Can I get a dev response please... Crafted battle gear.

I really feel that ultimately crafting is not important or useful enough. Example: best armor we can craft is ilv 180, to make that useful endgame I would want to hq it of course. Then again to really make it comparable I\\\\'d want to penta meld it. That\\\\'s way more money or time. Then after all that hard work to make my very own awesome!e gear, I run extremes a bunch of times or build up law/esoterica and very soon buy or get way better gear, not only is my crafted piece now obsolete, BUT it was much faster and easier to grind the tomes for the better gear, furthermore the tome or raid gear is not just better, it seems WAY better, so y even bother crafting that ilv 180 gear to begin with? Once it\\\\'s obsolete I can desynth it, but the biggest loss is the materia which I can never get back anyway. Can someone in development please set me straight as to why crafting the top tier battle armor and weapons and melding them is even worth it?

Thank you!

essentially they made it for gil buyers; at least that's the conclusion I've come to with how difficult it is to make (only hiking the cost higher) and with how much easier it is to get better equipment by actually working on your battle class.
The only way it would even be better than law gear would be to pentameld it with grade 4s; the only way it'd be better than esoterics gear, would be to pentameld it with grade 5s. As soon as you get alexander savage gear? it becomes a tablecloth.

They need to seriously adjust the combat gear, how its made etc. They screwed up so badly on the combat gear (HQ quest drops) insane 2 star costs on combat gear. I put some recommendations in my main thread topic... but we'll have to see if they pay attention to everything that needs fixing. ;-/

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Originally Posted by Katlyna

They need to seriously adjust the combat gear, how its made etc. They screwed up so badly on the combat gear (HQ quest drops) insane 2 star costs on combat gear. I put some recommendations in my main thread topic... but we'll have to see if they pay attention to everything that needs fixing. ;-/

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Yeah, I can see needing to spend red scrips to get new crafter gear, but spending red scrips to make combat gear was a terrible idea.

Too many foolish people complained they were linked to raid drops... unfortunately that is ACTUALLY a good design.

Having to use red scripts for the battle gear is just wrong, I think if the required materials just came from blue scripts it would seem more fair for the actual value of the current gear.

Thanks for all the responses, I appreciate that other people don't think I'm totally out of line. Its not that I dont like the end game gear and grinding for it in raids/dungeons... I DO like that, I just wish I could choose alternatively to craft gear that was that good so that having a max level crafter served a purpose. If they want to thwart RMT maybe have it so you can get items to trade for end game gear like we have already, OR get mats that drop that you use to craft another set thats comparable AND un-tradable. You would basically have to craft it for yourself only. I understand some people would hate this idea, but still at least then I'd NEED my crafters for top tier purposes. As of right now I can make mediocre stuff, then I just replace that stuff shortly after making it and its useless and I lose it. Makes me not even want to craft it to begin with.

There has been a Dev statement. They stated it well before the expansion. The crafted gear was OP and allowed for far faster clearing of the raids than was ever intended, Yoshi said they wouldn't be making it that powerful again. As to why they made weaker gear, harder to craft, the logic eludes me.

It's my opinion that a lot of RMT revolved around buying and melding these pieces, so if it helps curb some buying, I don't mind.

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Originally Posted by Whiteroom

There has been a Dev statement. They stated it well before the expansion. The crafted gear was OP and allowed for far faster clearing of the raids than was ever intended, Yoshi said they wouldn't be making it that powerful again. As to why they made weaker gear, harder to craft, the logic eludes me.

It's my opinion that a lot of RMT revolved around buying and melding these pieces, so if it helps curb some buying, I don't mind.

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3 parter here, I can't post it all in one post...

Again ty for the responses. I have heard that this statement was made before, I just must have never read or heard it. If what you say is true thats fine I guess, but I dont see how that gear was OP, even with 5 tier 4 materias a lot of the top top top crafted gear paled in comparison to what you could already get from dungeons alone, but I have no real proof to back up my opinion, thats just how I saw it based on looking at the gear's stats and doing simple comparisons.

I don't even really mind that the top craftable gear right now in 3.x is not as good as raid gear, I'm actually OK with it. My problem lies that in crafting it you lose a lot and gain not much. Heres my point, run dungeons, get great gear, use that great gear, run higher dungeons or raids and keep improving. Simple right? Thing is when this gear is done I can turn it in for FC points and seals, so theres no real terrible loss in getting and replacing that gear. Now lets look at the crafted gear. It may be great once HQ'ed and melded and thats fine. The problem comes in when it gets replaced... what do I do with it that gives me some sort of return so that it was worth having for the short time I had it?..

