Materia System

[Peregrine]

Isn't that how anything works though? If I'm a contractor doing glass work on someone's home, I buy my materials, in this case glass. I then pass that cost on to the customer for whom I'm doing glass work for. Why wouldn't I?

In this example, you are the person that both sells the glass and makes the house. You can thus charge whatever the hell you please for the glass and they have to pay it.

In a balanced system, you would have to purchase the glass from someone who isn't you.

In this case, crafters get to pay themselves with gatherers' and battlers' money.

[Sonic_the_Hedgehog]

In this example, you are the person that both sells the glass and makes the house. You can thus charge whatever the hell you please for the glass and they have to pay it.

In a balanced system, you would have to purchase the glass from someone who isn't you.

In this case, crafters get to pay themselves with gatherers' and battlers' money.

Isn't it crafters' goal to make money? That's the real reason most people craft, also if you're worried that crafters will have too much money, there just needs to be a gil sink for them. Also if I feel like someone is charging too much, I'll just go to another crafter, there's always someone willing to sell their services for less.

[Peregrine]

Isn't it crafters' goal to make money? That's the real reason most people craft, also if you're worried that crafters will have too much money, there just needs to be a gil sink for them. Also if I feel like someone is charging too much, I'll just go to another crafter, there's always someone willing to sell their services for less.

It's industry-wide imbalance. Consider crafters, gatherers, and battlers to be three entities-three corporations.
One corporation gets to charge the others twice for their product. Once then each of the other two wishes to start making their products, and then again when these two have to finish their final products.

That one corporation will own the other two within the end of the fiscal year. So will crafters own gatherers and battlers, as a total entity. Taken as a unit, you can't simply go to another crafter. That crafter inherently benefits from his trade's collective advantage over your trade.

It's about global market balance, not individual observations.

[Wynn]

In this example, you are the person that both sells the glass and makes the house. You can thus charge whatever the hell you please for the glass and they have to pay it.

In a balanced system, you would have to purchase the glass from someone who isn't you.

In this case, crafters get to pay themselves with gatherers' and battlers' money.

No, actually in my example the glass maker is most certainly someone else, otherwise I wouldn't be buying materials at all. I'd be using my own.

A crafter is buying the materia from battle player A's retainer, purchasing the catalyst from harvester player A's retainer, using both to make an enhanced weapon out of their own crafted weapon, and then putting the result up on his retainer, which is then purchased by battle player B.

Plus if player B doesn't like crafter As price, he can go see crafter B or C.

The only way your example is accurate is if said crafter is also a battle class player, and a harvester, and goes to make his own materia/catalysts. And even if that is the case, I fail to see the problem there. It's his loot that he worked to get, same as you or anyone else. They can do what they want with it. Anyone is free to purchase from another retainer that they feel is priced fairer, or make their own.

I mean look at your sig. You have pretty much all three class archetypes leveled to 50. You'll be making everything yourself. So will a lot of people. And if you are that concerned that greedy crafters are going to band together and rape the masses, fight the good fight and undercut their prices. You of all people have the ability to do just that.

I, however, think your fears in this instance are a bit more akin to wearing a tin foil hat.

[Lerris]

In this example, you are the person that both sells the glass and makes the house. You can thus charge whatever the hell you please for the glass and they have to pay it.

In a balanced system, you would have to purchase the glass from someone who isn't you.

In this case, crafters get to pay themselves with gatherers' and battlers' money.

Crafter still has to purchase raw materials/finished gear + materia + catalyst. We're not selling the same sword twice unless we've bought it back.

What is needed is a mechanism where a crafter can join materia to gear while it is in the owner's possession. Something like the current bazaar repairs ( which also need to be improved as mentioned elswhere so that buyers can provide their own repair materials ).

[Peregrine]

Crafter still has to purchase raw materials/finished gear + materia + catalyst. We're not selling the same sword twice unless we've bought it back.

And that doesn't matter one bit, because the crafter can turn around and re-charge whoever they sell that materia'd gear to. Again, battlers and gatherers end up paying everything they ever charge crafters, and more.

Crafters have two avenues of profit from this system, and they are the MOST IMPORTANT ONES: the FIRST and the LAST.
You can't START materia unless you buy something from a crafter. HELLO profit.
You can't USE materia unless you get something from a crafter. HELLO profit.

Again, this is absolutely ridiculous. It can't happen.