Blacksmithing

[Blahman]

I just want to ask a question to those of you who like to blacksmith in this game. You know, make armor and swords. Although i know a lot about FFXI, i seem to never find anything about this trade. Whats it like, how do you start it ?
Do you need certan materials, AKA a hammer ?
Do you pick from a list of two materials to combine, like mithril ore and Steel blade, something like that ?
Or can you combine many materials at once to try to create the ultiment weapon ?
I guess my last question is can you currently make "special" equipment, only availble if you blacksmith it.
Thanks in advance for answering these questions.

[Arcane Killer]

u ask the guy in the workshop by the desk/table to start and u get a fire crystal. u combine items like 4 copper ore and a fire crystal to get a copper ingot. sometimes it won't work cause u failed. but if u fail u sometimes get half the items back...well as i see it. u succeed there is a bright light. and after that the game tells/shows u a pic of what u made. if u fail it shows the crystal then breaks. the guilds aren't like ffx where u can just take items and combine them. it has to be certain items to make something...sometimes there is more than one way to make something.

i don't know about special equipment. there is HQ which is high quality. just adds a mod or 2 to a what u have made.

[Blahman]

Alright, i think I understand now.
Thanks.

[t3h_f0r60773n]

to add on to the blacksmithing question, whats the best way to get ore? :p