I had a free moment at work, so i thought I might share the paths i took to lvl my goldsmithing skills. Currently i'm lvl 18 in goldsmithing and have yet to take a net loss in gill, with minimal failures. Personally I try not to spend huge ammounts in it and so far i'm doing ok. Hopefully it'll help some of you that are thinking about goldsmithing but are affraid it'll but a huge dent in your wallet. It may not be the absolute fastest, but it certainly is Cost effective.
To start, I began stock pileing fire crystals like there's no tomorrow, being that I started in Bastok, alot of juicy targets were, Vultures, Goblins, and some worms for the flint and ores that they drop.
Tips:
#1, never buy from ah, for copper, (or at least on the fairy server) as copper ore is like 50+ gill each??
#2 When the guilds are closed/sold out, take your lvl 1 job, and go hunting outside, hit up all the worms, vultures, and goblins for the crystals / ores that you need, until you can setup shop in the guild.
#3 dont forget that if you're in bastok, there's 2 guilds that sell copper, so check both black and gold smithing guilds. ALSO for those that are rank 5+ the vendor by the airship, sells copper ore for approx 10 gill 24/7
#4 if you feel like traveling and dont need the advanced synthisis, there's always alternate guilds in mhura
#5 Get advanced synth support As necessary.
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lvl 0-1
Stone ArrowHeads
2x Flint + wind crystals
loss here, but since i didnt buy the flint, so it wasent that bad
should be able to get away witha bout 1 or 2 stacks of flint stones.
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lvl 1-4
Copper Ingots ~ (approx 180 gill including crystal tops)
4 copper ore + Fire crystal
sold on fairy for approx 300 Each or 3k+ per stack.
Once you've reached lvl 4, it pretty much tops out there, so sell off your copper ingots for a ncie profit. personally I made about 10-20k from this step, after i realized that i couldnt skill up on copper anymore.
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lvl 4-9
Brass Ingots ~ cost (including crystal, approx 460 gill tops)
3 copper ore + zinc ore + Fire crystal
good money maker here, as zinc runs about 300 gill each, and brass ingots sell for about 600 each or 6k+ per stack.
you might want to keep a stack or two to skill up on, or just make some/buy from guild when the time comes, as comming up is the one of the first gill sinks i had...
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lvl 9-10
Brass sheets ~ Cost (including crystal, approx 560 gill tops)
brass ingot + fire crystal
It's only for about a stack or so, so bear with it and Save those sheets! cause you'll need them for.....
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lvl 10-11
Brass Scales
Brass sheet + Wind crystal
I hope you remembered to kill that occasional bee or bat while farming up fire crystals and copper/zinc ores. When you're done with the scales, *try* to sell them in ah, (the dont sell that well, i cant remember how much i sold it for) or you can just sell it back to the guild.
lvl 11-15
Brass Hairpins ~ Cost (variable between 400-550 gill or so)
Brass Ingot + Wind Crystal
It's not a bad time to make brass hairpins now that the PS2 version out, all the new blm/whms out there will probably want a better hairpin at lvl 10. Sales on this are variable, some times they're up to 1k, some weeks, it's as low as 400 gill. If you happen to have other mules in other cities, spread it around, as not to flood your local AH. Another option if you feel like saving them, is you can de-synth it back to brass for future use.
lvl 15-20
Silver Ingots ~ Cost (variable, depending where you get silver)
4 silver ore + Fire crystal
This is an excelent money maker especially in bastok, because of the silver ingot quest in the bastok markets, each silver ingot stays at a steady 2k gill, with a stack at 24k. On fairy server, usually the guild will silver for sale at 315 gill at lowest, try not to spend too much on silver, cause with all the miners around, you can usually buy it for 300 a pop, or even ah for 300 a pop. Alternatively if you happen to be a thief, you can steal some silver beast coins and start working on ingots at lvl 14, but I wouldnt go out of your way for them if it's too much trouble.
And there you have it, that's where i'm at currently. Slow, Steady, and most importaintly, not a drain ono your wallet.
I was looking around, and I think i'm gonna try using the recipe for Sabaki rig to lvl from lvls 20-22, as there's a chance for Rogue rig as well if you're lucky. I'll try to update with my results and such when they become avail! Good luck to all the newbie goldsmithers!
*****Sticky the thread!*****