at cloth lvl 53...

[Pebbles]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Just wanted to add another useful synth to make the silk road shorter: Karakul Cloth.
It caps at 57, meaning it helps avoid the skill-from-breaks range for Green Ribbon and Hunter's Cotton. It even turns a profit on my server. Main drawback is that the threads are expensive (34-35k each, 370-400k a stack) so unless you're rich, you won't be making many at once (which is fine because supply isn't all that high). But cloths sell for 120-130k each (although quite slowly; most sell during JP weekend prime time), and skillups for me so far (54.4-55.5) were fairly common (using the crafting timer to synth as optimally as possible). So it's not the fastest option due to low supply and high prices, but it's a welcome thing to have a profitable skillup synth that overlaps the silk road.
In fact, if you have a highlevel thf, you can probably get some mileage out of the wool->thread synth by farming the karakuls outside of Nashmau. I think it caps at 55; but for me it wasn't an option (the wool is never on the ah).

[Last_Viper]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

i fully agree Symrustar...
i made 450k with 3 synth at level 81 cloth (cost 10k)
go make some profit and get the items you need from AH. will save you much time.

research is the way a crafter >80 gets money, not a guide or a forum

[Symrustar]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

while doing skill ups off of items that are dropped from nms are deffinatly the cheaper way to go.... the availability of materials is extremely scarce. If you want to take a year to skill up then go right ahead with the that path... but u could prolly farm all the silk u would need for arhats in the time it would take to get the number of drops off those nms that u would need.

[Byrthnoth]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Here, I've done some significant research into the above recipes, so I'll help you out. ^^

Master's Sitabaki is made from Jujitsu Sitabaki, which drop nearly every time Hackeneyed Gnatbat is killed. This NM also drops the infamous Jujitsus Gi, so he rarely shows up and isn't immediately claimed/killed. This means that, as long as the AH price is greater than the NPC price, there is always a pretty good supply of Jujitsu Sitabakis. However, this is not one we can camp easily. (Jujitsu Sitabaki + Linen Cloth + Cotton Thread)
Devotee's Mitts are made from Zealot's Mitts, which are a similar drop off of Hoo Muju the Torent, the Monster Signa guy. Sometimes it's actually best to just go there and check people's bazaars. This is another one that isn't really campable, and the upgrade costs are sizable with almost no increase in the value of the item (on my server). (Zealot's Mitts + Linen Thread + Silk Cloth)
Hailstorm Tekko is made from Monsoon Tekko, which drops from Waraxe Beak, a Cockatrice NM in Meri-Mountains who is barely soloable by a RDM/NIN at 75 (so the supply is low, but I'm a 65 RDM). This is his only drop, and it's fairly worthless. I actually started stockpiling these a while ago. I need to get back to that. (Monsoon Tekko + Grass Thread + Cotton Cloth)
Gaia Doublet is made from Earth Doublet, which drops from Yaa Haqa the Profane in Castle O. This is probably the most, or second most campable NM. He drops only Earth Doublet and Frost Robe, so there shouldn't be much competition, and he spawns in a place people don't run through much. (Earth Doublet + Grass Thread + Grass Cloth)
Corsair's Hat is made from Marine Hat, which drops off Zo'Khu Blackcloud in Beadeaux (Faerie Shield NM). This is another one that should probably be camped or stock-piled. (Marine Hat + Wool Thread + Wool Cloth)
Bishop's Robe is made from Priest Robes, the previously desirable drop from Ashmaker Gotblut in Yughott Grotto. Since Baron's Siao came out, Priest Robes have become significantly less desirable, so it might be necessary to camp this NM (while mining?). (Priest Robe + Linen Cloth + Cotton Thread)
Giant Bird Plumes drop from "Greater Birds" I found one of the lowest level "Greater Birds" in Eastern Altepa Desert North East of the entrance to the most North East Quicksands Cave Entrance (north of the Korroloka Tunnel entrance). It didn't drop anything ; ;. With more people leveling in Lufaise Meadows now, maybe the prices will drop some more.

