How do you make Gil without farming?

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Farming is the traditional way to make money in almost any MMO. But here, at least, you don't need to farm. Mind you, if you craft it might be the cheapest way to get the stuff you need, but then again it may not. You need to look at the time to farm the stuff, vs. the time it takes to do something else for Gil and just buy it.

Both of my current favorite methods involve Tokopekko Wildgrass. Key number: 452. That's what each clump NPCs for.

Chocobo Racing: Any bird with even vaguely racerish stats can make 27 - 28 Chocobucks a day on 8 "Free Runs" each day which actually cost Gil. 10 Chocobucks = 12 Tokopekko Wildgrass = 5324 Gil. The cost to race those eight runs = 3550 Gil, leaving ~ 11757 Gil profit EACH DAY. In 40 mins. While I go through my news, mail, and forums paying attention for less than 1 min every 5.

It costs almost nothing but patience and time to raise a bird "good enough for free runs".

You can also garden for the stuff. I use Arcane or Porcelain Pots, but most any will do. The cheap or broke can buy Earthen Flowerpots from the Catalyst Shop in Windurst Waters. As to which will do best I can only refer you to Piko Pots:

http://adventuresinbentomaking.com/pikko/ (An archived page, not up to date, there used to be later recipes on it.)

Wildgrass seed in sold in the Mahara dock section of Whitegate, behind the turnstile (H 11) by Khaf Jhifanm for 320 Gil.

I do everything on Fireday. Plant, check, feed Water Crystals, and Harvest. About 1/2 of the results will be my target crop, the other half of varying value. If you use Fire Crystals, this will give you all you will ever need.

This page is a decent reference:

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Garde ... ds_Recipes

Coming soon to a thread near you!! Win an Arcane Flowerpot, only 22K Gil a chance!!!

[ScarlettPheonix]

I've tried getting arcane from the strange apparatuses but no luck and I keep forgetting to check the AH for them when I'm in town.

I mostly garden for gil- wildgrass is a favorite for me too and I also garden for ore. With my husband's old acct and mules I can keep myself in cookies without too much issue.

Even failed elemental ore crops usually result in some sort of crop that I can either turn into profit via NPCing it or crafting. Tea leaves >> Black Ink or Cinnamon >> Pies, etc.

[Tivia]

I Fish only on new and full moons strictly for gold carp since they are lure catchable. With the 200ish fish cap ffxi enforced that is 60k vendor sold every other day.

AH trolling is another effective means I employ. I regularly bid 1, 10, 1000, 10000 gil amounts on various high end items depending on their cost. You would be surprised at how many extremely high end items you can happenstance upon from some poor sucker hoping for a "Price history" bid.

Chocobo racing is another effective means. While I disagree slightly with being able to raise a "Decent" bird for almost nothing. It can be done fairly cheaply if you take your time and research. There are a ton of guides out there and frankly most of them are filled with useless garbage. You need to read them all and sort of craft your own in your head to fully benefit. The best advice I can give you is Live and Die by the math. The math can be found Here If you raise a bird strictly on the numbers even a vendor bought egg can in fact end up with First Class End and Str and be an Excellent racer. (Expect to have 50 RL days tied up in a bird before you start seeing any returns on investment).[/url]

[Myri]

I mainly make my gil by fishing, although I think I'm going to have to add gardening into the mix. A steady 4 hrs of fishing used to net me around 80k till the yo-yo's on my server flooded stock and subsequently bottomed out the prices on the AH.

[Shirai]

I mainly make my gil by fishing, although I think I'm going to have to add gardening into the mix. A steady 4 hrs of fishing used to net me around 80k till the yo-yo's on my server flooded stock and subsequently bottomed out the prices on the AH.

I have one lesson for you when it comes to fishing:
NPC vendors are your friend, they always pay the same price and never run out of gil!

Once you reach a certain level they even pay a very decent amount of gil!

I am currently at a point where two hours of fishing per week can cover my basic expenses like Food, Meds, Ninja tools, Limbus and (Chocobo, Airship, Ferry, retrace,etc.) travel simply by selling all the fish I catch to NPCs.

[Myri]

What are you catching? I was AHing Nebi's for 15k a stack, and I npc Gold Carp when I'm fishing for my Lu Shang.

[Shirai]

I'm lvl 42 fishing and target Shall shell (or their Al Zahbi counterpart Istiridye).
They cap at level 53 so I am making a lot of money while skilling up.

I used to NPC these for 362 gil each while catching ~40 per hour.
Now I am trying to get my bonecraft to lvl 70+ asap so I can desynth those to Pearls which NPC for 1.2k each and Black pearls which AH for 60k/stack.
But Bonecrafting also comes in handy when fishing on later levels.

I'm bonecraft 53 now and I am guessing I'll need to spend another 2/300k gil to powerlevel that to 70+.
And as I want to take that to 100, I'll need to PL subs too.
If you consider crafting as an income however, make sure you have the funds to pick this up as crafting depending on the way you do it needs a pretty good investment by itself before you are able to make any money out of it.

