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I know that I have already taught you how to Powerlevel an Alchemist in FFXIV, but that doesn't mean it's the only easy craft to gain ranks. Recently, I undertook Goldsmithing, and found the power leveling process to be just as good!

Starting Out

If you already have a Rank 10 Alchemist, Preserve will make all Goldsmithing syntheses that much easier. Regardless, there are a few options to choose from before leveling your Goldsmith. If you would like to save money, take a short time to mine for some copper. If not, the Newly Organized Market Wards have made it lots easier to find the raw unprocessed materials.

Goldsmithing Ranks 1-12

If you took the time to gather enough copper ores (yellow copper ore included), you can definitely take the time to make some Copper Nuggets. Currently, they cost only 4 Copper Ore per nugget, and will also set you back 1 Fire Crystal. While this may seem a bit extreme to consume a crystal on a low level synthesis, think again! Each synthesis will bring you 12 Copper Nuggets; 10 syntheses will give you enough Copper Nuggets to achieve Rank 12 and then some!

While the nuggets are recommended for Rank 3's, performing it at Rank 1 is still easy enough to pull off – even without Preserve. If trouble persists early-on, it may be a good idea to gain a few quick ranks via Crafting Levequests.

Once you have gathered all of the Copper Nuggets, it is time to grind up some Copper Fish Hooks. While said fish hooks are far from the most useful items in FFXIV (only 2 recipes in the entire game use them), they make for extremely awesome experience. On top of that, each hook only consumes 1 copper nugget, making it a very viable crafting option all the way to Rank 12!



If you took the time to gather minerals, you should have quite a few Bone Chips sitting in your inventory. One chip can make a Bone Ring, one of the only readily available rings low level players can acquire. Only drawback: each ring consumes 4 Wind Shards - something that isn't readily available to all players.

Whichever route you go about in gaining skill points, Rank 10 will award you with a shiny new ability in tow: Epiphany. I found this to be one of the more useful lower level crafting abilities, and it works especially well when used in conjunction with the Copper Fish Hooks. That being said, take the time to gain a couple more ranks, and you should be able to move onto the next step.

Moving past Rank 12

Once you get to Rank 12, it is time to commence the mass synthesis of Copper Rings. I know a lot of players are pretty lacking in the accessories department, and a willing buyer is never too far away. At Ranks 12-13 the Syntheses can be somewhat rocky, so make sure to use Preserve whenever the opportunity presents itself.

While Getting an Alchemist to Rank 20 was pretty shard-efficient, it can be a little costlier for Goldsmiths. For this reason alone, I know everybody won't be able to go all the way in 1 sitting. However, this should be the least of your concern; the Copper Rings still sell for a pretty good price (1-3k Gil on most servers), which will help fund your Goldsmithing progression for a very long time!

With enough patience, Rank 20 enable you to purchase Brand of Ice from the Goldsmiths' Guild of Ul'dah.

Hopefully this will make all of your Goldsmithing endeavors relatively easy, and cost-efficient to boot. I will update the community as I begin my gradual ascent to Rank 30, but that's all for now. Goodbye, Origin and good luck!

Last time we discussed how to get an Rank 10 Alchemist in an extremely quick manner for Preserve. I know a lot of you are content with that ability, but for everyone else, there is a relatively fast way to get an alchemist to Rank 20.

Get an Alchemist to Rank 12

If you stopped at Rank 10, take some time to get an Alchemist to Rank 12. Currently, there are 2 ways this can be done.

• More Distilled Water - I know you are probably quite tired of making Distilled Water, but you can get some pretty good and convenient experience from making it. A few more stacks should easily put you well on the way to Rank 12.
• Bee Baskets - If you have any Bee Baskets, each one turns into 12 Beehive Chips, which can be turned into 48 Beeswax. If you would like to farm them, they drop off Bee Swarms on a fairly frequent basis. Each conversion will net you up to 1000 skill points, and it won't be long before you achieve Rank 12. On top of this, you can sell all the Beeswax to a Tanner for a pretty good price.

Ranking up from 12-20

The easiest way to do this is by making Table Salt. While the original method was quite useful, you will have to briefly become a Fisher to gather beginning materials, and then become a Culinarian to make the Sea Sand required for it.


Time to Fish up a Storm

I know you are probably thinking that I am insane by ordering a fishing detour, but there is definitely a method to the madness. Head on over to the Fishermans' Guild in Limsa Lominsa and buy a Fishing Pole and Chocobo Fly (any other fly lure will also work). Afterward, head over to the docks and fish until the smell begins to emanate from your very own computer (yes it takes a pretty long time). There are 3 different kinds of things you will get from this:

• Malm Kelp - This is what you want to get. Not only can the kelp be converted into river sand, but they are also an ingredient in Table Salt as well.
• Ocean Fish – Occasionally, you will get another ocean fish, all of which can be used to make Sea Sand, too.
• Shards – I mostly got Lightning and Wind Shards from this, but other stuff has a tendency to drop as well. It requires 1 wind shard to make Sea Sand, making this a good added bonus.

I lost track of time doing this, so try to do something else to keep yourself occupied. I myself watched a few episodes of South Park, and things were all good from there. Seeing as the fishing process requires very little attention, you should find something to keep yourself occupied as well. After about 120 kelp gathered, I was ready to process the kelp into Table Salt.

Time to Boost your Alchemy

During this process, you will get Malm Kelp and quite a few different kinds of Saltfare (ocean fish). Once you have achieved enough, head over to the Culinarians' guild and buy the appropriate culinary tools from Jossy.

