Manual Synthesis + Auto Synthesis = Love.

There have been many discussions regarding the crafting system in FFXIV - there are people who are fond of the current on-hands system and also people that would much prefer a more automated system.

Why can't we have both?

The idea I would like to propose would be very simple and easy to incorporate into the current system, but would make a sufficient change to satisfy both parties in my opinion. So here goes:

There should be 2 choices on the synthesis menu: manual and auto. These can replace the main hand and off hand choices on the synthesis menu UI, effectively moving that decision to a following sub-menu.

Manual synthesis would be exactly how the current synthesis system is with no changes proposed in this regard.

Auto synthesis would have your character automatically craft the proposed recipe to completion. However, this option would only be available if the proposed recipe is at or below your rank and you satisfy the support & training conditions. Provided that all conditions are met, auto-synthesis would slowly complete the synthesis still on a step-by-step basis, unlike a Hasty Hand, but would also have a 100% success rate. As a counter measure though, using auto-synthesis will never produce HQ results.

The idea is, why should one have to worry about the intricate details of the synthesis process for a recipe they have the skills to complete (rank, training, support) unless they are concerned with its quality (HQ)?

Therefore when attempting a recipe above one's rank, or when trying to HQ something one would still resort to manual synthesis, thus employing player skill in obtaining such achievements. However for repetitive synthesis of easy recipes for which one doesn't care for having a high quality result I feel this option would remove a lot of the dull nature of crafting. Not to mention such a controlled automated system could very well prevent crafters from feeling compelled to make use of a bot.

I look forward to any opinions and constructive criticisms the community has to offer, and hope a community rep will see this.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my random idea!

P.S. - Apparently everyone only frequents the General Discussion forums...

I can't imagine having a auto synth function even the most punishing requirements to use would help game balance much. Hell even if it refused to give ANY sp and even give lower yeilds than manual synths.

I can just imagine the amazing ammount of materials that would be churned out in one day utterly destroying certain markets in a matter of minutes.

Actually I think Yoshi-P had mentioned at some point that they did plan to add some sort of auto-synth that gave no sp but was solely for lower rank items or something along those lines...

Of course I remember he being awfully vague about it but I bet something like that is coming along eventually.

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Originally Posted by Jynx

I can't imagine having a auto synth function even the most punishing requirements to use would help game balance much. Hell even if it refused to give ANY sp and even give lower yeilds than manual synths.

I can just imagine the amazing ammount of materials that would be churned out in one day utterly destroying certain markets in a matter of minutes.

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Ah, you see I thought about that to myself. To clarify, I imagine the auto option working in a way so as to see the crafter performing various actions/animations - without player input - as the progress bar slowly fills from 0-100%. Balancing can be as simple as making the synthesis last quite a bit longer than the manual counterpart.

The idea is to embrace how mindless synthesizing a recipe below your rank for which you have the proper training and support, and removing the cumbersome, unexciting Enter-mashing. Control over your synthesis - the true fun in crafting is when your goal is something other than to 'just get it done.' When you wish to achieve a certain Quality, or wish to complete a high rank recipe that yields great amounts of sp, you literally have a battle with the progress-durability numbers as you utilize various hard-earned skills and strategies to come out of the process triumphant.

Personally I'd like to see the crafted materials be an automated synth but when it came time to craft a finished item then you'd have the manual inputs to try and get the most out of a craft. Though an "auto-standard" option where it just assumes every action you'd take is standard and cranks out the craft would do it too.

ehm... Hasty Hand? o.O

Isn't that what Hasty Hand is for?

I guess they beat me to it. Yeah, Hasty hand IS your auto synth.

I think the OP is asking for a 'legit' version of a crafting bot, instead of having to manually sit there and spam standard synthesis on about 700 items you're just gonna vendor anyway just to get one rank.

This could cause balance problems for one reason I can think of - fish to shards synths. The 4 Lightning to 12 (earth, wind, fire, etc) recipes are only Alchemist R1. Right now I buy lit shards and then buy a few stacks of fish from the NPC In Limsa to make Wind and Earth shards (because it's cheaper than buying wind/earth shards by far). However players (and RMT) could use this to flood the market with shards. Right now I have to Hasty Hand hundreds of fish and pay attention if Hasty fails (and then spam standard/rapid and pray).

This MIGHT be okay for let's say someone who just needs to make a bunch of a certain item for use, not for SP. It does get annoying going through every synth one at a time manually.

That being said auto craft does just kind of seem like a legit bot. It certainly wouldn't help existing or future RMT problems.

