User:Goldenfoon



=Linkshell= Pies is the linkshell that I belong to. If it wasn’t for the people in this linkshell I don’t think I would be playing FFXI today. Most the people in this linkshell have completed the majority of missions and quests this game has to offer and yet they eagerly lend a hand to lower level members that still need to complete them. I have yet to hear anyone complain about helping others in this linkshell and I believe that is the attitude that all the players in FFXI should have. You guys lead by example and I applaud you for it.

Thank you Pies ^^

Linkshell(s): Pies

=Jobs=

Well the job that I started out with was RDM and since I spent most of my time getting to 30 with it I have decided to take it all the way to 75. Don’t get me wrong I like the job and all but sometime I get bored of just being the main healer in a party. What I do like about the job is that I can solo a lot more then other jobs can. I solo unlocked most of the advanced jobs at level 30 (Yes even Ninja) and large portions quests and missions.

When I originally purchased this game I wanted to be a COR. So naturally when I got to level 30 to unlock the advanced jobs I unlocked that one first. Two things that have prevented me from putting my RDM of the shelf and start rolling dice are:


 * Not having a level 75 job excludes you from certain aspects of this game, and
 * Leveling your subjobs first makes playing that particular job so much more enjoyable

So before I take up leveling COR I really would like to get both NIN and RNG to 37.

Currently my plan is to get RDM to 75 and then level the acceptable subjobs of BLM, WHM, NIN, and DRK. So far I have BLM at 37 and I feel that it would be best if I leveled WHM to 37 next.

I plan on leveling at least three other jobs to significant levels, a Tank, a Support, and a Damage Dealer.

=Missions=

National Rank
Thanks to the following that have helped me up to this point:


 * Mission 2-3: The Power Tarutaru Bro and Leelo who helped me slay that Dragon!


 * Mission 3-3: The monk monstrosity Clayyak who single handedly cleared out Delkfutt's Tower allowing me to leisurely stroll to the top


 * Mission 4-1: Quadav Charm collector Darkpenence, who redefined the meaning of Turtle Power!


 * Mission 5-1: The cool cats Gheila and Kittana!


 * Mission 5-2: The Pied Piper Amanada and Ghelia's MNK/DNC which turn the tide of battle when things were looking grim.


 * Mission 6-1 & 6-2: Too many Pies to thank^^

Wings of the Goddess
I have joined the Fourth Division and Campaign provides a convenient way to get a little buffer exp.

=Crafting=

Goldsmithing was the first craft began leveling. I started to accumulate a lot of ore leveling up on worms outside of Bastok and I wanted to do something more constructive with them then mindlessly selling them on the AH (however this is a great way to make some gil in the beginning). After I hit the Zinc stage in leveling Goldsmithing I went from farming to mining and this is where I started to dig up more ore that I couldn’t craft with then I could. So in order to utilize all that ore that I dug up I leveled Smithing to the Iron Stage.

Mining and crafting ingots was my first source of income, however it was really slow going for me and I wouldn’t get that much return. Then I stumbled on to Stray Mary and she dropped that coveted horn which I promptly sold for 200K. There I was standing with the most gil I have ever had and I was tempted to blow it all that day, but I decided to invest it in a craft instead.

The craft I decided to level up was Alchemy. Playing it smart I leveled all the way to 52 with only a net loss of about 20k, by farming and fishing up most of my materials. By doing that I got 7 levels in fishing and 11 levels in cooking, not a bad by-product of leveling a craft.

Now that I have achieved level 60 in Alchemy I plan on taking another craft to 60 instead of just plowing on through to Alchemy 100+3. Since Alchemy is considered a “Consumable” craft going directly into a “Durables” craft might be too much of an abrupt change for me. I think I am going to work on both Smithing and Cooking so I can offset some of the slow selling of durables with the faster sales of food or bait. This will also prevent me from over-saturating the AH with a certain durable item.

But before I venture to off work on those two crafts I need to do a little Mog House cleaning on my mules. I have a bunch of miscellaneous crafting materials that are taking up valuable space which I would rather store some gear instead.


