State Alchemist's Guide to AlchemyFollow

EDIT: Removed.

Edited, Nov 3rd 2010 12:00pm by StateAlchemist2

I got Illuminating Salts from a Rank 15 Leve - good thing I kept it. Hope it will work! Rank 18 Alchemy right now.

I didn't start to succesfully do Shards until around 13 or 14 with a Brass Alembic - using support on the lower end. Don't remember having issues 15+ usually.

Nuked your dupes. :)

My 4 million gil begs to differ. Granted, I got alchemy up fast, and hit the market hard after the launch. But I still have a good income (150k / day average) from alchemy. Not as much as some people doing other crafts, but still nothing to sneeze at.

Nice guide, it's pretty much what I did at launch, just seemed to make the most sense. A lot of good points. INT is helpful but I'm more balanced for fishing. Putting more into INT for me would probably make a noticeable difference, but I seem to do fine on my skill synths, and the ones I'm using to make money with are well within my comfort zone.

First off, thanks for updating me on the Brimstone information. When I had originally thought about it, I believe the recipe information regarding what level synthesis it was, was in fact, incorrect. I have updated the guide to reflect this information.

Yes I was eager to do Bee Baskets > Beehive Chips > Honey/Beeswax too. Until I realized that the amount of farming I would have to do was atrocious. And good luck killing bees for them. There are too many low level people to effectively kill enough to fuel your grind. Better to save time and drag out your Distilled Water synths, or hit The Local Levequests.

As far as Moraines go, I haven't checked on regular moraines, but using Radiant Moraines to make shards is an utter waste. Save them up if you get them, because when you can turn Clusters into crystals with them, you will wish you hadn't wasted them earlier. And of course, as stated in my guide, the easiest way from 15 to about rank 23 is making shards from fine sand.

Finally, yes, making Maple Syrup is good too. IF, you spend all your time away from Ul'dah, and the Alchemist's Guild, and spend hours browsing the Market Wards of Gridania. The ingredients are cheap and plentiful, and inexpensive. But for a die-hard alchemist trying to burn their way to the maximum Rank, it is just a waste of time, until a more viable way of searching Market Wards becomes available. For now, finding less time-consuming alternatives is the priority. If you have someone that farms them up all the time and can supply you with enough to skill-up, great.

Remember, I am trying to write a guide that will work for anyone, regardless of who they know, or their connections. Someone may have an advantage doing other synthesis recipes, but I am trying to provide a way to level without a heavy dependence on other players, farming 1 type of monster, or spending excessive time in the Market Wards.

I wouldn't say I am a die hard alchemist... but it is my highest craft... and I have been buying maple sap whenever I find it. I know when I hit 19/20 I'll be loving the cheap skill ups. I have almost two stacks. 200 synths for almost no money whatsoever - yes please. I've also been saving up bugs. I won't be putting those at risk with dicey synths. IMO there is a difference between a synth I do for skill ups and a synth I do for gils. I generally don't risk expensive mats to get skill ups.

Due to the fact that I hit fatigue AGAIN, I don't know how really doesn't seem like I get the chance to grind ALC a lot. lol I am gonna level Blacksmith to 10 for Maker's Muse, which temporarily increases the chance that Standard Synthesis will work. Since this is a nice little ability to toss in with preserve you may or may not choose to do the same. The synthesis recipes for quick skill ups are getting harder to find as I level, and the ones that look viable seem to be quite a bit over my level to begin with, so anything extra to help nail those tough synths is more than welcome in my Ability Slots! (Currently only have Preserve and Masterpiece, which are a nice combo for getting high appraisal on lower level Levequests btw...Best Quality so far: 501...Best Appraisal: 421.)

Obtained through a HQ synthesis result, here is the recipe:

Marbled Eye (Goldsmithing Rank 14)
Ingredients:
2x Water Shard
1x Wind Crystal
1x (Any element: Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Ice) Rock

Not sure on whether you have to use main or off hand tool to obtain these and higher HQ results may or may not give more Moraines, or maybe even a Radiant Moraine. I am not sure. Hope this helps.

Edited, Oct 14th 2010 11:54am by StateAlchemist2

This guide automatically assumes that you are ignoring (for the most part) the rest of the world, except for alchemy.
Also, Belladonna is purchaseable from an NPC (regardless of price) and Maple Sap is not (for now, please see below).


