The What?, Where?, and Huh? of Farming

In all the years I’ve been playing FFXI, I’ve wanted the best possible gear for whatever job/level I was. However, the economy isn’t very kind to new players, as most of the items early monsters drop aren’t worth shit. There are a few exceptions, though. What you farm is up to you, but I’ll share a few of my own farming favorites and tactics. My list has no elementals/crystals on it, because I think they suck.

1. Beehive chips were probably the second most farmed item in the game due to the huge number of zones with bees in them. Even though a nice portion of the gilseller populace has been eliminated and prices have plummeted, they remain right near the top in most farmed items. Zegham Hill in North Gustaberg has about 2 dozen bees on it, as well as Stinging Sophie. Farming there has always paid nicely, but there’s often competition so be ready. By “ready” I mean do your best to use enough profanity in /say that the other people get tired of it and go away.

2. Slime oil. A major ingredient in Silent Oil, the most popular item on the auction house according to the official Census. While there aren’t nearly as many slimes as bees in the lower-level areas, the oils drop at a pretty good rate and have been selling better than almost anything from what I’ve seen.

3. Silk thread was the item du jour when it came to farming pre-price drop and are still heavily farmed. I remember when they were nearly 40k/stack, possibly a little higher. Crawlers are everywhere outside Windurst all the way to Mhaura, and any Windurstian that doesn’t take advantage of that should be kicked out of town.

4. Lizard skins have always been fairly popular because almost every melee job will wear lizard armor in the high teens (all the way to the mid-20’s if the person is really stupid.). I’ve never actually farmed them so I don’t know about the drop rate, though I did get a few when I was gathering Twinstone Earrings in Meriphataud Mountains. The earrings are for a repeatable quest in Windurst that gets you 900gil. That the ones in Meriphataud drop skins and earrings make them a better choice for farming than the ones that are in Konstacht or Valkurm. Farming in Valkurm will usually rile up the stupid noobs out there though, since they level off the lizards you’re farming.

5. Raptor skins like lizard skins are something I’ve never actually tried to farm. The little bastards hit pretty hard even at the lowest levels in Meriphataud, and from what I’ve read the drop rate is shitty at best. Still, for 40k/stack on the AH it might be worth the pain.

6. Coeurls. The ugly-ass mutant cheetahs might as well just drop money for you, as everything they drop will sell. These stupid cats made me my millions in the summer of ’05. Whiskers, meat and hides all sold for good amounts, and I single-handedly ran the hide price up from 1.5k each to nearly 10k. Thanks to the economic decline, nothing’s worth what it used to be. Whiskers and meat have also plummeted, but the meat sells quickly. I don’t know what recipe cooks use it for, and I don’t care. They want it, and I want their gil.

7. Like Raptor Skins, Tiger Fangs/Hides are something I’ve never tried to farm, but there are a plethora of tigers in Carpenter’s Landing and the zone seems fairly empty most of the time. From what I can tell, the drop rate of tiger fangs and hides are much better than the Raptor skins and the drops seem to sell quickly.

It has nothing to do with farming, but here's a screenshot of my NPC and me killing a crawler in Rolanberry Fields.