We are in a topsoil crisis

The amount of housing increased 33 1/3% with 4.1.

So did the number of gardens and flowerpots.

But there has been no increase in the topsoil supply. Prices on Sarganatas have more than doubled on G3 Thanlin and almost tripled on G3 Shroud.

The easiest way to address this problem would to make the G3 topsoil nodes pop twice a day.

Another way would to introduce new varieties on topsoil in the 4.0 areas, properties to be determined by the devs.

But please do something.

You can use beastman token to exchange unidentifiable items (like unidentifiable shell or bones) and then exchange for topsoil at Idyllshire.

You can also buy unidentifiable items for 150 poetics tomestone each directly from Idyllshire.

Do those thing while wait for the topsoil nodes to appear, should have plenty of time to do couple beastman quests at ARR area, which give you more token and poetics tomestone to exchange topsoil.

You can also use mining ventures to get more!

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Originally Posted by RojGardoth

You can also use mining ventures to get more!

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lol, at 1 per venture

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Originally Posted by Mandudez

lol, at 1 per venture

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To be fair, even an uber casual with 1 miner retainer could gather enough topsoil to plant another full round of crops in the time it takes most gardens to grow even at 1 per. Esp if they have time to farm them manually.

And ventures are worthless anyway, not much else to get with them.

I don't think of it as a crisis, its a matter of supply and demand which is essential. While retainers can get one every 30 minutes in addition to our own ability to farm soil when the nodes pop and the npc vendor exchange in Idyshire, its not a depleted resource at all.

It is entirely possible to get soil and avoid the marketboard all together.

On the other hand, I am certain that there are many players who subsist on the profits they glean from putting effort into collecting and selling soil, who would not like to see yet another sustainable source for profit destroyed.

They also gave us more channels for acquiring the soil.

You can buy unidentified tokens with poetics and exchange them for soil at 1:1 rate. It is the best use for your poetics once you are done with the lv 50/60 gears.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

To be fair, even an uber casual with 1 miner retainer could gather enough topsoil to plant another full round of crops in the time it takes most gardens to grow even at 1 per. Esp if they have time to farm them manually.

And ventures are worthless anyway, not much else to get with them.

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you haven't done quick ventures since the buff have you?

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Originally Posted by Mandudez

you haven't done quick ventures since the buff have you?

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I have, it's still bad rng whether you get something good or not, and you mostly won't get something good.

I am on Sargatanas, and manage 3 deluxe beds of 8 all by myself. I can get more than enough topsoil for 24 beds each cycle of planting. For example if I have exactly 24 and plant them all, by the next plant cycle I'll have 30-40. I always gain every cycle if I put effort into it. As for shortage in MB, this could be true, but I've always been an advocate of no overhead within the context of gardening in this game. Every mat can be farmed and the prices for soils and seeds can defeat the point. To summarize, poetics ----> unidentifiable ores------> western thanalan soil
Also farm the hourly nodes , get a few each day, or go hard for a day or two. If you're a consistent player you should be able to gather enough for 3-4 deluxe beds every plant cycle.

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Originally Posted by Mandudez

you haven't done quick ventures since the buff have you?

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I have, plenty of times, with retainers that are well geared to bring back the more top tier loot and even though there are less fish, its still mostly just meh.

My retainers are basically there to bring back materials for crafting or for resale. I could take the chance on quick ventures or I could get actual items that are worth a lil more, like soil, and actually make a profit or get something I can use rather than trash gear I trade it for seals for yet more ventures, junk I vendor or desynth for tier 1 demi materia.

I have 8 retainers, I can send them all out for quick ventures multiple times a day and get maybe 1 good thing every few days, that sells for maybe a few hundred thousand, or I can send all 8 out for worthwhile items I actually need or can make real gil with.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

I have, plenty of times, with retainers that are well geared to bring back the more top tier loot and even though there are less fish, its still mostly just meh.


I have 8 retainers, I can send them all out for quick ventures multiple times a day and get maybe 1 good thing every few days, that sells for maybe a few hundred thousand, or I can send all 8 out for worthwhile items I actually need or can make real gil with.

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I have different experiences. I have made 150 million in last 3 months, and my 8 retainers are 70-80 % of that income from items brought back via quick explorations. Annnnd I only send out 5 on quicks, cause I am still leveling other 3. Probably send 5 out 5 times a day. I will say now since the patch, that the items are different sometimes and the selling patterns have changed.

