Alchemy: Good or Bad?

[=Tuyen=]

I was thinking of taking up alchemy, but I figured I would take a look and see what other people think about the craft. so please post your input here and let me know :D

[aegina]

all crafts are a waste of money.



.
.
.
.


...except cooking. sometimes.

[Grizzlebeard]

With such sagely advice as that I take it your question has been answered.

Oh, and yes, alchemy is a good craft. Doesn't have so many high value items as other crafts but the money comes from making large amounts of needed items such as silent oils.

[Thoronas]

Good: Alchemy is cheap as hell to level. Which makes it easier to get to the higher levels and HQ low level items people need.
Bad: Alchemists are a dime a dozen so you're going to have to check the AH for any synths that have not been overproduced by others in order to make a profit.

[Neomage]

... what they said.

[DaSantis]

Silent Oil, Prism Powders, and Hi-Potions in particular (if you go that high), can make you a regular income with nothing more than a little farming time...

(I'm hoping that hi-potion drops are as good of a money-maker as the potions themselves are... (working on my GP for Concoctions)

[supersimian]

Alchemy is a great craft!
10 reasons why
#1 Its the among the cheapest to level up, most of the time you make your gil right back or profit.
#2 Alchemy goods sell fast.
#3 Atleast you will be able to get all of those costly consumables at half of the price from making them yourselves, also you will be good to always have potions on you because you will probably make them yourself. Having an X-potion on yourself at all times just makes you all the more a survivor. Team up with cooking skills to make yourself an uber medicator.
#4 Works out great if you are like me and do not have the time to run with guilds and make profit the funner and more ussual way, from drops.
#5 It is somewhat fun to pump out HQs though they will not make you much of a fortune as other crafts. Other crafts, like gold and cloth cost a fortune to level up and make much more gil.
#6 There are items that can make huge gil in alchemy though many alchemists elude otherwise, Hawkers knife+1 for instance.
#7 There are many alchemists though not many smart alchemists. alchemy can be extremely profitable depending on how the materials are attained.
#8 Alchemists are usefull in guilds for being able to make poison potions, echo drops, potions, ethers, etc.
#9 Enchanting weapons with your name on it makes a great gift. These things are ussually cheap to make and hardly ever acquired so they are fairly rare to see. For instance a lvl 66 whm was stoked when I gave her a divine wand just for keeping my mule safe on a walk to Jueno yesterday.
#10 Being able to make your own anima makes collecting all of the ensorcellment, and enchantment key items from other guilds a viable option for gil making as sometimes other guilds enchanted items may be worthwhile to make for profit.

These are the best reasons I could think of, I am an avid alchemist.
It is not the only cheap craft to level up that can make decent gil, consider guilds where a little farming goes a long way, like bonecrafting or tanning if you like to farm for your materials. Farming for alchmey items is not very time efficient most of the time, even if you farm for materials with a 74 blm/thf like myself. Cooking is the other cheap craft to level which you can consider also if you like cheap crafts.

I hope this information is helpfull to you.

If you decide to take up alchemy then "welcome" to the world of virtual drug dealing.

[AngryUndead]

Another: those first 6 levels with Tsurua (sp?) turn an exceptional profit for such a low level craft. I was really impressed.

[EuphoricOni]

Tsurara is the best synth lol i spend all of 1k i think (crystals of the ice type) to turn a 200% (got 3k usually i think my math is right ) net profit yea a 300% would be gross ... i think this is math and business ... Alchemy is good ... and if you get good at higher lvls Crimson Gear is a synth available to you ... -1 if you are lucky in that sense ... Have fun in the alchemy world ... also Beeswax is good to so ... 3 stacks chips 1 stack fire 1 stack distilled water ... 60k ... on Odin fires are like 3k sometimes ... distilled is ... nothing ... as with any server ... 124 gil if you npc it... and chips can be farmed like no ones business ...

[Ayrlie]

weapons made with alchemy always tend to sell for good money, as they are not that common. hq version tend to be big money.

silent oils, prism powders, beeswax, animal glue, and holy water will always move.

i have a 71.9 alchemy mule now. i made the alchemy mule strictly for creation for animas and bolt heads.

[thepirateking]

Alchemy is good. I'm taking it to 60 for now, along with a number of other crafts, before I decide what I really want to craft. And I think that's the key to making gil with any craft, is to level other crafts. Look for synths that you can skill up in more then one guild in if you're just looking for skill ups. The levels in other crafts free you up. You'll have less limitations on what you can craft.

On that note, I skiped hi-pots, and I skipped silent oils. When TOAU came out I made a killing just crafting non-stop for three evenings at the alchemy guild in whitegate...making prism powders. I make decent gil of holy water (not as good as if I make my own holy bolts from them), poison pots are nice profit too. I ofen carry the ingredients to make a few random meds on me when I have space, becuase you never know what you might need in the field. I am leveling cooking right now so I can make my own juice in the field too.

To Sum up, alchemy is good, Alchemy and other crafts as well = doubleplusgood

[avhmia]

Alchemy is a great craft for a person that enjoys the feeling of running a business. Trades like weaving and smithing seem like "artisan" crafts to me. There are a number of signature pieces, with high-level HQ items selling for big cash.

To succeed in Alchemy, though, you need to be much more aware of the market. Our products are much more sensitive to fluctuations in the economy, so what turns a good profit this week may not be so great the next. It pays to keep a store of ingredients on hand (I have a mule stocked up with memories, potion ingredients, wax, glass fiber, and other junk). I watch the prices and AH stocks of various items very carefully. When the AH supply runs low on something like Holy Water or Poison Potions or Silent Oil, it pays to be ready to step in and get that stuff up for sale.

As an alchemist, your profit accumulates from small sales over time. You still stand to make tons of gil, but you have to be a little more persistant and patient. While we don't really stand to make 20m from a single synth, we're also unlikely to lose millions to a bad break. All in all, I'm very happy with my craft of choice.

[little ninja]

alchemy is tapped out, i think everyone on my server has a mule with alch 100+. cause there is always a crap load of the stackables from alchemy. shihei, an silent oils the most.

[Balfree]

Poison potions anyone?

I watch dynamis calendars and craft the potions accordingly, then just stand near trail markings selling the goods while i afk, usually sell the cheaper than the AH and usually i tell the LS leader that im selling cheaper, its great.

Alchemy 71.2, gogo bibiki fishing guild \o/