RDM mining at Ifrit's Cauldron, some questions

[MontyXI]

I've wanted to try this for months now, from all the good things I've heard about it.

My RDM is level 30, but I'd like to try and mine at Ifrit's Cauldron. I've heard that with the right spells....this is possible. Use invisible/sneak etc. while running around the mines and then sleep/bind a monster if I need to mine and one's near, and then warp out (I'd obviously have to wait until level 34 for warp with /BLM).

Think this could work? Has anyone tried this before?

I've heard that Ifrit's Cauldron is one of the most profitable places in the game and would love to try it out.

Any info/advice would be appreciated, thank you.

[tnt118]

WAS profitable.

Adaman ores and ignots are now BCNM drops, and on my server prices have dropped to around 65% of their former worth. I've read posts on these boards that on some servers cost is down to 40-50k .. given the rarity of the ores in Ifrits, that just doesn't make it worth my time. At one point Adaman ores were over 100k.

(For reference, on one night I would expect to get 1-3 rare ores, on 5 stacks, approx 1-2 hours in the zone.)

If you do mine ifrits, though, you'll want both sneak/invis spells, oils & powders for when it's not safe to cast, and plenty of inventory space. A moderate EXP buffer is also highly recommended. Good luck!

[MontyXI]

Thanks for the tips. I'll probably try it once, to see how I do.

Thanks again.

[Casval]

mining in Ifrit's Cauldren with pretty much any job, especially one below level 70, is nothing more than a suicide mission

that said, I used to mine the Cauldren with a 23/11 Whm/Nin combo for the use of Sneak and Invisi (Ninja spells do not make bombs and other magic sensitive arcana enemies attack you, so Ninja main or subjob is a good choice for casting Tonko) but died once or twice every trip I took out there

I didn't mind the Exp loss so I just set Homepoint in Kazham and went on with mining if I died, I made some small amounts of money with a few Adaman and Orihalcum ores but considering the time investment and the stress of mining there, I didn't like it very much

if you already have a level 50 Dragoon job, I would personally recommend using it to mine in Gusgen, though you'd have to be wary of the occaisional Foul Meat (level 43-45) attacking you on the bottom floor (the pop is rare, maybe once every 24 hours, I tend to only see it once every 5 or more trips to Gusgen) it is in my opinion a better place to mine than the Cauldren for most jobs



if your Rdm happened to be around level 75, you could 'safely' mine in Ifrit's Cauldren by sneaking around and Sleeping monsters if you're attacked while mining, there is little risk of death at this level but its really not that much faster than mining with a low level job since you spend so much time avoiding aggro regardless of your level (bombs in the deeper portions of the Cauldren range up to level 78, Hurricane Wyverns would also be a problem but they're not near any mining points)

it is also possible that when you do get attacked, to put the enemy to sleep and run away from it, recasting sneak/invisible/deodor as necessary

I mention deodor specifically since it should in theory help keep the monster that you slept from chasing after you when it wakes up, I've not tried it myself very much but I've personally seen it done by 75 Rdms in the Cauldren



Adaman Ore is admittedly not worth as much as it used to, on Lakshmi, the price is about 50% of its peak price several months ago

however, Orihalcum Ore used in the highest level Goldsmithing recipes is still in very high demand, and can still make it worthwhile to mine in the Cauldren due to its scarcity on the AH