Finally got all my Crafting Classes to 60. Now about the gear...

A few days ago I finally got all of my crafting gear to level 60 so I can start melding Materia at my level and craft gear and other items I might need or sell on the MB.

However I'm still using the HQ versions of the Lv55 and 56 gear and in order to make some of the Master Craft Book III items my Craftsmanship and Control need to be better and so I'm looking to see what's the best gear to get at the moment to make it better.

But I'm also asking seeing as Patch 3.3 might be coming out this month and they will have new and better Crafting Gear than the current one and got my thinking... should I wait for better gear?

I looked at a piece of BSM Body Part in my server's MB and the price they had it was 9 million for an HQ one fully melded and a 15 million gil HQ one with no melds. Sad to say I lack the funds to EVEN buy one of them and that's the ONLY two on my server.

I mean I need 589 control to make some of the Recipes for the final turn-in for each of my respective Crafting Class (a such there was no superior tool (well starting superior) to be obtained in them like the old Lv50 Quest).

Any suggestions guys?

Hiya Chris!

http://www.ffxivguild.com/ff14-arr-d...materia-melds/

it is a good source for the gear progression for crafters. seeing as 3.3 is nearly here, i suggest to get the Chimerical/Serpentskin/Dragonskin left sides and the Hallowed right gear for now. if you are serious in crafting and want to craft all the succeeding gears by yourself, then you really have your work/wallet cut out for you! Either way, good luck! :)

Oh! Another fellow player from Malboro, nice to meetcha!

Well this guide is helpful and I thank you for providing the link, but I dislike how the ads for some reason are slowing down my PC when I view that page... then again I have had my computer on... for days. >_>;
Anyway the Chimerical/Serpentskin/Dragonskin HQ versions and the Hallowed gear are perfect for now so they can be shared by all classes and I'll have more than enough Control to start working on the other recipes that require high control.

I'll continue to ask questions if I need something to help me with.

We do not know for sure when 3.3 is going to hit. Current guesses I've seen on the web range from the end of this month, to the 14th of June. So, you do have *some* time.

The generic, any-class i150 (or lower, for the Hallowed accessories+belt) crafting gear is the next stepping stone, given where you say your gear is, TC. Do not meld this any more than you have to, just make it (HQ, of course!) and use this for a little bit.

When 3.3 hits we will know what the crafting classes for its gear are, and whether the gear is locked behind Specializations. And, almost more importantly, what the crafting requirements are. Those pieces of information are what you will need in order to determine where to go next. My own guess is the 3.3 gear will require current 3 star stats (850 craft, 820 control) but that is only a guess. Considering that those stats cannot be reached with a full set of i180 Red Scrip Gear unless you eat food, they may be high for the new gear.

Play around with http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/CUL (or any class) to decide how you want to meld things.

Hit me up in game if you are on and maybe i can help you!
(cant remember, but will check if you are in my FL since your name sounds familiar)

I'll see if I can hit you up Kamote... I don't think I'm on your Friend List. I know there's a few Chris's and Coronas running about in FFXIV.

Anyway I finally got the left side compete with the Chimerical/Serpentskin/Dragonskin... costed me a pretty penny a bit... but I'll be making those gil back now that I have near 600 on Craftsmanship and Control stats. Though I'm going to need the Primary and Secondary Tools right to go over it and have a enough and the right side with the accessories, well those can wait a bit. I have a good amount of CP to make HQ items and there's scarcely any on the MB so I'll wait.

However looking at the prices for HQ tools for my class, like LTW...

http://i.imgur.com/Vh7h3su.png

Why do people do this? They KNOW it won't sell, right? That's too pricey even if it's the only HQ item of that tool on the MB! Some people are just overly greedy and I rarely see the items I want. It's like crafters are died on the Malboro server. Also having Crystal Clusters to make those items... I know that Fire and Lightning can be EASILY gotten and faster in HW but I haven't seen any method for the rest to be easily gotten as well. Some of the time gates for them sucks.

Anyway my old Lv55-56 had 76 - 79% spiritbond status on them and I like to get them to 100% so I can convert them to materia and hopefully have Tier 3 - 4 Materia for Crafting for my hard work. Any suggestions to make it fully spiritbond faster for crafts?

