Economics in FFXI

I'm considering, possibly, buying FFXI for my laptop. I can't really play in any sort of serious manner, as I am a student in such a position that time is a limiting resource, but also, I've no real aspirations of doing anything other than having a bit of fun.

My question is, what is the economic situation, in general, in the game? I've been looking over threads at several sources to help me make my decision, but get conflicting information.

For example, I hear about persons or groups of people who monopolize areas of the game to get gil, which is sold online- to people who it seems to me would not have had reason to buy it if they could have gotten to the area that was monopolized. If this is true, it seems less than conductive to "fun" to me.

Conversely, I hear about players who are getting ore (I'm still foggy on this) but face dropping prices as other players do the same thing- this seems like a good thing to me, as it creates in the very traditional sense, a competetive market.

Basically, even though I've no intention of playing seriously, I don't want to play if I'm just going to basically be extorted or unable to find parties due to a catch 22 of not-having-equipment-to-get-in-a-party-so-I-don't-get-equipment-so-I-can't-find-a-party...

It's just based on the simple Supply / Demand. Every economy is different on each server.

Well there IS a minimum standard of equipment for most ppl. I mean sure you dont have to get the top top notch gear, but theres a certain minimum standard. You cant be a tank and not have up to date defensive armour for example. Basic stuff like that you know.

As for economy, it depends on the number of crafters doing an item that is craftable only, supply/demand, and also the number of people around a certain range of lvl. Well..mostly supply and demand. Gil sellers atm dont do much harm..so dont worry about it for now.

Most of the time you'll be invited to a party before anyone checks your gear, in fact most players consider it rude to just flat out check you without asking, therefore you'll get groups whether you have good gear or not about 80% of the time. I don't know anyone that's mean enough to flat out kick you out of the party if you don't have amazing gear. Most of the desire to have great gear comes from yourself, not from other party members. When you're in a group with people playing their 5th or 6th job and they're all decked out you'll feel so useless in the party and it will inspire you to waste day after day raising gil so you can have better gear. For months this game became like a full time job to me, once I really stepped back I realized I wasn't even having any fun anymore, I was just being tricked into thinking I was having fun. I'd say the game is fun until about level 40, then it sort of becomes a job rather than a game. I played to 60 with Dark Knight, 40 with Samurai, 40 with Ranger, 37 with Thief, 30 with Warrior, and 1-30 with a few other classes. This game devoured my life for awhile and fortunately I was able to pull myself away from it. My best advice is to not even get started. It's not that the game isn't fun really... It's more like... It's too fun for our own good in my opinion. I don't know what it is that keeps you going back even when you're slaving away on a boring task like mining, farming, or NM camping but somehow it manages. Hope I helped...

Meh, i guess its boring, but its more fun with friends..after all..if you played this alone..everyone would be bored..>> I am still lvl 51 despite having started at christmas...and still fun...i guess i just take my time to do things..=/ But to each their own ^^

Good gear is like..well there IS a minimum standard..i will kick a WAR with Lizard gear in the kazham area..i mean i dont expect everyone to have multi-million gil equip..but there is at least a basic minimum standard...WAR have at least Beetle around jungles...WHM at least has his cures and buffs and status removals...and things like that. Look at Garland's gimp thread to see. There are certain minimal standards..but if your just going to pass on by, most of the time, you dont need to spend too much time farming.

You'll have between 30 and 40 levels before being a horrible player will stop you from getting parties. Noobs have a free ride till this point. Untill around level 30 or so, the only reason to have great gear is so that the people you party with remember you and say "If you see Remnant seeking a pt, grab him fast! His gear is the best and..." you get the idea. Reputation is the only way to really level at a reasonable rate later on. There are only about 2500 players on a server, and about 2,000 of them are newbies. If you do break into the high levels, your name and reputation will preceed you.

As far as making gil is concerned, it's not hard; it's just slow. Fishing for moat carp is a common way many people make money, since a dozen of these fish sell for 4,000 gil. I make my money by farming gardening, and making Insect Paste Balls - the fishing bait of choice for players going after these fish. Each dozen paste balls sell for 400 gil, and they sell almost immediately. I rely on a lot of fast but small sales to get gil coming in. As a result, I'm not as susceptable to huge market crashes like I discovered when I tried to sell my Dark Ore. If you have a varied approach to making gil, you won't be affected by crazy market fluctuations. For example, many people put all their eggs in the Ore basket, once more accessable means of acquisition were discovered. I too, tried to find and sell one of these. A good rule of thumb though, is if anyone can do it, everyone will. The Dark Ore market became incredibly flooded, and prices dropped 50-60%. I was lucky to profit 50%. If I did the same venture now, I wouldn't have broken even. Making gil in FFXI is all about having multiple gil making processes going on at once. You don't want your one trick pony to die on you and leave you penniless.

An established server will have a very well established economy based on simple supply and demand, but a newer server will have a very unstable economy with pricing irregularities from both players and crafters.

And the economy changes sometimes as new updates, items and fads come through, but thats a fun part, The changes in economy, but most people get freaked when a horde of new people enter the server as they usually do crash the economy.

Also days of the week are a big factor in how much items cost. On Fridays prices usually start to rise quickly, more people playing so more people buying items. Prices usually peak at around Saturday, midnight, GMT on Cerberus, get a little lower on sunday, quite a rapid fall on monday and normall prices from Tuesday till Late Firday. This is generally the case with popular items.

Less popular items are generally the opposite way around. More of these items are being farmed/crafted because more people come online, not enough people buy the items so they get undercut and thus the price lowers.

I generally make money through skill up PTs (weird :o)

Coffer Keys = 10k each usually.
Beastman Seals = BCNM which can get around 1million per person on a good run.
Items dropped off mobs = Depends... I usually get around 5-10k per skill up run.
XP PTs = 5k - 20k these days if i get lucky with drops. (Xp'ing off Tigers, Cockatrices and Ladons (Wyverns) these days)

Not huge money usually and only really accesable at around lv70 but... I haven't had to farm in ages. Think "Squeeze every penny!" from the Simpsons! *Penny goes through skin and starts traveling up his arm* Argh! :X