The grind is real

[Shinkyo]

Personally, I hate what SE did for crafters in this patch... I've been builder of the realm a bit before 2.1 with all my gear melded for HQ 2 star item and I enjoyed crafting all those HQ mats to unlock the recipes, head gear and main tool. Up to that point I was happy as it seems like an acceptable grind to get my crafting to the next level.
And then, I saw the gear requirement for the 3 star item and I basically have to remeld a lot of my gear because they were not necessarily optimized and I only have 5th slots available to put lvl 3 materias...
I mean seriously, it was already hard work and a big gill investment to meld all my gear to above 347craft, 340 control and 345 cp but it's still not enough. You basically have no error margin to reach the new stat cap and all for what? gear that's mostly for glamour purpose!!!
Considering the effort required, things can only be afforded by the most hardcore crafters or people that can dedicate close to full time on this game.... for glamours !!!

The grind for unlocking the master recipe book, getting the new spectacles and main tool was good enough of a challenge, pushing the stats to the extreme limit for glamour is just too much (for me)... I got my armorer 3 star ready and will probably do BSM to make the mats required but I won't do more than that until they somehow nerf it (either by lowering the stats for 3 stars or introducing new ilvl 70 crafting gear...

Not to mention that the crafting materia market in completely dry now, there are just close to none available on my server anymore...

[Borland]

Not to mention that the crafting materia market in completely dry now, there are just close to none available on my server anymore...

I feel like SE had to have wanted this to happen to some degree. If they had lower requirements on stats or a wider selection of crafting gear with a higher ilvl then it would still be perfectly simple to master crafting for every crafting class which would remove the need for some of the people trying to craft to really interact with other crafters. As it is you'll kinda have to try interacting with other people to get most recipes done instead of just feeling like you can go to some one stop shop guy.

[ImDingDing]

I feel like SE had to have wanted this to happen to some degree. If they had lower requirements on stats or a wider selection of crafting gear with a higher ilvl then it would still be perfectly simple to master crafting for every crafting class which would remove the need for some of the people trying to craft to really interact with other crafters. As it is you'll kinda have to try interacting with other people to get most recipes done instead of just feeling like you can go to some one stop shop guy.

If they really want this they need to raise the grind from 50HQ to 500 or even 1k HQ turn in for the tools, in this case I may group with other top crafters in my trading/crafting LS to get the HQ 3-star out asap.

[LineageRazor]

And then, I saw the gear requirement for the 3 star item and I basically have to remeld a lot of my gear because they were not necessarily optimized and I only have 5th slots available to put lvl 3 materias...

I was always puzzled when I saw a thread advertising the minimum materia requirement for 100% HQ. I mean, sure, that materia build was working THEN, but did folks honestly think that was going to be the perfect meld forever? That nothing would change, and no higher level recipies would ever come to be?

Given how relatively easy it was to fully meld every piece of gear, I was surrpised that more people weren't doing it, given how cheap Tier I and II materia were. Now, of course, it's a different story - but folks who weren't thinking ahead have only themselves to blame.

[ImDingDing]

I was always puzzled when I saw a thread advertising the minimum materia requirement for 100% HQ. I mean, sure, that materia build was working THEN, but did folks honestly think that was going to be the perfect meld forever? That nothing would change, and no higher level recipies would ever come to be?

Given how relatively easy it was to fully meld every piece of gear, I was surrpised that more people weren't doing it, given how cheap Tier I and II materia were. Now, of course, it's a different story - but folks who weren't thinking ahead have only themselves to blame.

I didn't have to re-melding, but I did have to meld. I was using a set of melding gear for all 8 classes to HQ anything with NQ mats before 2.2
In 2.2 I have just made 7 sets of crafters' AF and full melded them. lol, I have made a countless number of crafters' AF but it's 1st time for myself. The down side for me is the inventory space.

[Bufkus]

I'm glad I had all my sets melded before 2.2. The materia prices are insane now.

[Simaril]

It seems like people are still going to be masters of all (or most), despite some of the claims that the grind is insane, and you'd have to pick one.

My evidence is that there's a fair amount of new crafted gear on the market board, despite few of the items needed to craft them sold (in the market history). So either, people are making the components themselves or they're trading outside of the market board (and I'm not seeing much in /Shout so it would have to be in LS or FC).

[ImDingDing]

It seems like people are still going to be masters of all (or most), despite some of the claims that the grind is insane, and you'd have to pick one.

My evidence is that there's a fair amount of new crafted gear on the market board, despite few of the items needed to craft them sold (in the market history). So either, people are making the components themselves or they're trading outside of the market board (and I'm not seeing much in /Shout so it would have to be in LS or FC).

I reached that point 10 days after 2.2 launch with a full time job. Like I said if they want to make a real grind they need to raise the price of the mainhand tool to 1k, 2k or even 5k HQ tomes.

[Irovesa]

I love to craft in MMO's, but I find this one takes a very long time to level if you don't spend massive amounts of Gil on the market to buy the required mats. I tried farming mats once, but turns out the one or two enemies in the area that drop a specific type were always camped. I just got sick and tired of being poor and wasting all my time doing it.

[Simaril]

I reached that point 10 days after 2.2 launch with a full time job. Like I said if they want to make a real grind they need to raise the price of the mainhand tool to 1k, 2k or even 5k HQ tomes.

I agree that the grind isn't that bad.... but I'm guessing in those 10 days you didn't also get the DoL tools, and do Levi, and cap soldiery, and do turns 5-8?

I'm happy with the amount of "grind" involved for one craft, but I would have preferred some exclusivity... like only let you get one master book, or one master tool (from HQ tomes)... or make the second one twice the price and so on???