By: Xnarusegawa
= /\___/\
= (=^.^=) ~Meow!
= (U_U)
= U U
Whenever I'm around Bastok, I always see a few new players (and even some in their 30s) ask how I get my gil. Most of it comes from other "resources" (linkshell friends XD), but I do go mining for my gil. This is how to make 30k+ an hour, and feel like you've accomplished something.
What this guide requires:
(Yes, you can even be level 1)
First off, go to Bastok Markets (H-9) and speak to Karine. She sells maps, so buy one of the Mines. This will help you greatly, especially when new to the mines.
Next go to Bastok Mines, and go to Boytz Knicknacks (H-7) and speak to the man himself, Boytz. You're first objective is to buy a stack of Pickaxes. Pop open you're menu, and create a mining macro:
/item "Pickaxe" <t>
Or (Reccomended by Pukushu):
/targetnpc
/item "Pickaxe" <t>
Now walk to Zeruhn Mines (D-7) which is in Bastok Mines. Its time to start. At the first intersection, take a left. This will bring you to where you want to be. Now to start a path.
Go clockwise around the mines, following the left wall. When ever you see a Mining Point, walk towards it and use you're macro.
Mining Rules:
1.) Don't stalk others. Not only is this against the new ToS, you won't be making friends. Friends can be very useful, especially later on.
2.) If some one is at a Mining Point, don't take it from them. Just walk past, and walk fast, knowing you'll get the next one that comes up before them. ^^
3.) If you encounter a "tie" to a Mining Point, you both can mine at it.
What to look for:
In Zeruhn Mines, there isn't a lot of valuble ore. However, Iron ore is common, and it is 600 Gil-ish at Auction House. Getting one of these pays for 3 Pick axes, so get 4 and you broke even! You will come upon the occasional Darksteel Ore, which is worth 20,000 Gil on my server! This will fund you for a while. Once inventory is full, go back and sell to Auction House, then take yourself and put Ore in Bazaar and sit in the Smithing Guild or Goldsmithing Guild. This is fastest way to sell.
You're first 10k from mining:
Once you've gotten 10000 Gil from mining (This will be 1-2 trips) You're ready to get you're first piece of mining gear! Go for Field Gloves and Field Boots (Level 1 equip). But don't spend too much, as you still need to buy Pickaxes! Once you have these, it's time to start you're next phase.
Gardening and Smithing:
This will take awhile to reach this point, and you may want to have a good 20k to start. You're first step is to buy Brass Pots from Boytz. Once you have a few, go to the Auction House, and buy Herb Seeds (Misc.), a stack of Water Crystals and a Workbench (Furnishing) if its there. Go to Mog House and place the pots on the Workbench if you have one. If not, place them on the floor. Now plant you're Herb Seeds. Remember to check them every Real Life day. Eventually, you'll be able to feed them, this is where u feed them the Water Crystal. What you're trying to do is grow Fire Crystals. You will get lots from this method. The least amount I've gotten were 4 stacks and 8 crystals, highest was around 7 stacks and 4 crystals.* During the time this is growing, you can mine for you're last piece of the Field equip that you need, the Body.
*- Note: Sometimes (infact most of the time) you will not get Fire Crystals, and instead will get Bay Leaves. Depending on you economy, they can get a little gil (Bout 1k). Don't give up, you'll get Fire Crystals eventually, and it IS MUCH CHEAPER then buying them. On Carbuncle, all I have to do is get two stacks (2 plants out of 10) for it to be worth while. That's a good percentage.
Harvest Time!
Now that you have you're Fire Crystals, go and sign up for the Smithing Guild (Metalworks). Here you will spend a few hours leveling you're smithing up. You're first task is to make Bronze Ingots until you're level 2. This is made by using a Fire Crystal. Then add 3 Copper Ore and a Tin. Get advanced Synthesis Support to minimize breaks. On Carbuncle, you can sell a stack of these Ingots for 10k! Never buy the ore for AH though.
You're second step will be costly. You must take those Ingots and make them into sheets. Use a Fire Crystal and a Bronze Ingot to melt it into a sheet. This will reduce its cost (4k/stack on Carbuncle). I only did this until level 3, but you can do it longer (until 4).
