[Zodac]

Can I just pick up a pickaxe and go to anyplace and mine or do I need to start at low level areas and work my way up? Thanks, sorry for the lame question.

[Sabaron]

Mining in areas where you get aggro is dangerous. You will need Sneak/Invis for certain areas that are always aggro, but I recommend you be of "appropriate" level for each given area.

You should shoot for areas that you don't get aggro in as these are easy places to do your mining without risk of death. Also, match the mine to your skills so you can process the materials.

My favorite mine is still Oldton Movalpolos--it's the highest output mine that is also aggro free (for high level). I enjoy the new Mount Zhayolm mine too for it's super-rare Khroma Ore. You get a lot of free firesand reagents here too even though Firesand is very cheap. The iron ore and sand are great for smiths, and even though it's a stealth mine, it's one of the least stressful stealth mines.

Halvung's Orichalcum, Ifrit's Cauldron, and Newton Movalpolos are high-level aggro stealth mines.

[Zodac]

So what your saying is, I could completely skip the bastok mines and go to the place your talking about? I am not sure if I want to do the goldsmithing or just sale the ore.

[Sabaron]

Ore piles up very quickly and it doesn't stack. If you can stack 4 ores into an ingot and put 12 ingots in a stack how much more metal can a crafter take out of the same mine in one trip than you?

Assuming 60 slot Gobbiebag: You can take out (naked) 60 ores. 60/4 = 15 ingots or 1 stack and part of another. The goldsmith/smith can take 48 times as much metal out of the same mine in the same time--not that they would. It's just a matter of scale. Also rememeber you only have 7 AH slots per character. You put 1/4 of an ingot in your slot whereas he puts 12 ingots (48 times as much metal) into the same AH slot.

And no, I did not say you can just go wherever you please. I think you missed my point where I said that it is very dangerous to work in aggro mines and often times the risk does not relate well to the reward.

Basically, you have completely disregarded my entire post in favor of the exact opposite of everything I just said.
------------------------------------------
Let's take a look at Zeruhn.

1. Zeruhn is in town.
2. There's only 1 aggressive monster (and it's very weak).
3. It's principally a copper mine which can be processed by people with 0 skill into ingots. You can even make bronze which is more useful.
4. The materials you gather from this mine can be used to level your crafting skills virtually for free!
5. Zinc is in high demand in Bastok because of the Tenshodo Fame Quest here and it sells briskly.
6. Occasional Darksteel Ores will make you quite happy.

I mined Zeruhn for every single job I've ever taken from 1-10 except Blue Mage which requires a bit of travelling. Everything drops soot (which can be nice), worms drop ores... It's my personal favorite newbie grinding area.

[Zodac]

lol its not that I missed your point but was just asking another question. I appreciate you laying it out like you did though. The reason that I wanted to do mining in the first place was because of the Tenshodo fame but the more I read on it, the more people say it's a really nice money maker. And since I am planning on lvling NIN, I will need a second income for ninja tools. ^^

[Omni]

Yes, you can go anywhere to mine. There is no skill or level requirement.

BUT, whether or not you survive long enough to mine anything is another question.
Which is why sabaron brought up needing sneak and invisible and MGS'ing to get to mining points.

[Zodac]

Well I am 58 so some of those higher areas would be as bad but thank you for clearing that up for me. I guess I will just start in the bastok mines anyways because I need zinc ore Thanks again

[Omni]

If you dont mind dying, try out the tougher zones a few times, the pay off might be worth the extra work. I take my lv. 30 rdm to mine a lot, granted I dont care if I die on this job but hey, it works. Just be very careful and know how your monsters aggro.

bombs aggro by sight and magic. their magic range is pretty big so make sure you're a good whiles away.

oozes/slime are sound.

goblins are sight.

wamoura princes are sound.

wamoura are true sight? pretty much avoid these with as much distance as you can.

puddings are sight.

raptors are sight (iirc).

scorpions are sound.

wyvrens are sight.

undead are sound and anything lower than white HP.

worms are sound.

I'm sure thats not all of them but you get my point.

Good luck.

[Armando]

raptors are sight (iirc).

NO.

Raptors are sound. I made that mistake many years ago. D:

[Zodac]

lol are mining points just ??? on the ground?

edit: nevermind lol

[Omni]

Originally Posted by Armando

NO.
Raptors are sound. I made that mistake many years ago. D:

yea i always mistake raptors aggro behavior. always always always. maybe thats why no one likes going with me to ulgasdfeagaand range anymore. :p

mining points show up as 'Mining Point' on the ground.

[Zodac]

whats some safe places for a 58 blm to go mine?

[Omni]

zehrun, gusgen, palborough, yughot grotto

[Quetzalcoatl]

Oldton Movalpolos is the safest and the best for a lvl 50+

EDIT: you can get some gold ores there that sell for like 9k each (cerberus last time i did it) and zincx1 cooperx3 =brass ingotx12=10k (cerberus last time i did it)

[Zodac]

Yeah I suck and have not finished Emptiness and cannot get to movalpolis