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Originally Posted by Arcell

This MIGHT be okay for let's say someone who just needs to make a bunch of a certain item for use, not for SP. It does get annoying going through every synth one at a time manually.

That being said auto craft does just kind of seem like a legit bot. It certainly wouldn't help existing or future RMT problems.

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Why not? If everyone can do it legitimately there's no reason for RMT to be around

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Originally Posted by Colino

Why not? If everyone can do it legitimately there's no reason for RMT to be around

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incorrect if everyone can do it the rmt will still be around because they run multiple accounts so all you are doing is allowing them to multiply their efforts instead of doing the right thing and banning them in the first place. asking to be able to bot legit is not asking to actually play the game which is just as bad as they are.

I'd prefer to make several batches of Bronze Nuggets manually in one go, It is tedious when you got like 11 batches of bronze nuggets to make and can only make one batch at a time

I think the bigger concern is that right now crafting even with it's "more engaging" format really just kicks you in the butt with how boring it is.

For threads like this to exist should be sending the bigger message that crafting as a whole needs an overhaul. Whether they take these ideas into consideration or not is less of an issue, so long as they realize that something's borked and needs some dev attention.

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Originally Posted by Alcide

ehm... Hasty Hand? o.O

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Originally Posted by Ashthra

Isn't that what Hasty Hand is for?

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Originally Posted by Leenk

I guess they beat me to it. Yeah, Hasty hand IS your auto synth.

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I thought I made it clear in how this is quite different from Hasty Hand. Hasty Hand, as its name suggests, allows you to gamble a recipe much lower than your rank to effectively speed up how fast you churn out mats.

Auto Synthesis, as I imagine it, would be:

- considerably slower; even slower than a manual standard-spam session
- have a 100% success rate
- remove the possibility of HQ results
- require a certain rank and any requisite training and support to even be available as a choice
- allow for repetitions to be queued based on amount of available mats

Effectively, yes, this is in a way a sanctioned bot - but unlike some 3rd party bot it is something that can be balanced and restricted by SE.

The dilemma is that crafting is fun, but only really when you attempt something challenging. Enter-spam for a synth you now you will, or should, succeed in just makes the process dull.

Legit botting to completely avoid the 'dull' process isn't a solution either.

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Originally Posted by EdenArchangel

Legit botting to completely avoid the 'dull' process isn't a solution either.

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It is a proposed solution. Surely in its basic form at the moment. I am not obnoxious enough to say that it can be the only solution, though. So by all means, please, offer an alternative.

Nothing short of an entirely interactive 100% skill based, extremely involved crafting system would even start to deter RMT. Fun doesn't stop botting and automating the process only helps them. That's just how it is. No matter how fun it is people bot regardless.

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Originally Posted by NoctisUmbra

I thought I made it clear in how this is quite different from Hasty Hand. Hasty Hand, as its name suggests, allows you to gamble a recipe much lower than your rank to effectively speed up how fast you churn out mats.

Auto Synthesis, as I imagine it, would be:

- considerably slower; even slower than a manual standard-spam session
- have a 100% success rate
- remove the possibility of HQ results
- require a certain rank and any requisite training and support to even be available as a choice
- allow for repetitions to be queued based on amount of available mats

Effectively, yes, this is in a way a sanctioned bot - but unlike some 3rd party bot it is something that can be balanced and restricted by SE.

The dilemma is that crafting is fun, but only really when you attempt something challenging. Enter-spam for a synth you now you will, or should, succeed in just makes the process dull.

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The point is that I don't get why someone would need this feature since we already have HH o.O
If it's for crafting multiple items I agree that something should be implemented, maybe one single synth that craft like 10x the normal one, but requiring 15x the normal materials would be a nice compromise, but still with the same process as normal synths (including HH).

Im going to say the same thing here i said before in the crafting forum when you posted this rediculous idea

NO NO NO

if its gonna be any kind of auto synth, it needs to be way way below your current rank, not "at or below" otherwise you make the entire profession easy to auto rank up, and worthless as a whole
you literaly will kill the entire economy in a single night and make the jobs worthless as a whole to even have in the game


this isnt other mmos, go to them if you want auto leveling

If you don't want to sit and do your crafting then you don't deserve to have a craft at 50. Plain and simple.

For items below your rank, Hasty Hand is basically 'auto-synth.'

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Originally Posted by EdenArchangel

Legit botting to completely avoid the 'dull' process isn't a solution either.

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Or once you're so high above the recipe, you could create it without having to go through a mini-game every single time.

Just make all auto synthed items untradable they can either be sold to a npc or used by the player who created them, that would at least cater to the average gamer who wants to make there own non hq gear.