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#52 Jul 31 2013 at 1:36 PM Rating: Excellent
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Atkascha wrote:
This has turned into a fascinating thread. I've been wondering myself if I should level gathering classes (Botany and Miner first) to 50 before tackling crafting. I wouldn't have to break up what I'm doing for the sake of gathering mats. In the beta I noticed a lot of people /shouting for mats like elm/yew logs which are around level ~16-20 Botany. The HQ versions sold pretty well for me on the Market Wards. For those people who can't stand gathering, there is a profit to be made with selling leftover materials. The lesson to take away from here is to make a profit by putting in work that others can't be bothered to do. Selling crystals/shards/materia/catalysts/spiritbond gear/high level mats will be profitable enough.


It would depend on the tradeskill you've set your goal on.

For Botany, if you plan on leveling Carpenter, I would heavily recommend leveling up Carpenter with it concurrently instead. This is because if you can provide your own logs, you have an extremely easy leveling method to use for Carpenter, so your sessions end up being something like "Get Botany session done, use proceeds to level up Carpenter 5 levels."

Everything else is definitely a YMMV kind of situation, like the bottomless pit of Iron ore that Armorer and Blacksmith need.
#53 Jul 31 2013 at 1:48 PM Rating: Excellent
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Ravashack wrote:
Atkascha wrote:
This has turned into a fascinating thread. I've been wondering myself if I should level gathering classes (Botany and Miner first) to 50 before tackling crafting. I wouldn't have to break up what I'm doing for the sake of gathering mats. In the beta I noticed a lot of people /shouting for mats like elm/yew logs which are around level ~16-20 Botany. The HQ versions sold pretty well for me on the Market Wards. For those people who can't stand gathering, there is a profit to be made with selling leftover materials. The lesson to take away from here is to make a profit by putting in work that others can't be bothered to do. Selling crystals/shards/materia/catalysts/spiritbond gear/high level mats will be profitable enough.


It would depend on the tradeskill you've set your goal on.

For Botany, if you plan on leveling Carpenter, I would heavily recommend leveling up Carpenter with it concurrently instead. This is because if you can provide your own logs, you have an extremely easy leveling method to use for Carpenter, so your sessions end up being something like "Get Botany session done, use proceeds to level up Carpenter 5 levels."

Everything else is definitely a YMMV kind of situation, like the bottomless pit of Iron ore that Armorer and Blacksmith need.


This is exactly what I did in the beta. I just didn't like having to break up my crafting/gathering sessions, that's all. I'd rather have an overabundance of materials once I sit down and craft instead of having to go back outside.
#54 Jul 31 2013 at 1:53 PM Rating: Excellent
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Yeah, I admit, there's nothing QUITE like burning through 1500 logs in one go. Smiley: lol
#55 Jul 31 2013 at 5:23 PM Rating: Excellent
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BartelX wrote:
I'm still curious as to what will be more profitable, gathering classes or crafting classes. With the shear volume of mats you can obtain gathering, I can see it being incredibly lucrative, especially at higher levels for stuff like the grade 5 dark matter or materia bonding agent (can't remember what it was called), as well as just the high level mats needed to make certain gear. I'm wondering how self-sufficient people will be, or how dependant they will be on the market to buy these base mats.

Man, this game just needs to come out now. Smiley: lol

Self-sufficiency (especially on new servers) will be a LONG way off, given the interdependency between the Hand classes & all Land classes (not as bad as XI still!). However, in the early days of the game, I do see gathering as being a very good source of consistent gil, as some people will want to rush crafting to 50 (to corner THAT market), without the hassle/timesink of getting a corresponding gathering skill to 50 as well. It's the same argument as with most MMO's - do you try to hit that 1, big-ticket HQ armour/weapon for an absolute s**tload of gil, or do you grind out consumables (either food/potions, or components/materials) for a slower, more consistent source of income?

Then, as you alluded to, once the game matures, gatherers will have markets for dark & carbonized matter (repairs + materia bonding), plus a constant flow of high-level ores/logs/plants, to fuel the spiritbond gear farm cycle for more materia. The more I think about it, the more impressed I am with the elegance of SE's implementation of the materia system, both in bringing together multiple game aspects, and how it seems to ensure viability for all Hand classes for the foreseeable future.
#56 Jul 31 2013 at 6:23 PM Rating: Good
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carmelita wrote:
Self-sufficiency (especially on new servers) will be a LONG way off, given the interdependency between the Hand classes & all Land classes (not as bad as XI still!). However, in the early days of the game, I do see gathering as being a very good source of consistent gil, as some people will want to rush crafting to 50 (to corner THAT market), without the hassle/timesink of getting a corresponding gathering skill to 50 as well. It's the same argument as with most MMO's - do you try to hit that 1, big-ticket HQ armour/weapon for an absolute s**tload of gil, or do you grind out consumables (either food/potions, or components/materials) for a slower, more consistent source of income?

