Can somebody confirm if yak milk is obtainable via retainer?

[Psychosamm]

I just recently got my first retainer to 60, CNJ, and i must say many of the things she can bring back sell fairly well on the market. If you're trying to level your crafters I highly recommend leveling your retainer. You can get things such as dhamel skins, dragon skin, wyvern skin, crawler cocoons, and chimera manes.

[Limecat]

According to this http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Yak_Milk, supposedly, it is... however, I asked a guy from my static and he claimed Yak Milk wasn't on his hunting list despite having his retainer at level 60 (not sure if he's serious or trolling me xD).

It's the very first item listed in Lv51-55 hunting ventures. He's either blind, messing with you, or is selling a lot and doesn't want to lose potential customers. XD

[Gunspec]

So let me get this straight. People like the idea that retainers (of which 2 are free and 3 more are a paid monthly service) are exceptionally efficient at farming materials necessary for leveling crafts. You are opposed to the idea of boosting drop rates from enemies, so that you can reap more gil from market boards by using these retainers. And the best advice being given here is to level additional characters to 60 so that I can access more free retainers, rather than actually engaging in the content by fighting enemies in the field.

There is a lovely game all about sending retainers out to do work for you, it's called World of Warcraft, and its subscription numbers are plummeting at the moment. We should have less emphasis on retainers, and more emphasis on doing things ourselves.

And yes, I'm currently using my retainers (two free, one paid service) to their full capacity, but I still consider it to be stupid. I much preferred retainers to be about gathering the occasional rare treat, not the dragon skin and crawler cocoon farming workhorses they have recently become.

[AnaviAnael]

Snip

Actually, yes. I prefer to have my retainers go out and farm materials. This affords me more time to run dungeons, do raids, gear up, help friends out, and be social. Plus, this way I don't have to compete with bots trying to farm dhalmels.

Different playstyles I guess.

[Gunspec]

Actually, yes. I prefer to have my retainers go out and farm materials. This affords me more time to run dungeons, do raids, gear up, help friends out, and be social. Plus, this way I don't have to compete with bots trying to farm dhalmels.

Different playstyles I guess.

Are there even bots farming this stuff? Whenever I've tried to farm ANYTHING on Ultros, I have zero competition. Crawler cocoons, dhalmel hide, aercheoskins, I never encounter anyone killing creatures unless its for a quest or daily hunt. It's the polar opposite on my server from 2.0. The only thing that prevents me from farming the whole day is that 30 minutes of farm nets me only a dozen of any item, and you need around 15 of them to complete a single levequest. So I end up playing exactly as you do, but only because it's far more efficient.

[AnaviAnael]

Are there even bots farming this stuff?

Unfortunately, yes. I've seen a few when doing daily hunts.

[Airget]

Honestly, the only thing missing from retainers is a means to farm more precious materials. I feel like in 3.0 Gatherer Retainers should have the option to farm certain unspoiled nodes in the 2.0 areas even if they have to use 5 ventures to pull it off. It just seems odd how they can't farm those even though retainer ventures are hourly for the most part and an unspoiled node appears every hour (half hour in 3.0 zones) but ya.

[Gunspec]

Unfortunately, yes. I've seen a few when doing daily hunts.

I have very mixed emotions about that. Anger, because I hate bots. But also... remorse. Imagine a little robot trying to roll up a hill, but eventually he loses momentum and slides back down. That poor little robot, he tries so hard, but his quest is futile. He is doomed to fail, but keeps on trying, unaware that each attempt is as meaningless as the last.

Oh, and if they are killing dhalmel, then I feel a surge of joy, because those giraffes can die for all I care. The best giraffe is a giraffe on fire.

[Aeyis]

the 2 free retainer are enough to give one of them a battle class to bring you milk and skins.
Or make a 2nd character to get 2 extra free retainers.

Who wouldnt actually be able to collect items, since the character would need to be 50-60~ as well. (to personally collect said items first so that the retainer can)

[aerolol]

The problem i see with retainers being the best way to farm skins/milks/whatever is that this is clearly PAY TO WIN, since those who hire half a dozen retainers will have six times more mats to sell for gil or to craft and sell.

Yes, I do use my retainers to grab that, but I still feel bad and I don't think that should be the primary way of obtaining things to craft, even more so now that the mob drop rates are abysmal low and crafs require 3 to 5 of each skins/ores/tears/plant things for cloth.

The official developer statement that FF14 is not a P2W game is slowly but surely becoming one big lie.