About Crafting

I heard someone mention inventory clutter and I got to thinking about why I'm constantly sitting on 98-100 items on my character and 2 full retainers at nearly all times. The truth is that at least 75% of my inventory and storage space at any given time is filled by crafting materials (and my highest craft is R21 Weaver). This is just slightly out of hand here, and I really want to urge SE to simplify crafting recipes.

For instance :

Say you want to make one (1) Blue Cotton Robe. Well then you'll need :

1 Cotton Robe front (Blue)

For which you need :

Celeste Blue Cotton Cloth x3
Undyed Hempen Cloth x1
Cotton Yarn x1

For which you'll need :
Cotton Yarn x1 = Cotton Boll x2
Undyed Hempen Cloth x1 = Hempen Yarn x3 = Moko Grass x2
Celeste Blue Cotton Cloth x3 = Cotton Yarn x 3 and
Celeste Blue Cotton Dye x1 = Distilled Water x1, Alumen x1, Distilled Water x1

And after that you still need to make :

Cotton Robe Back (Blue) x1
Squirrel Fur Shoulder Guards x1
Sheep Leather Strap (Taupe) x1
Cotton Yarn x1
Cotton Sleeves (Blue) x1

The first time I crafted one of these, just making the materials needed to make the crafting mats took me no less than an hour. This is just slightly ridiculous already.

So I wanted to know what you guys think of crafting. I know a lot of people have spent a good deal of the last several months crafting to pass the time, and I'd like to know what you all would think of a major overhaul of the crafting recipe system.

Like if you want to see crafting recipes simplified.

Like if you want crafting recipes to stay the way the are or only slightly tweaked.

Hm. SE told us they will simplify recipe in patch 1.18 isn't it?

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Originally Posted by Miyochan

Hm. SE told us they will simplify recipe in patch 1.18 isn't it?

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Yes they did already say they were going to adjust and simplify recipes.

So I guess the OP's first choice wins since it's already been addressed.

I'd just like some of the recipes to make some damn sense. My biggest gripe with the complexity or ass-backwardness of some recipes is the Cavalry Bow. R14 bow made with Bronze Rivets (Armorer R12), Bronze Ingot (Blacksmith R2), Cedarwood (Carpenter R13), Buffalo Leather Strap (Leatherworker R21) and Carbon Fiber (Alchemist R38). Really? An item from an Alchemist close to 40? Even knowing the recipe for a while our linkshell couldn't even make the bow for our Archers.

At launch this was a great frustration of mine as I wanted to level Archer but between 11 and 18 that's the only bow. Not much of a big deal now but back then it was. This isn't the only example but it's just one that sticks out to me. There are quite a few recipes with obnoxious materials or materials that take a higher level crafter to make than the finished item.

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Originally Posted by Miyochan

Hm. SE told us they will simplify recipe in patch 1.18 isn't it?

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After the stuff related to combat is finished... 1.21 maybe

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Originally Posted by BloodLotus

After the stuff related to combat is finished... 1.21 maybe

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Quote:

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Reforms to behest are still outstanding, and more new content is in the pipes. We’re doing what we can to reorganize the opening stages of the game, but progress is being made. A complete reworking of recipes is planned for 1.19, with the goal of granting Disciples of the Hand and the Land more power to invigorate the game economy. Likewise for the materia crafting system. Disciples of the Land will benefit from the addition of a stealth skill to their arsenal, and we’re prepared to invest as much resource as needed to improve the map.

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/14828

I had a similar complaint the other day.

let's see i have one craft to 50, one in the mid 40's, and almost every other craft 35+. i also have a capped gathering and the other 2 are in the 30's. i have 4 capped battle classes and the other 3 are sitting at 36.

i rarely ever have over 60 items on my character and always 40+ spaces on my retainers combined. it's not about the recipes it's about people having no clue of how to make use of the space they have. it's not the games fault if you are a pack rat.

The only thing I want to see change is what another poster already mentioned: fix recipes so that low level items don't need super high level mats to make. The rest of the system I like exactly how it is.

I am primarily a crafter in this game and I have no inventory trouble. It is simply a matter of knowing what to store, how to store it, what to ditch, and what to carry on your immediate person. If a person is crafting every single part of an item by his or herself (guilty), then yes, they will require more space than a person who only levels one craft or doesn't craft at all. Especially if that crafter is not keeping things in their most condensed form. For some things, this means leaving the mats in their base materials form, like with moko grass and cotton bolls. For others, it means crafting the intermediate pieces to condense 3-5 items into 1, like the shoulder guards.