As it stands I desynth it or convert it, in both cases I lose 5 materia and get back minimal mats or only one materia, so ultimately its a lose lose to even craft it in the first place. The "obtained" gear at least gives me something when I'm done with it. The crafted gear isn't even good for glamour, as there are plenty of purchasable sets that look identical to crafted sets, and those are easier to just buy too. Please SE, crafting is great for housing and the new airship crafting, but please make it serve to better battle content too in a way that is not wasted once its finished.

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Originally Posted by Katlyna

Too many foolish people complained they were linked to raid drops... unfortunately that is ACTUALLY a good design.

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Wasn't 4-star the only one that was tied to raids (and old raids at that)? 2 and 3-star battle gear mats were just from Tomestones, which hardly constitutes raid content.

... you know this just dawned on me and I forgot to mention it, and I know its a "duh Maelor" thing, but even if they would add a few crafted things near the top, that have an appearance that can ONLY be gotten from that crafted item, then we could glamour them over the hive or gordian or whatever if we wanted to. This way crafting would still be "needed" to make a unique item, and it would be powerful so as not to hold us back, and crafters would be "needed" again for the glamouring part. Case in point, the wootz scimitar or shamshir or whatever that sword was. I dont think anything looked like it, it was unique and if you want your weapon to look like it you NEED to craft. Maybe just some newer recipes that look like nothing else?

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Originally Posted by Alahra

Wasn't 4-star the only one that was tied to raids (and old raids at that)? 2 and 3-star battle gear mats were just from Tomestones, which hardly constitutes raid content.

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I should probably have stated they were linked to adventuring drops (raid token etc) which people argued was devaluating the foraging drops. But the problem there was the foraging drops were too easy to get (not that adventuring drops were part of the process).

Now the problem with crafting battlegear being relevant is just ugly. The gear needs to be relevant and have similar difficulty in acquisition to equal adventuring drops (or somewhat harder... but not drastically). To make the battle crafted gear irreverent just causes the economy to be terrible (which is what is happening right now).

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Originally Posted by Katlyna

I should probably have stated they were linked to adventuring drops (raid token etc) which people argued was devaluating the foraging drops. But the problem there was the foraging drops were too easy to get (not that adventuring drops were part of the process).

Now the problem with crafting battlegear being relevant is just ugly. The gear needs to be relevant and have similar difficulty in acquisition to equal adventuring drops (or somewhat harder... but not drastically). To make the battle crafted gear irreverent just causes the economy to be terrible (which is what is happening right now).

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Don't get me wrong, I agree. I just couldn't think of anything in particular that was that hard to get (outside of the desynth materials for 4-stars).

Their not going to make crafted battle gear useful in raids because it was a stupid and bad design to make a full set that can be over melded in to clear the latest high tier raid in the first week.

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Originally Posted by Dererk

Their not going to make crafted battle gear useful in raids because it was a stupid and bad design to make a full set that can be over melded in to clear the latest high tier raid in the first week.

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... which is what time-gating was for - except they overshot even that and made it so that combat gear won't be seen until the end of the patch cycle - so why make it even worse on top of that?

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Originally Posted by Lyrinn

... which is what time-gating was for - except they overshot even that and made it so that combat gear won't be seen until the end of the patch cycle - so why make it even worse on top of that?

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Because not every one will spend over a mil on crafted crap that will be irrelevant in the next patch with higher level gear. Also IV noticed much less RMT activity on my server and less useful crafted gear probly has something to do with it.

Besides you get tokens from savage now so you can at lest be getting a piece or 2 every week.

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Originally Posted by Dererk

Because not every one will spend over a mil on crafted crap that will be irrelevant in the next patch with higher level gear.

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I just don't understand this argument. No one has ever forced you go spend millions of gil on gear and materia. If you were able to and wanted to, then more power to you. For the people who wanted to min/max their stats and thought it was worth the investment, they had the option to. Now that option is gone.

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Originally Posted by Dererk

Also IV noticed much less RMT activity on my server and less useful crafted gear probly has something to do with it.

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Good for you. Meanwhile, on Ultros, nothing has changed.

