Gah, i don't like loosing money, please help!

[BobMeisterLlama]

Can someone tell me if there is any way to raise low lvl b-smithing skill (i'm lvl 4) for a profit? If there are NO items i could possible synth (and sell in a reasonable amount of time) then could you tell me where I should farm as a Lvl 18 Dark Knight, preferably near Bastok, but if there's no farming places near Bastok, i need to know how to go quickly to the farming locale (chocobo is so slow!!!). Also, if the farming method is complicated, please try to explain in simple terms (like explaining how it's possible to beat those lvl CRAZY RNG/THF's who camp Lizzy and then flee to it before i can even take a step!!!).

[PetriW]

Make items that other tradeskillers with more money will buy to speed up their skill gaining.

[Evaporater]

heh, i don't think crafting is profitable in the beginning (if it is, the profit is usually minimal). But, it will pay off eventually, can't wait to make potions/ethers/bullets/porcelain pots ^^.

btw, it is insanely difficult to get any money quickly @ that level. you should take up mining or do repeatable quests. Farming crystals with a low level character is nice as well.

[BobMeisterLlama]

Is there any way i could craft and at least break even then? I'm not worried about spending time crafting, but i've already lost like 20k crafting...

[Mithrankittycat]

You could farm your own materials, but then you'd be spending an inordinate amount of time compared to the money being lost to skilling up.

[Skidmore]

Xiphos

craft those. It's bronze ingot x 2 and a giant femur

craft the ingots, it's on 40gil total on my server (buy copper and what not from guild). The giant femur is only 400 gil, at least it was when i was crafting these. So, that's around 500gil if you farm the crystals yourself.

Xiphos on my server have sold anywhere from 1k to 1.5k. It's only 500-1000 profit, but it's pretty good at the low level of crafting.

[obsidian]

want money for low level crafting? Do woodworking. On Asura, 12 arrowwood lumber goes for 2.5-3k. Buy the crystals for 1.4-1.5k and logs for 15 gil each from guild (almost unlimited supply) and you can double your money. Also, if you are at the guild RIGHT when it opens (6:00), you can buy arrowwood lumber for 7 gil each and resell for 2.5-3k at AH. Bad part is that it generally lasts about 0.5 seconds before they are sold out.

[DrMrLordX]

Xiphoses are a good choice because lazy blacksmithgs such as myself will buy a Xiphos to complete their first blacksmithing test. Other than that, nothing will yield a profit unless you get a HQ or unless you manage to buy bronze ingot components cheap and farm your own crystals.

The general rule of thumb with blacksmithing is that nothing bronze yield a profit. The notable exception is bronze scale mail, occasionally. Of course, that all changes if you can regularly HQ your bronze junk.