new players making money...ouch.

[Kinseykinz]

Also, a fair amount of the 'in demand' mats for rank 40+ gears can be farmed by a character in the 20's range. Before that, shards can be your bread and butter. Lastly, while I realize crafting/gathering isn't everyone's cup of tea, it is possible to do both via leves and not use your own mats. But ranking either can and will net you some gils, sometimes fairly quickly I might add.

Another tactic, if you're a newer, lower ranked player, join a social ls that has a couple crafters. Ask the crafters what mats, etc they need. If you are able, go farm for them. If you supply ls crafters with mats they need, they usually supply you with the gears you need. And depending on the crafter/linshell and your gathering/farming abilities, this could net you 'free gear'

[Cycloptichorn]

Another tactic, if you're a newer, lower ranked player, join a social ls that has a couple crafters. Ask the crafters what mats, etc they need. If you are able, go farm for them. If you supply ls crafters with mats they need, they usually supply you with the gears you need. And depending on the crafter/linshell and your gathering/farming abilities, this could net you 'free gear'

^ This is totally true. I pay lowbies to get earth shards and nuggets (Ores now) for me.

[Dallie]

Petdo, you do make an excellent suggestion for many players starting out, but other DoH jobs do make money, albeit with more time invested.

Still, your suggestion that players learn how to create their own shards is a good one, and personally i've saved untold amounts by breaking down fish and crystals. The only drawback is that this process is actually about triple the time- sucker compared to other DoH, since you're not gaining anything once past XP levels for these synths, and solely to support other crafts.

[Xoo]

I don't believe it was really any different for people who've been at it since the start. Those nasty crafters had us paying probably quadruple what things cost now.

[meekriot]

level botany fishing or mining... you won't be broke long

[charlemagne]

Farm the new dungeon outside limsa, it'll give you gear to sell and gear to wear.

[Viridiana]

I spent all weekend Mining, and not much else. I shudder to think how much I could get selling all the ore I mined, much less the shards. Mind you, I started at 13 MIN and finished at 31 MIN, with very few leves or scrolls (4 of each, actually). I also broke to do the Ifrit chain, farm some boar hides, and the MIN quests.

Long story short, if you need money, DoL is where it's at.

[Fated]

I don't believe it was really any different for people who've been at it since the start. Those nasty crafters had us paying probably quadruple what things cost now.

Feel free to level the crafting class yourself.

[Xoo]

Feel free to level the crafting class yourself.

Nope, not when I can make all I need and much much more pricing them their materials now.

[Seif]

I bought all my starter gear from NPC's to begin with since that stuff is rare to see in the wards to begin with.

AH please so that we get more sellers to this economy. I never sell anything because it's not worth the hassle tbh.