First things first, make the Sea Sand with the Weathered Skillet equipped (almost all kinds of Seafare work in making it). If you have properly stuck to using the fly lure, you should almost stick to using Malm Kelp. If you have other fish, anything will do, but beware Ocean Clouds – they require 2 wind shards per synthesis.

Anyways, use half of your Malm Kelp to make the salt, and then equip the your Alembic immediately thereafter. Use your remaining kelp and the newly created Sea Sand in order to produce the Table Salt. You should also get a Brass Alembic, to make things easier from ranks 12-15.



This part is also rather time consuming, and requires very little attention. If you want to do it in a single sitting, try and keep yourself occupied by watching stuff like South Park or cool FFXIV Origin Videos. Otherwise, you can always do this in bit parts. Whatever your method, Rank 20 will be achieved in due time, and will get a shiny new ability for all your efforts: Creative Urge. It does require 6,000 Alchemists' Guild Marks to learn, but those come rather quick when doing Rank 20 Alchemy Levequests.

If you think this process is way more inconvenient than getting an Alchemist to rank 10, you are absolutely right. This is still the fastest way to achieve Rank 20 nevertheless; all post-Rank 10 professions require considerably more cooperation amongst each other. I would like to thank Nekarcos for taking the time to discover these methods, and you may want to check out his Alchemist Ranking Post as he continues to pursue Rank 30. See you next time!

The Great Leveling Guide Scam

We all know that FFXIV is a highly confusing game, and people often look to get help in any way possible. While it may appear promising, don't get too excited just yet. These so-called guides may appear to be promising at first, but are hardly worth the exorbitant costs associated with them.

All You Will Get are Empty Promises

While the leveling guides promise lots of things, none of them really follow through. Here are a few of the ones that people have been making.

1. Complete Leveling Guide to Level 50 – This obviously lacks truth to a monstrous extent. Not only are there no rank 50 players in the game, but the amount of party play required at later levels means there is no way the guide writers have got to rank 50, let alone had the time to write a guide. Furthermore, it usually takes quite some time after a MMO launch for somebody to write a highly useful leveling guide. If you need help, our Guides Section is free to use, and has a very helpful community to boot!

2. Money Back Guarantee – If these sites actually offered a money back guarantee, they wouldn't even be in business. People would just download the text file, and make an excuse to return it soon thereafter. Any purchases made are final, so be wary of making any purchases.

3. Advanced Gil Making Techniques – Currently, the richest people in FFXIV are high level crafters. Furthermore, earning gil is not hard at all in FFXIV. The best way to make gil is to do Guildleves, and Learn Crafting. From there, hard work and dedication will net anybody a considerable sum of Gil. You should also take the time to Set up a Retainer, and can also use our Marketplace as a suitable alternative.

4. In Depth Levequest Guide – Unlike everything in FFXIV, levequests are quite straightforward. You just have to show up at the Aetheryte, and the minimap will direct you every step of the way. While some levequests can be hard, don't fork over money for stuff that is common knowledge. A main quest guide would also be nice, but we have those in our Guides Section.

Now for the Disclaimers

There are lots of other empty promises as well, but each guide seems to come with a disclaimer. When browsing a site, you know it is a scam if you come across a message such as:

3 Days Left in Guides Contest

On the other hand, the Guides Contest is still going strong, and you have 3 more days (10/14/2010, 11:59 pm PST) to finalize your submissions. For all those participating, I look forward to reading your final work, and will immediately put all good guides in the Guides Section.

As for the Videos Contest, we are going to be postponing it until a later date - the contest will resume sometime in the near future, so check back for the latest news. I do apologize if you have started making a video, but look on the bright side of things – you have even more time to refine it and make something great by the time it comes back!

I can feel the tension in the room right now, so let's take things down a notch and end things on a funny note. Alia made another entertaining comic today, let's take a look!



Have a great day, and remember to be wary of all FFXIV Leveling Guides!

Zissling recently finished Toll of the Warden, the rank 30 main quest of Ul'dah. While we could very well entertain you with a nice guide, we have instead opted to bring you a video! As expected, this main quest prominently features the Path Companion you earn at rank 20, so you might want to the previous 2 videos before moving onto this one.

Parleying is also a step in this particular quest - the parleying difficulty is quite high, and tutorials provided are rather lacking. Therefore, I highly suggest you read FFXIV Origin's Parleying Tutorial beforehand.

Spoiler Alert: These videos contain cutscenes that are part of the Rank 30 Main Quest of Ul'dah. If you would rather wait and experience things for yourself, you might want to avoid pressing play.



It looks like the Path Companion has taken on a slightly more active role in the main quest. Hopefully they will continue to grow and get more involved as the storyline progresses. Anyways, we will bring you the next step once rank 35 (or the next required rank, whatever it is) has been reached. Until then, see you next time!

Welcome to the very first FFXIV Origin Spotlight, a section devoted entirely to our members who make great submissions on the forums. Today's spotlight falls on none other than Alia for frequently creating some entertaining comics.

Let's take a look at a couple of them!

Logging

I have always wondered why Botany yields strange items such as Dodo Feathers and Beehive Chips.



If being a Botanist was this exciting in FFXIV, I would never play another Discipline!

My First Real Leve

I know that everybody has had to deal with the occasional runaway mobs on their levequests, and the distance some mobs run is downright ridiculous.



Even with Gravity equipped, it can still be hard to apply it if you don't know the mob is a runner.

If you would like to read more of these entertaining comics, you can find them here. As for Alia, keep up the great work!