The i170 items are the top end crafted crafting/gathering gear right now. That price reflects that, and the time involved in producing the item. For example, that offhand took four 2* refined materials. Prior to the Favors change, that would have meant gathering from 4 sets (of 5 each) Botanist Favors, and an equal amount of Mining Favors. Post change, those number are, for all practical purposes, cut down to a third, but it still means two sets of Mining and two sets of Botany Favors. Then there is the 2* crafting itself : refinement of the materials, then crafting the OH tool.



That is a lot more work than most previous crafting equipment, the only *possible* exception being the work required to obtain the Ehcatl Sealants. And those, at least, were much more readily available on the board for those who sought to buy their materials rather than gather themselves.

So, yea. Those things are pricey. Your alternative is to craft the gear yourself, or get the i180 gear. i180 is better before melds than the i170, but the i170 has higher stat caps when melded, so it's your call what you want to do there.

Ah, I see. I have my Gathering all to 60 but I don't do Favors or know where to go to look for them which explains why it's so pricey, but still that's a LOT of gil! Not a lot of players or crafters are willing to shelf that much.

This reinforces that Crafters got gimped big time in HW when it came out. However I don't know where to go to buy the Red Scrips gear which is odd as I thought they were be with the Scrip Exchangers, but I'll look a little harder. Probably in Idyllshire somewhere and I missed it.

So far it's only the Secondary Tool that's pricey? I got the LTW HQ Main Tool for 45k on the MB which was nice.

Thanks for sharing that, I didn't know. Sigh... this is going to be harder to secure those Tools now.

SE dropped the ball pretty hard when it came to the top-of-the-line crafting equipment in Heavensward. They made the process so convoluted and difficult that only a very small percentage of the crafting population could put up with it. The time investment needed to craft a piece was such that they NEEDED a huge price tag to justify the time spent. Otherwise, the crafter could have been using that time making as much money or more by crafting easier things that take less effort and less risk.

And the risk was pretty big. Before folks worked out good rotations and stat requirements, it was difficult to HQ this advanced equipment - and NQs were all but worthless, as their stats were low enough that they were barely better than easy-to-HQ standard crafting gear. For example, compare a NQ Gemmaster's Coronal to a HQ Chimerical Felt Turban of Crafting: Both grant 62 Control, though the Coronal also adds 3 CP. That 3 CP is not nearly enough to justify the difficulty of obtaining the expensive ingredients used in the Coronal - and while the Coronal DOES have higher stat caps for melding, the horrifying expense you'd go through to meet those stat caps would make the HQ price tag look like chump change.

These high risks caused a goodly chunk of the crafting population to bail, and all that remained were the serious crafters - folks who were generally wealthy enough to afford these crazily high-priced items. Most crafters of this kind, though, were the sorts of people who could make the stuff themselves, and so the market willing to shell out for them was pretty niche. It's similar to real life, really; there are plenty of markets that get by by selling very limited quantities of items to very wealthy buyers for high prices.

However, this was NOT the outcome SE wanted, which is why I say they dropped the ball. They've backpedaled time and again, making the process easier and easier. Trading Favor items in for materials now gives three times as many back as they used to. Gathering the Favor items now takes only a third of the time that it used to. The recent addition of 3-star recipes are barely more difficult to craft than the 2-star recipes were, and the ingredients involved are much easier to obtain (Tomestone materials - and super cheap Tomestone materials, at that). SE is clearly trying to draw back the crafters they alienated - and it's working, but slowly.

In the meantime, though, top-of-the-line crafting gear is still a bitch-and-a-half to make, and that's going to keep the prices high. In the meantime, the Chimerical Felt and Serpentskin stuff is good enough to craft almost anything once you give it a good melding. SE has promised, though, that the next generation of crafting gear will require top-of-the-line gear from the current generation to create. Given how few crafters managed to keep up for the current generation, that means next-gen gear is going to be available only at a slow trickle.

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

In the meantime, though, top-of-the-line crafting gear is still a bitch-and-a-half to make, and that's going to keep the prices high.

