How best to make gil?

[RapthorneLycaeus]

I'm a level 60 scholar/summoner, (with very few other classes even really touched), and I'm looking to find out how best to make some gil. During the course of my entire playtime from 1 to 60, I've made about 700k, however I hear people can make millions in a day with very little effort.

Googling hasn't helped me much, so I come to you lovely forum goers in hopes of a guiding hand.

[Maxipep]

Start crafting and be prepared to put the time in so you too can effortlessly make millions a day

[RapthorneLycaeus]

Start crafting and be prepared to put the time in so you too can effortlessly make millions a day

Any particular crafting professions? As I said, I have no experience really with anything beyond scholar/summoner

[eternalstar01]

Any particular crafting professions? As I said, I have no experience really with anything beyond scholar/summoner

All of them (including gathering). And I quite mean that. All the classes are inter-connected with cross-skills and materials. However, if the thought of that makes you want to set yourself on fire and jump off a cliff - then there is a work-around. The typical leveling path is...

All classes to 15 for their main cross skills.
CUL to 37 for Steady Hand II
CRP to 50 for Byregot's Blessing

These will allow to to HQ most items with not much difficulty, regardless of what class you choose to stick with.

[Urthdigger]

Ok, straight up, you're not going to find some sort of guide that tells you how to make millions a day with no effort. Even were that possible (I consider the gearing up and knowledge to tackle crafting as effort, even if the synths themselves wind up simple), nobody would tell you. It would be pointless.

I could go on a whole spiel about how money is essentially an abstract concept for goods and services and how the actual amount doesn't matter, but the short version is that how much people are willing to pay for something depends on how much they want it, and how annoying/difficult it is to obtain. Because of this, you can't just say "Oh, go make item X, it sells for Y gil." because the moment you tell the world that, guess what? Everyone starts making that item. This means there's a lot of them out there, quite possibly more than anyone would possibly wish to buy at that price. So people lower the price, because people may not want to pay 5k for it, but they may buy it for 2k. But then supply is STILL exceeding demand, so the price drops more to try and grab even cheaper buyers, until eventually the item sells for so little that most other methods make more money for similar effort. The only times this doesn't tend to happen is when there's severe limits on production. Things like rare drops or time-gated events.

In the end, the way you make millions of gil is as follows: Step one, have diverse methods. Have crafters, gatherers, and battle classes all well geared that you know how to play. Step two, pay attention to what people want, whether it's common raiding supplies or recent quest requirements, people need a reason to buy your crap. Step three is just to not spend money: Think about what you spend your gil on, and consider if it'd be less effort to make it yourself.

[StouterTaru]

Ok, straight up, you're not going to find some sort of guide that tells you how to make millions a day with no effort. Even were that possible (I consider the gearing up and knowledge to tackle crafting as effort, even if the synths themselves wind up simple), nobody would tell you. It would be pointless.

It's possible, just run new content that has rare drops and get lucky - dungeon minions, EX primal items, Aquapolis, Diadem, etc. Get lucky the first day or two of a new patch and watch those millions roll in for little effort.

If you want an actual little effort gil source, do targeted retainer ventures. There are several high demand items you can round up.

[Urthdigger]

It's possible, just run new content that has rare drops and get lucky - dungeon minions, EX primal items, Aquapolis, Diadem, etc. Get lucky the first day or two of a new patch and watch those millions roll in for little effort.

If you want an actual little effort gil source, do targeted retainer ventures. There are several high demand items you can round up.

So, you're saying to go after things that are in high demand which... was kind of the point I ended on XD

My point was that you can't have a single item that you get forever to make millions off of.

[Frizze]

Im going to start this just by pointing out that what some people consider "very little effort" others would classify differently. In other words, your mileage may vary. SO, with that out of the way...

