Final Fantasy Online (FFXI) Goldsmithing guide

When I made this guide around 2010, it had a minidatabase on moneymaking items. But in 2021, it has to be out of date. So.. removed it.

I previously linked to the FFXIAH goldsmith list, but I am not sure it is completely up to date any more.

I generally using ffxiclopedia today. It seems up to date.
Of particular interest is
a href="https://ffxiclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Goldsmithing/All_Recipes"> https://ffxiclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Goldsmithing/All_Recipes

This section has links to a few static pages, generated from a small database, to show where the money's at, in crafting. Unfortunately, Im not sure if it is still valid in 2021, but i'll leave it for now.
So far, there's an anonymous mix of goldsmith and blacksmith crafting. You'll have to use a separate list (Allakhazam list) to figure out items in your skill range, then come here to figure out which are worth your time. Here are some ooold pages I made:

List of items in the database so far (other page)
List of costs to synth some items(other page)

Note that the "costs" in the above links are somewhat flexible. They are based on averages, usually. So something that is listed as a borderline loss, can actually turn a profit for you, if you get the materials for cheap. (or vice versa if you are too hasty in buying materials).
Make sure compare the prices given with what you are actually paying.

General goldsmithing tips for FFXI

A few random observations of interest:

Pick your skillup targets carefully
When trying to gain skill levels, you can use the "skill cap" guide at allakhazam to figure out when an item isnt worth trying any more.
Back in the day, you wanted to target something only 2 or 3 levels higher than your current skil level. However, in the 2020s, seems like you can easily handle up to 5 levels, or even more. This makes things much easier, to find cheap skillup recipies. If you are paying for advanced synth suport in the guild, you can try things that are capped 10 levels higher than your current skill, or possibly even more. This is a fast way to gain skill levels!
Also.. There is usually some synth combination that will make you money, up until level 40. Shop around, so to speak. Weapons-related synths at low levels are almost always money-losers, with the exception of brass daggers.

Beginner's luck
Yes, it really exists, in the game. When trying unaided, and you haven't crafted for [some unknown long period of time], it is common to have immediate success and a skill level gain. This is the "beginners luck" factor that pervades various areas of the game. Just because you succeed the first time, dont assume you are normally that good! This also appears to hold for HQ synths.

You're having a "bad day".
When you are crafting unaided, beware of the "bad day" syndrome. Sometimes, you can successfully craft something about 3 times, and then you start failing. and failing. and failing. If you have two fails in a row, assume you are going to KEEP failing. Stop crafting for a while(probably a game day, possibly longer). If you have a MAJOR fail (losing 3 or more of the items in a synth) the same rule applies; otherwise, you risk losing lots o materials.
A single-item, or crystal-only, fail, isnt neccessarily bad. In fact, sometimes, its the fastest way to gain skillpoints.

Patience is a virtue.
If you're not in a mad hurry to gain levels RIGHT THIS INSTANT, it is usually possible to slowly keep gaining levels in goldsmithing, and actually MAKE money at the same time, unlike other crafts.
The most common low-level crafting job is to take ore and make it into ingots. The price of ore in the auction house can vary as much as 200g *per ore*, and it usually takes 4 of them. That's an 800g swing factor. If there's ore, but it is overpriced, stay calm, and walk away for an hour or three. There's always more ore coming in.
PS: Never buy copper ore from the AH, unless you can get it for 20g. Get it either from the blacksmith or goldsmith guild shop. (or even some airship shops)
Similarly, you can often get silver ore from the goldsmith guild for just under 400g. If you are in the right city, this can save you a bunch of money over the auction house. The guilde shop price change, though, so dont just blindly buy.

Regional specialties.
Due to the presence of the guild (presumably), the cost of everything goldsmith related used to behigher in bastok. You can save yourself THOUSANDS of gil, by buying supplies anywhere other than bastok, then going there to get synth support, and crafting it. The results will then usually sell there for higher than elsewhere, too.
2020 update: with less people on the servers, this has probably changed to be less of a factor.