Even then you will need to have a good knowledge of the current market.

My other gil maker is Elemental Ore gardening which I recently started but I am still testing some theories in that department.

[Karou Ariyen]

I sell Imperial Bronze Coins. Seriously. 15k-20k on Hades. <3 Besieged.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

I used to garden for Elemental Ore, but gave it up as taking too long to get results. Then again I used to do the whole trip. Farming the Cuttings, growing the Saplings, raising the Ore. Well over 6 weeks in Arcane Pots.

The advantages of Elemental ore: Tree crops only need to be checked every two days, and in Arcane Pots with Moghancement: Gardening if you miss a day, no problem.

The people who make good Gil on Elemental Ore usually are really growing Platinum Leaves, and have Ice Ore as a byproduct.

I will start gardening for Ores again when my Goldsmithing gets to where I need the Ores.

I will happily listen to any way to increase Ore yields Shirai.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

There are several gambling mini games in FFXI. one is the Strange Apparatus

Ever notice Goblin vendors in the starting towns? The ones that sell colored Chips for 21K? Ever wonder what they are good for? One chip + an Infinity Core (usually AHed for 1K but NPCs for ~ 1.3, so keep checking) gets you a chance at the Strange Apparatus gamble. Now you know.

You can get Rune weapons, Bangles, and Arrows. Also 8 Cerment Chunks, 2 Adaman nuggets, or an Arcane Flowerpot, currently 200K on Garuda. No mater what the Wiki says all the goodies drop from any of the Apparatuses.

Each Strange Apparatus is hidden behind a phony wall in a dungeon. (Many have camped behind the Crawler's Nest wall and never bothered to look at the Strange Apparatus to the rear.) Each dungeon has an elemental association.

For the best odds on the flowerpot, and I usually get one every 6 - 10 trades, go on the day that is strong or weak to the dungeon's element. I prefer the strong day. Also get the password code for Doctor Status. Good till the end of the conquest weekly cycle.

Rune Weapons NPC for 12K, AH on Garuda 20 - 40K, Bangles NPC for 6.5K, Arrows 1.2K each (usually sell at the AH for 10K/12 BTW). The Cerment is a win, the nuggets a big loss.

A few of the Apparatuses are not reachable solo, but most are. Have fun.

Coming soon, Arcane Pots and gardening.

[Karou Ariyen]

I have a solution. Everything that drops to me in assault, campaign, exp/limit, solo, etc. I sell on the AH. Unless NPCing it is worth more. Sell Everything you don't need. Seriously.

[Myri]

I have 4 characters so I was planing on Cooking, Alchemy, and I was thinking Woodworking and one other all to 100. Cooking is obvious and Alchemy for both Meds and bullets for Cor. Woodworking because I was thinking of lvling Rng with Cor, oh and furniture I guess. I'm poking around the recipes in Bonecraft Clothcraft and Goldsmithing to see if something catches my eye for a fourth.

[Shirai]

Keep in mind that even though crafting can be very fun to do, you will need a good knowledge of the market.
I would not recommend crafting for the 'fun' recipes alone as you do raise a craft with the purpose of making money.
The things you make do have to sell as well and from personal experience furniture and armor does not sell all that well really.

Speaking consumables like Bullets, arrows and medicines like silent oils and the like will always have a market but rely on HQ synth results or constant farming to make a profit. Because you are not the only one in that market and the normal synths are break even or even loss if you buy the ingredients.

Also to make the 'fun' items you'll want to have all subcrafts.
I only recently started crafting myself after thinking for ages which craft to pick up and chose bonecraft which is at level 54 now.
All in all the entire way to this level has cost me somewhere around 500.000 gil so far and I am now at a point where some low level recipes can profit me, but only a little.
I want to take Bone to 100 eventually and that will probably cost me at least around 2 more million.
Aside from that I want all subs at level 60 which all in all, and I am prepared, will most likely cost at least 10 million or more gil to reach.

Please do not let the above keep you away from your crafting plans.
Crafting itself can be very fun, being able to give signed items to friends is priceless and is a very good way to get a decent income.
Eventually you will also get your initial investment back from it, but you will need to be prepared to invest a lot of gil to get there.

[jackal]

Personally, most of my money comes from drops, either random NMs i go camp sometimes (odqan hates me ) or from BCNM KSNM ISNM etc etc. There are a lot of instanced fights that can make you decent money.

Also, when i exp i try to keep as many spaces open as possible. Even 10 spaces open can net you decent change for buying food and shihei. Crystals sell for up to 1k/stack, which is ok but not phenomenal. Colibri feathers i usually NPC for 100+ per feather, so that's another 1.2-1.5k per slot as well. Managing inventory in the heat of battle can be kinda tiresome though