[Mhurron]

Originally Posted by DrakenDame

Sorry, I'm such a noob...but what is the purpose of the numbers in brackets in the list?

The level that the recipe caps at.

But please, don't follow this guide.

[DrakenDame]

Originally Posted by Mhurron

The level that the recipe caps at.

But please, don't follow this guide.

Okay, I won't, which one should I use? And caps mean that that is the highest level you can reach with that particular recipe?

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by DrakenDame

Okay, I won't, which one should I use? And caps mean that that is the highest level you can reach with that particular recipe?

Try this one Alchemy 0-100 for anyone who needs it and as you go along if you find a recipe that isn't cost effective, you might want to check ffxiclopedia under Alchemy Recipes and try something different. Yeah, a cap is the highest level you can reach before you stop getting skillups.

[DrakenDame]

Many thanks to you Durahansolo!

[Mhurron]

Honestly, you would follow no guide. FFXIcylopedia has all the recipes. FFXIah can give you a good idea as to cost/profit for each one and how well they sell. Exactly what sells well and what doesn't changes from server to server and can vary from week to week depending on if it is saturated by other crafters or not. Guides like this are outdated as soon as they are written.

[Elwynn]

If you're worried about how much stuff costs, the best way is simply to use whatever drops that you couldn't be bothered to sell anyhow. Choose to fight stuff that drops what will match where your crafting skills are.

For instance, farming dhalmels is great when both leathercraft and bonecraft are in the 20s, and with high enough alchemy, bring water crystals and the saliva from the Bull Dlhalmels makes vitriol.

Depending on the craft, it may be a good idea to take up the appropriate harvesting. There's an area just inside Ghelsba where you can go logging and get your woodworking into the 20s for the price of a few stacks of hatchets and wind crystals.

When I was leveling clothcraft, I started harvesting in W. Saruta. In addition to materials for skilling up, there was stuff that I could sell for money. Until the September 08 update, I got to a million gil by selling stacks of Fresh Mugwort and Red Grass Cloth. Then both markets crashed, though Red Grass Thread looks to still be profitable, and Mugwort is now up by 40% since before the update. But then I got busy trying to reach 75 and working on skills, so I haven't harvested there in a while.

And be willing to travel, or get mules in other cities. Making Silent Oil can be a lot cheaper if you can get Olive Oil. (Sure, you can farm Slime Oil, but you'd be better off selling it and buying Olive Oil with it.)

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by Elwynn

There's an area just inside Ghelsba where you can go logging and get your woodworking into the 20s for the price of a few stacks of hatchets and wind crystals.

I did that exact same thing. However, if you are gonna invest in buying the HELM materials, you might as well buy the HELM equipment. Field/Workers gear goes a long way. I have Worker Boots/Gloves and Field Tunica/Hose and I don't go HELMing without them.

[Arkitan1]

The guide isnt meant to be cost efficent.

Its meant for you to farm the items you need to raise your craft.

And please dont listen to Mhurron as he obviously dont know wtf he is talking about!

Ark

[Armando]

Mhurron knows what he's talking about. Not all recipes will be cost-efficient in every server. Prices vary from server to server. In addition to this, the economy on any given server varies over time as well; recipes that were cost effective at the time the guide was written may not remain cost effective in the future, and vice-versa. And all that aside, guides are ultimately subjective - some authors may dismiss or omit recipes that other people would use and vice-versa.

Making your own skillup path is a far more dynamic approach that lets you choose what's best for you out of all the possible options instead of the narrower picture the guide writer has portrayed.

It's not that guides are a bad thing or anything. Many people can't be bothered to take the dynamic approach and have no qualms about following a guide. However, it's silly to claim Mhurron doesn't know what he's talking about simply because you want people to read your guide.

That aside, farming materials isn't as efficient as making as much money as you can and buying the materials. Farming your materials doesn't make them free.

[Clever Ninja]

While I do agree that everyone should follow a guide till lets say, 20-30, after that as its been mentioned, make your own. Look at what ingredients sell for, if NPC's/Guild NPC's sell em, how much the recipe goes for, can it be used later on, etc. I went the glass fiber route when I was leveling alchemy just because of the price of the mats I could desynth to get them, and it took awhile to level due to the reliance on the desynth items to get fibers to turn it into lens and such, didn't lost any gil really on the synth and it got me several skillups.

To comment on the OP;

Originally Posted by Arkitan1

0-5
Beeswax Alchemy (5)
Fire Crystal + Beehive Chip x3 + Distilled Water x1
You can farm bees while you level any job, and skilll up while you farm.

What server are you from where Beehive Chips don't cost a lot? And don't mention the farming crap again, cause farming takes time, and time = money. Same thing. If you take 4 hours to farm several stacks, and I take 5 minutes to buy them, that leaves me all that extra time spent doing other things, possibly farming other things that net more gil than farming beehive chips. Farming does not negate the cost of materials.

[Murphie]

Originally Posted by Mhurron

Honestly, you would follow no guide. FFXIcylopedia has all the recipes. FFXIah can give you a good idea as to cost/profit for each one and how well they sell. Exactly what sells well and what doesn't changes from server to server and can vary from week to week depending on if it is saturated by other crafters or not. Guides like this are outdated as soon as they are written.

This is what I always do these days. I used to follow guides, until I realized that, hey, I could just look at what sells, what is readily and cheaply available on my server, and make THAT, instead of just blindly listening to something some stranger told me to do. As a result, I never have a huge gap in between crafting caps, and thus rarely experience much failure or gil loss. It's the common sense approach to crafting.