Clothcraft 60... push onward or switch out?

[chaosknight]

Heya all. A week or two ago I hit clothcraft lvl 60. I powerleveled it, probably put 200-300k into it, but that doesn't really concern me. When I hit 60, I took a break to try to make some money with it... only to find out I can't :O, There are a few synths that give a little money back, but if you fail you only break even or worse. I've tried HQing, and that doesn't seem to be very good at 60 either: all of the items i can HQ decently are worthless anyway(one of the soil gears that I HQ'd is actually worth 3k LESS than the regular, don't ask me why). Now I was looking at the higher level recipes, the obvious one being Vermillion Cloak. In a guide I read, the person said they could profit 500k on a cloak, but I checked it out on Carbuncle, and the materials cost about 2,810,000, and cloak sells for about 2,900,000, so you're risking 2.81 mil for a 90k profit It would be really frustrating to get to lvl 100 clothcraft only to find I could only make 90k a synth and then get screwed if I fail(and that will happen, I've failed a lvl ~20 synth twice while trying to HQ). Most other high level synths are money-losers. Master's Gi, which is in the mid 80s, loses 50k or more per synth, if you suceed.

Thus said, my question is this: Should I continue clothcraft past 60, or should I switch to a craft that uses cloth as a support skill?

[pugz]

You must realize like with ALL crafts you wont make massive amounts of gill by crafting NQ. Its the HQ that pushes you over.

For instance, on my server NQ noble tunic is 12 mil. It costs abuot 11.5 to make. The HQ version is 40 million.

[Brennon]

I'm a leather crafter, and I can't think of any NQ's except consumables that break even, its the HQ's is where any profit is at. The same is true of any craft, I think.

[iglak]

what would you recommend HQing? as he said, he can't find anything worthwhile to HQ in clothcraft

[pdac]

I don't know if you read my guide on this forum, but around level 60 there are some good synths you can do for profit. I also recommend doing upgrades of nation-based equipment (mercenary's gear into windurstian/federation gear). Another excellent profit synth for your level is Velvet cloth:

Recipe (Level 51) Earth + Silk Thread (1) + Cotton Thread (2) = Velvet Cloth

The cost to make a stack is much lower than the sale price in general, and I've been profiting off it for quite some time. Now, once you get to the much higher levels, there are your really expensive synths, like vermillion cloaks, etc, that can net a good profit. Right now said cloak will get me around 200k - but also, the risk is extremely high. It's really what you are willing to put on the line in the end that matters; how much risk will you take?

I can tell you from experience though, that clothcraft is a great profit craft for people who do not mind *some* farming, and a rather expensive levelling process for the higher echelons of the craft. If you decide to advance past 60, the potential for profit becomes much, much higher, but the cost rises as well. You've hit level 60, which is a major accomplishment though. ^^v

Good luck!