smithing san d' oria vs. bastok

[dranix]

ive been wondering would it be better to raise smithing skills in san d' oria or bastok im thinking its easyer to get ores in bastok but the leather and wood working guilds in bastok would help out alot, post your opinion

[Hernard]

I think the woodworking guild is in Sandy. Im not sure which personally to suggest, but i know that you can get advanced synth support at the one in sandy.
I believe u get the same ores in the guilds at basty and sandy, so im not sure if it really matters. Both gets just as busy aswell.

[KoukiRyu]

You can get more ores at Bastok, but all the ores you need for the early levels are at the Blacksmith's guild...so I'd think staying in Sandy first would be easier, plus like you said, there Woodworking and Leatherworking guilds are there, so that would make it a ton easier too

[Spicey]

I would choose sandy over bastok because they have ores too. Just need to head over to the Airship guild for some iron and copper. The plus with that is no waiting for buying multiples. Also, Sandy has the leather belt npc and that is just <3. Do not forget sandy has no nick names like asstok or lastok.

[Galde]

I've been to the one in Sandy, I don't really see a difference.

[Sutienrem]

sandy is cheaper most of the time

[nanatsu]

I would choose sandy over bastok because they have ores too. Just need to head over to the Airship guild for some iron and copper. The plus with that is no waiting for buying multiples. Also, Sandy has the leather belt npc and that is just <3. Do not forget sandy has no nick names like asstok or lastok.

Unless Sandy is 2nd place or above in the conquest rankings you get no ore from the airship ports. All airship ports carry iron and copper if their nation is 2nd place or higher in the conquest rankings, so you could do the same thing in Bastok or even Windurst.

You can also get mythril ore from airship ports if that nation is in first place and you're a citizen of that nation. Either way, Airship ports are a nice resource that lots of people overlook. But they don't do you any good unless you're rank 5 with an Airship pass.

[Koozie]

I do almost all of my GP/skillup synthing in Bastok. I'm just more comfortable there I guess. Plus I mined zeruhn mines waaay back when when I started smithing; then bastok was the place to go. Not too much difference in the items, and same synth support both places. I do all of my desynthing absolutely exclusively in Sandy. Leather belt and Claymore NPC sellers are there. That's about it.

[TribalRocket]

I'm fond of the Sandy guild more than the Bastok one, only because the Leathercraft guild is in the same area. There both almost hand in hand.

Unless I want to make some gil, I'll hop over to Bastok and work a little on cheap Goldsmith synths for a little extra on the side. But I get bored a lot easier there. :rolleyes:

[Jei]

When you're skilling up you'll find yourself buying out all ores sometimes. And the price will raise a lot the next day you try to buy the same ore. For this reason I think it's best to move between the 2 place back and forth.

[Argenthart]

For me, I thought Bastok was easier at lower levels (crafing and job levels), because you can go mining in Zeruhn. I picked up most of what I need there for both smithing and goldsmithing. Its not as fast, but you can make gil and level at the same time.

[Kutu]

I prefer bastok, just as its the city i started in and im more famliiar with it. I did at one point take my mule out to sandy though and level my leather, wood and some smithing while i was there.

Got bored and sent him home to bastok. Now need to figure how to get him to windy -.-

[Layzan]

Sandy is best as I often find the ores cheaper there.

[Sabaron]

Sandy is best as I often find the ores cheaper there.

This is not necessarily true. Guild prices for both guilds are set by the number of people using the guild at one time. Giving this advice may cause people to flock to sandy to Smith thus raising prices there and lowering prices in Bastok and making the statement untrue.

I recommend that you use both guilds for their various strengths. If you have Warp and/or Airship, travel between them is easy and if you don't, Tele-Dem/Chocobo and Tele-Holla/Chocobo is just as fast a lot of the time anyway (it just happens to be 2-4x as expensive and slower if the boat time is below a certain level).

Why use Bastok?

If you are using materials containing Copper, Bastok is the place to go. If the Smithing Guild runs out of copper before the end of the day, you can get more from the Goldsmith's Guild without going to the AH. If, however, you have Airship access, this is not beneficial since you can purchase Copper Ores (and Iron as well) from the Airship Dock Merchants.