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I keep looking at crafting as something I should consider getting back into, then I run the math and see that each item requires multiple millions of gil of materials (primarily the favor materials), and suddenly find that I no longer care as much as I thought I did.

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Originally Posted by VirusChris

Ah, I see. I have my Gathering all to 60 but I don't do Favors or know where to go to look for them which explains why it's so pricey, but still that's a LOT of gil! Not a lot of players or crafters are willing to shelf that much.

This reinforces that Crafters got gimped big time in HW when it came out. However I don't know where to go to buy the Red Scrips gear which is odd as I thought they were be with the Scrip Exchangers, but I'll look a little harder. Probably in Idyllshire somewhere and I missed it.

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Favors are an incredibly time-consuming process, the Red Scrips gear is located in Idyllshire (5.7, 7.1). The favor items utilized to make most 170 gear, requires not only favor items from Gathering Red Scrips, but also uses up Crafting Red Scrip tokens, of which need to be turned in with BOTH Botanist and Miner favor items. As a consequence, you need both Botanist and Miner at 60, alongside sacrificing your limited Red Scrip tokens to just obtain the material, of which could be wasted if you NQ it.

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Originally Posted by Ibi

I keep looking at crafting as something I should consider getting back into, then I run the math and see that each item requires multiple millions of gil of materials (primarily the favor materials)

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Although there are people who are willing and wealthy enough to shell out the Gil for the materials off of the board, most of the people making these things are doing the Favors themselves.

A typical leg piece takes 4 refined materials, several other easy-to-obtain materials, some Fieldcraft Demimateria III's, and some Seaborne Aethersands. The cost to buy those off of the board will likely exceed 2 million Gil, most of which is the cost of the Favor Materials or the actual refinement items (such as Purified Coke, the items that you trade the favor materials for), with the next most pricey item being the Seaborne Aethersand, at roughly 100k to 200k each.

MUCH lower Gil outlay to gather the stuff yourself. Of course, that requires spending extra time.

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Originally Posted by LystAP

Favors are an incredibly time-consuming process, the Red Scrips gear is located in Idyllshire (5.7, 7.1). The favor items utilized to make most 170 gear, requires not only favor items from Gathering Red Scrips, but also uses up Crafting Red Scrip tokens, of which need to be turned in with BOTH Botanist and Miner favor items. As a consequence, you need both Botanist and Miner at 60, alongside sacrificing your limited Red Scrip tokens to just obtain the material, of which could be wasted if you NQ it.

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Wow.. that's garbage. :(

Well I'm going to get the second to best crafting gear than just to hold me over and make it easy to craft most of the recipes. Honestly this is horrible.

For those who has played other MMOs with Crafting in it, which do you think is the best Crafting system?

This system certainly beats the crafting system in Everquest. All you did in that game was insert the stuff for one recipe into the appropriate container and hit "Combine". No crafting minigame or anything at all - just a comparison of the recipe's difficulty level vs your own skill level to determine whether or not you succeed in crafting, and then if your skill is lower than the recipe's "trivial level" (basically, it's skill difficulty level) a second check to see if you gained a skill point.

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Originally Posted by LystAP

Favors are an incredibly time-consuming process, the Red Scrips gear is located in Idyllshire (5.7, 7.1). The favor items utilized to make most 170 gear, requires not only favor items from Gathering Red Scrips, but also uses up Crafting Red Scrip tokens, of which need to be turned in with BOTH Botanist and Miner favor items. As a consequence, you need both Botanist and Miner at 60, alongside sacrificing your limited Red Scrip tokens to just obtain the material, of which could be wasted if you NQ it.

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It takes less than an hour to farm all the favor stuff you need. I farmed it when it was far more time consuming and since the nerf it is ridiculously easy. But I have miner and bot at 60. To me waiting 3 weeks for one script piece was unacceptable so that is the route I went.

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Originally Posted by VirusChris

For those who has played other MMOs with Crafting in it, which do you think is the best Crafting system?