Then, as you alluded to, once the game matures, gatherers will have markets for dark & carbonized matter (repairs + materia bonding), plus a constant flow of high-level ores/logs/plants, to fuel the spiritbond gear farm cycle for more materia. The more I think about it, the more impressed I am with the elegance of SE's implementation of the materia system, both in bringing together multiple game aspects, and how it seems to ensure viability for all Hand classes for the foreseeable future.


Exactly! They did a really fantastic job of balancing that side of the game. Because of materia alone, most of the crafting classes won't be obsolete, and the rest are covered by consumables. And because of the multiple classes on 1 character and the constant need for more gear to spiritbind, that covers both crafters and gatherers as a means to make good money.

Really, what's so seemingly awesome about this system, is that you can probably be VERY profitable on pretty much any crafting or gathering class (maybe not fishing, we'll have to see how it's implemented). That, to me, is impressive. Makes me wonder if RMT will really have much of a place in the game, since players can be so self-reliant.

It's a double edged, buster sword of awesomeness.

Edited, Jul 31st 2013 8:24pm by BartelX
#57 Jul 31 2013 at 7:16 PM Rating: Decent
BartelX wrote:


Really, what's so seemingly awesome about this system, is that you can probably be VERY profitable on pretty much any crafting or gathering class (maybe not fishing, we'll have to see how it's implemented). That, to me, is impressive. Makes me wonder if RMT will really have much of a place in the game, since players can be so self-reliant.

It's a double edged, buster sword of awesomeness.

Edited, Jul 31st 2013 8:24pm by BartelX


I'm reserving judgment until I see an actual use for large amounts of money in the game. It seems from most people's perspective SE killed the economy by artificially infusing gear and perks into every quest/dungeon so that gil itself is devalued. I see people crafting for gear to make for Grand company points or other forced examples, but not for profit. I think SE went too far trying to rid RMT from the game.
#58 Jul 31 2013 at 7:35 PM Rating: Good
Pure speculation here but that's what this thread is for right?

Currency itself is usually pretty worthless. Gold itself has no real value. It's a soft metal so you can't make tools or weapons with it. You can't eat it or drink it. It's just rare and pretty, so humans collectively made it their universal currency. In prison, currency is instant coffee traded in little baggies. Weird. While there might not be a whole lot of things you can use Gil for currently, it's still an easily tradable item that doesn't take any inventory space. The true value of Gil will evolve with player based goods and services, like materia, crafting, selling dungeon spots etc.
#59 Jul 31 2013 at 7:36 PM Rating: Excellent
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ShadowedgeFFXI wrote:
I'm reserving judgment until I see an actual use for large amounts of money in the game. It seems from most people's perspective SE killed the economy by artificially infusing gear and perks into every quest/dungeon so that gil itself is devalued. I see people crafting for gear to make for Grand company points or other forced examples, but not for profit. I think SE went too far trying to rid RMT from the game.


SE went too far in 1.0 to try and rid the game of RMT by not having an Auction House, not having a mail system, and not having the most basic functionality in a lot of aspects.

I respectfully disagree that they went too far with ARR. Perhaps money isn't as important as it is in a game like FFXI, but that's a good thing. There's more emphasis on self-reliance and independence, and I don't see that's negative. I see that as an excellent decision, because it actually encourages players to spend more time leveling up other classes in their game, hence making the replay value higher. If it causes RMT to suffer, all the better.
#60 Jul 31 2013 at 8:03 PM Rating: Excellent
BartelX wrote:

I respectfully disagree that they went too far with ARR. Perhaps money isn't as important as it is in a game like FFXI, but that's a good thing. There's more emphasis on self-reliance and independence, and I don't see that's negative. I see that as an excellent decision, because it actually encourages players to spend more time leveling up other classes in their game, hence making the replay value higher. If it causes RMT to suffer, all the better.


I appreciate your civil response and offer my rebuttal.