This is the end to the Bronze line: Making Bronze Scales. This is achieved by using Wind Crystals on a Bronze Sheet. These sell for 6k/stack on Carbuncle, so It's break even. Try and buy from Guild if cheaper. Be sure to trade a Xiphos to the Guild Master to increase you're rank when you reach level 8. Once you hit level 10, its onto something new.
This is the final item you have to make before smithing pays off. Fire Crystal + 4 Tin Ore. Take this until level 15. They don't sell for much, but this is the easiest and fastest way to 15.
You should be getting a fair amount of gil from Mining while doing Smithing and Gardening on the side. Once Smithing has reached 15, you're ready for some big quick gil. Remember to trade in an Aspis (shield) for next rank at level 18.
Finally!
You're Smithing's at 15, you have all the Mining Gear, you're set for a nice, 35k+ an hour. Bring in all you're Fire Crystals, and some stacks of Pickaxes. You're going to be here for awhile. Whenever you get 4 Iron Ores, do [Fire Crystal + 4 Iron Ores]. Simple enough, yes? This will change the Ores into an Iron Ingot, which is STACKABLE! Now since every 48 Ore = 1 Stack of Iron Ingots, you can mine endlessly! On Carbuncle, you have no loss, as 48 Ores + 12 Fire Crystals is = to a stack of Iron Ingots (35k). What this does is save Auction House space, and Inventory space. This will take 2 hours (3 at most) to make two stacks. So thats 70k/day * 7 days/week = 490k/week! Half a million! If I worked really hard, and filled all my Auction House Spaces each day, thats 245k/day * 7 days/week = 1,715,000 Gil/week. All depends on how much you work at it. (Note: It will most likely take 7 hours at least to make 245k/day). Also, remember that you can still get Darksteel, which is another easy 20k, and that you have to pay for Herb Seeds, Water Crystals, and Pickaxes, which will account for making less gil/day. If you make too many Iron Ingots a day, you'll have to farm/buy Fire Crystals, which will make even less of a profit.
Hope this helps, and helps out some newer players. You do not need to be level 75 to do this, it can easily be done with a level 1 character, as long as you stay away from the Slime, which is the only thing that aggros in the mines.
This guild has taught you how to invest you're gil into a craft, and even though you were losing lots of gil at the beginning and barely making a profit, you now have an easier time making gil at a faster rate. This took me 3 days to start from scratch (Stack of Pickaxes and a Map, w/ less then a few hundred gil), however, I did have help w/ some ore from friends, (Thanks Khane), and I got a some Field Armor as a present (Thanks Aznmonk).
Summary: How to make the most with the ore you mine.
In Zeruhn Mins, this is what is best for you to do with the ore.
Pebbles => Toss
Copper => Bronze Ingot, Toss if not worth much on you're server
Tin => Bronze Ingot, Toss if not worth much on you're server
Zinc => Fame Quest for Norg (You'll need it later), Auction House
Silver => Auction House (When nothing else)
Iron => Iron Ingot
Darksteel => Straight to Auction House.
*Pukushu says that you should only keep Zinc, Iron, and Darksteel, as the others waste you're inventory space. Here's a good rule to go by: Keep all ore until you're running low on inventory space. Then, if you're not going to compress it into an ingot, or hand it into a quest, then drop it. Start with the least worthwhile ores, but stop at Zinc like Pukushu said. However, if you want to keep everything, then you're going to have to make a trip to town.
Recipies:
Bronze Ingot = Fire Crystal + Copper Ore (x3) + Tin Ore
Bronze Sheet = Fire Crystal + Bronze Ingot
Bronze Scales = Wind Crystal + Bronze Sheet
Tin Ingot = Fire Crystal + Tin Ore (x4)
Iron Ingot = Fire Crystal + Iron Ore (x4)
Gardening:
Brass Pot + Herb Seeds + Water Crystal = Fire Crystals
Farming While Mining
SuiRyu suggested that you should farm while mining, but don't take other people's monsters if they are leveling. This is what he had to say:
Quote from SuiRyu:
Quote:
I would like to add that the mobs in there might be worth farming depending on your economy.