After skilling up on the initially tough Belladonna > Sleeping Powder synthesis, and the easier Sleeping Powder > Sleeping Potion synthesis, all that is required is Clove Oil, which again can be purchased from NPC, and a Brass Dagger, which sell for very cheap now. Knowing a Goldsmith that will make them for you makes it even easier.


Once again, I try to provide a guide that follows a synthesis path that can be fulfilled with minimal farming, dependence on other players (by dependance meaning no other alternative...asking friends for spare materials to supplement your grind is obviously a bonus if you can get stuff from them), or searching market wards. Distilled Water ingredients are purchased from an NPC, Crystals are obviously never hard to get, Belladonna is purchased from an NPC (albeit at a higher price than most would like, but 3 belladonna makes 4 powders which gives you another 4 synths to skill up on). You keep suggesting to look in bazaars for items. This is great, if you wanna spend the time doing it. However, this guide is for people who want to grind through alchemist, not float down the lazy river of eventual progress. When...if...SE fixes the Market Wards, so that we can find bazaared items faster...I WILL DEFINITELY, AND SERIOUSLY, examine your ideas, and to be honest, most likely implement them AT THAT TIME. For now, i am avoiding the Market Ward like the plauge. I spent 5 hours looking through Limsa Lominsa, for Jellyfish Umbrellas and Jellyfish Cnida, just for my own personal use...I checked EVERY SINGLE WARD, and EVERY SINGLE NPC in each ward. I found one of each. Did I find other random ingredients? Yes, I got 2 stacks of Belladonna at about 300g each, some cloves to make mre clove oil... and a couple maple saps. But all in all I felt I wasted an enormous amount of time. I would not want to repeat that exercise anywhere, whether it be Gridania (for the maple sap) or Ul'dah (for whatever...). I am sure a lot of people agree.


First of all, no. Grinding Distilled Water is not the same as grinding Maple Syrup synths. Distilled Water you grind sitting in front of the NPC you buy from. Maple Syrup requires you hunt through hundreds of bazaars for Maple Sap, or farm it yourself (and you will NOT get Maple Sap EVERY time from a spot). Second you jump straight to the Sleeping Dagger (which is the gil making end of the spectrum) and ignor the true skilling up (which is the belladonna > sleeping powder > sleeping potion). With 5 stacks of belladonna you get 20 synths. From that, for each successful synthesis you get an additional 4 synths. Then, given the ability to get Brass Daggers, you then get an additional synth for each of those. So lets do the math:

Assuming 100% success rate:
60 Belladonna = 20 Synths = 80 Sleeping Powders
80 Sleeping Powders = 80 Synths = 240 Sleeping Potions
240 Sleeping Potions = 240 Synths = 240 Sleeping Daggers
TOTAL SYNTHS PERFORMED: 340.

Assuming 75% success rate:
60 Belladonna = 20 Synths = 60 Sleeping Powders
60 Sleeping Powders = 60 Synths = 135 Sleeping Potions
135 Sleeping Potions = 135 Synths = 101 Sleeping Daggers
TOTAL SYNTHS PERFORMED: 215.

Assuming 50% success rate:
60 Belladonna = 20 Synths = 40 Sleeping Powders
40 Sleeping Powders = 40 Synths = 60 Sleeping Potions
60 Sleeping Potions = 60 Synths = 30 Sleeping Daggers
TOTAL SYNTHS PERFORMED: 120.
---
Cost of Belladonna from NPC: 5,990gil each; Time required to find the belladonna: Minimal.
So ~18K to make 4 Sleeping Powders. Then 4 Sleeping Powders makes 12 Sleeping Potions at almost no additional cost.
Approximate Value of Sleeping Potions: 2,000g Each. I regularly sell these for 5K each, if I don't use them for Sleeping Daggers. This adds up to a 40,000g profit starting from one synthesis.
---
Cost of Maple Sap from NPC: UNAVAILABLE; Time required to find the Maple Sap: Ridiculous.
So I usually see Maple Sap for about 100-250g each, when I happen to come across it, as I spend little time in Gridania, and away from the Alchemist's Guild. Then 1 Maple Sap makes 12 Maple Syrup. No one buys Maple Syrup, so it gets NPCd for practically nothing. This adds up to a waste of time, and money, since I am not making any money at all from this.
---

So even with a 50% success rate you are still getting 60 synths out of 60 Belladonna, which can be bought from an NPC, and another 60 synths if you wanna try and make some gil. That's a total of 120 synths from 60 items.

