Another "newb" question.

[Oregonaut]

Considering the great responses to another thread started by me, maybe you will be able to give me some good suggestions on this topic.

I am a Hume WAR, level 8, based out of Bastok. Bastok, on Carbuncle, is ranked third in the domination of Vanadiel. This means that if I need to buy upgrades at my low rank, I must buy them from the Auction House. The Auction House prices are, to put it mildly, insane. I'm trying to focus on Great Axe and Axe (I read on the FAQ that this is the way to go for WAR), but the "cheapest" Great Axe that I can use at my level is 30,000 (Going off of price history). I don't have 1/30th of that, and I haven't been able to figure out how to acquire that kind of cash.

So I guess my questions are:

1. Is there a less expensive way of buying a Great Axe? (I have a Bronze Axe, I was able to scrap together the cash to buy that from a vendor)

2. Barring a less expensive way of buying a Great Axe, is there any advice on how I can scrounge together 30,000 to buy the one I see on the Auction House?

[Kildem]

Before buying things on the AH, check if they are available by the guards of your own city. Ask to spend your conquest points, and see if there is any good equip for your level range. If not... AH is your choice lol

[Ellipses]

1. There is a merchant in Mhaura who sells the Butterfly Axe. That would not be a fun trip at level 8. Well, it would be fun as in "OMG this is ludicrous I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die." But maybe some kind Carbunclian will offer to buy you one for the cost of the axe and transport (though they're more likely to just buy one at the AH if they're going for "kind").

2. Go up on one of the hills in Gustaberg and kill the bees there. They drop beehive chips. These sell very quickly in Bastok, for five-digits per stack (on Remora they're 20k a stack). You could also try mining in Zeruhn Mines, but the beehive chips are probably faster.

[Ryddr]

You could see if an LS member would be willing to loan you the money until you're able to pay him back. I've loaned and have been loaned gil within my LS, but the items in question were much more expensive. I'm just glad you're not asking the guy standing next to you at the AH.

P.S: This is assuming you've been recruited to a LS...if not farming would be your best bet.

[Gwynn]

If you can make the trip, you could go to San d'Oria and then go to Fort Ghelsba and log to get gil. It may seem a little daunting to make the trip, and you might need a few more levels first, but its a pretty good way to get gil for the lower levels.

[Oregonaut]

Hmmm, "BEES!"

The bees are a good suggestion, I did not know that they dropped anything worth selling.

I'm not in a Link Shell, so I don't have that option (/rubs ear) I probably wouldn't borrow money anyway. "Neither a borrower or lender be..."

Guess for now I try my hand at entomology. :biggrin:

[Ellipses]

Well, the bees you find right outside Bastok (http://ffxi.somepage.com/mobdb/368) don't drop much worthwhile (Honey is okay but not great). The bees you find up on the hills (http://ffxi.somepage.com/mobdb/370) like Vomp Hill are the ones that drop Beehive Chips.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

There are plenty of other noteable things you can farm around Bastok.

Grain Seeds - drops off of saplings.
Quadav Backplate - drops off of Amethyst Quadavs
Wild Onion - drops off of Goblin Thugs
Goblin Armor, Mail and Mask - drops off of Goblins


Any time you get a drop you haven't seen before, hold onto it. Keep it until you have time to check the AH. You might be surprised at how much it will fetch on the open market.

[Oregonaut]

I guess that it really isn't much of an option, but I hate charging the prices that I have seen in the Auction House for some of the items I have gotten. I've been holding onto a bag of grain seeds because I can't find if I myself can do anything with it yet. I know it sells for 2,000 in the Auction house, but that seems like so much to charge.


I guess I'm one of those "suckers" born every minute.

[Kirsteena]

If you are going to beat up some innocent bees on Vomp Hill - I'd suggest putting signet on as well and getting crystals at the same time. You can get signet from a gate guard, from Bastok he will have I.M. above his name. The bees should be EP/DC to you, which means with signet and you fight anything that gives you xp, you can get crystals to drop. These can be stacked to 12 and sold at the auction house.