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Only other MMO I've played is FFXI, and the crafting system here is much better. In FFXI, you had no control over a synth once you started. Just put in the ingredients, hit synth, and pray. Chance of HQ depended on how high your crafting level was above the level the item you're crafting, and could be at maximum 50%. Most recipes worth crafting, of course, were very high level recipes, and your chance of HQ was much lower as a result; mostly 1% chance. Additionally, no matter the recipe, no matter how skilled you were, there was always a chance the synth would fail; I believe that this chance was somewhere around 5%. On a fail, you might get lucky and not lose any ingredients, but more likely you would lose some, or even all of the ingredients used.

Leveling up in that game was a pain, too. Completing a sufficiently high-level synth had a CHANCE of awarding you skillups, usually at a rate of 0.1 (so ten of these would get you one level). At lower levels these skillups rolled in pretty frequently, but after level 50, these skillups slowed to a crawl; generally around one in four synths would provide a 0.1 skillup. The max level was 110, and once you got past level 100 or so the cost of the ingredients used in recipes became prohibitive. So, you'd need to make dozens and dozens of high level items that would sell slowly or not at all, while fighting other crafters for the limited quantities of rare ingredients available.

I much prefer the crafting system in FFXIV. It's more enjoyable to craft, and the process of leveling up isn't nearly as gated. It IS, however still gated, as you can see in this very thread. You either need a lot of gil, or a lot of time and patience to get the gear you'll need to craft high level items. While the Favor system is relatively new, and definitely the worst gate, it's not the first time such a gate was implemented, either. ARR crafting endgame involved a lot of Ehcatl Sealants, which could only be obtained by grinding through the Ixali Beast Tribe quests or buying them from the Auction House at a premium. Upgrading your crafting tool and obtaining recipe books required a large number of Fieldcraft Demimateria III, which required high level desynthesis skill or (again) gil to obtain.

I don't mean to scare you off by any of this; just be aware of what you're getting into. Just as with combat classes, crafting has an endgame, and that endgame will test your patience and skill as a crafter. And, just as with combat classes, that endgame is optional; it's entirely possible to enjoy crafting without diving into the deep end of the pool, just as many players enjoy the game without raiding. One advantage that the crafting endgame has over the raiding endgame, though, is that you have less reliance on other players. The only person who can hold you back from success is yourself!

Since you can gather and if you can meet the min for 2 star crafting (using Rath's rotation/cp requirement), strap up and take a day to farm some favors and slowly build your own gear. It's much more satisfying having your name on all your gear.

I'd like some advice. I have recently hit 60 on everything except Armorer. I also recently finished Botanist to 60 (had Miner 60 for quite a while).

All of my crafting gear is the i150 HQ, and my accessories are the HQ Hallowed/Dragon Fang with the exception of the HQ Griffin Leather belt. I'm almost done melding my pieces and I also have 4 of the HQ crafted i170 off hands (BSM, WVR, LTW and GSM). Last week I purchased the red scrip i180 WVR main hand.

I'm unsure if I should keep getting main hands (which take three weeks each) for all jobs, or just my favorite 2-3 and then start working on the crafted i170 by using favor items. The other concern I have is if I should keep gearing my Botanist or use those gathering scrips for Favors. Currently, the only high level pieces my BTN has are the Fieldkeep i180 main hand and the i180 pants.

To give a general idea of my stats, for example, my BSM is currently at (without food):

745 Craft
725 Control
398 CP

My LTW (specialist) and GSM (specialist) would be:

765 Craft
745 Control
398 CP

and my WVR (specialist) would be higher due to the i180 main hand. So, my WVR stats would be:

805 Craft
770 Control
398 CP

Try to get your Specialists geared up. I170 or i180. Until 3.3 hits though, I am not sure that getting the non-specialists to 850/820 is worthwhile. The reason being that we expect the 850/820 level to be approximately the level required to craft the 3.3 crafting/gathering gear. It would be far better to produce the stuff of that which you can, buying the rest from the board, and using the generic 3.3 set for all your crafters.

You may instead choose to continue to collect the Red Tokens, but simply not spending them until 3.3 hits, so you see what you need. I'm taking this route, but to be fair, I've already gotten my three specialists to the 850/820 (without food) level.

