament Suffering Across Every Crafter

Instead of camping one crafting job forever, rotate through the restoration achievements and class-specific score goals across the whole crafting roster.

Do this

Pick the crafting job you have neglected most recently and make that tonight's Firmament class.

☁ Brain off ✦ Focused 1 hour All evening
why this is here

A nice long-term 'eventually all of them' project without displaying eight separate progress bars.

cosmic grind

Go Back to the Moon

Work through Sinus Ardorum stellar missions, successes, mission ratings, credits and lunar-era Cosmic Exploration achievements.

Do this

Head to Sinus Ardorum, pick a crafter or gatherer you feel like using, and just run stellar missions for a while.

☁ Brain off ⚔ Actually play 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

This is the actual Moon portion of Cosmic Exploration, so it gets its own card rather than disappearing into a generic crafting bucket.

tool project

Slowly Finish the Cosmic Tools

Let stellar missions feed research data into the Cosmic Tool upgrades across your crafting and gathering classes.

Do this

Pick one class whose Cosmic Tool you want prettier or further upgraded and spend the session doing its stellar missions.

☁ Brain off ✦ Focused 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Cosmic prototypes do not need to be equipped for research-data progress.

many stars, one grind

Bounce Around Cosmic Exploration

Treat Sinus Ardorum, Phaenna, Oizys, Auxesia and later Cosmic Exploration areas as one giant long-term crafter/gatherer playground.

Do this

Go to whichever cosmic area still has missions, rewards or achievements you actually care about and stay until you fancy something else.

⚔ Actually play ♧ Social 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

The point is to avoid turning each star into yet another dashboard counter.

passive crafting

Feed the Giant Crafting Achievement Pile

The huge class-by-class crafting achievements are perfect background goals while making raid supplies, housing items, glamour pieces or sale stock.

Do this

Choose one crafter and make a useful batch of something rather than crafting junk purely for a number.

☁ Brain off 15 min 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Rotate jobs whenever one starts feeling stale.

extremely chill

Go Gather Until Your Brain Is Smooth

Use normal gathering, Gatherer's Boon and expansion-specific gathering achievements as background progress while stocking useful materials.

Do this

Pick one material route you actually need and gather it until the repetition stops being soothing.

☁ Brain off 15 min 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Works especially well when you are simultaneously stocking current crafting materials.

dangerous rabbit hole

Become Worse About Fishing

Big Fish, Ocean Fishing, fishing logs, rare windows and the assorted Fisher achievements can become a whole second game if you let them.

Do this

Pick one fishing sub-goal: a window, an Ocean Fishing voyage, a log gap, or a zone you have been ignoring.

☁ Brain off ✦ Focused 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Only choose this if you are prepared for the fish to win.

classic long project

Pick a Relic Line and Suffer Productively

Old relic weapons are excellent filler because almost every step gives you an obvious little task without demanding that you finish the whole weapon tonight.

Do this

Choose one unfinished relic and do exactly one step, currency batch or duty loop.

☁ Brain off ⚔ Actually play 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Bonus points if the relic also overlaps with FATEs, roulettes or another Long Haul card.

zone-by-zone

Finish Shared FATE Zones

Shared FATE ranks and gemstone rewards are a satisfying regional grind that also feeds the broader FATE achievements.

Do this

Pick one incomplete zone and do FATEs there until you are bored.

☁ Brain off ⚔ Actually play 30 min 1 hour All evening
why this is here

Simple, visible in-game, and stacks beautifully with the FATE mountain.

allowance sink

Remember Levequest Achievements Exist

Leve-related gil and completion achievements are the definition of 'do some occasionally and Future Me will be grateful.'

Do this

Burn a sensible chunk of allowances on something efficient, then forget about the achievement again for a while.

☁ Brain off 15 min 30 min 1 hour
why this is here

No need to expose the lifetime gil total on the website.

passive social

Keep Feeding the Commendation Pile

Player commendation achievements are best handled by simply being useful, pleasant and visible in normal group content for a very long time.

Do this

Run roulettes or group content normally. There is nothing special to farm beyond giving people a reason to commend you.

♧ Social ⚔ Actually play 15 min 30 min 1 hour
why this is here

The vaguest grind on the page, exactly as intended.