r50 Carpenters, let's join forces...

...and speculate ;)

There are soooo many hidden things in the crafting system (wich honestly I hope they get rid of >.> or at least make them clear) let's talk about them.

Moon Phases
At first I was told New Moon is the best for HQ items and the worst for skill up, then someone told me New Moon is good to HQ finished items and Full Moon for parts (wich I think is true, I made a lot of hq lumbers during full moon, much more then in any other moon phase).
Now there's this rumor that every class and every type of item has its own moon phase...

Position
Again, there are a lot of rumors about this topic: every class has its own position, every material has its own position, every crystal has its own position, to synth easily you have to be in that position, to synth hq in the opposite... :confused:
It is a fact that sometimes when grinding the same synth it happens be extremely easy and other times at the same rank it's a total failure, so I think that the position theory may have something to do with that... but how the hell is it working? I tried different position, right now I'm facing south-east for every craft and I can see a little improvement in hq rate.

Tools
Ok, this may sound an easy topic, we all know that for parts we've got HY with main hand and HQ with off hand.
But at rank 50 our best tool is the off hand (the saw gets a bit more craftmanship and control, but no way it is comparable to the gap of magic craftmanship) but I've never used the off hand to synth finished items because I thought I wouldn't get hq.
Then I saw a guy at the carpenter's guild synthing 6 Champion's lance in a raw, 5 of them +1, using the off hand.
I asked one of the best Carpenters in my server what he was thinking about that and he said he himself always used main hand for finished items too, but he admitted that this was something new to him.
So I wanted to try out the off hand on finished items now that I was sure it wasn't affecting the hq rate... like hell it isn't! I synthed 5 Oak Composite Bow and 2 Champion's Lance, all with HQ materials, all of them were smoth syntesis, with lots of quality and lots of touch ups and all of them went out nq; I had materials for another Oak Bow and I tried it again with the saw... horrible synthesis, I got 2 elements unstable, a decent amount o quality but only 2 or 3 touch ups... and it was +1 °-°
Now, I know the hq rate is horribly random, but can this really be a coincidence? o.O the guy I saw synthing with off hand was using a Steel Claw Hammer +2 while I'm using a NQ one, could it be that the quality of the tool is affecting the HQ rate too? (quality, not stats, coz a steel claw hammer nq is already better then a iron chocobotail saw nq)

the tool he is using has higher stats (which is why hes using it), probably getting higher quality, more touch-ups and is getting lucky. i used main hand on 10 crab bows, did 4+2's and 3+1's. I really doubt main vs off hand affects RATE at which something HQ's as SE stated that tools just affect whether an item HY or HQ's

I'd love to get my hands on Steel Claw Hammer +2 ^^

I think luck has alot to do with it. I crafted 4 crab bows using 4x oak composite bows +1, and 1x +2. Red coral +3, crab shell +3, and iron spikes +1. When using the oak composite bows +1 and other HQ mats all I got was nq. Each had over 275 quality and about 5-8 touch ups. When I used the +2 oak composite, I ended up with 341 quality and right off the bat it was a +2, 4 touch ups later I got myself a crab bow +3 ^^

I had no unstables and 3 of the synths had a failed bold attempts. I was also using my +2 iron Chocobotail saw. The only time I used my nq steel claw hammer to make a crab bow I was r49 and the durability loss was insane, I'll try again on my nq mats and see how it fairs.

when you made that crab+3 are you saying you used ur main hand? Also, what kind of gear build did you have, all magic craftsmanship? Im curious cause ive yet to make a +3 but ive done a ton of +2's. I think all of my attempts really shouldve been a +3 since all had at least 300 quality and over 100-120 durability left. Did you standard and bold your way through them, if so, what abilities did you equip?

Yeah for my +3, I used my +2 iron Chocobotail saw, linen wedge hat, velvet doublet, linen short gloves, vintage boots, boar tool belt, and velvet tights. 4x +5 vit rings, Might have overlooked something. Off the top of my head I think the craftsmanship was 133, control 88, and magic craftsmanship only 69.

I think I bold attempted right off the bat, used preserve standard, bold, bold, standard, perfection - bold, tender touch then standard to finish. Wait on reds after 70% progress. I tend to do the same thing if possible synthesis wise. Nothing much too it, I know it's all about luck with hq ATM, especially with +3's. I just hope the luck is on my side when I can get more hq iron spikes, and try a few more times.

Edit: This was also my 1st try using hq mats, that I farmed. And saved up all the hq oak composite bows. Only could make +1 carb bows with nq mats. Even the few I made with over 250 quality.