[songbirdz]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

I'm about 60k into my Apron, so hopefully guild points will be kind to me and I'll get it by next week.
As for your ideas.. I like. I'm at work, so I'm going to nitpick over them, see how well they'll work out financially, and how obtainable other ingredients are.
Something to always remember is that desynthesis is every crafters friend. Who can resist getting some of your raw materials back?
Some helpful desynths I found were:
Corse Robe - Lightning crystal. Results are 2 velvet cloth, HQ is 3 velvet cloth.
White Mitts - Lightning crystal - Saruta Cotten. HQ1: 4 silk thread. HQ2: 2 wool thread. HQ3: gold thread.
Leather Vest - Lightning crystal - Sheep Leather. HQ1: 2 sheep leathers. HQ2: 3 sheep leathers. HQ3: lizard skin. Leathercraft 9 cap. Cheap to buy from NPC, and always useful to have. ^_^
Black Silk Neckerchief - Lightning Crystal - Black Ink. HQ1: Silk Thread x7. HQ2: Silk Thread x8. HQ3: Silk Thread x9. This is if you really wanna, and they cheap. Can't check AH right now, sooo....
Arhat's Hakama - Lightning Crystal - Sheep Leather. HQ1: Silk Thread x4. HQ2: Silk Thread x6. HQ3: Silk Thread x8.
Arhat's caps at 88, so I figure the desynth is right around there.

Granted yeah, you can get this info anywhere, but uh... I'm bored. ^.^;;

-goes off to nitpick over recipe ideas-

[Byrthnoth]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Yes, thanks a bunch. ^^ I already got my Magnifying Specs (built up GP while waiting for Silk Road to clear). Thanks for the "Nation in First" tip. In my case, it will probably be windy anyway. I'll start stockpiling Puk Wings for the next levels after that. I've now got ~30 Wind Clusters on my mule (MrT). To give you some idea of how depressed the crystal market is on Garuda, I bought 14 stacks today for 20k sitting on one AH.
Now, I hate to be the one to suggest this, but Giant Bird Fletchlings cap at 93. Black Chocobo -> 72, Puk -> 82, Giant Bird -> 93? I know the plumes are helluva expensive though.

Here is what I'll probably do.
Puk Fletchlings -> 82
Master's Sitabaki -> 83 (I can synth on cap with skill+1 item, so small chance of HQ)
Devotee's Mitts -> 84 (same deal)
Hailstorm Tekko -> 86 (By this time I should have 2 skill +1 items, so still small chance of HQ, not that it's worth anything)
Gaia Doublet -> 88 (Same Logic)
Corsair's Hat -> 89 (This one is just cheap, who cares about HQ?)
Bishop's Robe -> 90 (Similarly, small chance of HQ, and another skill level)
Giant Bird Fletchlihngs -> 92 (93 Cap and I've heard it's 400k loss for 6 synths -_-)
Errant Slops -> 94
Blessed Mitts -> 96

After level 92, it doesn't matter what you make, because no one can get Tier 1, so anything you synth for skill, as long as you're on cap, has the same HQ rate as a level 100+3 clothcrafter. The only difference is that you probably don't have the same amount of gil to invest that a level 100+3 clothcrafter does.
I'm assuming that I'd get an HQ about 40-45% of the time on the "upgrade" synths that I only do for one level, and about 70-80% of the time for the ones that I do for 2 levels. Now, while I might be losing 10-20k per synth, a nice 3mil HQ shot in the arm would be pretty sweet and would serve to finance my craft pretty well. The main problem will be supply, and if I'm going to go this route I'm going to have to be very patient with the AH or possibly camp the NMs myself.

[songbirdz]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Hey Byrthnoth, quick tip. Make sure to get the black chocobo feathers at the chocobo stable from the first place nation. You'll save money that way.
I don't know your economy, but when you hit 72, -try- to farm your spider webs. Even though I hear they're getting cheap across the servers due to the new area, a gil saved is a gil earned.
Is it safe to assume you've been good with guild points and have the Magnifying Specs, at the least? If not, hop to it!
Ok, last thing. When you hit 72 + start doing Puk Fletchings. Wind + 2 Puk Wings. Make sure to have as much guild support as possible, since these guys cap at 82. It's a nice, fairly cheap synth.
My Clothcraft is currently 74.8, and I plan to take the Fletchings until 82, then find something new. I think Arhats is next... -.-
Hope I helped, somewhat. Good luck!

