Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. Part three of his 60-100 Series this week covers Woodworking. Q also managed to find a picture of one of Ringthree's great-great-great grandchildren. This week's guest commentator/contributor is: Celestria.
Woodworking is rather easy to get to 100. Most of the things you will be synthesizing will not require you to go farming, but rather waiting patiently for the AH to either have the supplies you're looking for or for the AH to have the supplies you're looking for in the correct pricepoint.
Just like any other craft, the questions have to be asked:
Does it have consumables? Yes and then some. If I had to rank Woodworking on the consumables scale, it probably ranks #3 behind Cooking and Alchemy. Arrows, Bolts, and Shihei come to mind immediately. To a lesser extent, lumber can be considered a consumable too as...since this is Woodworking after all...there are a ton of people using it for the various synths. It's not just limited to Woodworking though. There are plenty of synths in the other crafts that require some form of lumber.
Does it have in-demand end-game gear? Yes. The Dryadic Abjuration set. While not exactly as popular as it once was, there still isn't much out there that beats it. A number of weapons like Thalassocrat are also a by-product of Woodworking.
Does it have in demand mid-range gear? Oh God yes. Elemental Staves. I don't really have to explain what impact those have had. Just understand that you can make money off these rather easily if you set yourself up for HQ'ing them.
While slightly painful at times to skill due to the pace of waiting, Woodworking will heap a lot of rewards if you dedicate the time to it at the end. Tales of my friends making 2-3 mil/week simply off the sheer amount of Shihei that he sold are often told to me.
That required him to never really leave his Mog House though...
Celestria's Intro: General warnings:
If you try to make gil with woodworking, it will be a full time minimum wage job.
The obvious quick sales, shihei and arrows, take 12 stacks of finished product, 1/3 a stack per NQ synthesis, to make 1 stack of AHable results, and sell for 25-45k. There's no way it could possibly be worth the effort, so I leave the quick consumables to chinese synthbots.
Elemental staves are the reason I got into woodworking. They looked like quick easy money as soon as you hit 100+3, and they should be, but don't bet the bank on them. I started making staves at the height of inflation, when beads were 800k. My first streak was 1/27 and the 1 was not for profit. Some days you can hit 5/12, some days you get nothing, and NQ staves are all loss. Oh, and good luck finding a goldsmith to turn your ores into beads, or beads on AH for less than a ridiculous markup. There is a trickle of money in staves, but it's unreliable.
Dryadic abjuration gear has worked out all right for me, but not without obstacles. It's hard to find a steady supply of divine logs on AH. Cursed haidate sell at steep loss, but HQ make up for it if you can find a buyer, and at 1/10 HQ rate are not too terrible. Cursed kabuto is 100k loss per NQ, and 1/100 HQ rate, and does not sell for 10 mil, so I avoid it. Cursed togi is a decent profit on NQ, very nice profit on HQ, and seems to always break both divine lumber if you fail.
Read on for the guide.
Before we get started, a few things you need to make sure you have:
Lumberjack - Get this as it will make the process of later synths go by faster.
Carpenter's Gloves - Like the other crafts, anything that adds +1 to your skill is essentially a level you don't have to worry about covering for breaks. This means you can start the next synth sooner if you happen to run into a sticky spot where skillup materials are a little hard to obtain.
Celestria Comment: Work toward your apron and drawing table before you hit veteran rank. I swear SE curses veteran rank with the worst GP items, you'll either be turning in 97 things for 1200GP or 500k gil for 3k GP. Once I had my items, I switched my GP contract to the smithing guild for cheaper and easier access to HQ crystals.
Carpenter's Ring - Forcing NQs removes the risk of HQ break as well as increases your chance of a successful synth which, in turn, increases your number of chances for skillups. Get it.
Celestria Comment: Carpenter's Ring is good for two things: desynthing soulflayer staves and making warp cudgels. Don't expect an easy market for either of those, staves are usually in short supply and are hunted by other woodworkers, and the warp cudgel market is vicious and requires anima.
