Is it to late ,Gil?

[Kinseykinz]

The 'poor man' method.

1. Pick any craft you think you'd like/would most benefit you. For example, you say you are happy only being a healer...maybe pick Weaver, Leatherworker or Goldsmith as your first craft so you can repair and meld your own gears as needed. Or Cook if you like to use food for raiding. Or even just pick a role you think 'gee, I'd not mind doing that'. The other option is to pick a role supported by a gathering class you'd be interested in leveling.

IE: Botany = CUL/WVR/CRP/ALC
Mining= GSM/BSM/ARM/LWR/ALC
Fishing=CUL/ALC/GSM

Anyway, once you pick your Crafter role, use crafting leves + Ixali dalies to level it. If all you do is 5-10 leves and your Ixali dalies each day, that's fine...sure you won't level fast, but it doesn't sound like you're in a super rush. Also, it's the power-leveling through crafting that costs a lot of gil...if you level crafting slow and steady, you'll not need to rely as much on purchased mats, and can likely farm them. Also, leves tend to drop the shards and crafting mats you need to progress+ give modest gil, so if you do them slow and steady, you can potentially cover your costs, if not even eek out a modest profit margin.

2. Look at the market boards EVERY day. You'd be surprised how many 'easy to obtain' low level-crafted/gathered (or farmed) items sell for surprising amounts. So you might notice one day, for some reason cotton cloth is selling for a nice profit margin. So craft some to sell (and level as you do). Another day, it might be a mat you can easily gather is selling for 2-3x it's normal value...sell it, go farm more for yourself.

3. Consider leveling a DOL to 50 before earnestly pushing your crafting to 50 (like start the Ixali dalies on a crafting class...but focus more on gathering beyond that). Here's why.
-DOL= free mats for you. (other than your time). Also, shards and crystals....that even if you don't actively gather, once you level a DOL, your Retainer, if the same DoL can gather for you if you desire (they can gather other mats for you as well).
-Again, some of the stuff that's gathered that sells well would surprise you...like you don't need to be level 50 in high-end gathering gear to make decent gil with it. Some items that are only a level 20ish gather sell fast, and high. I mean not 'you'll be rolling in millions in a week' high, but for the time/effort/gear and leveling effort involved, nice profit margins (in general, anything you can sell for 150gil ea+ in stacks of 99 is worth your time as a stack only takes 10-15 minutes to gather and 150x99=just shy of 15K for that time (IE about 1K a minute for your time). Also, mats tend to sell fast and are harder to be constantly undercut on....because people need to buy them in large quantities. (Like it typically takes 3 ores/3 logs for one ingot/lumber so one stack of ingots/lumber= 3 stacks of gathered mats needed to make it).

Now to level a DOL, the fastest (and again, it doesn't cost much) way is via your leves (which is why I suggested focusing on DOL over DOH first outside your ixali dalies as you only get so many leves). You can buy a lot of the gear you need cheaply from NPC's and/or get it as drops from leves...and sometimes you'll find it on the MB for decent costs. (Also your DOL quests will give you one body piece+ keep your tools upgraded). Leves give nice easy exp, and again, you'll get a small gil reward. Still, you can supplement your leves w/ actual mat gathering as you gain modest exp gains the 'first' time you discover a new gathered item AND like I said...if you can level, and gather on an item that is selling well by the stack, you can make some gil while leveling. (Win-win).

4. A gathering retainer. They are a pain in the butt to max-gear for the 'best' exploration ventures once you are 50, but they can be a nice, easy way to gain the mats you need for leveling crafting without actually having to spend your own time gathering. And if all you really want them for is to supplement your own mat gathering/shard gathering, then it's pretty easy to keep them geared (just give them your old gear when you outgrow it and you should be fine). The catch is they can only gather up to a certain level of item based on your gathering level (I forget but it's something like if you're level 25, your retainer can gather nodes up to level 20/gain experience from doing it up to that point). Also, they can only gather items you've personally gathered at least once. So if you want your retainer to gather a crap-ton of flax (which you will want them to do if you're leveling weaver). You'll personally need to have Botanist leveled to around level 30 (Flax is like a level 26ish gather), and your retainer will need to be leveled to btn gather 26...and you will have needed to at least once personally on your character have gathered 'flax'. (which if you're leveling weaver, you would have done).


5. To be a 'master' crafter, and/or to have a shot at reliably crafting things (esp HQ things), 1-star+, you will need to level multiple DOH's for cross skills. It's why they make the big bucks. That said, there is a lot of profit to be made (albiet by smaller margins), in lower end stuff/mats etc. Just always make sure to factor in your shard costs when figuring out your profit margins. However, becoming a Master Crafter is a serious gil and time investment....so I'd only do this once you find your own steady incomes from the DOH/DOL classes you already have leveled...or just plan on taking your time.