 * {| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"

! style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center"|29
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * width="130px" | [[Image:Ffxi_gld_01.gif|24x24px]] Fishing
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |8
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Ffxi_gld_08.gif|24x24px]] Woodworking
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center"|16
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Ffxi_gld_04.gif|24x24px]] Smithing
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Ffxi_gld_05.gif|24x24px]] Goldsmithing
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center"|24
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Ffxi_gld_03.gif|24x24px]] Clothcraft
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center"|2
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Ffxi_gld_07.gif|24x24px]] Leathercraft
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center"|1
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Ffxi_gld_02.gif|24x24px]] Bonecraft
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center"|3
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Ffxi_gld_09.gif|24x24px]] Alchemy
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center"|60+1
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Ffxi_gld_06.gif|24x24px]] Cooking
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center"|34
 * }

= Chocobos!=

Raising a Chocobo is probably one of the most important things to do in this game. Once your Chocobo reaches the adult stage of life you are able to call it most areas using a Chocobo Whistle. Having a backup form of agro-free transportation is priceless, and since a Whistle Coupon can be easily found in the The Chocobo Hot and Cold Game you pretty much have a free Chocobo at your disposal.

Breeding
I have currently raised two Chocobos in this game and I am starting a third one soon. The first bird I raise was a yellow female named AutumnOrchid. I got her egg as part of the Chocobo on the Loose quest. The second bird that I raised was a green female named AutumnJade. I breed two other green Chocobos to get her egg. She was born with the ability Gallop and I later taught her Treasure Finder.

I decided to raise a second Chocobo because I wanted a bird with Treasure Finder so I could acquire the Dunes and Coastal Chocographs. Treasure Finder is a must have if you are serious about participating in The Chocobo Hot and Cold Game.

I decided to raise a third Chocobo because I have found myself receiving the “K-KWEHHH!!! You're right on top of it” message before fatigue sets in and still not finding the VCS Crate. I read on some forums that possibly one of the digging traits, such as Burrow or Bore, could possibly reduce the number of digs it takes to find the VCS Crate after receiving the “K-KWEHHH!!!” message. So the plan is to raise this new bird with both Treasure Finder and Bore traits and see if it affects the number of digs it takes to pull up the chest. However since the Chocobo I planned on raising was born with Burrow I figured that I would breed a digger Chocobo, one with both Burrow and Bore, instead of having two Chocobos that are geared for The Chocobo Hot and Cold Game.


 * {| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"


 * width="130px" | Name
 * align="center" width="80px" |Gender
 * align="center" width="80px" |Color
 * align="center" width="80px" |Trait 1
 * align="center" width="80px" |Trait 2
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * width="130px" | [[Image:Chocodig.gif|24x24px]] AutumnOrchid
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |F
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |Yellow
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |-
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |-
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Chocodig.gif|24x24px]] AutumnJade
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |F
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |Green
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |Treasure Finder
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |Gallop
 * - style="background:#ffdead;"
 * [[Image:Chocodig.gif|24x24px]] NobelSteed
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |F
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |Blue
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |Burrow
 * style="background:#FFEFD5;" align="center" width="80px" |Bore
 * }

The Chocobo Hot & Cold Game
Well I really enjoy all the “Chocotivities” that you can do in this game. Currently my favorite is the The Chocobo Hot and Cold Game. This game takes a little getting used too and with some luck it can net you some decent gil. This game is really helpful to people currently raising a Chocobo since the bulk of the items you can find are related to Chocobo Raising. This is especially true more so now because you can get Chocobo Slips with each successful dig. These Chocobo Slips can be exchanged for Chocobucks which you can use to buy feed from Chocobo Racing NPCs. The only catch to the Chocobo Hot and Cold Game is that you have to be able to call your Chocobo in the field.

On a side note if you use Chocobucks to purchase items to sell to an NPC, buy either the wild grasses or carrots in the 10 Chocobuck range. These have the best Gil to Chocobuck ratio.