Bats: Wings, Fiend Blood
Worm: Zinc, Flint Stones, Silver
Crabs: Salt
Every mob drops Zeruhn Soot
Sometimes I get more gil farming mobs than I do from mining. Try not to kill em all if there are people trying to level up ^^
Here's what you need to do with them:
[li]Bat Wings: 1oooG/stack. Probably worth more in San d'Oria where the Fear of the Dark quest is.
Fame: It Matters
(This section inspired by Pukushu)
All those silly quests that you're doing may feel like it doesn't have an impact, but actually it does! The first noticable thing about doing these quests, is the price of Pickaxes goes down. Mine is currently around 190/each, but when I started I clearly remember that they were over 200.
Also, as you get more fame, more quests will open. One of the important ones are the Gobbie Bag Quests, which allows you to increase the amount of items you're able to hold. This allows you to stay in the Mines a lot longer! Fame can be hard to attain later in the game, and you'll have to dish out gil to get high amounts. Start early and you won't notice any problems later on.
Extra: Goldsmithing
Zinc Ore isn't as common as Iron, but you'll find lots of it. And on rare occasions, you'll even get Silver Ore. Well, if you're serious about mining, you may want to pick up Goldsmithing too. This will allow you to stack the Zinc and maybe even make a profit off of it.
I'd reccomend this guide to help you level Gold Smithing:
Goldsmithing guide 0-40. Where to go from here?
Also for more info on Smithing, please check out this guide:
Hitchhiker's Guide to Smithing. 0-100 & Useful Knowledge
Leaving Home
There are a lot of Mining areas out there, and staying in Zeruhn forever may not be best. There are areas where you can hope to score big, like in Ifrit's Cauldron. Gusgen Mines is another popular spot, although you may get aggro, as deep in the mines are some pretty high level stuff. As you grow, more of Vana'diel's areas will become accessable. For more information, please refer to this link provided by Seankp^-^:
Mining Areas, Spots, and Rarity
Pukushu said try out these spots, and told us what level you'd be safe at:
Zeruhn Mines: Level 1
Palborough Mines: Level 25+ (The 3rd floor can aggro until 30)
Yuhgott Grotto: Level 30
Gusgen Mines: Level 48
Oldton Movalpolis: Level 55
Newton Movalpolis: Read Below
Ifrits Cauldron: Aggros at all Levels
Thanks to ambusher for some levels of where you'll be safe.
Seankp gave very very good advice on mining in Movalpolis!
Seankp wrote:
Quote:
For those wondering about Oldton and Newton Movapolos: Oldton, I'd say level 60+ is good, only 1 or 2 mobs will aggro at level 60 in Oldton Movapolos, and neither are close to mining points.
Newton Movapolos... Mobs vary from EP to VT to a level 75. All Goblins, Moblins, and Bugbears are sight aggro only. There are also bats, and like usual, bats aggro to sound. It's not too hard to mine here, I've explored it a bit, while looking for the Treasure Coffer for the map and I ran past several mining points, and no one was there but me. Newton is very empty, no one goes there unless they need to. Reasons people go there are to farm Gold Keys(For a part PM 5-3), Sylvan Stone farming(ENM item), or traveling to the BC there for ENM/missions, or possibly that new force spawn NM located there. Other than that, it is VERY rare to see people actually mine in Newton.
Reasons for that are that there are gates that are controlled by Furnaces. To make a Furnace change the gates, you need to trade Firesand to it. This causes a small explosion and the gates change.
Unlike Ifrit's Cauldron, this place is MUCH safer to mine. No magic aggro mobs to my knowledge in Newton. Most of the Mining Points that I spotted while exploring were safe and seemed easily accessable for someone to mine them.
Just a note, bring a warp scroll or warp cudgal if you can't teleport/warp out yourself. It's not necessary, but one can easily get lost without a map.
As a precaution, I'd recommend a stack of Firesand just in case.
Enjoy :)
...I couldn't have put it any better. Thanks Seankp!!!^-^
One thing I'd like to add, commented by Sepukku and VanyalRagnarok is that the lowest monster level is 63, which is the Succubus Bats (I think, can't remember fully). However... nothing aggros by sound... only sight. So... Seankp said:
Quote:
Some added information about Newton Movopalos.