Committed crafting
If you have a whoole lot of space, and/or you dont need to sell your crafted results off to make gil for yourself; you can save yourself a lot of time and/or gil in the long run, by saving early results of each stage. There is a copper stage, a silver stage, a mythril stage, and a gold stage. In each stage, you tend to work with a single metal. First you make it into ingots. Then you usually make the ingots into sheets or hairpins or some such. So, if you can save 10 stacks or more of ingots, you will be able to get a whole lot closer to the next metal stage, without refarming or resynthing base materials.
If you make ingots for skillup, and then sell the results, you will either be faced later with long cycles of, "go back and refarm, and make MORE ingots, with no skillups on ingots". or, buying ingots, and thus losing all the "profit" you made selling your initial ingots in the first place. However, do note that to get from GS20, to GS30, you will probaly need more like 20 stacks of silver ingots, if not MORE. You might want to make a "silver mule" char to hold your ingots!

Desynthing
These days, getting skillups on desynths is really rare. The best thing to do is get synth support for the guild, and then desynth your crafted items into materials. For example, gold hairpin back into a gold ingot.

Mining
Some people prefer mining, over "farming" (killing mobs for items). If you go this route, you must invest in the mining bonus gear (field gear, or worker gear). Otherwise, you will break too many pickaxes, and the ores you get will be much, much poorer. They wont be that great even with the gear, so dont get too excited. Getting just one gold ore, can take an hour. It's also allegedly dependant on the day, but that is supposed to primarily affect the type of colored stone you may dig up.
Generally speaking, the higher level the dungeon you decide to mine, the better the drops for ores will be. See somepage.com for a good location summary.

2020 update: it is really, REALLY hard to find a field set of clothes to buy :(
And besides which, mining drop rates are terrible. These days, its probably most efficient to just level up your theif fast with "Trusts", and then go farm beastmen for coins.

2021 skillup Update

SQuare seem to have made this MASSIVELY easier. There is now a much broader range of when something is craftable, and when it stops giving you skill.

For example, crafting gold ingots used to bring you no farther than goldsmith 51, or 54 if you made it from ore. Now, however, there seems to be a cushion window, where you wont be likely to break after 51.. but you can still skillup, all the way to 60!! The FFXIclpedia entry on Gold Ingot conveys this reasonably well, in that it shows it is a "level 51 recipe", but it has "skillcap 61" for it.

An additional change in strategy, is that, with advanced synthesis support from the guild, you can fairly reliably DESYNTH things like gold hairpins. So the gold hairpin route is no longer a massive money hole. (Its only a minor one :)

Reworked skill ladder under construction for 2021...

Skilling up recipies

[All of the following is with synth help until you are close to the leve]

Prior to level 22 is easy. Mostly just go for whatever ingot is "next", within 7-9 skill levels: copper, brass, or silver. This will give you the fastest and easiest skill ups.
Copper ingot to skill 2 (or 3, if you dont like using zinc needlessly).
If you dont sell the ingots, then you can use wind and lightning crystals on em, to synth and desynth copper hairpins to get you another level or two cheaply.
brass ingot to skill 9.
Silver ingot to level 18.
If you are more than 5 skill levels away, just get synthesis support, and go for it. You'll get the most gains this way, and hopefully, you can get the ingredients yourself relatively cheaply.
When you start on silver ingots, first synth with beastcoins for an "easier" synth, then after a few levels, synth from ore to gain slightly higher levels.]

You can get all the way to level 20, by switching to using silver ores instead of silver coins. Dont use synth help when you are within 3 skill levels, for best gains.

20-29:
old way is to craft hairpins from your silver ingots, then desynth. Keep in mind, however, that allegedly, you can now get skillups just making ingots, all the way to level 29

29-40: mythril ingots (skill 38 synth with coins, or 40 with ores)

It's the big time! Time to start turning mythril beastcoins into ingots! Note that a Mythril ingot is a 38-skill level, so you will probably break a lot at level 28!!

