What do I need to be a good CUL/ALCH?

So way back at release I was the first 50 ARM/LTW on my server, made my millions selling MNK precursors for ridiculous prices. Then realized that crafting was never gonna be like it was in FFXI so I stopped.

My new static doesn't have a CUL/ALCH in it so I thought I'd give it a go. What crafts do I need at what levels to get a solid cross class setup to make HQ Food/Pots without much effort?

Thanks!!!

CRP at 50 helps a ton. Byregot's Blessing is a lot less restrictive than Byregot's Brow, and it is more powerful when IQ is above 6.

WVR at 50 helps a lot. Careful Synthesis, then CS2, provides plenty of Progress at no CP cost and 100% success rate.

There is some debate, whether using Rapid Synthesis (which you have) at 80% success is better than using Ingenuity 2 and Careful Synthesis 2. Different people prefer different things; I prefer Ing2/CS2 to the randomness of SH2/RS. Blacksmith may be worthwhile for you to raise to 50.

Goldsmith to 15 is a real good idea. Used properly, Manipulation is better than Master's Mend, and cheaper. Taking it to 50 for Innovation is a good idea, as it helps your Byregot's finisher, both in terms of boosting the Byregot's and helping to fish for a Good/Excellent, but is not essential.

Despite what SE attempted to do, you pretty much need to be an omnicrafter to be a good specialized crafter.

That's what I was afraid of, and actually the omnicrafter thing is why I stopped. I miss the FFXI way where crafting was really involved, took a long time, and once you were there you could make some of the best gear in the game, and it was bind on craft so you could only get it as a crafter.

I'm almost capped on Leves again so I could level a few crafts if I just spam them, but I've been using leves to level my MNK since dungeon queues suck so I'm at an impasse!

Thank you for the insight though I'll probably start working on it after I get 60 MNK.

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Originally Posted by Roth_Trailfinder

There is some debate, whether using Rapid Synthesis (which you have) at 80% success is better than using Ingenuity 2 and Careful Synthesis 2. Different people prefer different things; I prefer Ing2/CS2 to the randomness of SH2/RS.

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And this is why there is any "debate" at all. 80% success is not "random", it's extremely predictable, and mathematically probability even shows, over time, it's worth more than any of the skills which have 100%.

And the experience has been, for those of us who learned to embrace RS/HT loooooooong ago, our desired crafting goals are more consistently reached, cheaper, and faster.

Mathemagically, it works out better. There is always the chance that it blows up in your face though. 100% chance actions can't blow up in your face.

Its a trade-off.

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Originally Posted by Roth_Trailfinder

Mathemagically, it works out better. There is always the chance that it blows up in your face though. 100% chance actions can't blow up in your face.

Its a trade-off.

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There is no trade-off. You're bringing superstition and imaginary magic into a numbers that can't lie. I never fail to HQ any of the MBIII synths, nor fail to max any scrip...and all I use is RS and HT to 11-stacks, byrgots, and CSII to finish. I don't even use Reclaim...it's not necessary. Nor do I ever use food, unless I want to synth very quickly several things for someone in a hurry.

Folks just need to get comfortable in executing the rotation properly with RS and HT, and stop confusing superstitious imaginary numbers with real statistics.

Botanist ;) lol

I can make the same claim using Ing 2 and CS2 ... so what's your point again?

No one is as lucky as you then, Nanga. Don't spout as if it's the universal truth.

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Originally Posted by Phydeaux

No one is as lucky as you then, Nanga. Don't spout as if it's the universal truth.

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It's not luck :( That's superstition again. When you get used to ONLY using 100% success rate skills, you get superstitious and think failed RS/HT occur more often than they really do. It's 80%. That's all, nothing more, nothing less.

Edit: and honestly, it was another poster here several months ago that broke me of the habit of only using 100% success rate skills. Skills like that tend to get you into feeling like you need to use WN/II, Ingenuity, etc, which are CP burners you never really need to use.

Who said that's all I use?

I use RS when I deem it appropriate. I don't deem it appropriate very much, but I will use it when hammering out NQ materials that cannot be quick synth'd.

I've been playing the HT thing. Somedays I get lucky. Someday not at all. Either way. I've yet to achieve IQ11 reliably at all. And I only use RS when I rarely have a chance of winning with CS2, ING2. I don't like relying on RS, because one day and I really needed it, 2 RS failures in a row kinda told me not to. Sure and steady wins the race right?

Either way I've yet to fully trust an 80% ability... I barely trust the 90s%, but I'm not 60 in any craft yet so who knows I might like using RS more often.

As to the OP. Ya... Omni-crafter to specialize in things... Oo Even with the Specialist system in place this seems to be the less annoying method. (Painful, but less annoying. XD)

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Originally Posted by Roth_Trailfinder

Who said that's all I use?

I use RS when I deem it appropriate. I don't deem it appropriate very much, but I will use it when hammering out NQ materials that cannot be quick synth'd.

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Well, you did say it's "random". Random would be the same as rolling a 20-sided die, and each side having the same percent chance as all the others. But this isn't the same thing, it's an 80% chance of success, or a 20% chance of failure. The success "roll" is 400% as likely to occur as the failure chance. So, it's not random :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nanga

And this is why there is any "debate" at all. 80% success is not "random", it's extremely predictable, and mathematically probability even shows, over time, it's worth more than any of the skills which have 100%.

And the experience has been, for those of us who learned to embrace RS/HT loooooooong ago, our desired crafting goals are more consistently reached, cheaper, and faster.

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The math you are used to doesnt quite apply to ''rng'' tho. Since someone made the ''clever'' idea to make RNG based on true random. (or as close as they can get to it)

And 80% rapid synth can still blow up in your face 5 times in a row.



Btw chance calculations is not real math. Its just an extremely watered down (and tbh outdated) theory predating casuality science. Back when we didnt knew better.


There is no such thing as ''chance'' in nature. Something happens or it doesnt. Cause-effect. You roll a dice and what side comes up depends on the way you move the dice, on what surface you let it fall down on, the height and angle of the fall, etc, etc. It does not have an equal ''chance'' of falling down on different sides at all.