But I would also point out that the point of the economy is to buy certain things from other crafters instead of making it all yourself, even if it is possible to take the time to level multiple crafts as some do. Ideally a weaver making this robe would not be carrying the mats for dye, squirrel shoulder guards, or sheep leather straps. They would simply buy them from an alchemist and leatherworker. If the weaver does this, he doesn't have 8 item slots filled, he has 3:

1x Sheep Leather Strap (Taupe)
1x Squirrel Fur Shoulder Guards
3x Celeste-Blue Cotton Dye

Even if that crafter is a walking swiss army knife that levels all crafts like me, he should immediately condense these mats by crafting those items to go from 8 to 3 instead of just holding on to the base mats.

After we have dealt with the non-weaver items required in this synth, we can move on to the base mats of the weaver which is only an additional 2 items:

6x Cotton Boll
2x Moko Grass

It would be prudent here to leave these mats in exactly this form until the crafter was ready to make the robe so as to not fill his inventory with clothing parts that are not immediately needed.

So, even if this weaver were storing these mats to make the robe later, that is only 5 item slots out of 300 (self storage and two retainers). And, most likely, he already has the cotton and moko in a stack anyway since he is, after all, a weaver. That narrows the extra storage down to three slots in total and that is only if those mats are being horded instead of just making the item outright.

I really don't see a problem with this. Now one could certainly argue that crafting finished items takes a real long time. I would agree there. But I personally like it that way. And that is because I am a true crafter. I actually enjoy it.

It is my opinion that people who don't like to craft should leave that crafting to those of us that do. If SE changes crafting, making it super simple so that people who don't like crafting will be able to tolerate the process more, everyone loses. Those non-crafters will still hate crafting and those of us that loved it will have nothing left to enjoy.

/2cents

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Originally Posted by Wynn

The only thing I want to see change is what another poster already mentioned: fix recipes so that low level items don't need super high level mats to make. The rest of the system I like exactly how it is.

I am primarily a crafter in this game and I have no inventory trouble. It is simply a matter of knowing what to store, how to store it, what to ditch, and what to carry on your immediate person. If a person is crafting every single part of an item by his or herself (guilty), then yes, they will require more space than a person who only levels one craft or doesn't craft at all. Especially if that crafter is not keeping things in their most condensed form. For some things, this means leaving the mats in their base materials form, like with moko grass and cotton bolls. For others, it means crafting the intermediate pieces to condense 3-5 items into 1, like the shoulder guards.

But I would also point out that the point of the economy is to buy certain things from other crafters instead of making it all yourself, even if it is possible to take the time to level multiple crafts as some do. Ideally a weaver making this robe would not be carrying the mats for dye, squirrel shoulder guards, or sheep leather straps. They would simply buy them from an alchemist and leatherworker. If the weaver does this, he doesn't have 8 item slots filled, he has 3:

1x Sheep Leather Strap (Taupe)
1x Squirrel Fur Shoulder Guards
3x Celeste-Blue Cotton Dye

Even if that crafter is a walking swiss army knife that levels all crafts like me, he should immediately condense these mats by crafting those items to go from 8 to 3 instead of just holding on to the base mats.

After we have dealt with the non-weaver items required in this synth, we can move on to the base mats of the weaver which is only an additional 2 items:

6x Cotton Boll
2x Moko Grass

It would be prudent here to leave these mats in exactly this form until the crafter was ready to make the robe so as to not fill his inventory with clothing parts that are not immediately needed.

So, even if this weaver were storing these mats to make the robe later, that is only 5 item slots out of 300 (self storage and two retainers). And, most likely, he already has the cotton and moko in a stack anyway since he is, after all, a weaver. That narrows the extra storage down to three slots in total and that is only if those mats are being horded instead of just making the item outright.

I really don't see a problem with this. Now one could certainly argue that crafting finished items takes a real long time. I would agree there. But I personally like it that way. And that is because I am a true crafter. I actually enjoy it.

It is my opinion that people who don't like to craft should leave that crafting to those of us that do. If SE changes crafting, making it super simple so that people who don't like crafting will be able to tolerate the process more, everyone loses. Those non-crafters will still hate crafting and those of us that loved it will have nothing left to enjoy.

/2cents

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signed with a +1000. exactly my point. hoarding is not always having multiple stacks of items it is having multiple stacks of items that are not needed.

if you have one stack of cotton bolls you are sitting on 6 stacks of cotton yarn, but by not synthing them and keeping them in raw form you save 5 slots of space. the same goes for iron nuggets, silver nuggets, zinc, tin, copper, hides, logs. the longer you keep the raw material form the less you will have tons of wasted inventory room.