The Myth of Mining

[InfamousDS]

Who believes in it? If you've never heard it....

Courtesy CTownWoody of FFXIclopedia:

The Myth of Mining: Mining does not save you gil when crafting. Mining makes you gil by selling what you mine; crafting makes you gil by increasing the value of the ingredients. If you were to mine up 10k worth of ingredients and sell them for 6k, you did NOT save 6k by mining; you lost 4k by crafting what you could have sold.

Whereas I feel this:
By mining, you did not spend 10k, therefore you did NOT lose 4k. In terms of tangibility, I'd rather lose the imaginary 4k over the real 4k any day.

Profit:
Market Value - Cost of Labor/Materials
In the mining set-up, you spent 0 on materials (in the original myth, realistically there is pickaxe costs and crystal costs). Therefore, 6k = 6k - 0.
In the buying example, -4k = 6k - 10k (using the above).

This forum post comes from a talk segment of a guide I've written on the wiki, where I debunk the myth. However, my counter-argument presents valid points. I'd like player opinion on this, as wiki talk pages are not meant for extensive discussions. Thanks.

[rog]

I understand what opportunity cost is, so no.

[wish12oz]

Has anyone really been far as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Kagato]

Time is money.

Mining is a waste of time, so it's a waste of money.

[rog]

Time is money.

If you spend a few hours mining 10k-50k worth of ores when you could just guild-buy and craft stuff immediately, chances are you'll make more.

Iron Ingots, for example, take 4 Iron ores. I've gone mining in some places that have the highest drop rates of Iron ores and managed to get 12 ores in 30 minutes. Thats 6 Ingots an hour, a full stack in 2 hours. So, therefore, depending on server prices, thats 40k straight profit in 2 hours for a single stack.

or...

I camp the guild and buy/craft and make several stacks every in-game day, making only about half the money because I buy all my materials, but I make MORE stacks and by selling more in a shorter time, I make more overall in the same time I would have made if I just ran around mining stuff.

Or...

I farm beastmen blood and get the same profits in half the time. :/




Smithing really sucks, doesn't it? :/

That is not even the point. After you mine, your time is already gone. However at that point you have a choice. You could either sell the materials for 10k, or craft them, and sell the result for 6k. If you choose to do anything with the ores that does not result in the highest possible profit, you lost the difference between what you got out of it, and would you could have got out of it.

And yes, you do in fact lose it. Before synthing the ores, you have 10k worth of assets. After synthing them, you have 6k worth of assets. That is the definition of a loss.

[Meyi]

And yes, you do in fact lose it. Before synthing the ores, you have 10k worth of assets. After synthing them, you have 6k worth of assets. That is the definition of a loss.

Unless you get skill ups, because as we all know, skill ups are priceless.

[rog]

Unless you get skill ups, because as we all know, skill ups are priceless.

Right, my bad.

[Sagian]

That is not even the point. After you mine, your time is already gone. However at that point you have a choice. You could either sell the materials for 10k, or craft them, and sell the result for 6k. If you choose to do anything with the ores that does not result in the highest possible profit, you lost the difference between what you got out of it, and would you could have got out of it.

And yes, you do in fact lose it. Before synthing the ores, you have 10k worth of assets. After synthing them, you have 6k worth of assets. That is the definition of a loss.

Well, you're kida-sorta right, but not really.

The guide from which this is taken is to demonstrate a skill-up path. If you just sell the materials, you get no skill-ups. By mining your own materials, you get both the skill-ups and the proceeds from the sales.

If not taken in the context of leveling your skills, I agree with you.

[rog]

Well, you're kida-sorta right, but not really.

The guide from which this is taken is to demonstrate a skill-up path. If you just sell the materials, you get no skill-ups. By mining your own materials, you get both the skill-ups and the proceeds from the sales.

If not taken in the context of leveling your skills, I agree with you.

Does not matter. Unless you can make more money mining than by doing anything else, you are still better off doing something else to make gil, then buying the ores.

[Sagian]

Does not matter. Unless you can make more money mining than by doing anything else, you are still better off doing something else to make gil, then buying the ores.

I agree with that also, but the condition "Unless you can make more money mining than by doing anything else" means that the original assertion doesn't apply when you can't, so it's not a 'myth'. It's just that there are certain conditions where mining either 'is' or 'is not' the profitable thing to do.