Suggestion: get rid of Guaranteed Breaks

[Voidstorm]

Sparkling Stone, Koh-I-Noor, Wyrm Ash, and others that I don't remember, have guaranteed breaks and "Rate of synthesis material loss -X%" gear and buffs do nothing to mitigate it.

There's no issue if the base rate stays 100% loss, but let "Rate of synthesis material loss -X%" actually work on the material.

I'd even use HQ wind crystals to break down sparkling stones if it did work since I remember hearing that HQ crystals have a hidden mat. loss- bonus to them.

[Alhanelem]

Sparkling Stone, Koh-I-Noor, Wyrm Ash, and others that I don't remember, have guaranteed breaks and "Rate of synthesis material loss -X%" gear and buffs do nothing to mitigate it.

There's no issue if the base rate stays 100% loss, but let "Rate of synthesis material loss -X%" actually work on the material.

I'd even use HQ wind crystals to break down sparkling stones if it did work since I remember hearing that HQ crystals have a hidden mat. loss- bonus to them.
It's a myth, all "HQ" crystals do is sign your name, people just want to believe it does something else, just like they believed in the Crafting Compass until SE debunked it (heck, some people still do, becuase Vana'dielians are a superstitious lot). Please don't use HQ crystals thinking they do anything other than what they were implemented for.

[Voidstorm]

It's a myth, all "HQ" crystals do is sign your name, people just want to believe it does something else, just like they believed in the Crafting Compass until SE debunked it (heck, some people still do, becuase Vana'dielians are a superstitious lot). Please don't use HQ crystals thinking they do anything other than what they were implemented for.
https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Cyclone_Crystal


HQ crystals apparently predate playonline.com being changed from FF9 to FF11 because there's no news on the ability to sign stuff on the site even from the earliest '05 update.

Yay for bgwiki, april '04 they were added.

[Alhanelem]

Just because its on a wiki page doesn't mean it's true. No sources are cited. And BG usually does have sources cited.

The HQ crystals weren't made available to players until the signing feature, and can only be purchased, which clearly positions them as having a specific purpose.

Unless sources are cited or SE answers the question, it should be assumed to do nothing other than its stated purpose. Them existing in the datafiles previously is not an indication they do anything special.

People have historically done literally any weird thing they can imagine in the hopes it helps their crafting in some way. some people still face certain directions even though that's been debunked, and do all kinds of other things like only craft at certain times of day, crafting in certain zones, being in a party, anything you can think of, people have done it. People even believed Refresh came from Taisais after a JP player made up a story about it when Refresh came out, which is how we ended up with the NM Taisaijin and its unique spawn mechanic.

[Voidstorm]

My reason for looking for official posts and finding when HQ crystals were introduced was to see if SE made mention of any benefits to using an HQ crystal other than its ability to sign things.

Sadly there was no link or quote regarding their use mentioned on bg's history of ffxi '04 page and I hate arguing with you.

I would still drop 10k HQ crystals to proving/disproving it against sparkling stones since those are only 80k~ per attempt, what's another 3k per?

[Dragoy]

My reason for looking for official posts and finding when HQ crystals were introduced was to see if SE made mention of any benefits to using an HQ crystal other than its ability to sign things.

I don't know what the BG wiki has, but I found this:

http://www.playonline.com/comnewsus/200404226037.html

See also:

History of the Past Version Updates

[Voidstorm]

I don't know what the BG wiki has, but I found this:

http://www.playonline.com/comnewsus/200404226037.html

See also:

History of the Past Version Updates
i didn't know that post existed or i would have gone there right after finding the date on bg's page.

also after seeing no allusion to other benefits for using HQ crystals, I am definitely inclined to believe they have no other effect. I'd still test it if 100% break items were effected by mat. loss reduction effects.

Regardless I'm using HQ crystals for SU5s JSE necks stinky rings & moonlight necks because I get asked if i have them signed.

[Zenion]

Found it. https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/53191-Freshly-Picked-Vana-diel-35-Digest


Here, we also offered two pieces of information which may be valuable to crafters of Vana’diel.
The first is regarding high quality crystals.

High quality crystals are often used to sign your name onto crafted items; however, they also have the hidden effect. They can decrease the rate of synthesis materials being lost from failure as well.

The other is regarding the synthesis success rate cap.
The synthesis success rate cap is 95%, but with equipment and food which increases the success rate of sysnthesis the success rate can be raised to 99%. We may have overdone it a little...

[Alhanelem]

That's what we needed. Thanks for finding it, I stand corrected!

[Dragoy]

Found it. https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/53191-Freshly-Picked-Vana-diel-35-Digest

I knew I was forgetting something, and didn't go digging yet... but definitely now remember having seen that before.

Thank you!