So here I am in Central Shroud, gathering ice shards to resume leveling my Armorsmith. Gaining all of 10 exp per unit for my lvl 26 Botanist. Getting whispers from RMTs trying to sell me shards. Watching a bot teleport around in the floor farming shards by the 1000s....
So aside from adding a redundant step into crafting and being the perfect cash cow for RMTs/Botters I find my self asking: is there any point to this? It doesn't even add much to the timesink effect.
If there a valid reason why shards/crystals exist I'd love to hear it, no sarcasm intended. Otherwise maybe its time for Square to begin talks of dismantling it as a waste of time too easily exploited.
So is there a GOOD point to crafting Shards/Crystals?
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09-30-2013, 06:18 AMObreckSo is there a GOOD point to crafting Shards/Crystals?
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09-30-2013, 06:38 AMZozorozo
I see the value in having them as an item that gathers can sell. I personally can make 50,000 - 96,000 an hour gathering shards.
I do agree, however, that for people just interested in getting their shards for crafting, this can be a drain. If they were to lower the GP for the Wards, it would help drastically. -
09-30-2013, 06:58 AMxbiggixx
I would stop leveling armorer if I were you..nothing good is obtained from it an its just a waste of time,shards,and money. Shards an crystals take a huge amount of time to gather an it's extremely boring especially since you need a huge amount for crafting especially when you're on levels 35-50. They should implement a way to break down clusters an crystals down to make the time to gather them less tedious. Other than using shards/crystals for crafts you can sell then for Gil but..the time it took to get the shards an for you to just sell them is not worth it at least IMO. SE needs to take more action against these teleporting players/bot quickly or else this game will lose a lot of players.
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09-30-2013, 12:37 PMPolaritieYeah, the wards need their cost lowered - why would I bother to level miner when I can just spend 100 GP more for the same effect anyways?Quote:
Originally Posted by Zozorozo
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09-30-2013, 01:19 PMgigi_franahow do you manage that?Quote:
Originally Posted by Zozorozo
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09-30-2013, 03:20 PMDerrick
If they added recipes to alchemist where they use fish to convert into shards maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
Wait....they did that in 1.0, I wonder why they took it out. -
09-30-2013, 05:13 PMVelev
I am a lvl42 GSM and some point after lvl30 i had to stop and farm shards to continue. Normally you would need either tools or shards/crystals but in this case both are needed for crafting which is a bit too much. If they would increase the amount of shards/crystals you can farm as you get higher in level that would be great. At level 40+ nodes could give you 3 shards for example per swing while mining/bot, this would make things a bit better but the way it is now it's a bit too much imo.
Just a thought i discussed with a friend of mine the other day. -
10-01-2013, 04:14 PMShiyo
There needs to be more efficient ways to gain shards in this game, the price of most items that aren't 1 or 2 star have cheaper material costs than shard costs. Yes, the shard costs are actually higher than the actual materials to make almost every 1 and 2 star item.
That is completely insane and needs adjusted, asap. -
10-01-2013, 09:09 PMSeleneVenizelosCuriously, River Sand is still in the game but I have not found any Alchemy recipes that use it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Derrick
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10-01-2013, 11:05 PMWulfiesShards/Crystals/Clusters exist as a "currency" or "energy source"to create the item. In FFXI you would put the reagents in the crystal, and "face north-west" at 3am Van'Adeel time in sunny conditions and preay that you suceeded. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Obreck
Crystals have been a huge part of the FF franchise, so I do not think they would change this. Personally, I like this, you need a consumable to create the item and crystals are the consumables.
See my post asking the exact same thing Shard/Crystal/Cluster ConversionQuote:
Originally Posted by Derrick
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10-02-2013, 06:42 PMVagrant-0
Personally, I don't see why they can't just add shards as something sold by vendors in every major town for a reasonable price of 5-10 gil each.
First off, it would kill the RMT botting aspect of all this since they would no longer be worthwhile to gather en-mass just to resell. It wouldn't kill off all of it, but it would certainly make a dent in their cashflow as those services would have to turn to more sophisticated bots to auto-craft or rely on those few locations that have needed drops and have to compete with the active market and time spent leveling/"acquiring" a character to that point.
Second, it would maintain the crystal thing as well as keep an existing money/time sink in crafting so that players can decide if they want to spend several hours gathering a few hundred, or just buying them from an NPC.
Third... Clearly these shards are common enough that every guild and low level quest can reward you with a few hundred just for breathing and moving a few steps in one direction. So why couldn't there be a vendor around who has plenty for sale... Just like any other basic crafting material. -
10-03-2013, 02:04 AMSimaril
They should track the Market Board sale price, and make NPCs sell stuff at the average Market Board price. This way NPC pricing is ruled by the player created economy, instead of the other way around.
I believe the increase in supply would decrease the price on the Market Board, and maybe discourage RMT bots? I'm sure they'll always find a way to turn a profit :( -
10-03-2013, 04:39 AMVagrant-0Currently crystals are the best way to earn money across all servers, regardless of economy, regardless of level. For being something you can do with a level 10 battle class and level 1 gathering class this is silly. The high cost of crystals currently serves no benefit to crafters or the economy. Making it always subject to supply and demand will never work to the benefit of honest players since almost everyone would prefer to do something interesting instead of running between the same 4 nodes for several hours. Meanwhile bots can continue to exploit this and fund RMT easily.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simaril
Yes, bots can be made for other stuff. But that other stuff quickly becomes less profitable, harder to script, and easier to track. -
10-03-2013, 04:45 AMMithrasInvictusAh... Memories. Stupid, stupid, memories. lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Wulfies
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10-04-2013, 09:57 PMSimarilI'm not sure what your definition of "best" is. But at every gathering node below lv 20 I've found something more profitable to gather than crystals. "Best" for bots maybe... for all the reasons you identified.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vagrant-0
Maybe they should leave it be for now so SE has an easy way to find bots?Quote:
Originally Posted by Vagrant-0
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10-04-2013, 10:10 PMLittle_Gray
There either needs to be a better way to farm up shards, add them to a vendor, or reduce the amount you need. Heck even if they made the experience gains for gathering them scale with the level of the rock/tree that would be better. As it stands though I am often spending more on shards then the items I am making are worth. It also just seems to be a time/gold sink for crafters rather then actually adding anything to the game.
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10-05-2013, 08:29 AMYuriRamonaI agree with the idea of making shards purchasable from NPC. This would end a significant portion of RMT revenue source, or at least move them into open areas where they have a harder chance hiding from GMs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vagrant-0
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10-05-2013, 09:09 AMroohan
I think it's only too unbalanced at the moment. Requiring 4 shards just to craft base materials is too much in my opinion. Either lower the amount of shards needes at higher levels or add more ways to acquire shards. On the other hand the release of the game might be the problem, because of everyone leveling crafting classes at the same time. The demand on shards is too high at the moment. I could imagine that the market might stabilize in the future and shards get lower in price.