Money serves no genuine purpose in the game so it's hard to say SE made the right choice for their economy. It's like when you play the old-school Final Fantasy titles near endgame when money is no longer a concern. Without sufficient gil sinks, money loses all value. There is no incentive to craft or farm materials. There is no purpose to list items on the market boards either. Crafting is quite easy to level which only contribute to more people doing it, thus less chance to sell your wares. Unlike FFXI, you can max out all crafts with no job specialization. Regardless of the horrific economic conditions, I agree with you about the upside of all of this. I just want people to know that unless something changes; the economy of FFXIV is almost nonexistent.
#61 Jul 31 2013 at 8:16 PM Rating: Good
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Nothing really keeps RMT from the crafting/gathering game, though. Hell, some people might even take it upon themselves to level such characters solely to sell off to them. So, I would never call them gone and they might still be persistent enough to hurt markets.

As is, I don't think I've ever played a MMO with what I'd call a truly healthy economy (though my definition of this may fly in the face of real world economics because... game worlds aren't the real world~). Even with materia, people are going to figure out what is worth making/gathering/selling, and those things that aren't worth it are just going to become useless data bits. Okay, so maybe once every 30 days GC may ask for x amount of them. The rest? This is, I'd argue, the downside of "finished" dropped gear/items being out there, and doubly so if they're superior to crafted counterparts. Materia just may wind up a band-aid over that wound instead of a fix.

A problem I've had with gathering in a lot of games is simply the monotony of it, especially if resource spawns are fixed. What if making your daily stuff takes up too many resources to quickly gather? "Well, just hop to the AH!" Okay, so you're probably in the red here and will need even more time to make other things to get back into the black. Doing this day after day can get exceedingly tedious, particularly if paired with fame/faction requirements suited more to combat class quests. If all this leads to people not wanting to participate in the economy, then I'd say it's not doing things right.

So, I dunno... I just expect another game where the no lifers ruin things for everyone else. New game economy != established game economy, so what some people claimed to be working for them in beta may be dead wrong in 6+ months when rushes have died off. I'd like be wrong, but there's still that specter of raid drop superiority that also haunts these games.
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#62 Jul 31 2013 at 8:27 PM Rating: Excellent
I rated you both up 10x times each Smiley: thumbsup
#63 Jul 31 2013 at 8:29 PM Rating: Good
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The only major thing I can see for gil is housing costs. S-E may or may not have exaggerated just how "expensive" the bigger estates will be, we'll have to wait and see. Working on your FC house with crafting classes sounds like the bigger payoff for now until we see some type of DoL/DoH FATEs or something of the like. For the people that don't care about housing, crafted gear, etc., then no, there won't be much of a "point" to having a lot of gil in this game.
#64 Jul 31 2013 at 8:34 PM Rating: Excellent
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Wint wrote:
I rated you both up 10x times each Smiley: thumbsup


Wint, please. No Karma discussions, or the moderators will lock this thread.


#65 Jul 31 2013 at 8:46 PM Rating: Excellent
KarlHungis wrote:
Wint wrote:
I rated you both up 10x times each Smiley: thumbsup


Wint, please. No Karma discussions, or the moderators will lock this thread.




Smiley: laugh
#66 Jul 31 2013 at 9:04 PM Rating: Good
Seriha wrote:

So, I dunno... I just expect another game where the no lifers ruin things for everyone else. New game economy != established game economy, so what some people claimed to be working for them in beta may be dead wrong in 6+ months when rushes have died off. I'd like be wrong, but there's still that specter of raid drop superiority that also haunts these games.


The economy can always change based on new variables like a patch that focuses on new gil sinks like building a relic. As for your first statement, I did see people exploiting orange juice during Phase 3. I suppose it's too early to tell at this point if the trend continues and the economy becomes a larger factor. If NPC's have everything we need, the prices will be kept in check by players over time. For you economic majors out there, there's elastic and inelastic products.

In economics, elasticity is the measurement of how changing one economic variable affects others. For example:

"If I lower the price of my product, how much more will I sell?"
"If I raise the price, how much less will I sell?"
"If we learn that a resource is becoming scarce, will people scramble to acquire it?"
#67 Jul 31 2013 at 9:21 PM Rating: Good
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ShadowedgeFFXI wrote:
Seriha wrote:

So, I dunno... I just expect another game where the no lifers ruin things for everyone else. New game economy != established game economy, so what some people claimed to be working for them in beta may be dead wrong in 6+ months when rushes have died off. I'd like be wrong, but there's still that specter of raid drop superiority that also haunts these games.


