Observe?

What is the point of the "Observe" action in crafting? Every craft seems to have it at a relatively early level, and I haven't seen anything that requires it... so what's the point of it?

To get a better condition.

In the bottom left under durability there are conditions, either Normal, Good, Excellent or Poor.

Observe is a skill that you don't normally even begin to realize any use for til you get at least great strides. (doubles the effect of next quality skill) You can use great strides then observe if you have a normal in the hopes you get a good for a big quality boost.

Ah, okay. Thanks.

I use it occasionally after an excellent condition (when a poor condition comes up).

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Originally Posted by APilgrim

I use it occasionally after an excellent condition (when a poor condition comes up).

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Yep, this is the reason I use it most often.
Or when my last 32 points after a string of normals, I feel I'll have a Good quality, so I use it then basic touch.

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Originally Posted by APilgrim

I use it occasionally after an excellent condition (when a poor condition comes up).

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I've had cases at the end of a synth where I have more than enough CPs for a standard touch (and this class doesn't have advanced touch yet). I'm out of extra Durability, so throwing in a Hasty Touch is no good. I've got no other use for the extra CPs; Steady Hands is up, I don't have any other usable buffs, and the synth condition is Normal. Use Observe to roll the dice and see if you can come up with a Good.

I have never once used observe.. It's a pretty useless ability even in the instance of hitting an excellent. I'll either Careful Synth II on poor or Great strides again.

Myeah, once you get the crossclass skills rolling and such, Observe feels like a waste of CP when you have a million other methods of doing something that's productive with your CP.

Then again, it's not as if Observe is the only culprit. Piece by Piece and Flawless Synthesis are pretty poor as well, so I suppose I can't complain. :p

Observe is fine. You won't always have something else to do while waiting for your Great Strides to hit a Good/Excellent and Observe is still the cheapest way to do it. Just keep in mind if you get into a situation where you have to use Observe 3 times in a row you're probably doing something wrong with your CPs, unless you're only level 20 or so and have nothing else better to do with your CPs.

I only ever used Observe to get out of a "poor" jam. If the item's level is low, it won't matter. But high level stuff it matters a lot to eat a poor condition quality touch. It's extremely rare to get yourself into the situation, but still worth having observe somewhere on your bar. It's far too iffy to rely on for higher conditions though, starting at normal. And never use it on good because it'll just go straight down to normal...

Ok so to sum this up.
If I do an action to raise item quality when condition is at the poor end of the scale, I wont get as big quality increase.. By using observe when the qual is poor or normal, you're taking a gamble you will get good or higher which will boost quality gained by the quality actions?

Correct?

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Originally Posted by Wolfhammer

Ok so to sum this up.
If I do an action to raise item quality when condition is at the poor end of the scale, I wont get as big quality increase.. By using observe when the qual is poor or normal, you're taking a gamble you will get good or higher which will boost quality gained by the quality actions?

Correct?

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Yes, the condition affects the quality increases of touches. Obviously, touching on Good or Excellent is best. Using Observe (or any other action) on Poor would yield Normal. Good and Excellent will only appear if the previous condition was Normal, see below:

Poor > Normal
Normal > Good or Excellent
Good > Normal
Excellent > Poor

Its a essential skill after Great Stride if condition is poor/normal and you need one synthesis in order to finish the item. It depends on situation, you can replace it with Steady Hand or Synthesis.

As you get more skills, and in particular as you get Byregot's Blessing, you'll find that the bulk of your quality is made by your final touch because of IQ stacks in general and Byregot's Blessing. Therefore it is quite worthwhile to use Observe a few times to ensure your last touch hits at least a Good (+50%). Of course, you shouldn't use Observe so that you can no longer use Great Strides (+100%), but hitting a Good on your last Byregot's Blessing or even Advanced Touch can mean the difference between 75% HQ or 100% HQ. It's not a big deal early on when you have no real way to build up a large number of IQ stacks let alone get Byregot's Blessing.

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Originally Posted by Raminax

Then again, it's not as if Observe is the only culprit. Piece by Piece and Flawless Synthesis are pretty poor as well, so I suppose I can't complain. :p

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I can't speak for Piece by Piece, but Flawless Synthesis has proven valuable to me. That was the first class I took from 30 to 40, leveling them all relatively equally, and so I did not have any of the Brands, yet I had this skill. It proved valuable to me for doing the Qarn Restoration recipes prior to unlocking that class' Brand skill, enough that I have simply not bothered with the Brands yet at all, with 3 crafting classes at 50 and a fourth on the way up from 40.

I don't see the point of this skill.
Why waste 14 points on observe when you can use hasty touch for free or even basic touch for 18? (keep steady hands up)
It may be useful with great strides, but I rarely use that anyway, I have almost every craft up to 50 and never used obseve.

Becuase Observe doesn't decrease durability.

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Originally Posted by nijn78

I don't see the point of this skill.
Why waste 14 points on observe when you can use hasty touch for free or even basic touch for 18? (keep steady hands up)
It may be useful with great strides, but I rarely use that anyway, I have almost every craft up to 50 and never used obseve.

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Great Stride is one of the main skills. It give you durability, essential if you craft materials with 40 durability. So, why waste a Great Stride with Hasty Touch if you can wait for a Good/Excelent Condition and then use Standard Touch?