So is there a GOOD point to crafting Shards/Crystals?

[Vagrant-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.

[Simaril]

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

[Vagrant-0]

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

Currently 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.

Yes, bots can be made for other stuff. But that other stuff quickly becomes less profitable, harder to script, and easier to track.

[MithrasInvictus]

Shards/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 Vana'diel time in sunny conditions and pray that you succeeded.

Ah... Memories. Stupid, stupid, memories. lol

[Simaril]

Currently crystals are the best way to earn money across all servers, regardless of economy, regardless of level.

I'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.

Yes, bots can be made for other stuff. But that other stuff quickly becomes less profitable, harder to script, and easier to track.

Maybe they should leave it be for now so SE has an easy way to find bots?

[Little_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.

[YuriRamona]

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.

I 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.

[roohan]

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.