Nothing aggros to sound, the bats there don't aggro period. Unless of course you heal next to them, but that's a given by almost all mobs to aggro to healing. It's weird I fully expected them to aggro me last night while looking for a Treasure Coffer for a friend, but they didn't.
So this means in Newton you only need INVIS and nothing else, other than the firesand for the gates.
Mobs in Newton con EP to VT to me at level 75. VT being a select few mobs like Moblin Scalpelman(sp?) and some high level Bugbears. Aggro is only by sight, so you only need invis. There are no bombs in Newton either, so there is no magic aggro. I have yet to see any elementals there as well, so maybe you only need invis period to get around.
If the above is all correct, then Newton is a very safe place to mine, and I may very well go try it out, as Tonko: Ichi and Tonko: Ni are very reliable Inivisible spells that last for 2 minutes+ and I can easily rid any aggro with Hide. (75THF/37nin) Unless that aggro has a pet bat in which case I kill the bat fast and hide quick.
With what I found out last night with the bats not aggroing, Newton is very much safer than Ifrit's, although I am not sure if it's as rewarding.
A good thing to do when mining in Newton or Oldton, bring a few stacks of lightning crystals. You commonly mine up beastmen armor and you can desynth them. Some have HQ results like Gold Ingots. Granted you'll need decently skilled up smithing and goldsmithing to limit breaks, this could be very profitable. Oh and some of the stuff can require clothcraft and alchemy to desynth.
Nothing aggros to sound, the bats there don't aggro period. Unless of course you heal next to them, but that's a given by almost all mobs to aggro to healing. It's weird I fully expected them to aggro me last night while looking for a Treasure Coffer for a friend, but they didn't.
So this means in Newton you only need INVIS and nothing else, other than the firesand for the gates.
Mobs in Newton con EP to VT to me at level 75. VT being a select few mobs like Moblin Scalpelman(sp?) and some high level Bugbears. Aggro is only by sight, so you only need invis. There are no bombs in Newton either, so there is no magic aggro. I have yet to see any elementals there as well, so maybe you only need invis period to get around.
If the above is all correct, then Newton is a very safe place to mine, and I may very well go try it out, as Tonko: Ichi and Tonko: Ni are very reliable Inivisible spells that last for 2 minutes+ and I can easily rid any aggro with Hide. (75THF/37nin) Unless that aggro has a pet bat in which case I kill the bat fast and hide quick.
With what I found out last night with the bats not aggroing, Newton is very much safer than Ifrit's, although I am not sure if it's as rewarding.
A good thing to do when mining in Newton or Oldton, bring a few stacks of lightning crystals. You commonly mine up beastmen armor and you can desynth them. Some have HQ results like Gold Ingots. Granted you'll need decently skilled up smithing and goldsmithing to limit breaks, this could be very profitable. Oh and some of the stuff can require clothcraft and alchemy to desynth.
Version Updates
Edit- Fixed Mistake about water crystals in Gardening section.
Edited, Fri Jul 29 13:59:41 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Added Pretty colors and format issues. Added "Leaving Home" section. Edited and added links.
Edited, Fri Jul 29 16:59:30 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Added side note to gardening, starting a percentage compilation.
Edited, Fri Jul 29 20:47:18 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Fixed Formatting Issue. Also added the Farming While Mining Section, special thanks to SuiRyu.
Edited, Fri Jul 29 21:42:13 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Updated My Mining Data and Totals.
Edited, Sat Jul 30 00:59:32 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Added Fame, and little things suggested by Pukushu.
Edited, Sat Jul 30 10:43:26 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Colours and Broken Markup Text
Edited, Sat Jul 30 11:27:11 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Updated Information
Edited, Sat Jul 30 16:44:43 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Deleted all Mining Data. Error somewhere, which invalidated the whole project. It happens. Sorry all. (;_;)
Edited, Fri Aug 5 16:10:30 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Colours
Edited, Fri Aug 5 16:25:05 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Newton Movalpolis Info
Edited, Sat Aug 6 20:06:51 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Seankp with info. ^-^
Edited, Fri Aug 12 18:59:27 2005 by Xnarusegawa
Edit- Added aggroing levels.
Edited, Sat Aug 20 17:13:32 2005 by Xnarusegawa
