Patch 6.2 has brought the highly-awaited feature of Island Sanctuaries to Final Fantasy XIV, offering a new way for players to relax in the world of Hydaelyn. They can grow crops, put animals in pastures, and customize their hideaway in this new area. It’s also possible to invite players, although it’s primarily a solo feature.
While the feature has only just joined the game, it already offers many mechanics and possibilities to progress through it, from activities to construction and a dedicated economy.
Seafarer’s Cowries are one of the two currencies used solely in the Island Sanctuary. They have no use outside of this area. While the Islander’s Cowries can be earned by trading materials and used to buy various items, the Seafarer’s Cowries are much more precious.
They are used to buy hideaway improvements, various items, and unique collectibles such as minions and mounts. Here are the fastest ways to get them in FFXIV.
Related: How to unlock the Island Sanctuary in Final Fantasy XIV
The fastest way to get Seafarer’s Cowries in Final Fantasy XIV
Several activities can reward you with Seafarer’s Cowries in the Island Sanctuary. But if you don’t manage your resources carefully, you’ll lose unique opportunities to get them each week. Here are some ways to get them in short amounts of time:
- Complete visions: they are quests, displayed at all times on the right of your screen.
- Complete weekly challenge logs.
- The first one is easy to complete and gives 1,000 Cowries (collect 100 materials on the island). The second one requires you to ship 20 isleworks handicrafts and also gives 1,000. This mechanic will be detailed down below.
- Keep your workshop agenda complete at all times (and keep your required material stock up).
The workshop agenda can be a bit tricky to understand, but it’s a key feature in managing your island sanctuary, as well as in earning fast Seafarer’s Cowries and experience points. You gain many of them for every production you export.
Set two rest days and complete your full agenda for at least one cycle (or more if you don’t expect to connect much the next week). To maximize your production, take two items of the same category and pile them up in one day (as shown above): you’ll see the “Efficiency Bonus” message. Do not put the same item twice in a row, or the bonus won’t apply.
If you’ve just created your Island Sanctuary, you won’t have to bother with supply demand: you’ll only be able to craft half of the items available. Just switch them up to get the efficiency bonus everywhere and when the end of the week comes, you’ll be rewarded with an enormous amount of XP and Seafarer’s Cowries.
When you get more resources because your crops and pastures will have developed, then you can look at the most-rewarding items and choose to produce them to get more rewards.
Usually, having a few special animals in your pasture will yield more rare materials used for valuable recipes, so don’t forget to hunt some of them. Here is our guide on how to find them.
You can fill your agenda completely and then look at all the resources they will require at once, as shown above. Go and farm them to be sure to have enough materials when the production begins, and you’ll be all set.