Patience - Mentioned earlier that there's a lot of waiting for supplies to show up on the AH. This means that urge to splurge and lose gil shows up.
Phase 1: Thank You SE Gods
Celestria Comment: 60-69: I didn't have access to Feyweald Lumber or Angon when I went through here, it was darksteel bolts to 62 followed by a 7 level gap to demon arrows. With a little investment you can knock that stretch out in a day and it will all sell before morning.
Pretty much a continuation of the 0-60 guide. Cap on these, save your results. You'll be using these quite a bit in later synths.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Ebony Log
Cap: Level 61
SE's addition of this log during the July '09 update helped cover a bit of a large gap for cheap. These logs are always on the AH for less than 1k ea. The lumber usually resells for a little less than the logs (sometimes more depending on the server), but you can easily save the lumber and make Fay Staffs or Fay Croziers to turn it into a slight profit. Those will sell slow, so make sure you have a lot of room.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Feyweald Log
Cap: Level 66
Most Dragoons just buy these from the Whitegate vendor for 248 gil ea. I got to looking at this recipe and realized you may be able to save them a little money. Having lumberjack here really helps to make the yew lumber (buy from Guild). If your leathercraft is 2 and your clothcraft is 35, you can make your own wool thread for it. That just leaves the iron ingots. Buying the ores from the Smithing guild is usually the way to go, but you may catch the ingots on the AH from time to time a little cheaper. If you farm up your wool thread, and buy the rest of the mats from their respective guilds, you'll end up with a cost of 5730 gil/synth + crystal costs. This means you're effectively making angons at 174 gil each barring breaks.
Wool thread also sells on the AH for relatively cheap too, so it's not like you absolutely have to go farm it up. Buying each thread for 1k or less each puts you at 203/angon, which is still cheaper, but less wiggle room for crystal costs.
Take note of the smithing 20+ sub as well. Hopefully you've got it up that high to take advantage of this synth.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Iron Ingot, 1x Yew Lumber, 1x Wool Thread
Cap: 69
This is the more commonly used synth here. The price on these for NQ is rather stable due to the fact that T2 HQ rate is the highest available for it. Demon Horns are generally available on the AH a few stacks at a time, and are usually hovering around the 5k per horn range. Farming up the horns is a giant pain as their drop rates generally suck and the demons that drop them aren't the easiest things in the world to deal with. Finding a bonecrafter willing to make the arrowheads you farm up isn't as hard, but like the arrows, T2 HQ rate is the best you're going to get out of them.
If you capped on Feyweald lumber, then a 3 level gap isn't a huge amount of ground to cover, so hopefully 1 stack of arrowheads will get you through if you opt to do this synth instead of Angons. You will also make money here at a rate of bout 1k/stack that you make. Your cost per synth will be in the 1.5k range meaning that your profit will be about 500g/stack of arrows you make barring breaks. This doesn't require any form of a subcraft to synth making it a better option in the eyes of many.
Turn in an Ebony Wand when you hit 68 to attain your Artisan rank. Hopefully you've been turning in enough GP items to pick up your Carpenter's Apron as well.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Arrowwood lumber, 1x Black Chocobo Fletchings, 1x Demon Arrowheads
Cap: Level 69
Phase 2: Guess What? More Lumber.
Celestria Comment: 70-79: When I was your age, petrified logs cost 40k, rosewood logs 10k, ebony logs 10k. This was still the skillup path, but it hurt a lot more. Being able to npc results for breakeven or a little profit means you're only limited by supply. If you have any fisherman friends, you may be able to repair Lu Shang's for a cheap and easy .1 once in a while.
Same basic pattern as before. Buy logs off AH. Synth. Pray for skill ups. Make to cap and save your results for later.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Petrified Log
Cap: Level 72
Here's another example of where Lumberjack will really help you. Rosewood Logs are almost always cheaper on the AH. If you manage to get all 5 logs (assuming no HQs of the lumber until you hit 76) for 1k or less, then you can NPC these for around 5k ea. This is also the beginning of having to wait for materials to show up on the AH that can make you go slightly insane. Make to cap, save one for your Adept Rank.