I am honestly baffled that ARR nodes are still on 24 hour rotations while HW and SB are both on the new 12 hour standard.

I had no idea you could turn poetics (for the item) to get soil....I've been capped on poetics for ages.....Thanks guys!

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Originally Posted by silverlunarfox

I had no idea you could turn poetics (for the item) to get soil....I've been capped on poetics for ages.....Thanks guys!

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OMG it helps so much. What I like to do as well is crash WT trials in PF, even if I don't need it for WT. There are tons of 1st time bonuses out there that will only take 1 minute to complete unsynced!!! You can get the G3 Shroud as well, it's just a different unidentifiable item.

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Originally Posted by Abelfei

OMG it helps so much. What I like to do as well is crash WT trials in PF, even if I don't need it for WT. There are tons of 1st time bonuses out there that will only take 1 minute to complete unsynced!!! You can get the G3 Shroud as well, it's just a different unidentifiable item.

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Totally! My FC was going to start planting for cloudsbreath and we were trying to figure out the soil vs plots and this information really made my day! We can get a start on max amount of plots between our members.

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Originally Posted by silverlunarfox

Totally! My FC was going to start planting for cloudsbreath

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Dzamasel Tomato and Coerthan Tea I heard, correct?

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Originally Posted by Abelfei

Dzamasel Tomato and Coerthan Tea I heard, correct?

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Yep! I wanted to wait a few days on confirmations but that is the confirmed cross.

Gathering is free, just ensure that you are available at the node spawn times & go get the soil. That's what we've done so far & it worked.

Whats the problem with just gathering it? :o
It might take a while, but the plants also need some days to grow what should be enough time to have your next topsoils ready.

I gather them every hour and have 4 gatherer retainers that can get them as well. I dont see the problem :)

Finally there's some demand around here. Half the time I put an item up for sale 9999 suppliers come out of the blue and go at it in an undercutting war. You buyers need to step up your game!

/s

The demand is going to die down pretty quickly, regardless of how many houses there are. The real reason that soil prices are up is because of new seeds. After about 2 months, the gold rush for those seeds will be done, and 95+% of the gardens will be empty. The same thing happened with Blood Peppers, and it will happen with the next fancy new seeds they add.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

And ventures are worthless anyway, not much else to get with them.

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Since 4.1, they are far from worthless. Quick venture spam is making me some serious bank now.

Where do you go to exchange beast tokens for soil? Like which vendor in Idyllshire?

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Originally Posted by LaTakk

Whats the problem with just gathering it? :o ...

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The problems with gathering, venturing, or even poetics and beast tribe tokens for me are:

1, I manage 9 gardens. I do this for my FC, not myself. I even have a utility alt who, with her 3 retainers, handles sales of airship and garden stuff. Make no mistake, I enjoy do gardening. But its 1.5 - 2 hours a day.

2, With 9 gardens I am at the mercy of the market boards. If I did garden for myself I would be willing to invest more of my personal resources into alternative methods of getting soil but it could never be enough.

But in the meantime, who in idylshire?

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Originally Posted by Stormfur

Where do you go to exchange beast tokens for soil? Like which vendor in Idyllshire?

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Forget the name, but it's the one to the right of the tome gear. The one that trades for all kinds of junk mhachi coins and EX primal tokens.

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Originally Posted by Stormfur

Where do you go to exchange beast tokens for soil? Like which vendor in Idyllshire?

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Middle person in Rowenas area in Idylshire for unidentifiables, then right person for soils. Bertana and Hismena?

And yes, with 9 gardens solo, that is nuts hahaha. You can do 3 or 4 solo, maybe 5, but nothing more.

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Originally Posted by Abelfei

And yes, with 9 gardens solo, that is nuts hahaha. You can do 3 or 4 solo, maybe 5, but nothing more.

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Once I had 10 on Sarganatas and 7 on Jenova. That is madness I agree, but I am hoping we can expand to 12 or 13 when the next round of housing comes around.

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Originally Posted by Odd

Since 4.1, they are far from worthless. Quick venture spam is making me some serious bank now.

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idk where everyone is getting the good stuff, I restarted quicks again, only had dropped them for a couple days before my post, and still haven't seen anything relatively appealing or that sells for more than a few thousand, my retainers are geared in omega stuff so unless you need creation tome gear idk whats up.

Maybe I will put rabanastre gear on them and see, I haven't rolled cause I don't need anything for myself...