Something to keep in mind for all new crafters 3.3 will have new crafter gear so maybe preparing for that or making friends with crafters to help you out. The new set is supposed to be a higher ilvl and possibly not job specific. ;)

Based on the statements where the next set coming in 3.3 was announced, it will not be class-specific, and will be usable by all crafting classes. That is why I am not so sure at this point that gearing the non-specialists to 850/820 is worthwhile.

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Originally Posted by Cleanse

Since you can gather and if you can meet the min for 2 star crafting (using Rath's rotation/cp requirement), strap up and take a day to farm some favors and slowly build your own gear. It's much more satisfying having your name on all your gear.

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I do like making my own gear and getting the HQ... but when you have like 81 ~ 99% on HQ and hit the final synth to finish the gear only for it to turn up as a Normal Quality. I just just, the RNG is sometimes cruel to me during crafting or lucky like I have 9 - 21% and I manage to get the HQ item. The high chance hitting the 1% of if NOT getting HQ and I got it.

Which is why I sometimes buy the darn gear on the MB. I'm just going to get the ilvl150 gear for all my Crafters to share so I am at least partially ready for the next step in 3.3. I am in no hurry to get the best gears for my Crafters at this time with 3.3 coming along and my Guildmaster of our FC is a Master Crafter with all HQ i180 Crafting gear and has helped me a lot with my items as well so I can ask him when I can... though he only does the requests on the weekend so I know when to hit him up for help.

And to Roth's previous message... good to know we won't be gated behind Specialist Classes at least, but I am wary on how those gear will be obtained.

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Originally Posted by VirusChris

And to Roth's previous message... good to know we won't be gated behind Specialist Classes at least, but I am wary on how those gear will be obtained.

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General use gear does not mean it is crafted by non-specialists. We do not know whether the gear will be crafted by Specialists only, or by just anyone. Personally, I HOPE they kill the Specialist-Only flag and never reuse it. I do not expect such, however, and I have a sneaking suspicion that the crafting gear will be locked behind Specialist stones. That's why I suggest taking your Specailists, even if leaving the other 5 classes alone, to the 850/820 level. You will be able to craft, and sell, the 3 star crafting/gathering gear, and use the proceeds to purchase the gear that you cannot craft due to the Specializations.

Well my Specialist are BSM, LTW, and ALC so I'll see. I'll try to get that 850/820 stats for those crafts, but it might take a while. Working on getting all my classes to 60 and then worry about the endgame content for all my crafters though I'll try to do those on the side as I can.

Probably going to take a break from the game. I am getting really tired or repeating the same thing day in and day out... so much like a chore/job.

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Originally Posted by Roth_Trailfinder

You may instead choose to continue to collect the Red Tokens, but simply not spending them until 3.3 hits, so you see what you need. I'm taking this route, but to be fair, I've already gotten my three specialists to the 850/820 (without food) level.

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This is also the route I have taken and I feel like this is the route most (omni-ish) crafters are taking. I have 6 geared specialists across 2 characters and use low cp food just because but I am not gearing the others because of the specialist gate that will most assuredly be apart of the 3.3 set.

A Lot of people are saying to wait for gear which is a good choice but note you will need either RCS gear or I170 to be able to craft the stuff being added in 3.3 and it will have a very high price tag for at least 2 or 3 weeks

But, if you aren't at 3-star capability, how can you just sit and wait (unless you're ultra rich)? Apparently, it will be crafted, so if you can't craft 3-star gear now, you won't be able to craft any of the new set.

I just wonder what we happen with scrips when 3.3 hits. I'm sitting on over 100 red tokens "just in case". I could be shooting myself in the foot, honestly idc that much if I am, but 3.3 is so close I just cannot bring myself to spend em.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

I just wonder what we happen with scrips when 3.3 hits. I'm sitting on over 100 red tokens "just in case". I could be shooting myself in the foot, honestly idc that much if I am, but 3.3 is so close I just cannot bring myself to spend em.