Recipe: Earth Crystal, 5x Rosewood Lumber
Cap: Level 77
Time to use up some of that Ebony Lumber you made earlier. If you got the logs for 2.2k or less on the AH, you can NPC your results for about break even. You're also at T1 HQ range, so you can hopefully get lucky on a couple of HQ attempts should be out of lumber.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Ebony Lumber
Cap: Level 79
Phase 3: Some Weapons! Oh Wait...More Lumber.
Celestria Comment: 80-89: Dark Mezraq and Teak Lumber did not exist. Ancient lumber prices meant mythic poles and wands were not feasible. I remember a lot of farming in this stretch, mega pumps and eremite's wands and moved on to kabura arrows as soon as I dared.
Now why did I put this here? Mostly as a bridge synth since, compared to some other things, it's a highly profitable synth with rather easy materials to obtain from the AH. It's also here to mix things up a bit given the monotony thusfar. Should you happen to have Smithing and Goldsmithing subs at 40+, then this is your synth. Make some money here, but don't make too many at once. These don't sell incredibly fast (2-3 day), but given it's the best lance you can get for Dragoon at the level, there's always a demand. Skip to the next synth if you don't want to bother.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Darksteel Ingot, 1x Ebony Lumber, 1x Platinum Ingot, 1x Wamoura Silk
Cap: Level 82
This will likely be the synth you do after Ebony Poles. This is also where you can use up that Ancient Lumber you made earlier. These sell on the AH for about a 500g profit as they're used in an Alchemy synth. They don't sell fast though. You'll be limited here by how many Phoenix Feathers show up on the AH, so don't expect to just get out and run at this point.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Phoenix Feather, 1x Ancient Lumber
Cap: Level 84
If you don't feel like waiting for Phoenix Feathers to show up on the AH, this is a semi-reasonable alternative. The lumber is used in a few odds and ends and sells for about even on the AH at times. This is yet another item where the AH waiting game comes into play.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Teak Log
Cap: Level 85
Hopefully you still have a bit of Ancient Lumber left over. If not and you're 84 or higher, you're at T1 HQ range. Make these to cap. It gets expensive from here on out, so having every level you can will help out a ton. Hopefully you can get your logs at 2.5k or less. This will allow you to just about break even NPC'ing your results here. At the very least, take this to 88 before moving to the next money making synth. Save one to turn in for your final rank, Veteran. Again, don't expect to run away here skilling up. Petrified Logs aren't exactly in huge supply.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 2x Ancient Lumber
Cap: Level 89
Phase 4: I'm A Lumberjack and I'm Ok!
Celestria Comment: 90-100: 9-drawer almirah, bloodwood, and jacaranda lumber were not even a twinkle in Sage Sundi's eye when I was in this stage. Divine logs were 3 mil, not a good skillup target even then. I made eight-sided poles to 94, bookshelves to 95, lacquer tree sap to 96, a mix of cythara anglica and lancewood lumber (which never ever ever gives skill curse it) and maybe royal bookshelves to 99, and an excruciating level of iron-splitters and stone-splitters at 300k loss per synth to finish. You kids have it easy now.
Bridge. Pure and simple. This requires a clothcraft sub of 50 as well. Buying all of the materials for these off the AH will still result in probably the largest profit margin you've seen thusfar, but that doesn't mean spend recklessly assuming you will make money. HQing the various lumber bits will make you that much more money, so keep your eyes open for the logs instead of the lumber and put that lumberjack to good use.
SE's change to these pieces of furniture increased their demand by a ton. The fact that Clothcrafters can buy these and "paint" them a different color helps out a lot too. Try to continue making money off these even after you cap because breaks after this point will hurt you badly.
