Ok, we all see these threads and say to ourselves, "Dear God! Another N00b wants to know how to farm!" Well, I hate to disappoint, but this isn't one of those threads. This thread is me offering my own personal methods to low level(and even high level) players. What to farm, where to farm, how to farm, and my own personal salt(because I can ^^ ).
All this is mostly low level areas, easy to do at the start, but doesn't really become high profit bearing until higher levels. The reason for that is the amount of work you can do. What may take a lvl 7 player an hour to accomplish, I can do at lvl 20 in five minutes. But they receive XP, where as, I don't.
Also, I'd like to point out before this becomes a flame thread, there is one semi-barrel run. I'll get to it when I get to it. But as for farming in general, its gonna happen, it has to happen, and don't go into the "it's gonna get nerfed' speech. If they didn't want us to farm, they wouldn't have 15k/pc sets or sets that require insane amounts of drops found in only two areas. They WANT us to farm. It's just supposed to be long and boring.
On that note, turn off the TV, put on your headphones, crank up the Ramstein, and get to farming!
Here is how it starts. You're fresh outta green leafy Ascalon and your ready to make a buck. Grab yourself TWO Ident Kits, FIVE Regular Salvage Kits, and ONE Expert Salvage Kit.
"What are we doing here?!" Easy. Charr Hides...Charr Hides...Charr Hides...and...you guessed it! Wood. (hee-hee) Making this run solo should net you almost 10 Charr hides on a bad day. Buddying up knocks it down, but it can be profitable if you do it enough times. Save the Charr Figurines, we'll be needing those. Anything else you come across, Ident and regular salvage. If you come across a high salvage item, use the expert kit on it, same goes for purple or gold items. I'm yet to get any gold items on this run and all purple have been runes. Either way, it's still good trade in money at low levels.
Ok, now that you've made the run, don't go home just yet. See the zone portal on the west end. Take it. Turn around, and come back. The end of the run features two good groups of Charr. You should have had to fight through them to get here. If you didn't, that's a new one. ^^ So, we have a bunch of kits and empty space. Just kill, collect, salvage, zone, and repeat. This is the heart of farming. "Rinse and repeat." After about an hour the drops should start to suck, but you should have a decent amout of Charr Hides and a crap load of those Char Figurines.
Take those figurines and head over to the Sanitarium. Sell any high profit stuff you may have decided to save or whatever and grab you enough salvage kits to salvage the Charr Figurines. Doing so should give you a good number of wood. "So what's the wood for?" Easy. Take the wood and any money you may have collected and exit the Sanitarium. Head straight out and there's a Material Crafter. 5 Wood + 20 gold = 1 Parchment. So 50 wood + 200 gold = 10 Parchment. Ascalon + Material Trader + 10 Parchment = Approx 700 gold on a bad day. If you get a good day, it can add up to about 1.1 plat. Eiother way, its good money. You may have also gotten some Tanned Leather Squares, save those, we'll need those next.
Ok, the Ft. Ranik area. This one is pretty straight forward. Same thing, Ident and Salvage Kits for everybody. Follow this path to the end. You'll come across a few Charr and a bunch of the Renegades. There are two things you are looking for here. First, you want the belt puch thingies the renegades drop. Number two, ever so often, a renegade will drop you some black dye. Now the black dye is really rare, but I've stillf ound more black dye here than I have anywhere else. Don't hold your breath, but it oculd happen.
After reaching the end, Map back to Ft. Ranik and do this all over again. After about an hour you should be getting tired of your CD(if you haven't already) and it's time for a break. You should have a large stack of Belt Pouches off the Renegades by now. So head back to the Fort and start salvageing those. Each one gives you the Tanned Leather Squares.
Take those Squares and head back over to the Sanitarium. Go outside and see our Material Crafter friend. Turn those Squares into the better versions of themselves, return to Ascalon and sell for profit. I stick to selling to the vendors...it's easier and I really don't like people tryign to rip me off. So I sell to the computer which pisses all those people off that try and rip rookies off. (hee-hee)
Always be sure to do the math before selling to the computer. Those prices jump up and down. Always try and make the best profit for your time. If you aren't sure or know you've seen higher prices, hold onto your stuff and move on to the next farmign area. Patience is the key to farming. So switch CD's and let's look at the next spot.
