Cooking: A Crafters Choice
Why should you choose to level your cooking skill in Final Fantasy XI? There are many reasons a person should choose this craft, much of which is talked about throughout this site. Some choose for profit, some choose for personal use, others for specific jobs, but in whatever use you choose, it is a very rewarding craft. Here are some of the major reasons why I think cooking is a great craft to invest in.
All jobs in this game need food. If you are not using food in a party, you are not performing your best. This means most players will be buying food, including you. This means that everyone is a potential customer. Food is a one time use item. Once you use a piece of food, it disappears and gives the player an effect that will wear off after a certain period of time has passed. This means that there is always a demand for more food from every player in the game. This is a strong advantage for cooks because durables (such as armor made in other crafts) are simply resold over and over so the turnover rate can be slower and there is much more risk with higher investments (especially if the economy is in a high state of fluctuation). Consumables will always be needed. Many foods can be expensive, but synthing them can cut the cost significantly. This is good for personal use as well as profit in the market. Cooking can save you a lot of time and gil for the many tasks you can perform in Vana’diel. Cooking is a great foundation craft to help fund other more expensive crafts. Unless you desire, there is no need to level other crafts for sub craft items, as there are so few sub crafts that support cooking. This makes Cooking an easy start up craft to begin with. However, later on some sub crafts are valuable as you progress into making gil. But sub crafts are certainly not a requirement for being a successful cook (unlike with many other crafts). Cooking is one of the more inexpensive crafts to level. It is not cheap by any means, but it is certainly less painful to level then some of the other crafts like Goldsmithing. When going into a party you can bring stacks of ingredients to save room on non-stackable items, such as drinks. This way you can synth the item as you need them while still having enough room in your inventory for drops. With careful planning, cooking can be a very profitable craft choice. You will not have 50 million gil in a day, but you will certainly be able to afford the many expensive things you want.
Cooking can be an extremely successful and profitable craft. While the numbers may appear quite small compared to a Goldsmith's history, all of these sales add up over time. Take a look at some of my sales history from the Auction House below:
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