Recipe: Earth Crystal, 4x Mahogany Lumber, 1x Ebony Lumber, 1x Ancient Lumber, 1x Silk Cloth, 1x Gold Thread
Cap: Level 91
Used for Salvage gear and a few other various synths. Since it can only reach T1 HQ range, it's going to retain it's value and then some even after. Make sure you get guild support for this to minimize your breaks. If you break a few, run out to the mire with a few friends, farm up a few Soulflayer staves and, hopefully you have your Carpenter's Ring, force NQ Desynth them into the Bloodwood Lumber itself to make up for the loss.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Bloodwood Log
Cap: Level 95
Very cheap synth for this level range. Similar to Bonecrafting's Chronos Tooth, this will be limited by what Dynamis shell is doing what zone when, but generally speaking the lumber sells for the same price on the AH as the log does, so it's virtually break even, but very slow selling. Get the log for 2k or less and you can break even by selling the lumber to a NPC. Unlike the Chronos Tooth though...this doesn't cap at 100, only 99.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Lancewood Log
Cap: Level 99
Not as bad financially as the Bloodwood Lumber, but can still put a dent in the finances. This is used in several synths and since it's T0, it's lumber value is actually a profit and likely won't drop.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Jacaranda Log
Cap: Level 100
Celestria Conclusion: Q's put together a very good list for you based on current prices and availability. The options have changed very much since I cared about skilling up, and they'll probably change again, so make sure to doublecheck the numbers for your own server before you dive in. As for my personal recommendation, well, run screaming and don't look back. Woodworking is for recreational purposes only, don't get into this craft if you're looking to turn an easy profit. The quick sales are a huge amount of work for a small reward, and while the big rare HQ looks great on paper, in reality it's nearly impossible to find a buyer. Everything else is overproduced and undercut.
Disclaimer:
I hate to farm, I hate to shop, and I hate competition. Woodworking is all of these things. You may manage to find profit and enjoyment where I do not. Individual tastes may vary. Actual mileage may fluctuate depending on road conditions and driving habits.
--Celestria
Next week, Leathercraft and Ninjafox.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Critical Break: 60-100 Series: Woodworking
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Critical Break: 0-60 Series: Woodworking
Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. This week, Q continues his 0-60 series with part three covering Woodworking.
Woodworking I found to be a lot of fun, but a gargantuan pain on my inventory space. I also found it to be fun because this is one of those crafts that most people can actually relate to in the real world.
Well maybe not most people, but I could given that a number of my relatives are carpenters to some degree. Some made entire careers out of it while others, like my pops, just builds a piece of furniture from time to time for special occasions and whatnot.
In the previous two editions of the 0-60 series, I relied a lot on farming up your materials to at least break even or make money while you made your way to 60. Woodworking isn't really something you can go out and farm up mats for in a reasonable amount of time. So the approach here is to find items you can buy from the guild or the AH, then resell or use later to make your money back or even profit quite a bit from it.
I know, I know...THANK GOD NOT MUCH FARMING IN THIS ONE!
Don't get too excited...