This one is easy, if not rewarding for it's implicity. Nothign real fancy here. Just take a couple salvage kits and an Ident kit. This run is so short, you're gonna laugh. All you do, head out the temple and kill the three big Stone Elemental mobs. Loot and repeat.
Salvage only actual items. Always be on the look-out for wood and leather squares. Those are your money makers. EVERYBODY needs 'em. Another nice thing to look out for are the lumps of charcoal. It's a rare drop otu here, but I've collected a few stacks from this region. A stack of those can net you almso 4 plat if you can wait it out.
What you are farmign here are the Collectors Stones that the Elementals drop. "Why do I want those?" you ask. Easy. Each one is worth 5 gold. At this point in the game, it's good money for not much work. never underestimate the selling power of the collectors items. Or the salvage potential either. 250 stones X 5 gold/each = 1250 gold. Each run has approx 15 elementals usualy dropping 10 stones per run, sometimes even more. It may take you about an hour at low levels to amass that much, but for now, it's good money. And when you can come back and tankt hem all at once. One run lasts about 2 minutes...maybe.
Rinse Repeat. Same thing, about an hour of farming, then move on. Don't want to draw the wrath of the farming Gods(they're very fickle you know).
Yeah yeah, I skipped Shiverpeaks North. I hate the snow. Now this is our only semi-barrel run. And the reaosn I say "semi-" is because I elarned this run from the barrel at the end, but found killing everything along the way actualy can get me a lot of wood. not to mention the Barrel has some good drops at the end most of the time.
Killing all the big tree thingies along the way will get you some "okay" cash and somed rops, but you mostly wanna keep your eye open for the wood. Staffs, axes, and seeds. The seeds give you plant fiber, but that's another crafting material, I'll get ot that later.
So make the run, kill some stuff and repeat. There are two way to get there. I found that the one I have posted is easier. But you CAN get there from Beetletun, just without as many trees-like enemies. So elss wood there. After an hour, take your stuff and run. Head back tot he sanitarium, trade in your wood and leather for their counterparts and move on.
*I can't make anymore tags for images, which is cool, I understand. Just imagine a big red dot outside of Bergen Hotsprings. Seriously, its right outside. But if you need a visual, here's the link anyway.*
http://www.geocities.com/ikari689/hotspring.JPG
Ok kiddies, this is the last one Uncle Elric is giving up. Not 'cause I'm stingy...mostly 'cause I'm tired of typing. Unless you can tank really well, you're gonna need some help with this until higher levels. Killing ALL the undead along this little patch will net you some good items and a bunch of runes. This is one of my favorite spots to just come and kill.
Seriously, I've come back from trips with a few gold items, a dozen purple items, and more than a handful of runes for about 15 minutes worth of solo-work. As a team, it won't be as much, but you'll live longer and still walk away with a lion's share. Do this for an hour, then start over, go do something else, or for the love of God get some sun!(just kidding, sun is bad, go play some more ^^ )
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Ok, a couple more things to know when it comes to farming aside from when, where, why, and how long. If you can afford it, take yourself some extra Expert Salvage Kits. The reason is Wands, Shields, and Axes(yes Swords too, but I rarely get anything good from them). These items and an Expert Salvage Kit, even if they are unmodified items, can yield you Steel Ingots. And as we all should know by now, can get you a nice chunk of change. Even if spending 500 gold for 25 charges nets you 13 Steel Ingots, that's 1.3 plat, double what you spent on the Salvage Kit. Plus whatever else you got from the last 12 Salvages. If you can afford it, it's worth the investment.
Last, but not least. IMHO, farming is a part of any game like this. It will never be destroyed. It's just SUPPOSED to be long, tedious, and boring. So as far as I'm concerned, if these runs are nerfed, we're all doomed.
But anyway, try these out. See how they work for you. War's will have the easiest time, monk should too. Especialy against the undead. Ele's, go for PBAOE and Necro's stay away from the Hotsprings run. There's no way for you to raise enough minions down there. If this works for you, feel free to share these strategies with your friends and guildmates, I won't mind. Good luck, and good hunting! ^^
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