Be warned... at this point, I have now also spent the 100k on a bookshelf, which in conjunction with the cupboard quested in sandoria , gives Moghancement: Fire . This helps tremendously in reducing lost items in fire synths, which is most of goldsmithing.

49:

Allegedly, even though it is a level 38 cap, you can still skill up on making mythril ingots all the way to 49 now

41-48 alternative: Aluminum ingots, from ore.

These used to turn a slight profit on the AH if you buy the ore, at the moment. So synth to cap, if you have patience and high initial investment capital?

49-51: gold ingots (skill 51 synth, from coins)
51-59: in theory, still gold ingots now

I used gold coins to get to 51.
of course if you happen to have THF 60+, farm the coins yourself. Note that "drops" can come from level50 mobs. But "steals" only happen from level 60+ mobs. In theory, you can have a THF subjob to steal, if you have a high-level char. However, your chances of a successful steal, are much, much higher if you have THF at the same level or higher, thant he mob. Additionally, if your main job is THF, you can use the THF-specific gear that enhances steal success.

Note: I lost around 500k (in 2005 economy gil), getting from 43-ish to 51. You REAAALLY want to have a free source of gold coins, if you want to get goldsmith to level 51.

Beyond that, there is of course gold hairpins as skill57 synth. Get synth support and desynth them to get your ingot back most of the time.

2021 update: went from goldsmith 52, to 58, just making ingots, and then hairpins!

My journey continues..

Material Aquisition

Copper Ores - buy for 10-20g from guild or airship shop
Zinc Ores - buy from AH or farm from low-level worms
Silver coins - go level thf to 25ish(a good thing anyway), and go farm/steal from level 20 beastman mobs. You can use a high level (50ish) job with thf as subjob and it should work nicely, if you dont want to deal with 'even match' fights.
Silver Ores - probably just best to buy from AH, or guild when in stock.
Mythril coins - drops level 30ish beastman have these. Go-go THF! To steal, you have to hit up level 40 mobs though.
Mythril Ore - buy from AH, or kill golems. You can also buy from guild (rarely), or from your native city airship shop ONLY IF your nation is 1st. Watch the price carefully though!

Gemstone HQ table
Rock	Gem	Gem Price
Purple_Rock	Ametrine	3k
Yellow_Rock	Sphene	3k
White_Rock	Moonstone	2k
Translucent_Rock/ Sparkling_Stone	Goshenite	5k
Green_Rock	Peridot	6k
Red_Rock	Garnet	12k
Blue_rock	Turquoise	11k
Black_Rock	Painite	30k

Elemental Farming

Doing a lot of synths, even getting crystals can be expensive. You will want to go elemental farming.
Suggested locations for just elementals:
(for "somtimes", check weather reporter NPCs to see if the weather will match the element)

Ice: Fey'in
Thunder: Upper Delfkutt's tower
Wind: La Theine (Holla) crag sometimes
Mea crag sometimes
Misereaux coast, lufaise meadows sometimes
Fire sometiems: Mount Zhayolm, Temple of Uggaleph. Particularly summoner's elementals.
Sometimes Altepa east and west
Earth sometimes: Tahrongi Canyon, gusgen mines, maze of shakhrami
Batallia Downs, Sauromugue, attohwa, Altepa
All:
Ve'Lugannon Palace, and The shrine of Ru'Avitau ALWAYS. Check links for specific spawn points. But you need to be level 73+, and be ready for duos of them.

Tip: even with particular weather triggering their spawn.. certain geographic locations call to them. Water elementals (which you never use) spawn by ponds. However, certain earth elementals prefer certain little canyons in Tahrongi.
Fire and Air elementals may have their own preferences: i have not discovered what they are yet

Alternatively, try atacking Yagudo Summoners (there are no goblin summoners?)
Tahrongi (Mea), Meritaph: Yagudo Mendicant.
Sauromugue, Ostroja: Yagudo Oracle
BUT: unlike free elementals, they are not guaranteed to give you any drops. Im not sure if they do give clusters at all.

Index page