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This article is a personal guide. Information expressed in this guide is one player's opinion and may be more opinion than fact. Strategies and information contained herein may not work for everyone. No non-minor changes should be made without consulting the author. Changes or questions should be discussed on the talk page. |
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This is a guide to making money without using the Auction House. It takes money to make money, and that couldn't be more true than on Final Fantasy XI. The money you gain from the following information can be useful in starting a craft or selling items on the Auction House, but they should be by no means primary sources of income until they can be done quickly, easily, and alone.
General Tips
- Firstly, the reason I give that warning at the top is non-Auction House money is excruciatingly slow with the exception of some things I'll point out in this guide. Mostly, the easy stuff is non-repeatable and the reward isn't worth the effort (unless your already doing something in the same area) and the big money takes more than just one person to do until high levels.
- Kill Beast-men, the money may be low but the amount of walking you'll be doing will allow you to make some nice change to cover the cost of chocobo, airships, and outpost warping. Also, almost all Beast-men stand a chance to drop items which can be NPCed for some cash or desynthesized into rather valuable components. The best example that comes to mind is Goblin Helm, which can be turned into Iron Ingot or Steel Ingot with lucky HQ, using a Lightning Crystal.
- Crafting at high levels also allows you to make more of some stack-able items, which can be sold to NPC for profit. I did Alchemy, so I could make Deodorizer (which sells for almost break-even) and make a profit from extras. If you have a craft, look for these synths. If you don't, pick a craft you like and roll with it. If you find break-even synths, make them at higher levels and sell the extras.
- Many higher level Notorious Monsters drop large amounts of Gil, and thieves can mug them with no loss to the party's Gil drop. If your gonna make money, it might as well be helping a friend get a rare item.
- If you can't afford the auction house, don't feel bad about selling old gear to a shop. Until higher levels, all the gear is common enough for it to not matter anyway. Also, some items just NPC well anyway and you should keep your eyes out for them.
The Guide
Note: This could be considered a quest guide, very much like the Quick Reputation guide. However, this guide sticks exclusively to profitable quests. Just letting you know.
Note 2: Minimum requirements as listed are for the entire quest/quest series. Level will be listed as it is needed (and not just for the quest), and will be the lowest I feel you could solo easily.
Note 3: For quest series, reward is for all related quests. For single quest where you can use stackables, reward is in terms of stacks.
Glyph Hanger and subsequent Quests
Minimum Requirements: Windurst Fame 4
Rewards: Map of the Horutoto Ruins, Map of Fei' Yin, 7300 Gil
Just run around taking to people and getting Books. First and fourth quest is started by Hariga-Origa at (F-8) of Windurst Waters. Second and Third are started by Tosuka-Porika at (G-8) of Windurst Waters, and needs a Silver Beastcoin and easy access to San d'Oria, respectively. Very straightforward and relatively simple, just very long travel times.
An Explorer's Footsteps
Minimum Requirements: Level 18, Selbina Fame 1, Any method of quick travel, preferably cheap.
Rewards: 18,000 Gil without bonus tablets, additional 20,000 Gil with them, Map of the Crawler's Nest
See the actual guide for this one, I'm just pointing it out. Probably the longest quest on this page.
Seeing Spots
Minimum Requirements: Access to Southern San d'Oria (S), Level 50
Reward: 12,000 Gil
This is repeatable, and needs 4 Ladybug Wings per quest. Because of the high reward, the ladybugs in East Ronfaure (S) are highly camped by farmers and killed by experience parties and soloers. If you can kill them fast enough to avoid competition, go for it.
Only the Best
Minimum Requirements: Selbina Fame 1, Level 30-35(depending on job)
Reward: 200 Gil, 480 Gil, or 7,200 Gil
Yes, you did read that right. A quick check of Jeuno's Auction House will quickly reassure you of what I just said. The items (from left to right) are La Theine Cabbagex5, Millioncornx3, and Boyahda Moss. Obviously this is only notable because of the moss, which can be farmed rather easily (although not as commonly as others) from Goobbue in Pashhow Marshlands. I never once ran into other people camping them, even for Jolly Green, and in a mere 3 days (12 hours total), I had Level 4 Jeuno Fame and around 80,000 Gil. Here's another neat fact: This quest is repeatable infinitely, and you can still make a nice profit if you buy your stacks at around 6,800. If I recall correctly, the total profit from Jeuno Fame 0 to Jeuno Fame 9 was 169,000ish, if all the moss is farmed.
