Need some advice in regards to what to do with crafting/gathering

[juniglee]

Hey all,

Here are my crafting and gathering classes:
- Goldsmith (Lv. 50)
- Blacksmith (Lv. 44 - I plan to hit 50 on this by the end of this week)
- Leatherworker (Lv. 21)
- Armorer (Lv. 21)
- Miner (Lv. 34 - plan to level this up after BSM, or together along with BSM)

I have been trying to be as self-sustaining as possible, however I notice that money comes in very slow for me. I really don't know what to do with my Lv50 GSM, since hitting 50 I have not done much outside of crafting my own rings for spiritbonding in WP (takes about 2 - 3 runs to fully spiritbond them). I have a full HQ Goldsmith's gear, as well as the accessories - however, I lack the materia to meld them in, and as an effect, I can't reliably HQ any 1 or 2 star recipes. I was really lucky to HQ my Goldsmith's Turban at about 20% however.

I am planning on levelling my Miner so that I can eventually farm Gold Ore and Darksteel Ore. Here's the outline of what I plan to do:
- GSM: Gold Ore allows me to craft Rose Gold Nuggets, Aetheryte Rings and Militia, Imperial Operative, and eventually, Rose Gold and Astral items.
- BSM: Darksteel Ore allows me to craft Militia Off-hand for other crafting classes. Along with Rose Gold Nuggets from GSM.
- GSM/BSM: Crafting pre-relic weapons like Sanguine Scepter and Aeolian Scimitar. On their own, they're not worth a lot, and it's cost ineffective to slot the materias into them for relic quest requirements to sell as a bundle. I plan to HQ them, and use them in WP runs for spiritbonding, in the hopes of getting some Lv4 Materia. I run WP with a group of friends anyway, so we don't usually speed run - we prefer to kill everything. GSM creates the Basilisk Whetstones needed in Aeolian Scimitar, and BSM creates the Darksteel Nugget required in Sanguine Scepter. I have both a fully leveled PLD and BLM.
- Ingenuity really helps for crafting 1-star items, especially with unmelded HQ AF crafter's gear. However, I can't seem to find a use for Innovation.

Of course, that's why I need to level my Miner to 50 as soon as I can to keep up my self-sustainment.

My question is, how feasible is this model? Granted it's probably my own way of having fun - gathering my own material, and making my own items - but I'm beginning to feel like I don't have a lot of money coming in from levelling a crafting class. I could spend time creating HQ amber/zircon/spinel/electrum rings, etc. but they don't sell for much on my world - about 2k per piece, for the effort required to craft them. Currently I only craft zircon or spinel HQ accessories, as spiritbonding them gives me a good chance at savage aim 3 or savage might 3, which sell for 20k gil and 9k gil respectively at the moment on my server. I've been sitting at 400k gil for the longest time I know - money isn't coming in, but it's not going out too much either, and I am sustained by spiritbonding my own crafted accessories.

Selling philo mats are not a good option either, since they are about 15k per piece on my world. I'm just looking for a more efficient method for me to hit my first 1 million gil.

[Marael]

Best I can tell you is to keep an eye on the markets. Look at what's selling quickly for decent money, and make that. You have to keep on top of things, because what is in demand fluctuates pretty quickly on this game, and you can get severely undercut pretty damn quickly if you're not paying attention. The way the market board was designed is not in favor of legitimate crafters out to make a buck, unfortunately, so you have to keep on top of things and always be looking for the next big thing to sell for a few days before everyone else undercuts it into worthlessness. HQ accessories usually sell quickly for decent cash, due to all the people who spirit bond for their income, but you have to be careful, flood the market with too many at one time and you get undercut like crazy and end up losing money and wasting time, and the type of accessory that's currently selling hot frequently fluctuates. Again, the economy is pretty F'ed up because of the way the market board works, and things change at the drop of a hat. You really have to pay attention to trends if you want to make any money using it.

[Ksenia]

If money is super tight on your server you might need to resort to using the Leve system as your Gil maker. 9 HQ Amber Choker will get you 8K gil or so per leve point. You math it out, you can have 60 points in 10 days. That's 480K gil and just under 1.5 mill in a month. The really soul crushing part of that option isn't getting Miner to 41 to gather Electrum and Amber yourself. It's the 200 Wind shards and 50 Fire for each and every time you do it. Others will tell you, just sell the shards but they don't consider that selling the shards means someone needs to buy them and that's not always going to happen because chances are, you aren't the only one poor on your server. The leve turn in is certain money but it does require you to gather your own stuff and that includes the gruel that is shard farming.

[juniglee]

Leves are definitely an option I will have to look into, I am sitting at a lot of leves right now anyway, because the rate I burn them is so slow...

Wind Shards are going for about 20p a piece on my world last I checked, so a stack of 1000 will cost me 20k gil. 7 runs of WP will cover that up, since I do spiritbonding runs anyway.

I guess I am just a little disappointed that I finally have a crafting class at 50, but nothing seems to have changed much for me from a financial point of view - I still spend on stuff I cannot yet mine myself, and buy shards to skip the grueling task of mining shards.

Also does anyone know when to use Innovation? My current 40 durability rotation:
1. Start off with Inner Quiet, Great Strides, Steady Hands, Waste Not, Advanced Touch.
2. Great Strides/Advanced Touch.
3. Advanced Touch
4. Finish off with Basic Synthesis.

My current 80 durability rotation:
1. Start off with Inner Quiet, Great Strides, Steady Hands, Advanced Touch.
2. Repeat Great Strides/Advanced Touch until I run out of CP.
3. Basic Synthesis all the way.