[Ellipses]

It sells for that much because the people who know how to use them effectively can make much, much more than that using them (grain seeds are for gardening, btw). Goblin masks 1k each? I can turn 6 of them into 30k or more in about five minutes.

[Omni]

ffxi.somepage.com

you can search any item here, and if it is sold by an npc, it'll tell you where. sometimes a lot of people dont know that you can buy the same things at npc for less. however sometimes its more expensive. just look at the price history and then look at how much its selling for at npc.

as far as making gil in bastok. sell crystals for starters. beehive chips and honey sell well. once you make it out to konchatat highlands, sheepskins too.

good luck.

[Neomage]

It may seem like alot to charge 20k for beehive chips or 2k for wind crytals, but like Ellipses said, people can make even more gil from that. I can take 3 stacks of Beehive Chips and a stack of Slime Oil(85,000 gil) and make 200,000 gil from it. Others will buy the products becsuse they can make 500,000 gil doing another, and the person above them, 700,000, etc.

[Haggai]

There are plenty of other noteable things you can farm around Bastok.

Grain Seeds - drops off of saplings.
Quadav Backplate - drops off of Amethyst Quadavs
Wild Onion - drops off of Goblin Thugs
Goblin Armor, Mail and Mask - drops off of Goblins

All good suggestions, but Wild Onion drops in Gustaberg suck. They don't drop much. If you get any, go ahead and keep them. Just don't aim for them.

I'd also like to add that as you kill worms, you get Zinc and Copper Ore. Zinc sells pretty well in Bastok due to Goldsmithing guild and Norg fame quest.

Here's what to do with Copper Ore:
Fire Crystal + 4x Copper Ores = Copper Ingot.

It's a low level synth. The ingots stack and sell pretty well. Fire Crystals will drop from Lizards and some Goblins, providing you have signet on.

You can also synth with the zinc ores. Fire Crystal + 3x Copper Ores + Zinc Ore = Brass Ingot. If you do this, you don't have to deal with inventory issues with the Zinc Ores, but it is a level 9 synth. I don't suggest doing this until your Goldsmithing is at the Copper Ingot cap of 3. You'll get breaks as you begin, but it will get better as your Goldsmithing skill gets closer to 9.

[Ellipses]

And if you're going for sheepskin, you might as well turn it into sheep leather (dark crystal, sheepskin x1, windurstian tea leaves x1, distilled water x1). It's a level 2 leatherworking recipe, so you can do it from the start without many breaks, and the profit is ridiculous even if you buy the leaves off the AH.

Overwhelmed with information yet? :biggrin:

[Zoner]

And if you're going for sheepskin, you might as well turn it into sheep leather (dark crystal, sheepskin x1, windurstian tea leaves x1, distilled water x1). It's a level 2 leatherworking recipe, so you can do it from the start without many breaks, and the profit is ridiculous even if you buy the leaves off the AH.


This has been my main source of income since I started out. Roughly a 5 to 1 profit/cost ratio - even better if you buy your stuff at the Leathercraft guild in Sandy.

[durecellrabbit]

You can buy a butterfly great axe in bastok markets for about 700gil from the weapon shop. The guy in the back room sells them, he also sells Greataxes as well for about 4.5k. I'd skip the level 8 fire great axes unless you really want to get one.

I find beehive chips to be the best thing around bastok to farm, unfortunetly a lot of others seem to share my view and prices change between 10-20k a lot although not as quickly as crystals. Beastmen gear is nice but is not the commonest drop and they all seem to sell for 1k normally so I don't go out of my way to get them but they make a nice extra.

[Haggai]

Let's keep pumping information at this guy.

Eventually, you will want fame. I suggest that you do the first few levels of jobs in Zeruhn Mines. Kill almost anything down there and you will get Zeruhn Soot. Collect all the soot you can as you level. When you get done, stop by Gerbaum at (F-8) in Bastok Mines. Trade the soot to him three at a time and he will give you 150 gil and fame.

Don't bother going in with your WAR8, that would be a waste. Do it when you start leveling your subjob or if you pick up another job.

I know someone who does this and he has never had trouble with Bastok fame.