I accidently took out my digging choco on a Hot and cold run and noticed a dramitic decrease in the number of digs it takes to pull up the chest. I did this in both the desert and dune areas.

Chocobo Digging
I first tried digging when I got my Chocobo license, bought 2 stacks of greens and went out to South Gustaberg. I dug up one lizard molt and a few pebbles and then I thought this was stupid. Since I am enjoying the Chocobo Hot and Cold Game I figured I would give digging a try again.

Apparently I have an A40 skill in Chocobo Digging. This is rather strange since I have never really dug more then 20 times. I read somewhere that playing the The Chocobo Hot and Cold Game raises this skill, but it was never confirmed. So based on my experiences playing the Hot and Cold game has an affect on your Chocobo digging skill.

I primarily dig in the less common areas of the game, so I don’t have to compete with high level diggers. I find that I can make a slight profit from doing this but for the amount of time I put into digging I could make more of a profit doing other things. Perhaps if I raised a Chocobo with Burrow and Bore I will have a better time with digging.

=Hobbies= {|cellpadding="5" width="100%"|

Mining

If your starting city is Bastok then I highly suggest you start mining. Mining can be a great way to put a little gil into your pockets early on by selling the raw ore until you get the start up capital to begin crafting. Zeruhn Mines is the place that I started mining. Since this place is easy to get to and there is virtually no aggro to even level 1 jobs it can get pretty crowded.

When it comes to mining in Zeruhn Mines it helps to take a laid back approach. What I usually do is take a level 1 job and sub puppetmaster, equip a level 1 weapon and my Field Gear. I have a circular path that I normally run when I am mining and I just hack and mine my way through. By having two goals when you zone in makes it a lot easier not to get frustrated when people keep stealing your mining points. The exp is ok until you reach level 7 and you can level Smithing and Goldsmithing to roughly 30 and 20 from just the ore found here. As a side note make sure you keep all of that Zeruhn Soot you find off of the mobs in here. The soot can traded to an NPC for Bastok fame or be sold on the AH for a decent amount!

I have recently started mining in Yughott Grotto hoping that I would mine more iron then other types of ore. The amount of iron seems to be hit or miss in this mine; however I think you consistantly get more zinc then Zeruhn Mines. I also chose this mine since you can mine both silver and colored rocks which will get my Goldsmithing to at least 20.

Gardening

I have only recently gotten into gardening. I like the hands off approach to it. It is a gil source that is kind of on autopilot in the background. It is also some of the only sources for crafting materials in the game. I have read numerous forums on what day to plant, when to fertilize which crystal, and what moon phase to harvest on and it can be really over whelming. I just decided to dive right in head first and learn as I go!

Currently I have five mules dedicated to gardening. As part of leveling Goldsmithing and Alchemy I made some Brass flowerpots and  Porcelain Flowerpots. I also have one Arcane Flowerpot and one Wooden Flowerpot that I acquired from The Chocobo Hot and Cold Game.

I started out growing Tarutaru Rice from grain seeds and sold them on the Jeuno AH. This was fine but this product seems to go though some wild fluctuations do to supply and demand and also undercutting. This leaves me with a lot of rice on my hands sometimes. I am currently growing Tree Cuttings into Tree Saplings and then in turn growing those Tree Saplings using Ice Crystals.

What I am shooting for is a recipe that is generally profitable with both the “Desired Result” and the “Failed Result”. One example is trying to grow Ice Ore because the “Failed Result” can be Platinum Leaves and these NPC for a decent amount of gil (this is probably why Ice Ore the cheapest elemental ore on the AH).

I am recording all of my gardening information in a database. What I am hoping to get out of it is approximate growing time information which will let me have a more “set it and forget it” approach to gardening. After I establish that information and have a significant amount of data collected will I look in to if there are certain patterns to FFXI gardening.

=Mules= I Currently have 9 mules that are spread out across the four major cities.


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{|cellpadding="1" width="100%" Fishsticks (Bastok)
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