If you are levelling a low-level job, once your smithing gets within Iron Ingot range, you can use the Zeruhn mines to make money and gain levels at the same time.

If you are making a product which requires materials from the Goldsmithing or Alchemy Guilds (Brass, Glass Fiber, etc.), you might be able to find a better supply in Bastok where people are skilling up on it.

San d'Oria

If you are making a product which requires materials from the Woodcrafting or Leather Guilds you might be able to find a better supply in San d'Oria where people are skilling up on it.

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Certain items (lumber especially) are also more readily available in the town controlling the region that produces the log (e.g. Norvallen) and you can more easily make your own lumber in this town than in the others--note that a stop in Windurst might not be a bad choice if you need these types of items.

Also, do not discount the value of the Mhaura Smithing Guild! It is out of the way, and there is no nearby delivery or auction house, so if you get your hands on a Kolshushu OP Warp, you can go there quickly from your hometown to exploit it's lower prices and purchase (possibly cheap) ingots there.

[Sabaron]

[EDIT: Double Posted... Must've clicked a wrong button]

[Layzan]

This is not necessarily true. Guild prices for both guilds are set by the number of people using the guild at one time. Giving this advice may cause people to flock to sandy to Smith thus raising prices there and lowering prices in Bastok and making the statement untrue.


The player wanted to know which was better, in my two years of experience for cheaper ors Sandy comes out on top.

This may not be the case on other worlds, and most certainly may not be the case in the future but from past experience it has always provided me with cheap ores.

I trust that most people would understand nothing in this game is set in stone as far as prices and availability.

[Liger]

Honestly, i thinks its hard no matter were u are, i have forked out like 40k+ just to get my smithing to level 18...... And honestly killing things for ore is not a good way to get it unless ur at lower levels, i have fond that u dont get ore if ur level is too high. I may be wrong, but im still a NOOB and thas just my opinion.

[Sabaron]

You don't kill things for ores if you can afford picks. It's much more efficient to mine--the "drop" rate is better. WRT smithing at low-level for proit, you're better off mining at least a portion of your materials to offset the costs if the sale looks lossy. For instance, on a 25% loss sale (provided one material e.g. an ore) you'll want at least 25% of the ores to come from mining. Basically, make up for any losses you expect by padding your inventory with farmed/mined ingredients.

First and foremost, however, look for goods which are selling at a price that's good for you (e.g. selling 10% or better above NQ production) and make those. If you must make durables rather than consumables (ammunition, materials, etc.) try to make a variety instead of concentrating on a single product. Sell as high as possible and then when you've made your money back, dump the remainder to the guild merchant/standard merchant or desynthesize the items back into their constituents.

[Sebastien]

After spending some time in both, I will say that Sandy is a better place to level smithing, for a number of reasons.

First, you have easy access to Leathercraft and Woodworking guilds.

Second, you have easy access to fire crystals.

Third, there are some quirks to the Sandy economy that make it a more profitable venue for selling several lowbie Smithing wares.


Having said that, anyone who is trying to make money while leveling their Craft, and willing to give some patience in order to accomplish that, will need to frequently travel between all major cities anyway, so the question becomes somewhat moot imo.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Third, there are some quirks to the Sandy economy that make it a more profitable venue for selling several lowbie Smithing wares.
I'm guessing that the "quirk" has something to do with the fact that Bastok NPCs sell Scale Mail gear 100% of the time while Sandy NPCs don't. Similarly, that Leather gear you make will sell better in Bastok than in Sandy, since Sandy NPCs sell them 100% of the time while Bastok NPCs only sell Leather gear when they aren't dead last in Conquest.

[Sebastien]

Aye that is one of the quirks I was thinking about.

I did not know about the leather armor, but on our server Bastok has never been dead last, so that scenario seems unlikely. As for selling leather armor in general, I think it is quite hard to justify, given how much the underlying leather is worth if you just auction it by the stack (that seems a general theme in Crafting in FFXI). But I have not spent much time trying to decipher Leathercraft yet.