[fallenintoshadows]

If you can, buy some pickaxes and mine in Zeruhn. Best way to make gil in Bastok on a new character.

[Ellipses]

You can buy a butterfly great axe in bastok markets for about 700gil from the weapon shop. The guy in the back room sells them, he also sells Greataxes as well for about 4.5k. I'd skip the level 8 fire great axes unless you really want to get one.
Only when Bastok isn't last place on the server, which, according to his first post, they are. That's how the whole thing started.

[Oregonaut]

Sweet frosted smoothies Batman!


There is a great deal of information here, I did not know about the copper ingot synthesis recipe. I have three copper ores that I was wondering what I should do with, and now I know.

My only experience with sheep came from my ill fated first character, a Taru Taru Black Mage. The sheep did a happy dance on my broken bloody carcass. Mayhaps it is time for revenge....

It is inconvenient, in my humble opinion, that should you choose a town that is in last place, you can't buy some of the starting equipment for certain classes. There is probably a good reason though.

Thanks for the information folks, any more tidbits of wisdom for this tank in training would be appreciated!:thumbsup:

[LyonheartLakshmi]

I know it sells for 2,000 in the Auction house, but that seems like so much to charge.
I hope I don't sound mean when I tell you this. But you should get over those feelings. And fast.

You aren't ripping anyone off. Does charging 2k for a bag a grain seeds sound like too much? Well then, how about the crafter who's charging 30k for a Great Axe?

See, that's the great thing about an open market system. Prices may go up, but costs stay relatively the same. If those grain seeds cost twice as much a year from now, then that Great Axe will probably also cost twice as much. And so will a stack of Fire Crystals. Will, they won't correspond exactly like that. But the trend will be there.

[Murphie]

As a corrollary to that, what's nice about gear is that although something may be expensive, you can sell that item right back to the AH when you're finished with it. Sometimes at a profit even (although every now and then at a loss). Just think of it as "renting".

[Taermus]

I like "investing."

[Murphie]

I like "investing."

It can feel a lot like investing when the price goes way up.^^ The first time I quit, I sold all of my normal gear, and bought a few pairs of Leaping Boots. When I came back to the game several months later, I made a hefty profit just by selling those back on the AH.

:thumbsup:

[Oregonaut]

Well, I took the advice in this thread, and went and procured some of the items and sold them on the Auction House for the price history listed prices. I was then able to buy a Butterfly Axe. I want to emphasize this:

[B]Oh good gravy, the carnage I can unleash with a Great Axe!

[Raydeus]

Oregonaut I kinda envy you, believe it or not you are in the best part of the game, you have yet to discover so many things that you'll be really entertained for a long time.

I wouldn't mind going back in time to when I first started. :)


But then again that's what old lvl 75 geezers like me say...



At least I'm not as old as Maat (all jobs to 75? wth get a life you old bastard!!).



My tip for you to make some good gil would be trying out fishing, it's a very useful and cheap to level craft, and you can get some profit out of it.

Fishing Skill 0-100 (http://www.titanictus.com/viewtopic.php?t=752) <--check this link, you wont regret it. :thumbsup:

[Oregonaut]

My tip for you to make some good gil would be trying out fishing, it's a very useful and cheap to level craft, and you can get some profit out of it.

Fishing Skill 0-100 (http://www.titanictus.com/viewtopic.php?t=752) <--check this link, you wont regret it. :thumbsup:

About the time you posted yesterday, I got a Yew Fishing Rod to drop off a Goblin Fisher. The controls for fishing on the XBox are EASY. Very intuitive, much like it. :biggrin:

[Murphie]

About the time you posted yesterday, I got a Yew Fishing Rod to drop off a Goblin Fisher. The controls for fishing on the XBox are EASY. Very intuitive, much like it. :biggrin:

My neice fishes for my dad when he doesn't feel like doing it. I think he just does that to occupy her though. :wasted:

Fishing is a very nice way to make steady (if not super fast) gil starting out. I did it for nearly a month when I first got back, and really made a fair bit of money for myself.

Good luck with it!