The real issue is materia. Since you can make gear better through materia it has to have a slightly lower stat rating to compensate. If we just did away with the materia system, standard crafted gear could be way better and cheaper.

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Originally Posted by Xerius

The real issue is materia. Since you can make gear better through materia it has to have a slightly lower stat rating to compensate. If we just did away with the materia system, standard crafted gear could be way better and cheaper.

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Or how about we expand the use of materia. Lets have it so we can meld it on blue battle tome gear because right now crafters can meld their blue tools this will make the so called crafting is irelavent relavent again by crafting gear to sell for spirit bonding.

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Originally Posted by Lyrinn

I just don't understand this argument. No one has ever forced you go spend millions of gil on gear and materia. If you were able to and wanted to, then more power to you. For the people who wanted to min/max their stats and thought it was worth the investment, they had the option to. Now that option is gone.

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crafted gear in 2.xx was meant to be catch up gear not build full set Over Meld then Clear New Raids in a Week. They didn't like it being used this way so they got rid of this so called option and yes it is a choice to buy it but some people would probly be blocked out of groups unless they had this and we know how SE hates this.

And as iv just said they should let us meld blue battle gear this can also give people the custom build choice that they want (not that there's really a choice but still) and it doesn't even have to be much just 1 or 2 slots won't make that much of a difference but would still give a bit of a boost. just low enough so it dosnt become mandatory.

I agree with Xerius and Derek. Materia needs to be more usefull. The problem is once you meld it you lose it. I agree melding to blue or even green gear would be nice. You turn that gear in for points once your done with it so the gear is useful once you're done with it. maybe give more seals for melds? I'd really like to see there be a chance to get materia back on desynths... not 100% chance, but a chance none the less. Like 90% on each visible slot and then slightly down as you go down the list. Either way materia is part of the problem with crafting not really having an ultimate purpose.

Crafted gear has never been that much more useful unless it was accessories for tanks. The only outliers would be something like Kirimu Coat for bard, but only because their poetic and derpwyrm tops were saturated with excessive skill speed.


The way it is right now for crafting battle gear, it's arguably a larger timesink than savage progression (or even doing alex normal) due to the amount of favor mats needed (3-4 crafting materials needed, and its roughly an average of 90 minutes to get one crafting material through straight gathering, 30 minutes on average dissolvents which you need for battle gear), locked by weekly currency (minimum of 100 red gathering scrips and 300 crafting scrips for top piece.

...And this is an ilvl180 piece, that's equal to law gear (which is not a weekly gated currency), and inferior to the upgraded law gear (which is also not a weekly gated currency) due to how stat budgeting works with secondaries being much much less powerful than primary stats this time around, and you can't meld primary stats anyway because it's already capped assuming its HQ'd (which is equal to law gear of the same ilevel).

It fails at being "catch up" gear because law does it better without requiring weekly gated currency or being an absurd time sink
It fails at being "alternative raid gear" because of how stat budgetting works this time around.
It fails at even glamour because they're the exact same models and color scheme as the ilvl160, and both versions are dyeable (and the BRD/MCH is ugly as hell, wheres our arachne shirt if you're gonna give mnk/nin our kirimu coat)

Crafted Ilvl 180 battle gear literally has no place in this game they way they are implemented, other than to be an utter waste of time and money.

THANK YOU!

SE please see above, this is what I'm talking about. I want stuff to craft, and I want there to be a real reason to craft this "stuff" but right now the only things that are craftable are not worth the time or effort. Gear that is effectively identical in appearance and the same or better in stats is easier to get elsewhere. As of right now the only reason really to craft almost ANY type of gear for yourself is just to have your name on the stat screen (which is not much of a reason).

Specific example... Lets use a PLD weapon (just because). The best sword I could possibly craft is an Adamantite Winglet HQ, then penta meld it. This is ilv 150 so I can't even use your shiney new tier V materias. Even to meld 5 tier IV materias would be a HUGE loss of time and/or money. I would never want or need to craft the above sword because it is way way WAAAAYYYY easier and more fun and overall just more efficient gameplay for me to just get and use the Belah'dian Anelace, or the Baldur Sword and use those to move up into the tome weapons. Plus like rice said I wouldn't even craft the winglet for its appearence when theres a way easier and cheaper to make and/or buy version that is many levels lower. To all the devs, I don't want this post to come off as me yelling at you all or being disrespectful... I LOVE FFXIV, this crafting situation just really bothers me and apparently a lot of other players too.