Also I think you either need the synth to be a +2 off the bat, or at least the first few touch ups to be a +2, to have a shot at a +3. I have never increased hq more than once. NQ to +1, +1 to +2, and +2 to +3. This is all speculation though.

hmm strange that you used your saw and not offhand, unfortunately im stacked for offhand Dex but i do have a Magic Craft Build, Craft build and a mix build. Every attempt i do is with Oak+1 or 2, Spike +1 or 2, Red Coral+3 and Shell+3.... im guessing its just bad luck cause ive made a ton of +2's and so many +1s that i cant even count. Each time, ive had 260-320ish quality i think and only twice have i ever gotten a +2 right from the first few touchups but my strat was a bit different since i have Hand of the gods, Perfection and grand design. I was focusing more on getting through the synth as quickkly as possible with as little durability loss but I will try your way the next time the servers are back up by Standard and Bolding through it and use Hand of the gods somewhere in the beginning along with Preserve, then trying Perfection with a rapid or Grand Design when im close to 70% to just get to 100 in one shot. Ill let you know how it goes when servers are back online.

LIke i said, i think im just unlucky but im due for a +3 soon, i made 3 +3 jade crooks back to back to back but when it comes to something for me, i have the worst luck ><

What other skills doe you equip since i noticed you didnt mention hand of the gods or grand design? Innovation or Immersion?

ohh do you happen to remember if it was full or new moon?

well i guess either way, i need to wait until this weekend to try out the other way, its too bad i dont remember how many Iron Spikes HQ i have left lol

It was a mid moon? Forgot the term ><;. I need to work on getting abilities. Also want to look up the ones you listed. I have perfection, tender touch, preserve, and improvise. I'm working on leather, weaver, and alchemist ATM and are r27 each. Still though 9 ranks each to go.

I have never tried using my off hand since I only have a nq one, and my main hand is a +2 so I have better stats with that. I'm making hq oak grips ATM, and farming nuggets in hopes of an old friend coming back to hq me a new off hand tool. Fingers crossed. ^^

So looking up the abilities you listed

Hands of the gods: Is this like a tender touch +3

Grand design: is this similar to assemble?

Innovation: I like this one, well the description at least. If you fail, is quality reduced? If you succed what is the average quality gained?

Immersion: Sounds like a win. Is the results consistent?

Looks like alchemist. And weaver moved up on the list lol.

right now, hand of the gods is the most overpowered ability. You basically get 4-5 synths with NO durability loss, Grand Design is well...forget what the description says but it doesnt always work but when it does 75% of the time, its an automatic 30% progress and i think roughly 5 quality. I use preserve too although i know a lot of crafters dont like it. As for immersion and innovation, both are good imo but Innovation gives a nice quality boost on a red bold....i honestly dont remember the range but i do remember one time getting like 50something quality boost with it. If your trying to HQ grips, honestly thats pretty hard to do. I +1 oak bows easy and +2 every so often with just NQ bow grip, iron bow nock, hippo+3 and scale+1,2 ohh and HQ lumber.

I would also go for CLean Slate, when it works, it wipes out your progress but keeps your quality so if you use like an Oak log+3, you can get like 500+ quality easy with it.

i use offhand for finished items cuz +2 hammer is better than +1 saw

i do waxing crescent for materials and waning for finished

moon probably does nothing but who knows

i use assemble / perfection / fullfillment / masterpiece / immerson i think?

Just prior to the temporary suspension I was hq'ing the oak hammer grips from nq lumber left over from making hq lumber for my oak composite bows. Out of 35 synths 6 +1's, and 4 +2's. Not too bad, I guess. But tomorrow I'm going to farm some mere hq oak logs. Really looking for that magic +3 lol.

Also going to spam alchemists to r36 now, I hope I can try it out before they nerd it.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by -Cy

I personally like that the game doesn't play itself by telling you everything you have to do to master it. Every factor that effects synthesis outcome is detectable through testing, and as such not strictly hidden. Speculation can only establish what factors need to be tested for. I haven't really done much systematic testing myself, but from what I have done I think it's safe to say that tools doesn't have any effect beyond their stats. Position doesn't have a statistically significant effect, meaning that the noticeable effect (if any) is to small to rule out chance. It is possible that moon phases is the cause of the observed systematic rise and fall in difficulty and HQ. There is however a good chance that this curve has a starting point related to the moon and date choices you make in the character generation and as such isn't applicable to everyone. Anyway the first step would be to take notes on how success rate, HQ percentage, durability & quality loss and possibly synthesis advancement change with the different moon phases. If anyone have done so, I would very much like to know :)

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SE said that your birth date has no effect in game yet has they haven't picked what they want it to do yet

but thats an interesting theory that might become a factor later in the life of the game
i really don't think that moon phases effect anything and that its more of a rollover idea from FFXI
but people are always testing and theres still the chance it might

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Since my last post here, I have upgraded to a Steel Claw Hammer +2. I love it!!! tbh I don't think I have used my saw +2 since then lol. I find the synths to be easier for finished items. Parts are still the same though ><; I really need to get this last rank in for leather worker, for clean slate. I hope it bumps my hq ratio.

I also think the op is dead on about the moon phases, well new moon at least. I tend to get better hq either 1/2 moon or 1/4 moon ( too sleepy to look it up ) for parts.

What food is everyone using out there for hq attempts?