[Last_Viper]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

go to vendor and get your cotton thread for 600 gil each

as for desynth, you have to know what your´e doing or you will faile very much, means 3 fails from 5 synth or so. i can with little luck make 7 success in a row
but nice tip (um.. a bit too much for me ^^ if you understand... used to do the same)

[Wertyone]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Desynth cotton from Cotton Kyahan. You get seven threads from an NQ desynth. They cost around 2500 gil from the vender. So if you fail 50% of your synths you still only pay around 6000 for a stack of cotton. If you have bonecraft at 20 you can make your own powders for around 25000 a stack. Then you just buy water from the vender and earth crystals are cheep, 3-4k a stack.

So for 12 synths you pay (6000 x 3)+25000+132(water)+4000=47132 gil

Silk threads on my server is 40000 a stack. So 120000 plus crystal to make your own stack of cloth.

Thats three times as much gil for 12 synths.

Another thing that you can do to help in this stage is when you see that Linen Doublets are
the guild point item for the day, make them and sell them at the AH for a small profit.

[Byrthnoth]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Yes, I am now 62.7 having having stalled at 55 when the only synth option was Green Ribbons. I will probably finish at 63 this weekend, and then use the depressed crystal market and the 900k I've been saving to race to 72 as quckly as possible on Chocobo Fletchlings. Then I get to start making Rainbow stuff, which should at least not be loss, which is a welcomed change. I will keep updated.

[Sharinu]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Linen Doublets do sound like a good thing to close the gap, wish I would have thought of that.
But I was sort of in a rush to get to 60 though, partially because I figured the less time I spent leveling CC the more time I could spend making money after I get to 60. But to each their own, of course.

And an addendum to my earlier post:
I forgot (yet again), that I bought a cheap Red Cape +1 for 200k during my Clothcrafting stint. So that brings the cost down to about 350-450k. Now obviously I didn't carefully track my expenditures, so take my post with a grain of salt. Take a look at it this way though: One stack of silk cloths can be synthed for 150k on my server. I can estimate that it took somewhere around 135-195 synths to get from 53-60. 150 / 12 = 12500 gil per synth - 2000 for NPC sellback = (rounded) 10k gil per synth. With 135-195 synths, that's a total of 1.35 million to 1.95 million. 135 synths is also being generous, I highly doubt it was that little. So with my synths only costing at total of 350-450k, that's a mere 33% of the lowest estimated cost of silk cloths (70% off! You know that's a bargain). With that I can safely say that Hunter's Cotton is a much better route to take.

[TheMidg]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Currently at 79 clothcraft, I hit 53 cloth a while ago and sat there stuck because I didn't want to dish out the money for plunging through green ribbons. I basically stopped cloth for a long time, since I'd only been playing a few months then. Anyhow, after a while, I started making Linen Doublets. They're pretty cheap to synth, about the same cost as green ribbons, but when those doublets were GP items, I'd put them on windy's AH. The previous price was a bit lower than my cost, so I jacked up the price by a small amount so I wouldn't lose money making it. Actually, I got lucky one time, and about 4 of the ranks had linen doublets as GP items. That day I just kept logging on and off my mule, and put another full set on the AH. I think I sold around 30 of them that day. Unfortunately it took months to sell all the linen doublets, but I've still been playing < 1 year, so my mule isn't exactly stuffed (I've only levelled mage jobs, because I really like those jobs. Recycling eq ftw!)

I didn't get that much skillup from the linen doublets, but it was at least 2.5 or 3 points, enough to make the first few levels of hunter's cotton a bit easier. That 10 level gap is pretty hefty.

Anyhow, moral of the story, if you have enough space on a mule, then there are other alternatives. Just because every guide out there says to make hunter's cotton or green ribbons doesn't mean you have to. Unfortunately, unless you have a lot of space, to store junk, then those 2 synths are essentially the best.

