Dropped From
All monsters that are Easy Prey or higher and marked as dropping a Fire Crystal. Must have Signet, Sanction, or Sigil active.
Drops from these monster families:
Birds
Bombs
Bugards
Cardians ("of Swords" only)
Cerberus
Clusters
Djinn
Efts
Goblins
Lizards
Orcs
Warmachines
Raptors
Trolls
Wamoura
@Angeloflight: Yes farming clusters does save money, but you're way off when you say it saves time. Crystals have become very cheap compared to prices a few years ago, so i think it can be actually be less profitable to farm clusters then to buy them. The amount of time you spend waiting for fire elements to spawn is not worth just paying maybe 1 or 2k for a stack of crystals. There are better things you can farm to sell for crystals.
Saves money? Yes, but at what costs? Saves time? Not at all.
Yes, you will have a greater profit margin by farming your own crystals. However, this comes at the cost of slower processing. By buying crystals from AH, you are not only saving yourself time from farming, but also using that saved time to increase your yields, thereby increasing your sales of those yields. The increased sales will not only offset but will often exceed the overall profits made by farming your own crystals within the same given time frames and efforts.
Most the stacks of crystals you see are not "farmed" but the product of exp parties on monsters that yield fire crystals when killed. Not everyone crafts, and those that don't, especially lower level characters who use crystal gil for gear, put their stacks on the AH.
I really don't recommend farming clusters on elementals that rarely pop due to weather. I haven't really seen fire weather but in Altepa Desert and the dunes, the last been really rare, which makes me think it's a waste of time to farm this particular (and some other crystals too) cluster. If you're up to it then you can buy your first two-three stacks of crystals and while your stuff sells farm whatever you need. That, in my opinion, is not a waste of time rather good time management.
Remember that crystals tend to run cheaper on the cities because of the auction house tax. Normally this means 1000-500 lower than on Jeuno.
@ Mildewman Now Given the fact that in Oct update 2011 Clusters stack, farming clusters in a Place Like sky on say BLM BST or even SMN or RDM you make way more profit then you state.
All Clusters Stack to 12.
i always buy these in sandy, they're about half off there (between 600-800 a stack). usually 50 stacks in stock too since they drop off of orcs.
for lower level players this can be a good source of income when crystals are in short supply in jeuno. profit of 500 a stack * 7 = 3500 and you don't even have to do anything.
What I always do is just pick up a few clusters when I'm out and about or farming. I get my crystals but I'm wasting time solely on that. It's easy to fit it in with the right area and can save you a few grand on crystals, depending on market value.