How to become a thrifty player - Part I

Before I start on the actual topic on hand, I'd like to make a quick mention of my use of tags. As some of you may have noticed, I use the tags 'casual' and 'advanced'. The topics tagged advanced are more useful to higher level or endgame players. It can be useful knowledge for more casual or newer players, but because of some limitation (such as gear, merits, etc), it is mostly usable only to those type of players. Though I use the word casual for a tag, casual tags indicate topics that can be used by everybody. These are probably more of game mechanics type of topics, or maybe miscellaneous ones like this topic.

How to become a thrifty player - Part I
One of the aspects that I feel separates good players from the bad is how they manage their resources. In this game, there are predominantly two resources: Gil and Time. These two resources are interchangeable usually. For example, when you farm for items to sell for gil, you are just exchanging some time for gil. On the other hand, when you decide to craft and buy materials from AH rather than farming it, you are exchanging gil for time. My take on this is to value time more than gil. You have more control on how you use your gil, while you do not have complete control over time (work, school, chores, etc). Your time is also the limiting factor, as if you had infinite amount of time, you also would be able to farm infinitely for infinite gil. But realistically, you only have a set amount of time. However, since they are heavily interlocked, you must not neglect over the gil aspect either. For Part I of this series, I will discuss how to save and maintain gil. For Part II, I will discuss saving time. For Part III, I will discuss how to make gil most effectively. After that, I may or may not add more parts depending on whether I can come up with more topics.

NPCs are your friend
Most players use crafting to help them earn gil. Every synthesis, however, requires materials. Often times, these materials can be bought from NPCs. When this is the case, buying from NPC is much cheaper than buying from the Auction House!! This does not only apply for NPCs however, it also goes for magical scrolls and to an extent, low level armors and weapons. Your best bet is to use website resources (Allakazham, Somepage, wikis, etc) to research how those items are obtained. Often times, there are items that players would buy from NPCs and sell on AH to make a profit, so naturally the AH would sell at a higher price. If you have mules spread out on multiple cities, here is where they can be very useful.
Summary: Buy materials, scrolls, low level armor/weapon from NPCs, after researching the pricing.

The AH game
The Auction House is a center of commerce for Vanadiel. Every day, millions of gil are processed through the AH. Most people buy things they need through the Auction House. However, the demand varies with time, and as such, the price will vary too. By planning ahead, you can save gil in the long run.
One way to do that is to buy more than you need. Bundled ninja tools and ammunition will generally go for much less than the unbundled variety. Stacked items will almost always go for less than unstacked (rare items can have the opposite effect, so beware). By buying the extra and just letting it sit in your mog house or mule(s), you will have saved gil. Here is an example:
A stack of Kawahori-ogi currently goes for 6,000g. A single toolbag of Kawahori-ogi goes for similar. However, a stack of toolbags of Kawahori-ogi goes for 60,000g. By going for the stack of toolbags, you can save 12,000g. Sure, you may not have as much gil right now, but after you use it all up, you've would have 12,000g more by doing so.
A second way of saving money on AH is to research trends in pricing. A lot of consumables (and durables some of the time) will fluctuate in price. The dominant force in this is supply and demand. On the weekend on Titan server, pricing will go up because the server is heavily Japanese, and because of such, a high number of players play on the weekends. This high number causes consumable items to go up in price. My method of overcoming this is to watch the market on the things I need (ninja tools, food, etc) and see what is the lowest price they hit. If I see a stack of Shihei go between 2,500g and 6,000g, I know I should buy some when its at 3,000g and not when its at 5,000g. The same can be for durable items, however it is much more resilient to changes and they tend to occur in long term (perhaps months) rather than within a week. Plan your purchases ahead of time and you will be rewarded in savings.
Summary: Buy in bulk, buy ahead of time when its cheaper.

Alternatives to traditional ways
The first two points are somewhat obvious, though I've stated them because they can be easily overlooked. However, this one may be lesser known. This can easily vary from different circumstances so its harder to use as well. There are some ways to save small amount of money (and time) by taking a different approach to things. For example, a Teleport-Dem ring costs around 8,000g currently on Titan. 10 charges, and this translates to 800g per teleport (with a Lv65 requirement). However, I do see a lot of people shouting for teleports and pay 2,000g. These people are just overpaying for their teleport, as well as spending unnecessary time finding that. Another way to save money is paying attention to NPC pricing. Often times, there are items (especially scrolls) that sells for more to NPC than AH. Most people would just end up slapping them onto the AH, unless they have no free slots.
Ever since the patch with the Auction House fees, Whitegate has much higher fees than other areas. Sometimes, you can save on the listing fees by waiting till the next time you stop by Jeuno/Nashmau/Tavnazia, or even city AHs. Here are the fees for AH listing, in lowest to highest order:
City AHs (including outlands)- Single=1%+1gil Stacked=0.5%+4gil
Jeuno/Nashmau/Tavnazia- Single=1%+50gil Stacked=0.5%+100g
Al Zahbi- Single=1%+100gil Stacked=0.5%+400g
Whitegate- Single=2%+100gil Stacked=1%+400g
As you can see, any items worth small amounts (1,000g or less) is probably better off listed in City Auction Houses. Any high value items (like 100,000g or more) are better put in either Al Zahbi or Jeuno, not Whitegate. By taking a little time to research, you can find small ways like these to save some gil here and there.
Summary: Look into alternate ways of doing things, place items into "right" AHs, research and research!


At a glance, this may not seem like much in savings. However, if you do this several times a day, it can add up quick. But this is only the beginning to becoming an efficient player. In the second part, I will show how to save time in doing things.


Updates relating to prior posts:
Parry build: Skill ups are coming ever so slowly, currently at 194. However, I am making progress towards Amir Kolluks, Myochin Haidate+1, and parrying merits so its a couple steps in the right direction. Also obtained Bushinomimi, though did not explicitly said that in the Divine Might post.
-Phys damage build: Not much progress with this yet. Currently farming gil to hopefully by the two Arhat's pieces. Waiting on a friend to finish his Bonecrafting to do the Gavial pieces.