Low level market seems to be dead

[Kallera]

Crafting is fine. I have all the crafts leveled to 50 and made over 10m from them since the game came out. Certain things sell well, base relic weapons, some 2 star items, hq crafting gear, mega potions, food. You just got to know the game market and what people want to buy. In most MMOs they have the same philosophy "Crafting gear should not make the best gear in the game" I agree with this, you want the best gear you should be doing raids.

Other games do not presume to have crafting be a leveling skill with its own exp bar and quests. Other games often leave crafting skills as a blurb on the website if at all.

Consider this:

I have to do dungeons to get the currency needed to purchase the item to craft the materials to craft the armor.(And hopefully HQ, which will require multiple 50s and or luck to accomplish...)
THEN I have to spiribind other armor and or purchase materia to fit item caps that are not entirely obvious.(And If I didn't HQ, that's MORE materia for catchup)
THEN I have to slot them, and mind you, once its past its set slots, the chances drop to mid 30s, to 19, to 11, so were' talking high chance to go wrong, follow by more spiritbonding, and more purchases., Time and/or money are invested in rolling the dice to make that armor the best it can be.
And then, AFTER ALL of that effort, and yes it is effort...It doesn't raise my Ilvl, in fact it can't exceed its ilvl at all, and it is outclassed by a carryable dungeon run that can be done inside 30 minutes, for FREE.

How in the hell is that how we should expect gameplay to be?

[whiskeybravo]

So useless that I made 500K on it. Crafting has its utility, the problem is that crafters want their crafted product to be a customer's "main" gear. That's not going to happen. It's for customer's alt gear, a complerely different market but one where they can make a big contribution.. With the abundancy of tombs now from the recent patch I wonder if 2-star gear requiring tomb mats will come down in price and have higher volume.

The mat prices have definitely went down on Leviathan server. Prior to patch they sold for 15k-20k each (which is pretty ridiculous IMO), I just recently sold some for 4k each, which is still overpriced in my opinion. Not that I mind making the money, I just think they're stupidly overpriced.

[Kallera]

The mat prices have definitely went down on Leviathan server. Prior to patch they sold for 15k-20k each (which is pretty ridiculous IMO), I just recently sold some for 4k each, which is still overpriced in my opinion. Not that I mind making the money, I just think they're stupidly overpriced.

Well now that crafting armor has absolutely no future, the pricing will likely go down to no longer be worth making. Enjoy those WP runs!

[OldGeezer]

Well now that crafting armor has absolutely no future, the pricing will likely go down to no longer be worth making. Enjoy those WP runs!

You're right, my armor has no future. It sells.

[Kallera]

You're right, my armor has no future. It sells.

in the face of dungeon runs that puts out better gear, and gives you gil in several of them, its not going to create sufficient demand to bring back the gaming economy. On its own, it can't be anything other than what it is in item level, meaning being left out of PF parties, regardless of what effort you put in improving it.

Even in PvP, Where Yoshi P mentioned in an interview would help bring the economy in a more realistic sense, the gear comes from wolf marks. and I'm sure has their own caps, putting limits on builds and segragating players into tiers of armor once again, variance be damned.

I get the fact that you find no problem with the way things are right now, but there is about no need for crafters in this game. quests give our armor and weapons, dungeons give out armor and weapons(and consumables), repeating dungeons give out higher tier armor and weapons. The only thing they don't give out is food, so that's 1 craft with items in high demand out of 8!

[Hanabira]

The problem with crafting is that we MOSTLY profit from selling stuff to other crafters. things they either dont feel like making, or selling the HQ items used for leves. crafting stuff to be equipped is such a tiny portion of the crafting system as it stands. The thing that SE fails to realize with not making viable crafting options is that A)better dungeon gear is easier to obtain than melded gear, b) no one is equiping materia because there is nothing good to put it in. c) low level gear is upgraded too quickly to bother putting materia in. Crafters are the only significant population of materia users, and again, thats mostly to sell to other crafters.

[OldGeezer]

in the face of dungeon runs that puts out better gear, and gives you gil in several of them, its not going to create sufficient demand to bring back the gaming economy. On its own, it can't be anything other than what it is in item level, meaning being left out of PF parties, regardless of what effort you put in improving it...

I get the fact that you find no problem with the way things are right now, but there is about no need for crafters in this game. quests give our armor and weapons, dungeons give out armor and weapons(and consumables), repeating dungeons give out higher tier armor and weapons. The only thing they don't give out is food, so that's 1 craft with items in high demand out of 8!

I disagree. HQ crafted gear has the same primary stats as green gear from dungeons. It only lacks secondary stats but it gives you materia slots to custom-install your own. Yes, people are now running more dungeons, but they also get more experience so they level very fast. So fast that they don't completely gear out their character when the reach the next tier. Another opportunity for crafters. Yesterday players were FATE-grinding to level their alts and had to buy new gear at some point. So they did. Now, those same people are grinding dungeons, but they too at some point will need new gear. That is the role of crafters. Crafting is like a refreshment stand in a marathon. You offer your wares to runners as they go by. Some run past you, some take what you offer. You're not the end destination but you assist people on their way. Crafters are worried that the marathon is "over". It will end at soemtime. But tomorrow is another day...and another marathon.

