Hey all you MNKs out there in the Alla world, I plan on getting MNK to end game (as most of you probably know from me talking too much recently in this forum =P), and I was wondering: what profession should I start off with? I've done nothing in any of the professions as I *know* absolutely squat about any, and I'm very indecisive. Maybe you MNKs can recommend a 1st?
If you mean crafting, whichever makes the most money. i'm afraid i don't know which that is, as i make the majority of my gil by being opportunistic and jumping on big profit schemes when they arise, or emergency farming if such a thing hasn't come up for too long a time (this hasn't happened in recent memory). so, i don't craft. however, people who spend more time on developing stable (diversified!!) income sources in the game end up with a lot more freedom than people like me.
By profession, do you mean tradeskill?
I see you've come over from Wow. FFXI is a little different in that leveling a tradeskill is not something you must do while leveling up your job class. Plenty of level 1s with level 100 crafts and level 75s with 0s. It's really more about the fun of crafting.
If your interested in crafting, then you should drop by the tradeskill forum for some beginners tips on crafting. There are plenty of decent ways to make gil at lower levels by doing some basic synths.
When I came back to this game after a 4 year absence and a fresh new start, I picked the easiest and cheapest craft a lowbie could possibly make income off of; fishing. When you first start off and are low on gil, this is pretty much the only craft available for you to make money on if you have no gil to buy ingredients. I started off catching Moat Carps and selling them to LS mates who were going for their Lu Shang rod. It gave me a nice steady income, and after a week of this (had 2-3 characters fish a day, switching every time I hit 200 fish cap) I finally bought my Ochiudo's Kote.
To break it down for you, here's what I did. I found myself a cheap rod that wouldn't break on Moat Carp or Gold Carp, and bought little worms at 4G a pop to catch Crayfish, Moat Carp, and Gold Carp. The Crayfish I mostly sold back to vendors as they were pretty worthless, Gold Carps to fishing guild for 337G each, and Moat Carp to my LS friend at the end of every day. Selling them on AH works too, but I preferred my gil guaranteed and without all the undercutters.
When I got to about 40k doing this, I decided to raise my cooking to level 29 to make my own Insect Paste. Doing this only costed me about 15-20k once I sold everything back, so I was left with 20k. From then on, I crafted all my own Insect Paste and doubled my gil per hour now that I was avoiding Crayfish. Soon after I got hooked on fishing again as it became so profitable for me, and I went for my very own Lu Shang Rod. Now about 4 months later, I'm making 200-250k a day fishing combined with Alchemy and sell everything straight to the NPC. Never have to worry about gil again all thanks to the month I spent of straight fishing for my Lu Shang rod.
Of course, I'm not advising you to take a month off and get your own Lu Shang rod. Just letting you know exactly how worthwhile it is to take the month off to get your own. It's a nice feeling knowing I'm one of the richest players in my Linkshell when I only started this character from scratch 5 months ago compared to some who have been playing countless years, and STILL don't know how to make gil. Moat Carps with a Halcyon Rod in Windurst brought me 15-18k an hour, which at your level, is more than enough gil to support your character. It takes a lot of patience to fish, but it all pays off in the end when you're able to afford luxury equipment. Fishing was the best craft I ever picked up on this game, and I hope you can say the same if you decide to pick it up too.