You could make Linen Doublets for your own GP point too :D

[zagex]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Currently at 79 clothcraft, I hit 53 cloth a while ago and sat there stuck because I didn't want to dish out the money for plunging through green ribbons. I basically stopped cloth for a long time, since I'd only been playing a few months then. Anyhow, after a while, I started making Linen Doublets. They're pretty cheap to synth, about the same cost as green ribbons, but when those doublets were GP items, I'd put them on windy's AH. The previous price was a bit lower than my cost, so I jacked up the price by a small amount so I wouldn't lose money making it. Actually, I got lucky one time, and about 4 of the ranks had linen doublets as GP items. That day I just kept logging on and off my mule, and put another full set on the AH. I think I sold around 30 of them that day. Unfortunately it took months to sell all the linen doublets, but I've still been playing < 1 year, so my mule isn't exactly stuffed (I've only levelled mage jobs, because I really like those jobs. Recycling eq ftw!)

I didn't get that much skillup from the linen doublets, but it was at least 2.5 or 3 points, enough to make the first few levels of hunter's cotton a bit easier. That 10 level gap is pretty hefty.

Anyhow, moral of the story, if you have enough space on a mule, then there are other alternatives. Just because every guide out there says to make hunter's cotton or green ribbons doesn't mean you have to. Unfortunately, unless you have a lot of space, to store junk, then those 2 synths are essentially the best.

[Sharinu]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

Alrighty I took my clothcraft from 53-60 last week on Hunter's Cotton. 53-55 was very tough, as the cap for Hunter's Cotton is 63 so there was a lot of breaks. Skill-ups were very infrequent, but when I did get one it was almost always +0.3 to my clothcraft. I'll admit I did a stack of silk cloths to green ribbons early on because I had a stack saved on one of my mules, and felt I would get better skillups, but from what I saw I did not. The good thing (or bad? depends how you look at it) about Hunter's Cotton is that when you have a break it really doesn't matter, since they only sell for 200 gil, it's pennies.

I funded the run by raising my Bonecraft from 0 to 21. My route was Bone Hairpins > 4, Bone Arrowheads > 9, Cornettes > 14, Carapace Powder > 21. I farmed bone chips in King Ranperre's Tomb, as well as bought some from the AH with extra money I made while farming in KRT. My Goldsmithing was already at 11 when I started this, which isn't hard to get to (I think it was profit all the way). I mined some Zinc Ores in Gusgen and Zeruhn mines. I picked up I think 2 Darksteel Ore and a Gold Ore in the process. I sold those and used the money to buy more Zinc Ores, turning all the Zinc Ores I had into Brass Ingots at the Bastok airship dock. I think I also desynthed brass rings at the jewelry shop in Bastok to get some more ingots when my GS skill was capped at 14. I sent all the cornettes I made to a mule I had in Windurst. Turned them in to Yoran-Oran and gathered enough fame for the Aspir Scroll quest. Farmed the test answers, sold the scroll. I bought all my beetle shells on the AH for 100-1000 gil, never any more. Ended up with about 9 stacks of powders from 14-21.

Then I started to level clothcraft. Now to get the Cotton Thread I desynthed Goblin Armor, Moblin Armor and Antican Robes, bought them on the AH for 1-3k. It took a lot of these to get the threads I needed. I started with approx. 875k to my name. I may have made money elsewhere that I didn't mention or remember. If I did, it was not more than 100k total. When all my stuff had sold, I had about 400k left. So basically the cost was somewhere around 500-600k.
EDIT: Forgot that I made 2 'Cornette +1' during my skill-up session. Each sold for 18k.

Notes: I also farmed all the crystals needed for the synthesis (this is not hard). I also had to buy more beetle shells and synth them into powder after I reached 21 in bonecraft (14-21 BC will not completely supply you for 53-60 CC).

Thought I'd share this because this was a very hard stretch for me and I hope this helped someone else that will have to go through it. Any questions are welcome.

Sharinu's necromancy skill raises 0.2 points.

[Last_Viper]

Re: at cloth lvl 53...

there are very much new synthesis recipe where stuff like hunter's cotton comes out
they all have something to do with upgrading your AF to AF+1

Hunter's Cotton are used for Hunter's Beret+1 and Hunter's Jerkin+1 for example

the market is small though