[juniglee]

So useless that I made 500K on it. Crafting has its utility, the problem is that crafters want their crafted product to be a customer's "main" gear. That's not going to happen. It's for customer's alt gear, a complerely different market but one where they can make a big contribution.. With the abundancy of tombs now from the recent patch I wonder if 2-star gear requiring tomb mats will come down in price and have higher volume.

I guess it really depends on which class you level. I made a profit levelling CRP from 1 - 50. However, all things considered, I made a loss levelling WVR from 1 - 50. This is during 2.0 as well, so I can't say for 2.1.

Reason being that materials to craft CRP triple turn-ins were much cheaper than WVR triple turn-ins. Also, because of how the marketboard worked - unlike other crafting professions, with WVR you had to spend big money to level faster (Velveteen, Fleece, and Felt stages), or you had to go the cheaper, more time-consuming option of Cotton or Linen products, to bypass those stages where you should have been crafting Velveteen, Fleece, or Felt. Either way, you are also spending a lot on Lightning Shards, which were about 20g a piece on my server back when I leveled them.

In regards to alt gearing, it so happens that crafting is not the main source of gears for alts.
- Some people hoard low level dungeon gears. I know the only expenditure I would ever make for my alt classes would be a full HQ iLv15 set (which I can craft myself anyway - it's not hard to hit Level 20 on any crafting class). I believe there are people who are already collecting parts like Foestriker/Acolyte gear for vanity, so when their character hits Level 15, they'll have a gear set ready to go dungeoning with. I have the full Battlemage set from Brayflox, so if I hit 32 on a mage class, I can use that.
- Once I start dungeoning at 15, you can bet I'll be dungeoning to 50 the whole way. I'll be getting dungeon drops, which are equally as effective as HQ crafted gear, but not have to spend money on them.
- If you find dungeons aren't dropping the gear you want, there's the option of GC gear as well. Seals are easy to get (maybe not now, since people don't do FATE's as much, but you do get seals for doing guildhests roulette), and there's really nothing better to spend them on anyway, bar the Survival/Engineering Manuals II.

2-star gear is still hard to reliably HQ without some investment on the crafter's end. While it is much cheaper to gain the materia you need to gear your crafters now, but that is a money sink until you can hit the stats to reliably HQ 2-star products. It is definitely more affordable now, but for me I feel that crafted gear is a slight step-up to Darklight - it is ultimately going to be inferior to most i90 gear anyway. If there wasn't a HP requirement on Twintania, most people would probably use i90 gears in place of Vit-crafted i70 gear. For something that usually ends up being a huge money sink only to be invalidated anyway when you get i90 gear, I feel the cost isn't worth it. The pricing of FC houses further compound these problems, as people are hoarding onto their gil now, and there's no need to spend gil on gear which will ultimately be replaced by running T1 - T4 (which people are pugging with ease really).

[whiskeybravo]

Well now that crafting armor has absolutely no future, the pricing will likely go down to no longer be worth making. Enjoy those WP runs!

I'm not sure where WP entered the conversation, that's personally my least favorite dungeon lol

I had never sold mats prior to the other day, I was just maxed on philo with nothing to buy. Someone was shouting for mats so I supplied

I just recently got back into crafting, and I do enjoy it but fully realize the limitations. It honestly perplexes me why people would spend so much gil on crafted stuff. I mean if I could make my own Vanya robes or Darksteel armor I would, but why on Eorzea would you spend 500,000 gil on one piece of equipment, and drop another 500,000 gil on materia? It just seems like a losing proposition from the get go. I wonder how many people regret those purchases after seeing the housing prices lol

[juniglee]

I'm not sure where WP entered the conversation, that's personally my least favorite dungeon lol

I had never sold mats prior to the other day, I was just maxed on philo with nothing to buy. Someone was shouting for mats so I supplied

I just recently got back into crafting, and I do enjoy it but fully realize the limitations. It honestly perplexes me why people would spend so much gil on crafted stuff. I mean if I could make my own Vanya robes or Darksteel armor I would, but why on Eorzea would you spend 500,000 gil on one piece of equipment, and drop another 500,000 gil on materia? It just seems like a losing proposition from the get go. I wonder how many people regret those purchases after seeing the housing prices lol

The only people who spend on crafted i70 gear are people who expect that said classes they are gearing will not be expecting to get many Coil/Mytho drops soon. They are definitely better than Darklight - the question is whether it is worth dropping the gil on that increase. In some cases, mages prefer Vanya/Astral as it increases their rather low max HP, to be able to survive Twintania fireballs. The only other thing I can see is Warriors spending on Darksteel Chest, to meld Accuracy in, to make up for the lack of Accuracy on Bravura +1. Although you can now get Dual Haken...

Oh and don't underestimate vanity...some people like to dye their gear in different colours every week.