Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

[jenova_9]

FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone

oh mew! This seems kind of challenging! Wouldn't it be better if they just improve the success rates and bonuses?

[Raydeus]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

Or could go crazy about it and make it, you know, fun...

Unless I'm missing something here, because from the many videos out there you can tell not many people enjoy the chore. And considering how random it seems to be at times I wonder if they should've added Pachinkos instead of synthing in XIV.

[Malacite]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

Naturally, the element which becomes unstable is determined by the type of crystal or shard being used.

Yeah that's why I had the water element go nuts on me while forging some iron parts with Fire & Wind shards.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

For those of you at work, or too lazy...

"The development and management teams continue to address the questions and concerns of the community in an ongoing FAQ. The topic addressed this time around is synthesis.


Synthesis

Q. What happens exactly when the harnessed element of a synthesis attempt becomes unstable?
A. When an element of a synthesis becomes unstable, the following effects take place respectively:

Lightning: Progress greatly reduced
Wind: Durability consumption greatly increased
Fire: Quality greatly reduced
Ice: Progress reduced, chance of aetherial sparks reduced
Earth: Durability consumption increased, chance of aetherial sparks increased
Water: Quality reduced, chance of aetherial sparks increased

Q. What steps can I take to ensure that the element of my synthesis does not become unstable?
A. The element has a chance of becoming unstable whenever any step of the synthesis process ends in failure. It is at its most susceptible when the glowing light representing the craft is colored, and is at its most stable when this light is white. Additionally, the chances of an element becoming unstable increase as a synthesis attempt nears completion. Naturally, the element which becomes unstable is determined by the type of crystal or shard being used.

Q. What do the crafter-related attributes Craftsmanship, Magic Craftsmanhip, and Control each do?
A. Among recipes in the game, there are those for which the rate of progress and chance of success are increased by higher Craftsmanship, and those for which they are determined by Magic Craftsmanship. Control helps to reduce the occurrence of aetherial sparking (see below), and exerts its influence over both types of recipes just mentioned.

All recipes, however, have set attribute requirements. Attempting a recipe with attributes below those required will result in lessened progress and quality, even for successful actions.

Q. There are sparks flying out of my synthesis. What is going on?
A. The phenomenon known as "aetherial sparking" indicates strain on the synthesis materials. When your synthesis emits aetherial sparks, you will suffer the following repercussions:

Reduced chances of success
Increased durability consumption from excessive element destabilization
Increased durability consumption during Touch Up

The results of actions taken during synthesis determine the degree of aetherial sparking. The more dramatic the sparks become, the more dramatic the above repercussions will be. These negative effects are even further enhanced during Rapid Synthesis. Only certain crafter-related abilities serve to curb aetherial sparking. Craft with caution!"

[Aeni]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

The stuff these guys posted about are completely different from my experience. Makes me wonder if they even play their own game.

Q. There are sparks flying out of my synthesis. What is going on?
A. The phenomenon known as "aetherial sparking" indicates strain on the synthesis materials. When your synthesis emits aetherial sparks, you will suffer the following repercussions:


Reduced chances of success
Increased durability consumption from excessive element destabilization
Increased durability consumption during Touch Up

The results of actions taken during synthesis determine the degree of aetherial sparking. The more dramatic the sparks become, the more dramatic the above repercussions will be. These negative effects are even further enhanced during Rapid Synthesis. Only certain crafter-related abilities serve to curb aetherial sparking. Craft with caution!

Sparking always occur with durability below 40. You could fail all you like above a durability of 50 and never get these sparks. If my experience is a bug and SE thinks that it could occur anywhere at anytime on their listed conditions, then they better fix this because I'm playing a horribly buggy game.