With Maple Sap, you first have to find it, then when you do you get 1 synth per sap. That's it. Also, there is no potential for reasonable profit.

Now obviously, dumping 200+ Sleeping Daggers on the market is not viable, but you can sell enough to make up for costs of all materials and come out well ahead for now. Sleeping Potions also sell well if you decide not to take the extra step and make daggers.


Please tell me how, using Alchemist alone, you managed to fish, mine, harvest, or kill monsters, for the items required in those synths with out the assistance of any other player. And remember, bazaars count as assistance from another player. Also, how long did it take to make that 1 million gil? A day? A week? Two weeks? I can easily counter and say I made 1 mil in the first 5 minutes of completing the first 10 sleeping daggers I made, and by the next day had over 5 mil gil. But that is irrelevant because each person in the game will experience buying and selling differently. As time goes on the price for everything changes and what once was profitable will become useless, as new things are made. That is why this guide, too, will change as time goes on.


Yes Moraines ARE plentiful now. That's because there isn't very many, if anyone, that can use them to break clusters, which will be a lot more common once people start fighting elementals more often. So for now they remain, nearly useless. Also you will see the price of clusters drop immensely once more of them show up. If you remember the first time crystals really hit the market I couldn't buy them in bulk for 1k each like I can now, and regularly do especially being able to HQ 32+ shards from one crystal a lot more often. But that is besides the point. No one is telling you to go out and buy clusters now. In fact, until I know what level Clusters are I will probably not even mention it as a viable skill up, and that's assuming thier price drops and availibility increases. However, I still recommend, saving Radiant Moraines for making Crystals, if not to skill up on, or make money from so to speak, but because as the synthesis levels increase, the appearance of crystals being required instead of shards also increases. The ability to make our own crystals, may very well save us a lot of gil later on down the road.


Here's the thing about Belladonna however, theres 4 synths you get from starting with one ingredient. Belladonna can be made into Sleeping Powder or Stimulating Salts (? I think thats the name...) Sleeping Powder can then be turned into Sleeping Potions, which sell fairly well to soloists for use in emergencies to get away from mobs, or you can go one step further and make sleeping daggers, if you have the brass daggers to do so. Or you can go the other route and make the salts. THe salts can then be made into Dawn Drops which is also a good skill up synth. Now the reason i was recommending these as a viable skill up at this level is that it gives you an opportunity to make a good amount of gil WHILE skilling up, rather than making dyes, which unless your making buffalo leather dye, isn't that great of a skill up at this level. Belladonna as of late has been much easier to find I have noticed, and can turn into a profitable product. Belladonna x 3 = 4 sleeping powder = 48 sleeping potions, OR belladonna x 4 = 4 salts = 48 dawn drops. As of right now I have found little to no market at all for maple syrup, and have been forced to npc all of the syrup i have made since alchemists cannot use maple syrup in any recipe.

Personally I sold my first batch of 10 sleeping daggers for 250K each, thats 2.5mil gil from 10 items, the next batch i made 20 and HQ'd one, started selling at a lower price to move them faster, especially now that i had the gil to blow on materials, sold the HQ for 250k and am still selling NQ's for 100k each. Now I realize that n the future prices will go down, but so will the availibility of other product, and maybe even the ability to buy EFFERVESCENT WATER from an NPC (I HOPE) since NATRON would be the most logical synthesis to grind on at this level. For now since Belladonna is an item sold by an NPC (even at 5990 Gil each...) its still in infinite supply and does not require anyone searching bazaars for their materials. Hence its presence in my guide. FOR NOW.

As said before, I will continue to update my guide as new content is released, and as my knowledge of the availibility of items increases.

So, for all you nay-sayers out there, here is what I like to call my "Wishlist Grinding Guide" This guide includes recipes that would in theory, given the ability of buying items from new NPCs in the future, be the path of least resistance for leveling:

Rank 1-10: Distilled Water (Possible now, and recommended.)
Rank 10-15: Linseed Oil (Theoretically possible now. Would be great if NPC price of Flax is lowered.)
Rank 15-20: Crystals > Shards (Possible now, and recommended.)
Rank 20-25: Natron (Cannot buy Effervescent Water from NPC...yet.)
Rank 25-30: Maple Syrup (If Maple Sap was sold by a future NPC, this would be PERFECT.)
Rank 30-??: Unknown for now, given available recipes.