Minesweeper
Minimum Requirements: Bastok Fame 1
Reward: 600 Gil
This is the quest you do to offset Pickaxe costs while mining in Zeruhn Mines. Other than being a nice fame quest, it isn't really good money unless you started out in Bastok and need to get some cash to get yourself going. Kill Tunnel Worm for Zinc Ore, since its rather uncommon, and trade any soot you get for the money.
Mandragora-Mad
Minimum Requirements: Windurst Fame 1
Reward: 120 Gil, 200 Gil, 250 Gil, 1,200 Gil, or 5,500 Gil
This is a so-so quest for money, depending on where you party and whether or not you actually find these items. They are (left to right) Four-Leaf Mandragora Bud, Cornette, Yuhtunga Sulfur, Three-Leaf Mandragora Bud, and Soiled Letter. The first 3 can be found right outside Windurst, from Mandragora (not Tiny Mandragora) and the Cornette is the only non-R/Ex item there. The 3-leaf bud is found at Yuhtunga Mandragora, and the soiled letter is from Mourioche in the Boyahda Tree. Since all the items except the cornette are R/Ex, it would be best to kill the Mandragora near Windurst and give those to him. If you choose to do this for fame, they can be bought for minimum 219 Gil in Bastok. If you choose to craft (in the interest of Skill-ups or HQ), then it needs Bonecraft/Goldsmithing 14. You won't make any money by buying the brass, but you should scrape to around break-even if you buy the bone chips.
Prime Avatar Battles
Minimum Requirements: Fame of 6 in EVERY city, Level 75(depending on job)
Rewards: Rare Weapon(s) (Related to Avatar), Rare Accessory(s) (Related to Avatar), Special Key Item, 10,000 Gil, Ability to Summon defeated Avatar
These Prime Battles can be redone once every day, but the walk hardly makes it seem worthwhile. Also, this focuses on the six main avatars, and not Fenrir, Diabolos, or Carbuncle. These are 6 different quests, each completely unrelated to each other. They can be repeated at the passing of Japanese Midnight. It is worth noting that these fights CAN be extremely difficult if your unprepared. However, the 10,000 Gil reward may be just enough incentive to not fail. The following is a list of the avatars and their respective Tarutaru. After getting a tuning fork, head to their respective Cloister to start the battle. Avoid the day that is the same as the avatar, try to fight on the day opposite if your aiming for the ability to summon. Check the actual page for directions to the Cloister.
Garuda: Agado-Pugado, (G-9) in Rabao (Trial by Wind)
Ifrit: Ronta-Onta, (J-9) in Kazham (Trial by Fire)
Leviathan: Edal-Tahdal, (H-9) in Norg (Requires Norg Fame of 4, not 6!!!) (Trial by Water)
Ramuh: Ripapa, (I-9) in Mhaura (Trial by Lightning)
Titan: Juroro, (I-8) in Port Bastok (Trial by Earth)
Shiva: Gulmama, (E-7) in Northern San d'Oria (Trial by Ice)
Chests/Coffers
Minimum Requirement: Varies by area, but exclusive to dungeons.
Reward: Also varies, often maps first, Gil later. Some OK Items as well.
This is a general category of money-making. Only a few areas offer less than 1000 Gil as a coffer drop, and areas in the higher levels will often get you coffer keys just by partying there. Of note is the fact that Beastmen will more than likely stand a chance to drop your key, so feel free to kill them if your trying for a key for the extra money. You can also attempt to pick the locks if you have Thief leveled, but be wary of Mimics or weakened status.
A Discerning Eye
Minimum Requirements: Airship Pass
Reward: 500 Gil
Just ride the airship all day, you only have to pay once. Takes a lot of time and errors result in no pay, but can be lucrative once you are good at the quest.
That's all I can think of at this time. If you know of any other easy (and I can't stress this enough, legal) ways to make money without the Auction House, feel free to add them to this page. Please do not, however, edit my work. Sign yours or make suggestions in the Talk Page, and I'll do my best to get them in this guide. InfamousDS 21:21, 20 March 2009 (UTC)