If one was to distill down all the money making advice that exists for this game to its most basic component, it would be to get to know your local-server market board. Every server has its own market quirks, and each server has its own going rate for goods. Something that sells for 2 million on Shiva might only make you 50k on Hyperion. So take any advice you find here as general, and study your market to find how to specifically apply it. With that said, you need to have something in order to sell something, so therefore you need a means of acquisition. You're a level 60 scholar(and not much else by your own admission). Is that a raid-ish level 60, or a more casual level 60? Do you have good luck with RNG? Do you have friends willing to help a little for the cause? Have you leveled up your retainers? Are you someone who would/does pay extra monthly for more retainers? Are you willing to put some time and effort into crafting, gathering, or both? How long do you have to commit to this per day/week? The answers to these questions(and im sure a few others) will point you toward your personal best option for making gil. And for that matter, ask yourself why you want the gil to begin with. You can get away with spending basically no gil for huge portions of the game afterall. So lets break a few of my questions from above into points you might be able to use.

You're a level 60 scholar(and not much else by your own admission). Is that a raid-ish level 60, or a more casual level 60? So one thing you can do is take things you get naturally in the course of your adventuring, and sell them for profit. Your playing profile somewhat determines the level of access you have to different things. If nothing else, you can take the Eso's you get from any level 60 content and buy tradable crafting mats from the vendor in idyllshire then sell them on the market. Every level 60 has access to this, but many have other uses for their tomestones and thus arent competing with you.

Do you have good luck with RNG? So did you just win the minion that dropped in the chest at the end of that level 60 dungeon? That probly sells for a decent ammount. And did any of the crafting mats drop? Easy money.

Do you have friends willing to help a little for the cause? This also touches a little on the raid/casual line, but you could specifically run content to get certain drops with the intent to sell. For instance, the various primal fights all have rare crafting mats that you could profit from. This is harder to do solo and still likely requires a bit of luck, but it is an option to explore. As a bonus, you could be helping all your friends get their ponies/birdies. And orchestrion rolls are still pretty valuable on some servers too.

Have you leveled up your retainers? Are you someone who would/does pay extra monthly for more retainers? The people who have more then 2 retainers(and im on record as not being one of them) give 3 reasons that its a worthwhile expense. You can store more, you can sell more(20 extra slots each), and you can send them all on ventures to bring you back more. If your retainers are leveled then start by just looking at the targeted items you can send them after. Do they sell well on your server? Thats a starter income right there if you dont mind trading ventures for gil. For this example, targeted ventures are like a paycheck and quick explorations are like the lottery. The paycheck will be basically the same from one run to the next, while the lottery might be an absolute loss one play and a huge win the next. Even with only your 2 free retainers a 2 hour play session can see 6 ventures completed(log in, halfway, log off) and the resulting items listed for easy cash.

Are you willing to put some time and effort into crafting, gathering, or both? So this is the long game. Getting the most out of crafting will take much more effort than anything i listed above. The top end of crafting highly encourages(not required but makes everything MUCH easier) you to level all 8 classes to 50 for cross class skills and even further for cross discipline items. To keep your costs down, you may also need to level mining/botany as well to get some percentage of your own materials(fishing is mostly used in just culinarian recipes so its more skippable then the other 2). Ill save the long crafting guide, because others have already written them better then i could. The money making side of it will be to find things that sell well on your server and provide them. Some servers have good markets for leveling gear, some dont. Likewise, some have a market for leve-crafts that others really dont. However most servers will have a market for intermediate crafting materials. For example, if i want to make myself a new robe ill need to get some cloth first. I could go into the field and gather the silk, spin that into the cloth, and get the rest of the materials ready... or i could just buy the cloth on the board and jump straight to the final combine. You could make money on the robe im crafting for myself(a lot of crafters LOVE to see their own name on everything) by either selling the silk or the cloth at a rate i can accept. Now whether that means you being a botanist who gets silk, you being a scholar who orders your retainers to get you silk, or you being a weaver who makes cloth from silk he gets in either of those 2 ways(or even buys cheaply from the board) is potentially up to you.

