Question regarding the state of Crafting.

[Nuker]

So i recently reactivated (as in im downloading updates now)

I retired as a 100 LC. When i quit Crafting had gone to shit, and dusk gloves +1 were my main source of income. Now im coming back and need to question whether or not crafting should be considered a "main" source of income. Is it worth it? Or do i need to level that Synergy stuff to make any decent money? Just wanna get a feel on the state of crafting currently. Thanks !

[Yugl]

New voidwatch gear might sell for profit, but that is server dependent. I highly recommend leveling synergy. Otherwise, find NPCable or mats crafts for profit. If not, there are alternative sources of income.

[Churchill]

Dusk Gloves are a nice way to make money but they won't be a primary source of income. If you can sell one a day, that's good but that should be on top of everything else you do. Behemoth Hides are cheap as shit, so you only spent like 1.2m for 60-75 synths. Less costly if you have the no HQ ring for the gloves. One day a week sit down and do them all, come out with 5-10m in gloves to sell during the week. Only problem is very few jobs need them for capped haste. However, you can also T2 Byrnies but the same problem applies and only one job needs them.

[Celebrindor]

I'm slowly coming to the realization that there really is no need, want, nor desire for the middle class in FFXI when it comes to gil. We have a majority of people who have the gil to make a purchase here or there, maintain their food and ninja tools, and that's about it. And then there are those buying ancient currency for relics. That's pretty much it. Without any amazing T0s any more, there just isn't that class of "I can't afford a relic, but I can afford (insert 15+ million gil item)".

In addition, gil just isn't needed that much any more. You can be poor and be successful and well geared (I would say for around 80% of the time, if not more). Honestly, outside of the WoE scrolls there really haven't been any big ticket items introduced that are in high demand. Gear is either R/E, or craftable sidegrades.

Crafting has become a relatively stable method of income, but no where near the income it was 3+ years ago. We're the manufacturing sector of the US economy. Still shows money, but man we've been hit hard for a long time now.

tl;dr- you won't make a 10th of what you did before, but you won't need a 20th of what you did before. Unless you're saving for a relic, and if so, do something else.

[Byrthnoth]

I have pulled in some gil through crafting, but it's generally something that I do when I can't be bothered to do anything else.

Honestly, there's very little drive to make gil these days. People make enough gil for food just by NPCing stuff they find while they do events. As such, people generally don't craft, don't farm, etc. The markets are wide open, but it's easy to saturate them.

[Churchill]

For example, if you did make Dusk gloves and put 2 up at once, people will generally undercut the everloving fuck out of you because it just doesn't matter to them. At the same time, some people are just so dumb/greedy they'll pay anything for a crafting mat because they have no concept of what people will actually buy. For example, Osseus Plate/Whetted Molar from VW. These are sitting around 4m. For the longest time, alot of these types of Synergy synths were like the "old days" where the NQ got you a small profit and an HQ got you some good cash. The only problem is those items make items that no one wants as sidegrades or in some cases no grades at all. I don't even think you could unload an HQ for 4-6m.

The other problem I see is that like previously stated, the "Endgame" gear that's being released is a WS piece for 1-2 jobs, a situational piece for 1-2 jobs, a precast cure piece, etc. Now, to be fair a lot of gear was like this but people got that gear because the mobs they fought REQUIRED them to have the best gear to be optimally successful. So you may think well, VW seems tough shouldn't those people buy that gear for VW? Yes, but all of that gear drops in Rare/Ex HQ2 form of the stuff you can craft so anyone likely to have a mindset outside of Abyssea with gearsets along that line are also likely doing VW and unlikely to buy something they can get for free and better.

Really, to fix crafting SE needs to make a new Haubergeon, a new Armadaberk, a new Nobles Tunic a new Shura Togi in the gear that they release. They likely won't because the gear they've already made is pretty good but that's the point really, if it was better gear then people would shit on their mother to get it.

[Darkmagi]

Whetted molar is selling for 4mil and the NQ head is 6-7mil on my server, that looks like quite the steal. lol

[Byrthnoth]

Yeah, I NQed a body with one the other day and expect to make at least 1mil off it.

Thing is, I could have made the same 1mil 10 other ways in a comparable amount of time with less capital investment.

[cdgreg]

Crafting continues to be profitable if you want to dump a shit ton of hours into it. I had a 100 leather mule at 75 cap and there were always areas to make profits, it was only a matter of how many hours you wanted to spend doing it. NQ ring definitely rocks cocks for leather. I wish I still had the leather mule, I want a god damn pair of cursed pumps -1 which would be cheap now with siren's macarons (sp) but no one ever spams them...

@ nuker, if you're on Odin now the reason myself a few people want these is because the augmented Z feet have +1% cure potency more than the NQ.