The economy can always change based on new variables like a patch that focuses on new gil sinks like building a relic. As for your first statement, I did see people exploiting orange juice during Phase 3. I suppose it's too early to tell at this point if the trend continues and the economy becomes a larger factor. If NPC's have everything we need, the prices will be kept in check by players over time. For you economic majors out there, there's elastic and inelastic products.

In economics, elasticity is the measurement of how changing one economic variable affects others. For example:

"If I lower the price of my product, how much more will I sell?"
"If I raise the price, how much less will I sell?"
"If we learn that a resource is becoming scarce, will people scramble to acquire it?"


Not to be pedantic, but a product isn't considered elastic or inelastic. Some variable related to an economic good (typically Demand) is considered to have some degree of elasticity with relation to some other variable (price, availability of a substitute good, etc).

For example, demand for food is generally inelastic with price. People need to eat so much, and won't eat much more or less simply because the price changes.

#68 Jul 31 2013 at 9:45 PM Rating: Good
KarlHungis wrote:


Not to be pedantic, but a product isn't considered elastic or inelastic. Some variable related to an economic good (typically Demand) is considered to have some degree of elasticity with relation to some other variable (price, availability of a substitute good, etc).

For example, demand for food is generally inelastic with price. People need to eat so much, and won't eat much more or less simply because the price changes.



You're right, I should of clarified it better. Inelastic could apply to a demand in FFXIV such as potions, food, and items you use all the time.
#69 Aug 01 2013 at 5:05 AM Rating: Excellent
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I think they have taken great strides with the way the economy will work here vs ffxi.

In ffxi when I played around when it was released it was so hard to get gil. And if you couldn't get gil you couldn't get gear thus not being invited to any groups. This is a reason why rmt went threw the roof for that game.

In ARR you don't need gil to play the game but if you want to excel at it or have the best gear you will. Only time will tell , but it will be crazy or not there for awhile like every other MMO than balance out.
#70 Aug 01 2013 at 5:41 AM Rating: Excellent
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Heh. Demand for food is going to be an interesting thing to watch.

You have the FFXI and FFXIV vets and some min-maxers on one side who will stock up and use it.

Then you have a potentially significant number of people coming in from other MMOs who will look at food once, sniff, and dismiss it with "I don't need an increase this miniscule until I'm doing endgame" or "I hate using consumables while leveling."

Woe to the Culinarian who gets stuck on the server that has more of the latter category than the former.
#71 Aug 01 2013 at 6:14 AM Rating: Excellent
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Ravashack wrote:
Heh. Demand for food is going to be an interesting thing to watch.

You have the FFXI and FFXIV vets and some min-maxers on one side who will stock up and use it.

Then you have a potentially significant number of people coming in from other MMOs who will look at food once, sniff, and dismiss it with "I don't need an increase this miniscule until I'm doing endgame" or "I hate using consumables while leveling."

Woe to the Culinarian who gets stuck on the server that has more of the latter category than the former.


This is why I won't level Culinarian/Fisher right away. I'm the most curious about the food market across the new servers. I have a feeling it'll take a while to really take off.
#72 Aug 01 2013 at 6:26 AM Rating: Excellent
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ShadowedgeFFXI wrote:
Money serves no genuine purpose in the game so it's hard to say SE made the right choice for their economy. It's like when you play the old-school Final Fantasy titles near endgame when money is no longer a concern. Without sufficient gil sinks, money loses all value. There is no incentive to craft or farm materials. There is no purpose to list items on the market boards either. Crafting is quite easy to level which only contribute to more people doing it, thus less chance to sell your wares. Unlike FFXI, you can max out all crafts with no job specialization. Regardless of the horrific economic conditions, I agree with you about the upside of all of this. I just want people to know that unless something changes; the economy of FFXIV is almost nonexistent.


I guess this is just the area I disagree with you on, since we don't really know what purpose money will have at endgame. I mean, if there are going to be hard to get drops that can be sold, or hard to craft items that can be sold, you've just created a niche market where money is quite important. Same goes for materia, if there is certain materia that is uber, and the demand is high but the supply is low, the prices will be high on thus having a point for money. Same with high-end consumables. If done right, they could be very lucrative since everyone will need them. I think this is what will incentivize crafters and gatherers.

