A newbie here. I've been collecting everything the monster drops.. and realized that i have hundreds of ores. I went to exchange them for plates and minerals but are these worth collecting/owning? Are leathers, processed woods, rocks worth it? What can I do with these?
I think the only ores worth collecting in my opinion are the steel and mithril ores. They're both required for the Dragon Elixirs quest that's needed to get into Horntail and the steel ores are also required to forge Facestompers. Not sure about processed wood and rocks, but you can turn the leathers into work gloves to sell in the FM for ~500k-1m to make some money.
There are pretty few ores that are really worth keeping but just off the top of my head here's the list I keep; Dark AND Black crystal ores (black crystal ores will soon be used to make fury throwing stars once new source comes out, just don't refine them you need 1,000 + the taos) Mithril & Steel are used to do horntail & steel are used for the facestompers manual. Dex Crystal ores are used to craft gear later on if you choose that road. Wisdom Crystal ores same deal as dex.
Power crystal ores also sell for a pretty penny, as they are used for forging stormcaster gloves. Tbh, i usually just keep all my ores on a mule.
You can craft them at JM from tha Streetz in Kerning City (he's right beside the KPQ NPC) for 15 Leathers and 1,000 mesos. A mule is an alternative character used for storing items such as ores, equips, pots etc.
I'd highly suggest saving them, regardless of the type. because there's people like me who are more quest-oriented, and will eventually need them, both raw and refined! plus ,for incoming new content as balanced furies, and such.
Since the game still progresses further with it's updates, eventually the other ores that are less used will come handy one day since knew items to craft will come up and prices will go straight up. Sooo keep them until the time comes.