Gil prices...

[TheDragoonKain]

Well I've gotten to about level 9 and so far the only thing I don't like about this game is gil prices. Were the NPC vendors always this expensive or did they get moreso whenever gil-farmers inflated the economy, and if so how/why?

My main question though is, seeing as how i refuse to pay for gil over ebay or anything like that, how viable is it to be competative and enjoy good items and side things that cost so much gil if you're just earning it yourself, killing mobs the old fashioned way? So far I can't buy anything remotely close to my level, if I'm lucky I can afford -either- a weapon almost my level or a single piece of armor almost my level, and that takes all my gil. Is this just because I'm low? When you get higher is it more feasible to buy items at your own level? Obviously when I'm 20 i can buy anything I need right now at 9, because mobs will drop more gil then, so I know you can eventually get that much, but by then it will be worthless... is it possible to get enough gil without paying gil farmers in order to buy stuff at your own level?

[Lionx]

Well I've gotten to about level 9 and so far the only thing I don't like about this game is gil prices. Were the NPC vendors always this expensive or did they get moreso whenever gil-farmers inflated the economy, and if so how/why?

First of all its easy to point the finger at gil farmers and buyers, however if it was that simple then things would be different, only the things they farm will go up in price if they manage to monopolize it, not every other item as well. Inflation happens naturally as there are more and more ways people get gil than gil gets out(there are ways of counteracting this slowly..like Jeuno AH Tax...but its a gradual method), no one is completely innocent so long as you use the AH itself, not even i.

NPC vendors have one good thing about them, its that for the most part unless its guild purchases, its a fixed standard helps keep some items low priced. However some items on the AH are cheaper on NPC, and sometimes the NPC have things more expensive than the AH, its really up to you to find out which item costs more on either place for your specific server.

Why things on the AH are more expensive? Sometimes its natural inflation, sometimes people are just greedy(not limited to people selling gil or items for real money) and jack up the price, or they monopolize it somehow either by NM camping(O Kote on many servers), or trying to make the way of crafting especially hard for lower leveled people if you are a high level crafter(hence why new servers tend to be bad by price fixing and limited crafters/supply, only remedy is that new servers have a different value of gil due to the lack of it).

Theres always ways of getting gil that you need, however most people wont disclose it otherwise people will flock to do that and crash the market. However simple ways that everyone knows is when leveling your low level jobs thorugh solo, its a farming expedition, not soloing, so fight mobs that drop Fire crystals and rare stuff of that sort, kill Crawlers for silk, and other things that sell high. When you get higher you can go back and mass kill these for money, you can also BCNM once you reach an appropiate level. However one thing that remains constant with all levels when it comes to gil is that:

You must work for it like everyone else no matter the method. Theres no one sure fire way that you can make 1million easily.

[Luc]

It gets easier as you level, but for now, crystals should be funding most of your gear.

Talk to your nations' guards. They should be labled W.W for Windurst, I.M for Bastok, and R.K for Sandy. Ask them for Signet, and while you have that on, there will be a chance that crystals will drop on anything you fight, as long as it cons Easy Prey or higher.

[strawberryman]

Talk to your nations' guards. They should be labled W.W for Windurst, I.M for Bastok, and R.K for Sandy. Ask them for Signet, and while you have that on, there will be a chance that crystals will drop on anything you fight, as long as it cons Easy Prey or higher.
I recommend Horutoto ruins for windurstians. I made 60k with MNK 6-10 just from fire crystals. xD

[Yeargdribble]

On Fenrir many things are inflated. This includes crystals which are a great source of income at low levels. Just make sure you have signet at all times and you'll make a ton of money. NEVER NPC stuff like that. If you wanna play with inflation in your favor you can buy things from NPCs and sell them on AH. You can buy a full set of Bronze gear for about 500 gil in a store in Sandy and sell it on the AH for about 5k.

This is because some people either don't know about the NPC that sells it or are just too lazy to run that far because they are rich enough that it's not an issue to them (guilty sometimes).

[TheDragoonKain]

yeah i actually have been vendoring everything, kinda stupid i guess, but i just didn't think anyone in their right mind would pay 1,000 or 2,000 gil for sets of 12 crystals... apparently i'm wrong but i'll find out in a little bit when i log on. I'm still a bit confused as to how the AH works on this game, but I think I understand it. It also seems like using conquest points to get gear is alot better than buying it. Anyhoo, thanks for answering me about this.

[Luc]

The reason people pay that much for crystals is because you need crystals in order to craft something. Some crystals go up to 8-9k for a set of 12. :p

[Lionx]

CP for items sometimes is not that great a thing. For the most part CP CAN be used for items, however they arent that easy to gain, especially if you want rank 10 items..i think its over 100K CP for one Rank 10 item so i would save up if you have something in mind. CP values also differently per server, on Midgard i personally feel CP is worth more than what gil is because gil is easier to get if you put the effort to make it.

[Yeargdribble]

omfg... you've been NPCing crystals... I promise you that one day you will look back on that and laugh at it as one of the most ridiculous things you've ever done.

btw... prices for stacks of fire crystals on Fenrir are always between 3 and 5k. 5k steadily in Bastok (Smithing and Goldsmithing guilds there). Hell... over the past week if you'd been selling certain crystals you probably couldn't made over 100k off of me alone (if you were on my server which you are not). I buy cyrstals like they are going out of style.


Also crytals are a great market because they sell almost instantaneously. The fire crystals you think nobody will buy well.... often when I would put up several stacks of crsytals the first stack I listed was sold before I listed the last stack... they sell very very fast and there is never a limit to their demand. Check the price history and see the detailed description of all of the sales... not only will you notice that the last 10 were bought within that day but usually within that hour.

Back when I didn't have many better methods of farming I had a level 11 DRK that I kept at 11... I'd go to Ghelsba and farm Fire and Dark crystal stacks because at 11 my DRK could one shot the EPs that dropped them. I usually came out with 50k/hour.

Since I'm a crafting whore I use a lot of crystals so just so you know crystal prices are usually as such on Fenrir.

Stacks:
Fire -> 3-5k
Earth -> 600-1k
Water -> 1-2k
Wind -> 2.5-4k
Ice -> 1.6-2.5k
Lightning -> 2.5-4k
Light -> 5-12k
Dark -> 4-9k

If you are willing to even think about buying gil think about buying a mule... or several. Me and my wife share 12 mules. Mules make a lot of money if you don't NPC or drop things. People like me that have the money to throw around will buy stuff off of the AH instead of getting it cheap so if you save EVERYTHING and stack EVERYTHING on mules and eventually sell it over time you will make a lot of money.

That is almost the entirety of how I make money. I almost never specifically farm... I just happen to keep everything that drops in XP PTs and everywhere else along the way. Those small items add up to a ton of gil over time.

So from now on keep in mind...

Buy at NPCs
Sell at AH

If you wanna contact me on AIM (Yeargdribble) or something I'd love to give you extensive pointers on how to make money and how to work the AH to your benefit. There is definately a lot to know about it.

[flotssing]

it sucks, but there is nothing you can do about it