I agree that crafting is quite easy to level, but I don't necessarily think it means a lot of people will be maxing out all crafts. There are a lot of people out there who just flat out hate crafting in any game. There are also lots that will probably level only 1-3 crafts for their specific purposes. I don't think your argument is wrong, I just think we are going to need about 6 months to a year to really understand the direction the economy goes.

KarlHungis wrote:
Wint wrote:
I rated you both up 10x times each Smiley: thumbsup


Wint, please. No Karma discussions, or the moderators will lock this thread.


I don't think I've ever seen a post more deserving of a rate-up! Smiley: laugh
#73 Aug 01 2013 at 10:01 AM Rating: Excellent
BartelX wrote:


I guess this is just the area I disagree with you on, since we don't really know what purpose money will have at endgame. I mean, if there are going to be hard to get drops that can be sold, or hard to craft items that can be sold, you've just created a niche market where money is quite important. Same goes for materia, if there is certain materia that is uber, and the demand is high but the supply is low, the prices will be high on thus having a point for money. Same with high-end consumables. If done right, they could be very lucrative since everyone will need them. I think this is what will incentivize crafters and gatherers.


This is a very possible scenario Bartel. This why I included the following caveat.

Shadowedge wrote:
I just want people to know that unless something changes; the economy of FFXIV is almost nonexistent.


Game economies change all the time, while some get better, others get worse. I can definitely see the potential of everything you listed above. My response is that we don't know how the economy will work 6 months to 1 year from now. My current assessment is dead on based on what we know today. Everyone isn't going to stick around for the long haul. Like the 1 million beta players, FFXIV isn't likely to keep them all. If you high hopes for the future, that's fine, but it's not realistic to make those claims yet. Most of the economic principles you want to apply here won't take place for sometime because the majority of players will be getting free gear and spending very little out of pocket expenses. I respect your opinion and hope you see my point as well.

BartelX wrote:

I agree that crafting is quite easy to level, but I don't necessarily think it means a lot of people will be maxing out all crafts. There are a lot of people out there who just flat out hate crafting in any game. There are also lots that will probably level only 1-3 crafts for their specific purposes. I don't think your argument is wrong, I just think we are going to need about 6 months to a year to really understand the direction the economy goes.


SE doesn't have a economic team like Eve Online does to my understanding. Considering SE was never really able to balance the economy in FFXI especially in regard to crafting; I don't see how they have the expertise to balance the economy. I completely agree with you not everyone will take to crafting; especially not to maximum levels. So I believe that the max level crafters will have the greatest benefit simply due to being fewer of them. We do need time to sort this out, that's true. I would agree that about 6 months after the game launches we'll know what to expect over the long haul. It was never my intention to predict the future, only point out the current condition. I suppose the current economy is moot to most people right now because we will be busy leveling and doing the content. I think we can agree on these points at least.
#74 Aug 01 2013 at 10:49 AM Rating: Excellent
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I definitely see your point, and I understand where you are coming from based on what we've seen in the beta. However, since probably 50% or more of the content in the actual game wasn't in the beta, including nothing post-level 35, I think it is too early to assess whether the economy at this point is good or bad. I agree that based on the trends of dungeon loot and GC items that it's plausible money will have less value than other games, but I could see that turning around pretty easily.

Also, keep in mind, the team from FFXI is not responsible for ARR. Tanaka and co. got the boot, and Yoshi has an incredible amount of experience playing MMO's for the past 20 years, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if the economy ends up being quite a bit healthier than XI or a lot of other games. Again though, only time will tell. Thanks for the civil discussion, it was a nice change of pace from the usual "what, you don't agree? I keel you!" approach of some posters.
#75 Aug 01 2013 at 3:31 PM Rating: Excellent
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I was going to post in this thread many times but I chickened out. My post always ends up too long, too muddled and inconclusive.

Mainly I agree with Bartelx. I just think its too early to tell what the economy is going to do....on either side.

We just dont have all of the variables yet. The ones we did have were either neutered not paid attention to in Phase 3.

I can make a unbiased list of what we know, what is coming and what we don't know, but at this point it seems like overkill.

The only thing I can say with certainty is that SE has done things differently with the economy this time around.
#76 Aug 01 2013 at 11:14 PM Rating: Decent
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I would love to revisit this post once beta 4 starts. I need to confirm some things before I write about the economy.
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