Maybe when access to the new city is granted we will be able to use THIS list instead of my hodge-podge above. Who knows. But rest assured this guide will become a lot more fluid and easy the more time goes by.

Edited, Oct 14th 2010 6:09pm by StateAlchemist2

Edited, Oct 14th 2010 6:20pm by StateAlchemist2

THE GUIDE UPDATE IS HERE! HOPE YOU LIKE THE NEW INFO AND FORMAT! WILL FINISH THE LITTLE STUFF SOON, DON'T WORRY!

<3 <3 <3

Hi State,

Really appreciate the guide! Very helpful. :)

If I may ask, your Rank 18 Table Salt recommendation... where do you get the Malm Kelp and Sea Sand from?

I know you wrote it as a way for anyone to grind through as fast as possible, but looking at YG and other sites, Malm Kelp has to be Fished up, and Sea Sand is Culinarian. :( Any recommendations?

Or is there an alternate recipe you'd recommend doing in the 17 - 20 range?

Thanks!

I love this thread

Just a little addition. I am currently R18 ALC and following the guide still, started doing the fishing/cooking/alchemy Table Salt recipe by turning tiger cod into sea sand and then sea sand + malm kelp into Table salt. When I started to fish I was getting tiger cod + Merlther Goby's+malm kelp to bite. When doing the culinary part I accidentally used a goby instead of one of the cod and it created Sea Sand! I actually got a few more rank points out of it to, better than the tiger cod. Just thought it was worth adding.

I dunno, I know crystals are easy but to break the monotony I've been leveling a DoM class on jellyfish and making jellyfish humors (250-300 SP per synth at R22) and Paralyzing Powders (250-325 SP per synth at R22) in the field. I just got to R23... yeah I am not powerleveling myself but it is free and the jellies drop water shards/crystals, wind shards/crystals and ice shards/crystals. I'm also gaining SP for another job while doing it. These synths require lightning shards which do not drop from the mobs, but this is the only "input cost" as it were... which is cool for me. Getting from THM 12- (almost) 16 and getting a rank of ALC as well is pretty sweet.

Also a stack of humors npcs for 13K - so I am making a little cash on the side while doing it... with the added bonus of getting crystal drops I can convert to SP/shards later.

Edited, Nov 1st 2010 10:56am by Olorinus

Made some updates to my Guide on the Wiki. Added 30-35 recipes and still working on format changes. Be sure to keep an eye out for more updates.

lol well lazy might be nice but its also very expensive and/or boring.

i could just do

distilled water 1-11
linseed oil 11-15
shards 15-25
sap 25-35

and theres your lazy guide

Edited, Nov 4th 2010 11:19am by StateAlchemist2

LOL, that's exactly what I did from 1-22 (where I am) so far. Finally made me way here at 22 because I (1) ran outa crystals (2) am starting to find them slowing down. But I follow that similar logic where I *could* go out and farm stuff, or spend that time spamming away from crystals... which while boring and tedious will in the end net me a higher xp/hour, at least at 2..

I do wish there was something I could mass produce easily before lanolins though that was easy to obtain too. Like with work, I only have ~2 hrs a weeknight to play. Previously that's 2 hrs of spamming out crystals, so 2 hrs of solid xp. But looking forward, I might have go go out there w/ a hatchet and whack at some trees and grass and sh*t.. which means I'm likely going ot go a whole week without any Alchemy EXP so that I can gather Sap instead. (Then sit down one Saturday and use them all up, hehe).

maple sap is very very easy to farm honestly
and since you are in the grade 1/2 areas(preferably black shroud) i strongly suggest taking up carpentry while you are at it, and you can grind to at least 25 on the mats you earn while farming your sap too, so it doubles up as a bonus if you really wanna do that(and i suggest you do really, im doing it still)
also add in that grapes you get out there can help you start cooking if you havent already done so(you should have)

you can't do sap without leveling CUL

Another mid 30s grind I would suggest is doing Velveteen dye. It is pretty similar SP to Linen dye.

For the last month or so before I hit r32 ALC i had been visiting the market wards everyday and searching for alumen, particularily HQ. Using HQ alument gives you extra durability and makes it easier to accomplish velveteen and linen dye much earlier. I was getting 650-750 SP per synth on velv dye at R32 with high sucess due tot he HQ items. If I got HQ moss i would just use normal alumen.