Aion: Asmodean Vitality Extraction Guide 1-99

Uproot those plants like it's Super Mario Bros 2!
Gathering professions have always been the simplest and turned the quickest profit for most MMORPG's. In Aion, not only can everyone do it no matter what profession they choose, but it's required to complete some quests unless you enjoy purchasing it from some entrepreneur running a private shop next to the quest giver for way more than it's worth. If you ever plan on cooking, smithing, alchemy, handicrafting, or tailoring... wait, that's everything. If you plan on doing a trade skill period, leveling your Vitality Extraction is extremely important. Often times the only thing that cannot be gathered in a great piece of gear are the respective Fluxes, the rest you can supply with zero cost if you stick with your extraction skills. You can check out my Aether Extraction guides if you prefer to suck the life from the skies rather than the ground.

It's time to show those stupid plants who is boss. Here we go!
General Tips
- If you're looking for specific rare elements, like Crystals, Rose Quartz, and other gems you may want to invest in a detection helmet from your Extraction training room in Pandaemonium. They're not cheap, but they can help when you're running circuits for rare materials to know if things are up from a long distance. These can be awfully expensive, so check the broker for them used first.

- Clear out your damn inventory! Bank everything you can when you can do it at outposts. Later on there are 3 types of ore you can get from each typical node (Shining Vortexes, Adamantite, Platinum are just a few) so you will need as much space as you can get if you plan on gathering as you grind, or just gathering period. Plants can produce fresh/high quality versions, and even some like Kirka will very rarely produce dyes for your equipment.

- Even if you don't skill up off it, gather the high demand items. Everyone will need the various metal ores. Tecoma logs go for over 1,000 each on Israphel at the moment. Never vendor your goods, always check the broker to see what you can sell your stash for if you don't plan on cooking or mixing it up later.


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1-45
Fish for Conide around the Altgard fortress if your skill isn't at least 20 already from your time before ascension, and loot Azpha liberally from the Moslan Forest to the west of the Altgard Fortress to get you started. Once you've got those in abundance, switch to Iron and Tecoma Logs, at 15 and 20 skill respectively. These are the staple ingredients for 1-100 handicrafting and both smithing, so gather as much as you can for your own use or for a profit. This should take you to 45 without any trouble.


Azpha is used in healing potions, so you may want to hold onto it.

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45-75
Gribade Crater Lake is where it's at for this segment. Kandula is in abundance all around the NPCs and there is even a quest to turn in 15 nearby. Once you hit 55, switch it up and fish in the lake as well. There are many fish spawns and very few people actually fish here. From here, you have two options depending on how high you are in level.
Kandula can also be used to create mana potions, which are infinitely useful for most classes as they grind, so a profit option is here as well.




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75-99 Option 1 - I'm currently leveling.

If you're still in your teens and keeping your vitality extraction high enough to level with you, Gribade Canyon is your ticket. They're hidden away amidst the enemies, but a plethora of 75 skill plants are here and your only good option to break into the 90s. Once you've accomplished that, head down to Impetusium and welcome to paradise. TONS of 80-90 gathering here. Take it to 99, upgrade, and I'd say take it to 110 here before moving on to Morheim or beyond.
Cooks will benefit the most from this option if you're looking for a variety of dishes to level on.


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75-99 Option 2 - I'm already level 25 or higher and skipped this early on because gathering sucks and oh god how do I harvest Azpha.

It's Horto time. You might recall that Brusthonin farms are absolutely covered in plants, which also produce a rare item from time to time for a repeatable quest. First stop is on the Polluted waste just north of the portal in, and loot to your heart's content. The enemies are aggressive but as long as you're tough enough to take two on at once, this is by far your best option. There are tons of extraction points in a small area, so live it up. You might make a fair bit of Kinah on the repeatable quest in the process as well.

Horto can then be turned around and cooked into maximum HP up food, great for PvP and tanks.


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Bam! Extraction level 1 is maxed out, and all it takes is a little effort and a lot of right clicking. You can try to make maximum profit by turning the raw materials into workable goods like Ingots and Wood for the respective skill-ups in the trades if you haven't started them already. Now that you've taken it to level 99 though, the curve is going to get tougher. The distance between levels is going to increase a bit, and competition for good spots will be intense as well. But you need not worry! I'll take you through the 100-199 range soon. Now get out there and saturate the Iron market.