For gathering itd work mostly the same way. Level up one or more of the gathering classes a little, look at what items you can get, look at the board to see what makes money, and spend some of your in-game time getting it to sell. Markets will change a little, but often the mats that sell the most often are the ones that are needed the most often - meaning they tend to be a little more stable. Gathering is super easy to do, if a little boring at times. On both the crafting and gathering sides, dont assume you need to be level 60 to make money. There are gathered items you can profit from that are obtainable within an hour of accepting the class, and ditto for some of the low level crafting mats you can make early.

Finally, How long do you have to commit to this per day/week? If the answer is a lot, feel free to try multiple methods to get your cash flowing. If your time is more limited, look for where you can maximize your time spent versus what you gain from it. And if you decide to start leveling crafting and gathering classes, remember that leves are your friends. Also remember that the ixali and moogle beast tribes give crafting exp(birds from 1-50, mogs from 50-60) for their daily quests. And while we're at it, remember that your army has a daily list of items you can turn in for exp and seals. Those are all ways to get more leveling done in less time on the crafting/gathering side.

tl;dr Lots of things you can try, find the approach that suits you!

[ChameleonMS]

You're a level 60 scholar(and not much else by your own admission). Is that a raid-ish level 60, or a more casual level 60?

The answer is newbie level, LS profile shows NQ Chermical gear.

OP,

Crafting for Beginner's:
First get all your crafters to 15 to gain access to all basic cross crafting skills.
Then get them all to 50 to gain access to full set cross class crafting skills. These skills allow you to reliably make HQ items with NQ materials.

Crafting is expensive, you pay with time or GIL.
Lower Gil with higher time, if you gather your own materials.
Truck loads more Gil, with way less time, if you buy your materials. Many, many base materials can be purchase from in game vendors at significantly lower prices than the Market Board.
Do the Beast Tribes to unlock additional vendors and materials.

DoW Gil Guide, you need GIL to pay for your crafting. At least until you have the skills to make items HQ that population wants to buy from you.

Caimie's Crafting Guide something every craft should read at least once.
Crafting simulator for practising different rotations without burning your materials
Unspoiled Nodes for end game gathering.
Emphemial Nodes gathering rotation.
Gear Guide for end game crafting.
Fisher Reference.
Desynthesis Guide

Crafting Rotations follow some basis rules:
1. The opener, Comfort Zone, Inner Quiet.
Each successful quality touch will increase your inner quiet stacks. Each increase makes you a stronger quality crafter. Inner quiet has no effect on completion.

2. Get your completion to within one Careful Synthesis II of 100%.

3. Use skills to restore/conserve your CP.
Comfort Zone, costs 66 but over 10 steps, restores 80, thus, +14 effect.
Hasty Touch and Rapid Synthesis, costs 0 CP as the expense of RNG.
Tricks of the Trade, restores 20 CP for each use.

4. Use skills to buff your skills.
Steady Hand (22 CP), Steady Hand II (25 CP), increase reliablitiy of your actions.
E.g. Pop Steady Hand II, the use Hasty Touch mutliple times. This will give you an 80% success rate on 5 quality touches costing 0 CP.
Great Strides doubles your next touch effectiveness.
Innovation increases your skill for up to 3 touches.

Ineguity II is generally only required for crafts above your own level.
E.g. Lv60** or Lv60*** crafts

5. Use skills to restore/conserve your Durabitliy.
Masters Mend, Masters Mend II, Manipulation, Waste Not, Waste Not II.
For Durability 70/80 crafts, Master Mend II is the most efficient.
For Durabiltiy 35/40 crafts, Manipulation is most efficient, followed very closely by Masters Mend.

6. The finisher, you have many, many Inner Quiet stack built up, time to use Byregots for a hugh quality jump.
E.g. SH2, Ingenuity II, Innovation, Basic Touch, Great Strides, Byregot's Blessing.
I use this for macro crafting.
E.g. SH2, Great Strides, Ingenuity II, Byregot's Brow (only on good), Innovation, Byregot's Blessing (only if Inner Quiet still up)

[RapthorneLycaeus]

thank you for the in-depth, helpful responses, Chameleon of Frizze.