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They have said they will be changing rcs gear but it will be at a later date so i expect it to be at least a month after the patch

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Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

But, if you aren't at 3-star capability, how can you just sit and wait (unless you're ultra rich)? Apparently, it will be crafted, so if you can't craft 3-star gear now, you won't be able to craft any of the new set.

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Find crafters that can, I have about 10 requests for the new gear already and I am not going to be charging an arm and a leg. Simply get the mats needed for the new sets and ask a friend. Find a crafting LS etc. :)

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Originally Posted by Lujan

They have said they will be changing rcs gear but it will be at a later date so i expect it to be at least a month after the patch

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Didn't the Mighty P also mention that we will have to have the original rcs tool to upgrade to the next one? I swear he did in an interview but I cannot find it now.

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Originally Posted by NorthernLadMSP

But, if you aren't at 3-star capability, how can you just sit and wait (unless you're ultra rich)? Apparently, it will be crafted, so if you can't craft 3-star gear now, you won't be able to craft any of the new set.

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Well, even if you don't sit and wait, it's highly likely that the new gear will be Specialist recipes. No matter how you prepare, you'll only be able to craft some of the pieces. (Though, if you specialize in WVR and LTW, you're most likely going to be able to make more than half of them.)

Unless you have an alt crafter leveled, you're most likely going to have to buy at least SOME of the new gear pieces. Create and sell the pieces you can make, and use the cash to buy the pieces you can't.

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

Well, even if you don't sit and wait, it's highly likely that the new gear will be Specialist recipes. No matter how you prepare, you'll only be able to craft some of the pieces. (Though, if you specialize in WVR and LTW, you're most likely going to be able to make more than half of them.)

Unless you have an alt crafter leveled, you're most likely going to have to buy at least SOME of the new gear pieces. Create and sell the pieces you can make, and use the cash to buy the pieces you can't.

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Alternatively, you can have a lot of souls of the crafter in Stock so you can make all the gear for yourself at least.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

Didn't the Mighty P also mention that we will have to have the original rcs tool to upgrade to the next one? I swear he did in an interview but I cannot find it now.

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Nope I have not seen that anywhere what you might mean is the new counterfoils that have been added? which will be used for the new RCS gear which will come at a later date( I think a month after 3.3 as to balance the people that have been hoarding them) I hawk eye everything crafting all he said that we would either need i170 gear or i180 to be able to make the new recipes which will be added in 3.3, also the 3.3 set's will be the last crafting and gathering sets to be added till 4.0 which means everyone and their mum will be a crafter now. But we all know it's not just about the gear :) Also nothing has been said about the tools I for-one am happy we are getting a new gathering set always annoyed me we could only get one via RCS I'm still trying to find information about MH OH for all. I would also like to know how they are going to give us access to Crafting/Gathering V's as at the moment I'm spending a few mil a day on IV to transmute

I'm sad though all them favor mat's i saved are kinda useless i hope they are brought back in to the fold for 3.3 but we will see.

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

Well, even if you don't sit and wait, it's highly likely that the new gear will be Specialist recipes. No matter how you prepare, you'll only be able to craft some of the pieces. (Though, if you specialize in WVR and LTW, you're most likely going to be able to make more than half of them.)

Unless you have an alt crafter leveled, you're most likely going to have to buy at least SOME of the new gear pieces. Create and sell the pieces you can make, and use the cash to buy the pieces you can't.

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I feel dirty if i have someone elses name on me so i have my alt :)

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Originally Posted by Lujan

Nope I have not seen that anywhere

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Could have sworn I he said it off handedly in an interview around the Pax East time but cannot for the life of me find it. Someone said something about the tools and he said they are giving us new ones but not to worry because the old rcs ones will be needed to get the next upgrade. Blerg I wish I could find it. I even considered buying the rcs tools I don't already have after I read that.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

Could have sworn I he said it off handedly in an interview around the Pax East time but cannot for the life of me find it. Someone said something about the tools and he said they are giving us new ones but not to worry because the old rcs ones will be needed to get the next upgrade. Blerg I wish I could find it. I even considered buying the rcs tools I don't already have after I read that.

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Lol me too but you sound like me you will hunt it down so it dont eat away at you lol