One thing that I also see as leading up to the sparking ... not always, but a lot of times ... is if you're hitting that synthesis button quickly rather than waiting for some time to pass before doing it. For example:

[ <------------ time ----------> ]
|---------------------------------------------------------| (Standard)
|---------------------------------------------------------| (Standard)
|---------------------------------------------------------| (Standard)

^ usually will not produce the sparking even with failures under 40 durability, but ....

|---| (Standard)
|---| (Standard)
|---| (Standard)

^ usually will produce sparking on failures and even if there were 2 successes and then a failure, sparking will occur if the time between syntheses is too short.

As for craftsmanship and magic craftsmanship, I'll have to do some testing regarding "each works differently with different recipes", because ALL of my syntheses changes when one or the other changes.

[Freelancer]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

You know what.

All I want is to be able to create things that are my rank AT LEAST 50%.

Thats all I'm asking from their patches.

---------

And how come every other job is unique like how mining/botanist/fishing are are different but crafting classes are the same exact thing, just with a different tool.

I'm ranking up armorer and 4 freaking subs and its so redundant.

And why oh why are wind shards used in every other synth, oh my god they're 350-500g a piece now while others are 100-125g.

Dear god, I've been stuck at 24 for 2 weeks since I can't get my hands on any wind shards with everybody shouting for them day and night.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

You know what.

All I want is to be able to create things that are my rank AT LEAST 50%.

I'll take 33% of the time....

I'm ranking up armorer and 4 freaking subs and its so redundant.

I decided on Armorer at first and this is what stopped me in my tracks. I started leveling Leatherworker and realized I had to do this with more subs and threw in the towel.

And why oh why are wind shards used in every other synth, oh my god they're 350-500g a piece now while others are 100-125g.

Dear god, I've been stuck at 24 for 2 weeks since I can't get my hands on any wind shards with everybody shouting for them day and night.

Yep, wind shards are the ones to collect and sell because the next day they'll be gone!

[Freelancer]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

And the game keeps throwing in curve balls.

"Ok I need leather and weaver for my armorer to make bronze plate armor, I'll level those!" then Iron plate armor is just armorer and goldsmith?! no cloth? no leather? what the hell?

And not like goldsmith 10 or 15 as in you have basic knowledge of the craft, no no. its 25, so all of a sudden I need 3 subs AND blacksmith to process raw ore into junk I can use or I'll go bankrupt by people abusing the wards to to rip me off.

So by armorer 50 I'll need Leather worker/weaver/goldsmith/possibly alchemy at 25+ to be able to make the $$$ items.

And so far leather worker is coming along like a dream since it just wants water/ice shards so far... its so relaxing...

[Aeni]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

Maybe I should explain a few things to those of you who currently aren't playing the game and were looking forward to playing FFXIV.

What Freelancer is talking about with these subs for the crafting is that there are recipes which require a certain "training" or skill to complete a process. Well, some recipes have more than one training to synthesize (craft) successfully. Without this training, you are still able to attempt to process the synthesis, but you are prone to failures as well as both quality and progression is reduced and durability loss is greatly increased. This is different from the matter where one recipe requires materials from other types of crafts in order to produce an item. The addition of training adds to the complexity (and cost) of synthesis and it does seem to put off a lot of players from continuing to pursue this activity

Then there is the other matter which requires facilities, which is a system that replaces the "guild buff" which veterans of FFXI should be familiar with. Whereas in FFXI it was wholly optional (but highly recommended) this particular use of facilities is required, even if they give pretense of being optional, to complete a synthesis. The higher ranked recipes require even larger or more complex facilities and at this point in the game, your starting cities will have only artisan facilities, but there's rumors of additional facilities added to the game which are designed to take more gil out of the game.

