| Lizard Mantles were a wonderful success for me. They shot me up from 8-13. The skillups were .1 and .2 on Lightningsday with 50% moon.
You will be crafting the Lizard Mantles for almost a 100% loss if you do not have the means to sell them back through the AH. In going from 2-13, I probably accrued 40,000 gil in crafted items. This is being sold back slowly for minimal loss. Powerleveling your craft could easily blow 50,000 gil taking it to a mere level 12 or 13.
Dhalmel leather is a stretch at 13 when I started it. Success was probably 1 in 3, but skillups were good. I did it with advanced synthesis support, but on a neutral day (Windsday I believe).
I attempted to farm the dhalmel hides with minimal success. I spent an hour killing dhalmels and I had only 3 hides to show for it. This was done almost exclusively in Tahrongi Canyon, however. I only killed about 5 dhalmels in Buburimu Peninsula. The drop should be better in Bubu, but I think my time is better spent farming in my favorite location and then buying the hides at the AH in any city other than San D'Oria. My success for that hour of farming was not from the hides, but from the 6,000 gil in wind clusters, 3,000 gil in giant femurs, and 2,000 gil in dhalmel meat.
Making money in leathercrafting can happen as soon as you start crafting leathers. If you level on sheep in Ronfaure, La Theine, or Konschtat you have the opportunity to craft for pure profit. If you aren't leveling in an area with hides or leveling your craft on leathers, money can be made but time is better spent farming. Once your crafting level is ready to make the next leather, you can make money once again. I'm able to pull in 1,000 gil per synth on the dhalmel leathers, but demand prevents this from being a strong source of income. Time vs profit also prevents this from being more worthwhile than other means of farming, but it is nice to have an extra 7,000 gil profit sitting there in the morning.
As with all crafts, there can be money made at all levels. The trick is to find your niche and exploit it without flooding your market. If you do find a niche, don't tell anybody. For example: Archer's Rings used to be 400k and Sniper's Rings were sitting around 450k; that's 50,000 gil profit. Sniper's Rings crept up to 500k and shortly afterwards, Archer's Rings went up to 500k. There is now ZERO profit to be made crafting Sniper's Rings due to somebody flooding the market. Please don't do this.
I'm currently skilling on dhalmel leathers right now, so I won't have much to add for a week or two. |