Phase 1: Learning to Work Your Wood
This is a pretty standard opener for any guide that's written. Buy your lumber from the guild. It's super cheap and in very large supply. You can also log this up pretty easily in Ghelsba Outpost.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Arrowwood Log
Cap: Level 2
Another pretty standard second step through various guides. Again, buy your logs from the guild, make a couple Canadian jokes and synth away. Save your lumber for the next synth.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Maple Log
Cap: Level 5
You can skip this if you want, but I listed it here simply for the fact that you're not going to have any more use for your maple lumber aside from a couple guild rank items. You can synth this up and recover what little gil you lost buying straight from the guild. Pick up the super-cheap chocobo feathers from an NPC for < 10 gil ea., AH the results in starter cities, and you're in business.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Chocobo Feather, 1x Maple Lumber
Cap: Level 6
More lumber. Get used to it. It is Woodworking after all. Buy Ash logs from AH or Guild. Another dirt cheap log to work with. Save your results for a later synth. Buy a workbench off the AH since they're usually below cost due to people skilling up on them and turn it in to go to the next rank.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Ash Log
Cap: Level 8
Yet again, buy off AH (usually cheaper) or guild, synth away. This can be skipped entirely for the next synth if you're comfortable with a bit more of a level gap.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Holly Log
Cap: Level 12
The logs for these are usually cheaper on the AH than they are from the guild, but check both spots anyway to be sure. The resale value on these sucks, so you'll lose a little money here unless you farm a few up.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Willow Log
Cap: Level 13
Phase 2: Sugar and Bolts and Everything Nice
You're not going to make a huge amount of money on this, but you will make money nonetheless. Hit up a buddy with alchemy leveled to 81 or higher and have them make you a half stack or so of bloody bolt heads. Farm up the beastmen blood from leeches in Pashhow Marshlands to turn this loss into a profit.
The reason I picked these instead of something easier like Bronze Bolts is strictly due to money. These things sell pretty quickly on the AH and you'll end up making 1-2k/stack if you do it right by farming up most of the mats. This is also where you're going to be using your previously synthed Ash Lumber.
Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Bloody Bolt Head, 1x Ash Lumber
Cap: Level 16
I didn't like this synth very much. The sugar will sell on the AH for about 1k/stack each and it takes a minimum of 4 logs to make a stack. You won't lose money, but you'll be sitting on this for a while unless Sandy is third in the conquest rankings. I found while making all of this sugar that making fun of Canada again caused the time to go by faster and the skill ups to come quicker.
If you saved some of your previously made maple lumber, turn it into a maple table and rank up at 18.
Recipe: Lightning Crystal, 1x Maple Log
Cap: Level 21
Phase 3: Back to the Lumber
This is a bit of a horrible stretch when it comes to keeping your money around.
Buying the logs for 2k or less will keep this generally at a break-even point. They're usually in decent supply, so finding them for this price usually isn't an issue, but going any higher will definitely cause you to lose money. This is a long stretch for one type of lumber synth too. Cap on these and then turn in a harp for your rank up. Hopefully you've made a little money on the previous synths to balance the potential loss here out.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Chestnut Log
Cap: Level 28
This is listed here mostly as a bridge synth, but also as a bit of a money synth. Farm up 2-3 stacks of bird feathers and make some room on a mule. These things sell pretty decently as a lot of mage jobs find some good benefit out of the stats. You can also start taking advantage of synthesis support here as well.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Bird Feather, 1x Chestnut Lumber
Cap: Level 32
Same deal as the Chestnut Lumber, only a little more expensive. The AH is usually cheaper than the guild. Sell your results on the AH. Depending on how patient you are, singles generally sell for more than the stack average.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Oak Log
Cap: Level 35
Phase 4: I Say...Is That An Arrow in Your Pocket?
Here come some money makers. Take note of the nation that's in first and be ready to start moving around to wherever the bundling NPC is. This is also a good time to mention the Lumberjack key item as well.
If you're leveling bonecraft along with this, at 33, you can make your own beetle arrowheads for this synth. Farming up the beetle jaws (should only need a stack or less) will save you the vast majority of the cost in this synth. Chocobo Fletchings cost next to nothing and you may or may not still have some arrowwood lumber laying around. These sell for a good profit on the AH if you spend a little time farming the jaws up.
Turn in a Traversiere for your rank up.
Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Chocobo Fletchings, 1x Arrowwood Lumber, 1x Beetle Arrowhead
Cap: Level 39
These sell about the same pace as the beetle arrows for the same margin. Also the same deal as before with farming up the fangs in this. You shouldn't need more than a stack of fangs. Kill some Yagudos for the fletching portion of this synth and buy up some more arrowwood lumber.
Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Fang Arrowhead, 1x Arrowwood Lumber, 1x Yagudo Fletching
Cap: Level 42
At this point, you've got a couple different options. The first is if you don't have alchemy at 29. The second is if you do. Or you could skip these two recipes altogether and just go straight to making more arrows.
AH is almost always cheaper for this log than the guild. The lumber sells for a bit of a profit too. Problem is the log isn't always available, which is why the lumber sells for a slight profit.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Rosewood Log.
Cap: Level 45.
This is the more popular option for this particular stretch. There's money to be made here. Not an incredible amount, but when you factor in that this is a key ingredient in making Shihei, you'll often times catch lazy woodworkers taking a bit of a shortcut. As of this writing, the stacks of these generally sell for ~5k on the AH with a mat cost of ~3k. If you choose to go this route, you'll need alchemy at 29 (or near it). Buy the moko grass and distilled water from NPC (both in Port San d'Oria) then synth away.
Recipe: Lightning Crystal, 1x Moko Grass, 1x Elm Log, 1x Distilled Water.
Cap: Level 45
Starting to see a pattern here? You don't need much in the way of materials for the arrowheads. Farm up a stack of ram horns, turn them into horn arrowheads if you're leveling Bonecraft alongside of this, then synth away. These sell about the same pace as the previous two arrow synths we've done, but the horns are a bit more of a pain to come across due to the low number of ram spawns.
Cap on these and turn in your final rank item, a Rose Wand.
Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Horn Arrowhead, 1x Bird Fletching 1x Arrowwood Lumber
Cap: Level 49
Starting to sound a little repetitive with this guide, but the AH again is far cheaper than the Guild, but the AH usually won't have a huge supply of them around. This is mostly to close the gap a bit to your next synth.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Mahogany Log
Cap: Level 51
This is a large gap to cover this far into the game with one synth, but with synthesis support and the farming of your arrowhead materials (especially if you're leveling clothcraft and bonecraft along side of this...), you will gain money pretty easily during this part of the process. Unfortunately, you're going to need a lot of room too.
Recipe: Earth Crystal, 1x Insect Fletching, 1x Scorpion Arrowhead, 1x Arrowwood Lumber
Cap: Level 59
Phase 5: WTF...One More Level Is a "Phase"?
Yes, because this is one of the spots where there are a lot of differing opinions on what's best to cap this off. Some will suggest doing Chests while others will suggest going straight to your next bolt synth (darksteel bolts, but those are unnecessarily expensive to do.)
This is my personal favorite given how inexpensive the logs are on the AH and the fact that you can usually turn them around for twice you cost. The lumber also sells relatively fast as well. Why?
Well Ebony Lumber is used in the Elemental Staves synth and if a woodworker doesn't catch the logs on the AH, they'll usually resort to just buying the lumber outright.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Ebony Log
Cap: Level 60 for our purposes, but the cap is actually 61.
I mention this one and the next one due to the inexpensive cost of the materials and the sheer profit on them. Their cap is a little higher than that of the Ebony Lumber, but nothing synthesis support won't help you overcome. The results sell a little sluggishly, but they do sell.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Feyweald Lumber, 1x Gargouille Eye
Cap: Level 60 for our purposes, level 63 otherwise.
Recipe: Wind Crystal, 1x Turquoise, 1x Gargouille Horn, 1x Feyweald Lumber
Cap: Level 60 for our purposes, level 63 otherwise.
So there you have it. Unlike the previous two entries in the 0-60 series, it's entirely feasible to make a decent chunk of gil in the last 20+ levels of Woodworking even though you probably lost a bit in the first 40. Overall, Woodworking is one of the easiest crafts to get to 60, even if you don't have the sub-crafts or parallel crafts I mentioned along the way here. It's also a craft that's used as a subcraft for a lot of different main crafts.
Next week: Leathercraft
#1 ~ Monk
#2 ~ Samurai
#3 ~ Ninja
#4 ~ Dragoon
Chaotic Pellucidity
Teabags and KY Jelly
The Bloggaru!