This game was, from inception to execution, designed to thwart RMT and to insure that gil is constantly being taken out of the system. There are some flaws to this and it really depends on whether or not you are actively crafting or are engaged in other activities. With the exception of gil exploits, the number of RMT activity (at least on Palamecia) is almost non-existent, although there is still a certain kind of "hustling" of account information going on (i.e., power leveling services or this new account loan thing which always lead to theft of accounts and a lot of bad things)

I do like crafting as it currently is in the game but I also recognize that there are some issues that need to be resolved. TGM mentioned one concern in which a player that has reached the appropriate rank level requirement of a recipe cannot successfully complete the synthesis majority of the time, despite having the proper ranked tools, crafting gear worn and guild facilities in place. I think there might be hidden "requirements" for many of these recipes and I do wish SE would at least acknowledge their existence in even their most basic of basic recipes (< Rank 10) to at least (1) make new players aware of this and (2) to give all players rudimentary knowledge of the system in order to succeed at it down the road.

There's just too much "discover on your own!" in the system right now that even goes over and beyond what existed in FFXI.

Edit: Oh and one major pet peeve of mine. I know SE had said that even if you're a really high rank that you still must "SUFFER THE FAILZ LOLOLOL" and have introduced some weird whacko mechanic in which every 5 or 10 items you're synthesizing, the RNG goddess goes and throw "5 straight lulz" at you from out of left field. Now, this number has been consistent for me, around 5, and I know it's the "schtick" from this new system. Usually on recipes which I've long out leveled (They still give me class rank points but in tiny amounts) and from which I can easily hit quality of over 400 and not have durability below 75. Usually ... if I can avoid the wrath of the RNG goddess. It's really, REALLY, annoying. Especially since some of these recipes do require expensive crystals, even if they are Rank 1 recipes.

Edit 2: Need to add that the shorter the positive** difference between your current rank and that of the requirement of a recipe, the more "5 straight lulz" you'll be receiving. I believe it's on the order of every 2 rank difference this chance of happening decreases by 1-2 full attempts. So, 2 difference means that you'll be getting this every other attempt (or after every two attempts) and at 10 (in my experience) it's every 5 to 10 attempts or so. I need to further observe this weird pattern.

** Positive difference meaning you are above the recipe requirement and not below.

[Malacite]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

This game was, from inception to execution, designed to thwart RMT and to insure that gil is constantly being taken out of the system.

Except there is currently massive inflation in the game with people already up to several millions of gil.

[Aeni]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

Except there is currently massive inflation in the game with people already up to several millions of gil.

There was (is?) a gil exploit which is what is throwing things out of whack. I think there's some players that do not truly deserve their high crafting ranks because of this.

[jenova_9]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

see this is what happens when a Final Fantasy is centered around capitalism, the economy gets corrupt, and the whole thing turns corrupt and unfun.

what ever happened to simple, straightforward, innocent and rewarding shopping and selling?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgL5n7qbuvk]YouTube - Final Fantasy Tactics - Unreleased Track 01: Unused Shop[/ame]

[Malacite]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

No, guild leves are simply pumping out too much easy money.

Step 1 - Gather 14 friends

Step 2 - Do a Field Craft or Battle Craft leve and share it with everyone, but do not leve link.

Step 3 - Repeat step 2 until you're all out of leves.


By just spamming leves with a bunch of people, you are generating tremendous amounts of gil since for whatever reason the game doesn't scale (at least not much) gil rewarded according to the # of players participating. That is, if it normal rewards 5k to 1 person, it won't do 2500 to two.

The person who started the leve will get full rewards and everyone helping gets free money too. It's kinda like getting 6 people to do avatar fights in XI, only on a far greater and more easily abused scale.

[Freelancer]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

Yeah I go on a duo leve run around the world and we "try" not to share leves and end up with around 100k gil. (that I waste on freaking wind shards)

Gil is now yen.

[Aeni]

Re: Developers speak, they teach about synthesis

Step 2 - Do a Field Craft or Battle Craft leve and share it with everyone, but do not leve link.

When you say "do not leve link" ... I'm confused. Last time I did this with 3 people and it seemed like the person that initiated gets the full benefit but everyone else does not. I think a friend got 14k and I got only 2k.