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Logging & Harvesting
Logging and harvesting are the two gathering abilities of the botanist. By seeking out the mature trees and lush vegetation growing in Eorzea’s environs, these masters of the land are able to procure a number of materials, be they timber, wild grasses, or otherwise.
* For details on gathering catalysts, the items required for the melding of materia, please refer to Materia.


Logging
1. Changing to the Botanist Class
With the Armoury system, becoming a botanist is as simple as equipping the proper piece of equipment. Go to main menu » Gear, and equip a botanist’s primary tool in the main hand slot.
 
2. Finding a Mature Tree
Logging points are known as mature trees, and are marked on the game screen by a small, flashing light. When a player attains a high enough level, certain botanist abilities will allow for the precise tracking of these points, with detailed information regarding distance and direction being displayed in the log. Make use of these abilities to easily locate a region’s mature trees.
3. Making Preparations
Drawing near a mature tree will cause the Log command to appear in the Interactions menu. Select this command to begin the logging process.
Use the keyboard’s ↑ and ↓ directional keys or the gamepad’s Target/Open Menu controls to determine where to make the initial notch and press the Enter key or the Select/Confirm button. Then choose the Begin option from the Aim window to start chopping.
The location a player chooses to notch determines what items can be obtained.
4. Chopping Away
Choosing the Chop option from the Approach window will bring up a cursor and gauge used to determine the angle at which the hatchet is swung. The moving cursor can be stopped at any point by pressing the Enter key or the Select/Confirm button. Each swing made will reduce the mature tree’s Remainder value. A single logging attempt ends when this value reaches zero.
Swinging at an inappropriate angle will yield no items.
* After several attempts, a mature tree will become temporarily unavailable for logging. When this happens, seek out another gathering point elsewhere.

Finding the “Sweet Spot”
Logging attempts will result in system messages being displayed in the log. If the angle at which you chopped does not yield a message beginning with the phrase, You are close to something..., then the current attempt will yield no items.
In addition, any logging attempt after the first will provide players with another message containing a hint as to whether or not they have gotten closer to a “sweet spot” from which items can be obtained. Players are encouraged to make use of these hints to improve their next swing’s chances of success.
 
The blue cursor represents where the last chop was made.
Harvesting
1. Equipping the Proper Gear
Harvesting requires that a botanist’s secondary tool be equipped in the off hand. Further, as harvesting can only be engaged in while a botanist, a botanist’s primary tool must simultaneously be equipped in the main hand.
 
2. Finding Lush Vegetation
Harvesting points are known as lush vegetation, and are marked on the game screen by a small flashing light. The location of lush vegetation is also designated by the presence of an icon on the minimap.
 
3. Hacking Away
Approaching lush vegetation will cause the Harvest option to appear in the Interactions menu. Selecting this will execute a harvesting attempt that will yield items when successful.
* A single successful harvesting attempt will deplete a lush vegetation point, but will cause another point to appear somewhere nearby. After several attempts in the same vicinity, players will temporarily be unable to harvest there again. When this happens, seek out a new gathering point elsewhere.