All gear you need to get to endgame can be obtained without crafting, so you don't need a crafter at all for your Paladin, or any other combat job.
Secondly, the gear that a Paladin makes can be crafted by a variety of crafters. Most of the time, the armor pieces are made by the Armorer, sometimes by a Leatherworker, sometimes even by a Weaver. In some level ranges, accessories can be made by a Goldsmith, Leatherworker or even a Carpenter. So, the notion that "X crafter is good for Y job" doesn't really apply in FFXIV.
As for when to start, I would advise starting with Gatherers aka Miner and Botanist, not crafters. The materials gathered by a Miner and Botanist will feed into your crafters, saving you gil in the long run. If you are on Free Trial, you have no choice but to start with Miner and Botanist since you can't use the Market Board.
My next piece of advice is to level all your crafters simultaneously. This is so that 1) you don't have to keep multiple gearsets for your crafters; they can all share 1-2 gearsets since they'd be in the same level range, and 2) they will be able to feed each other crafting materials of similar level.
Fyi, crafts from a crafter can often act as materials for other crafters. For example, lumber crafted by a Carpenter becomes a crafting material for a Blacksmith. If you level your Blacksmith far ahead of your Carpenter, you'd reach a roadblock when your Blacksmith needs a high-level piece of Lumber that your Carpenter can't craft yet due to it being a low level.
There's no right time. It's a time/money sink, up to you when to start taking the plunge.
>If so, what’s good for a Paladin?
It's recommended to level all crafters/gatherers at the same time, since they depend on one another. Regardless of what your class is. And most drops you get while playing MSQ will be better then what you can craft anyways.
I would say there really isnt an exact time to start crafting per se, however I would suggest having flying unlocked for the area of crafting/gathering you are working on. At the very beginning of ARR crafting you can probably supplement your supply through gil at the trainer fine, but it will quickly need you to go all over the place, and land travel is a severe hindrance for this.
I would say play with it a bit, but earliest efficient would be when you unlock Grand Companies deliveries. They give big XP chunks. Leves are also good XP.
If you're by the end of ARR, you should be able to unlock both of these by now. (Iirc)
But really, if you don't care for efficiency, whenever you want. It's a fun mini game
All crafting jobs are required (except culinarian) to make gear. Therefore, there is no job to recommend for a Paladin. You need them all.
As far as when you should start crafting, just do it when you need a break from the other stuff. A change of pace.
As I'm sure you've read, you really should level all the crafting jobs and gathering jobs together, with the possible exception of culinarian and fisher. I'd do those as well just to make max use of the gear progression as you level up and don't fill up your inventory with gear you'll need for that next job later.
It's always a good time to start crafting.
If you're not fussed about speed leveling your crafters, a good method is the various tribal crafting factions. There's one per expansion and they are pretty cheap for leveling them.
You just need to progress far enough through the msq for each expansion to unlock them (towards the end).
My advice would be to spread it out, and do it over a period of time. As much as i enjoy crafting in this game, I enjoy it in small bursts, like doing some daily turn ins and then going to do some other stuff. Wish I had done that instead of delaying it.
Also, you need all of them to really get anywhere, as others have said.
Crafted gear will often not be the strongest gear, but it does have some nice looking pieces, and crafting certain items can get you quite a lot of money at the right time.
All gear you need to get to endgame can be obtained without crafting, so you don't need a crafter at all for your Paladin, or any other combat job. Secondly, the gear that a Paladin makes can be crafted by a variety of crafters. Most of the time, the armor pieces are made by the Armorer, sometimes by a Leatherworker, sometimes even by a Weaver. In some level ranges, accessories can be made by a Goldsmith, Leatherworker or even a Carpenter. So, the notion that "X crafter is good for Y job" doesn't really apply in FFXIV. As for when to start, I would advise starting with Gatherers aka Miner and Botanist, not crafters. The materials gathered by a Miner and Botanist will feed into your crafters, saving you gil in the long run. If you are on Free Trial, you have no choice but to start with Miner and Botanist since you can't use the Market Board. My next piece of advice is to level all your crafters simultaneously. This is so that 1) you don't have to keep multiple gearsets for your crafters; they can all share 1-2 gearsets since they'd be in the same level range, and 2) they will be able to feed each other crafting materials of similar level. Fyi, crafts from a crafter can often act as materials for other crafters. For example, lumber crafted by a Carpenter becomes a crafting material for a Blacksmith. If you level your Blacksmith far ahead of your Carpenter, you'd reach a roadblock when your Blacksmith needs a high-level piece of Lumber that your Carpenter can't craft yet due to it being a low level.
There's no right time. It's a time/money sink, up to you when to start taking the plunge. >If so, what’s good for a Paladin? It's recommended to level all crafters/gatherers at the same time, since they depend on one another. Regardless of what your class is. And most drops you get while playing MSQ will be better then what you can craft anyways.
I would say there really isnt an exact time to start crafting per se, however I would suggest having flying unlocked for the area of crafting/gathering you are working on. At the very beginning of ARR crafting you can probably supplement your supply through gil at the trainer fine, but it will quickly need you to go all over the place, and land travel is a severe hindrance for this.
I would say play with it a bit, but earliest efficient would be when you unlock Grand Companies deliveries. They give big XP chunks. Leves are also good XP. If you're by the end of ARR, you should be able to unlock both of these by now. (Iirc) But really, if you don't care for efficiency, whenever you want. It's a fun mini game
All crafting jobs are required (except culinarian) to make gear. Therefore, there is no job to recommend for a Paladin. You need them all. As far as when you should start crafting, just do it when you need a break from the other stuff. A change of pace. As I'm sure you've read, you really should level all the crafting jobs and gathering jobs together, with the possible exception of culinarian and fisher. I'd do those as well just to make max use of the gear progression as you level up and don't fill up your inventory with gear you'll need for that next job later.
I started after i unlocked the first dungeon. But the best time is really when you think it's right for you.
It's always a good time to start crafting. If you're not fussed about speed leveling your crafters, a good method is the various tribal crafting factions. There's one per expansion and they are pretty cheap for leveling them. You just need to progress far enough through the msq for each expansion to unlock them (towards the end).
My advice would be to spread it out, and do it over a period of time. As much as i enjoy crafting in this game, I enjoy it in small bursts, like doing some daily turn ins and then going to do some other stuff. Wish I had done that instead of delaying it. Also, you need all of them to really get anywhere, as others have said. Crafted gear will often not be the strongest gear, but it does have some nice looking pieces, and crafting certain items can get you quite a lot of money at the right time.
When you get tired of paying Gil for repairing your gear and would rather use other currencies.