In both rotations, I use Basic Synthesis where I can to stall for a Good or Excellent condition proc. In both rotations, my CP drops below 18, so it's never enough to fit Innovation anywhere.

[Ksenia]

GSM 50 means you shouldn't be CP hungry so I'd ditch the Waste Not on 40's if you can complete the synth with a single Basic Synth.

Mine:
Inner quiet
Steady Hands
Great Strides
Advanced touch

Great strides
Advanced Touch

Steady Hands
Great Strides
Advanced Touch

Synthesis

That last roll over of the Steady hand could be eliminated by switching out great strides and Steady hand in the beginning but it also means you will be performing Basic Synthesis with no steady hand and it's 90% efficient and I don't like 90% in this game. It really means 50/50.

You could tuck Innovation in there pretty much any place based on CP. I'd be making it a point to get it in considering the boost to control.

[Vortok]

Check the low level weapons that BSM can make. Can likely HQ them supremely easily and some can sell for 5k or more, which isn't bad if your income has been that slow. Remember, lower level stuff generally sells faster than high level stuff because there's more low level people.

In addition, as a GSM, you can make the Sanguine Scepter that BLMs need for their Relic quest. That in and of itself isn't particularly great money, but it's passable. Don't even need to HQ them since the quest doesn't require it (and since NQ is lower priced, they generally sell faster). You could also pre-meld the 2 materia and list that as well. May vary from server to server, but over here the profit margin is ridiculous, even if buying the materia (sells slowly, so check if some are listed before melding it). Ditto on BSM and the tank weapons.

Just don't focus on one or two items or you'll flood the market. BSM is good for this as it makes so many different weapons (aka, a piece of gear that's important for people to keep up to date so more likely to sell) you should be able to find some openings without too much trouble.

[juniglee]

GSM 50 means you shouldn't be CP hungry so I'd ditch the Waste Not on 40's if you can complete the synth with a single Basic Synth.

Mine:
Inner quiet
Steady Hands
Great Strides
Advanced touch

Great strides
Advanced Touch

Steady Hands
Great Strides
Advanced Touch

Synthesis

That last roll over of the Steady hand could be eliminated by switching out great strides and Steady hand in the beginning but it also means you will be performing Basic Synthesis with no steady hand and it's 90% efficient and I don't like 90% in this game. It really means 50/50.

You could tuck Innovation in there pretty much any place based on CP. I'd be making it a point to get it in considering the boost to control.

Just tried this, and it works like a charm. Was HQ-ing Mythril Ingots for my BSM leve. Now that my BSM just hit Lv50, I can cross Innovation in too, and repeat the same for BSM.

Check the low level weapons that BSM can make. Can likely HQ them supremely easily and some can sell for 5k or more, which isn't bad if your income has been that slow. Remember, lower level stuff generally sells faster than high level stuff because there's more low level people.

In addition, as a GSM, you can make the Sanguine Scepter that BLMs need for their Relic quest. That in and of itself isn't particularly great money, but it's passable. Don't even need to HQ them since the quest doesn't require it (and since NQ is lower priced, they generally sell faster). You could also pre-meld the 2 materia and list that as well. May vary from server to server, but over here the profit margin is ridiculous, even if buying the materia (sells slowly, so check if some are listed before melding it). Ditto on BSM and the tank weapons.

Just don't focus on one or two items or you'll flood the market. BSM is good for this as it makes so many different weapons (aka, a piece of gear that's important for people to keep up to date so more likely to sell) you should be able to find some openings without too much trouble.

Thanks for the response. I was planning on HQ-ing Sanguine Scepter and Aeolian Scimitar, then melding in cheap materia into them, and just taking them for spiritbonding. On my server, the fully melded staff is worth about 25k or so, and the melded scimitar is only worth 15k or so. Just hit Lv50 BSM too, so things seem to be going smoothly!

I'll eventually move onto crafting HQ militia off-hands, since BSM can craft these. Might probably have to meld my gear with materia first though.

[juniglee]

A quick question:

Do I have to meld materia into my HQ AF gear in order to HQ 1-star 80 durability? Keep in mind I don't have skills like Careful Synthesis II, Steady Hands II, Hasty Touch, Byregot's Blessing. I only have what I have from Lv50 BSM, GSM, Lv22 LTW, and LV23 ARM. I'm trying to self-craft my HQ Blacksmith Goggles.

I'm finding it really hard to get much progress on them.

Perhaps I'll have to try a rotation of:
Inner Quiet
Great Strides
Steady Hands I
Innovation
Advanced Touch
Great Strides
Ingenuity II
Advanced Touch
etc?

[Ksenia]

Every HQ above 45 I got was either from HQ mats or Hasty touch with Steady hand II.
Granted I don't have Ingenuity II either and I have a feeling you might be better off using a lesser tool for recipes of Ingenuity II.

I don't know if that skill reduces the recipe to 47 or 52, based on the tool you have in. (ilevel 55 tool)

If it's flagging the recipe based on tool, you could use a level 48 tool and actually lower the recipe of your synth to 45 and you might find that works better.

[juniglee]

Every HQ above 45 I got was either from HQ mats or Hasty touch with Steady hand II.
Granted I don't have Ingenuity II either and I have a feeling you might be better off using a lesser tool for recipes of Ingenuity II.

I don't know if that skill reduces the recipe to 47 or 52, based on the tool you have in. (ilevel 55 tool)

If it's flagging the recipe based on tool, you could use a level 48 tool and actually lower the recipe of your synth to 45 and you might find that works better.

I will test this out once I get home. But based on flavour text, it says "current level", so I assume it will be 47.