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Foods That Sell Best at The Auction House & on a Mule Under Special Circumstances

It is very important as a cook to keep an eye out on the holidays in Vana'diel. Many holiday events have some food element in them that will enable a chef some good gil making opportunities. I have not listed all of the synth items here because each year the events change just slightly and I do not want to give false advice. However Easter, in all of my playing years, has always been a reliable culinary profitable event and has maintained a nearly unchanged format.

Easter Event
The Easter Event is a cooks golden ticket to make fast and easy gil. For the Easter Event specifically I advise having synthed up as many colored eggs and party eggs as your budget and inventory will allow the week or two before the event start. Having your eggs ready to sell on the very first day is very important. Put the eggs on the character you intend to sell those eggs on (can be your mule if you would prefer). Clear out your inventory as much as you can too, so you can collect and trade eggs yourself for the event. Have your character in the city you want to participate in before the event. All three of the major nations have been successful for me, but I usually stayed in my hometown.

I cannot stress how important for your profit margin it is that you participate in the Easter Event the very first day. That is the day that folks who "must have it first" come out to get the newest event reward and many times they will pay insane prices to get what they want as soon as they can so they have bragging rights. So you must be there if you want a leg up on the competition.

Now here is the important part - pricing. Keep an eye on your competition and keep your price fair and either at the same or lower then your competition. If you are the only one selling, you are one lucky cook and you could set your price at double Auction House price and still get sales. I must stress not to go crazy - do not be one of those people that price your stuff at 50,000 gil per egg. Not only will your reputation be tarnished, but you will not sell anything. Be fair and you will earn some respect and make some great gil.

Additionally I would like to bring attention to something I have seen in every Easter Event I have participated in. There is usually one or two mules that collect the Letter Eggs the year before and save them for reselling at the next event. Now this is a great idea in itself (and I have done it myself) however these people often price their letter eggs for more then 20,000 gil each. I strongly advise not becoming one of these people - it will not make you any friends or any gil. Be fair and you will walk out of this event in less then 24 hours with a tremendous profit if you know how to work the market. Keep an eye on mules around you and keep within the reasonable price range - that is my best advice. Also if you see a mule that is selling all their eggs for super cheap - take a chance on buying and reselling - it is a gamble but often works out great on that first night.

My last note on scammers in this event in particular is to watch out for the scam artists. Every year there is at least one mule that will shout "Buying all eggs for 100gil". Steer clear of these people and do not become one of them yourself. They do this to take advantage of new players who think 100gil is a whole lot, then these scammers turn around and try to sell the eggs for insane prices (many as much as 50,000 gil). Scammers are everywhere in this event because it is huge - steer clear of them and conduct yourself in an honest way and you will come out feeling on top of the world.

Want to gain Letter Eggs faster? Participate with a friend and utilize all of your mules for trading. Each of your mules get an egg and trade to the friend, then have the friend trade to your seller. You offer to do the same for them and both parties win. The slower version of that is to have each of your characters log in and participate one at a time and change when each of the sales are made. I find it faster to trade transfer with friends (make sure you can trust your friend you choose to trade with).

Why is this event so good that I have talked about it so extensively here? Between selling Colored Eggs, Party Eggs and Letter Eggs I have come out with more then 4 million gil profit in two days before. While the economy changes, I am sure that many others have come out just as well if not better then I. I did not scam, I simply came prepared, offered an honest good deal and played the entire night on that first day (/grin).

Holiday Foods
My best advice about holiday events in general is to read the news page often on Playonline.com to make sure you are prepared for any events well ahead of time so that you can cook up in preparation for a good holiday. Not familiar with an event? Ask around from friends or read up on old news items on Playonline or forums to get the information on how it went about the year before. While the events do usually change a little bit each year, many of the elements do stay the same.

I suggest doing research on the following craftable cooking items: Love Chocolate (Holidays, especially Valentines), Colored Egg (Easter Event) & Party Egg (Colored Egg HQ [Easter Event]), All Types of Cookies (During Food Needy Events), Most Chocobo Raising Items (Around Chocobo Raising Related Updates).

Holiday Events provide a deviation from normal game routine and most of the time the events are usually fun and entertaining. While, as a cook, you will likely be able to find a way to profit during each of the events - I suggest enjoying the fun that is to be offered as well. Events only come around once a year and sometimes they get changed so dramatically from one year to the next that you may miss out on something good (such as the original Summerfest). If you want to collect the holiday items but you do not have room on your main character, I suggest doing the quests when possible on a mule character. I did this many times with Giskard to save room on Vysala but so I could participate and enjoy the event still and it worked out pretty well.

Foods to Keep Watching
Keep an eye on items that use the Culinary Key Items, especially Patissier, Noodle Kneeding and Stewpot Mastery. Not many of the recipes have caught on with players, even though they are good items. They will in time, just like Raw Fish Handling did with Sushi, and when they do the items will be highly wanted. I suggest researching and keeping an eye on these Key Item recipes.

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