According to all sources, you are able to exchange for mats with the manor at 8:00. However, It seems to me that it is closer to 6 minutes after 8:00. Does anyone know the exact time you can exchange mats? I ask because all the bots keep beating me to things. :(

Yep, it "rolls over" at exactly 8.06. At 8.00 It just comes down "for maintenance" so you can choose what seeds/fruit you want. When I was doing it, it was very hard to find the perfect time. I had a separate watch that I would adjust, second to second from the internet everyday, and I would start clicking when it showed 8.05.57 and with the latency to the server that I had it worked. Sometimes it didn't, sometimes I had to readjust and try doing it at say, 56 seconds, or even try to do at 56 seconds and a half.
Manor is very competitive (with bots)

Alright, that's good to know. I love the manor (only legit way to make money it seems), but it can be a real pain sometimes.

You have to find the sweet spot. Most of the times, the best seeds (when you do some maths to figure out which ones) will be so camped that it's just not worth your time even trying. Find some other seeds that sell well, but not necessarily for as much profit and farm those.

As an example, I was farming the uh... I think it was the varnish ones? The ones that were lvl 40+, and I was making 8-16mill per day(prices were fluctuating wildly at that time). Well, per 800seeds that I could buy, but then it became impossible to buy or sell them, so I started looking around and found some dwarf buying metalic threads for a pretty high price. I got in contact with him (in-game mail) and it turned out that he needed a crapload for some stuff he was crafting. Then I started farming the seeds that gave that thread and selling to him, and ended up making a bit over 5mill a day. Pretty low compared to what I was making, but if you look at it separately, you are making 5-friggin-mill in perhaps 5hours of farming on the seeds, which cost you pennies.

Sounds nice. Right now I'm going for the varnish 40+ seeds. If I have more troubles though, I may have to go for something else. I'm not sure how it would be done, but it would be nice if the L2 crew could work out some kinks in the manor system, such as the incredibly low amount of fruit that is able to be exchanged every day.

unfortunately the low amount is a concious design design. it is meant to prevent a quick influx of materials into the market to keep equipment rare.

i dont say it works, but thats their plan. sure they failed, but i fear that koreans dont like to admit failures.

Ah guitar, i remember those days when the varnish prices went totally insane. I made a fortune before all the bots realised and hogged the manor.

after 50 i strickly rely on the AA resale to make a profit, sounds bad but its consistant with basicly no limitations aside from kill efficiency

Yeah, AA income after 50 makes it more worthwhile than the manor system. You still get normal item drops and there's no limit to the turn-ins, so the bots can't beat you there.

Yeah, AA sale is nice, but if I were to spend all my time lvling in a cata, would I make enough to buy equipment when I reach B-grade and A-grade? The manor is a huge pain, but because I used it from lvl 20-40, I was able to afford composite armor and a berserker blade focus. Right now I'm really tempted to to make a spoiler and just keep it in the 30s. The manor is fairly easy to use at that time, and is still profitable.

What do you mean if you spent all your time lvling in a cata? Where else are you leveling? And why are you even seeding anywhere else other than a cata? 4x mobs usually give 3-4 fruits (depending on fruit, lvl, yada yada). Why waste the seeds on regular mobs? Of course you will make enough money lvling in catas. You get adena and on top of that SS to convert to AA. Then use that AA to buy scrolls and pots and sell them. That is huge cash cow, and like shiz and cheese mentioned, at medium levels it's a lot easier to make money off of it.

ive actualy rerolled alts just for the easy cash they earn up to 60. A well equiped noob, especialy with a buffer present, can farm serious AA in the 1st 5-6 catas. When i was realy grinding the AA i kept 2 character slots on rotation, when 1 would get into the 50's id set it to deleate and start the other slot from scratch. Ever poll armed a low lvl cata with vr and heals? its easy money.