Ability to Downgrade Elemental Crystals into Shards.

[Grimmel]

snip

The Dev's did not give a precise reason as to why we cannot downgrade Clusters into crystals and crystals into shards. This VERY same method was used in 1.0; the early version of Final Fantasy XIV and they opted to remove it. Why?


I'm simply asking to undo this change and make it to where they are convertible again. Please re-read my OP as RMT is NOT the main reason that I want this to change. The main reason of my original post is to help SE see how damaged and flawed this system is. RMT combating is one reason among many that I have been pointing out through out this entire thread.

You've also failed to read over the many wonderful suggestions offered by players to help Square realize there is indeed a problem with the current gathering of shards in comparison to the amount of shards used via crafting as your crafting levels up further.

Tell me.. how much do the low level crafted materials and items from a lvl 1 crafter go for on your server? Not much I presume.. so where is the market for low level crafters?

I would also like confirmation of a thread where players of this games community have said they like the current system of crafting/gathering in terms of shards gained and used.

Please SE; give us this alternative to gaining shards, as our current means of gaining them are slim and too far apart.

This right here is the main reason for this thread. Because our means of gathering shards are too few.

[mbncd]

I wonder if this could become a desynth thing... Either all on ALC (as it used to be the crafting class in 1.xx that broke things down to make shards) or split up with 1 or 2 per class... Either way, I still support this coming back 100%!

[Nicobo]

... This VERY same method was used in 1.0; the early version of Final Fantasy XIV and they opted to remove it. Why?
...

So what was the "converting ratio" in 1.0? And what is your suggesting ratio?
In my server a shard around 100g, a cluster around 1000g, will you break a cluster to 10 shards?

You've also failed to read over the many wonderful suggestions offered by players to help Square realize there is indeed a problem with the current gathering of shards in comparison to the amount of shards used via crafting as your crafting levels up further..

There were many players complained the market was dead. I think SE just let players convert clusters to shards by trading thru the MB.
TBH, I read those "many wonderful suggestions" maybe wonderful but actually not really helpful.
If the problem is "amount of shards used via crafting as your crafting levels up", then they should simply decrease the shards required.
They will not do that because the required shards affect the cost of those crafting products, that's why ppl will not craft those products like free.

...Tell me.. how much do the low level crafted materials and items from a lvl 1 crafter go for on your server? Not much I presume.. so where is the market for low level crafters?..

I didn't mean making the market for low level crafters.
Appereantly "make low level crafting relevent" would mean "make low level material/recipes still relevent to end game crafters"
for example, a 4stars everything will still need to stock some shards but not only clusters.

[Taliph]

Nicobo, the issue lies in the fact that low level (lvl 1-49) crafting uses obscene amounts of shards compared to the rate of gathering.

I regularly burn 4000 shards per hour when making demimateria, how many hours of gathering does it take to get those shards?

The disparity continues when you look at the fact that the actual materials used to burn those 4000 shards take less then 30 min to gather.

[Grimmel]

So what was the "converting ratio" in 1.0? And what is your suggesting ratio?
In my server a shard around 100g, a cluster around 1000g, will you break a cluster to 10 shards?

I did not play 1.0 to know their old conversion rate but it sounded reasonable if people began the game with capped shards across themselves and retainers.

However as far as a conversion rate that I'd suggest:
1 Cluster = 5 Crystals = 5 Shards

Nicobo, the issue lies in the fact that low level (lvl 1-49) crafting uses obscene amounts of shards compared to the rate of gathering.

I regularly burn 4000 shards per hour when making demimateria, how many hours of gathering does it take to get those shards?

The disparity continues when you look at the fact that the actual materials used to burn those 4000 shards take less then 30 min to gather.

Basically this. This post sums up everything this thread is about.

[Kosmos992k]

I think the thing that everyone is missing is that by opening up the supply of shards in the way that is suggested, the limiting factors on high level crafts are lifted. Rather than flooding the market with shards, increasing the shard supply in the economy could actually impact the supply/demand ratio for high level crafted items.

It might be convenient for you personally to be able to craft dozens of high level items for trade ins, but that in and of itself also impacts the market by increasing the supply of those higher level, and therefore supposedly rarer items. At the end of the day, loosening the shard supply as requested would attack the market from the top down by increasing the availability of rarer, high level items as a consequence of the looser supply of shards to crafters.

[Waffilicious]

So by definition you want to be able to sell items for millions to hoard that gil to buy for yourself other million worth items and let the "middle class" players not being able to buy some cool glamour/furniture/other things.

Instead of leveling the prices by making shards more accessible, and like i said before yoshida can put them on sale on a npc vendor to control inflation of prices because of the gil hoarding.

[Grimmel]

It might be convenient for you personally to be able to craft dozens of high level items for trade ins, but that in and of itself also impacts the market by increasing the supply of those higher level, and therefore supposedly rarer items. At the end of the day, loosening the shard supply as requested would attack the market from the top down by increasing the availability of rarer, high level items as a consequence of the looser supply of shards to crafters.

What high level items are you talking about that use shards to craft? Everything currently in demand on the market board requires mainly clusters. All the ilvl 110 items use Clusters, all the rarer, high end furniture uses clusters. ilvl 90 stuff uses; guess what.. Clusters. 2 Star ilvl 70 stuff uses; you guessed it, clusters.

There will still be a high demand for clusters because all this High level, in demand, rare things you're mentioning utilize clusters. So I still do not see how shards fit in to your "increasing the availability of rare, higher level items thus making the market crash," scenario.

[JayCommon]

What high level items are you talking about that use shards to craft?

It's a domino effect. The one thing you left off this list, which will have a direct impact on high-level crafters, is that all of the recipes for Master books only require shards. You need 8 and 7 shards per craft, and that's if you didn't need shards at all while crafting the base materials for those book crafts (which admittedly, most take crystals), so before the nerf you would need a bare minimum of 400/350 shards to get one i70 tool (no fails, previously buying all mats). When the amount of turn-ins decreased, so did the price of master demimateria, and the amount of endgame crafters (3-4*) jumped significantly.

Also, every attribute potion of the highest level only requires shards.

I would consider both of those high level items, with the former being a gateway into higher level crafts. I know many people who are 2* crafters in every trade that didn't feel the RNG/price of getting higher was worth what they had to do to get there. Shards is only a small piece of that puzzle, but it's a piece nonetheless.

[Giantbane]

It's a domino effect. The one thing you left off this list, which will have a direct impact on high-level crafters, is that all of the recipes for Master books only require shards. You need 8 and 7 shards per craft, and that's if you didn't need shards at all while crafting the base materials for those book crafts (which admittedly, most take crystals), so before the nerf you would need a bare minimum of 400/350 shards to get one i70 tool (no fails, previously buying all mats). When the amount of turn-ins decreased, so did the price of master demimateria, and the amount of endgame crafters (3-4*) jumped significantly.

Also, every attribute potion of the highest level only requires shards.

I would consider both of those high level items, with the former being a gateway into higher level crafts. I know many people who are 2* crafters in every trade that didn't feel the RNG/price of getting higher was worth what they had to do to get there. Shards is only a small piece of that puzzle, but it's a piece nonetheless.

And what, making it a little less expensive to rank up your crafter by reducing the cost of the stupid lvl 1 items that you need enmasse is a bad thing?

I think it would only have a positive effect on the game.

Cluster > Crystal is just a matter of completeness, it's really not that needed because the crystals are already very valuable on their own.
Crystal > Shard would be VERY welcome because crystals just aren't that valuable right now, this gives them a purpose while tamping down on silly level 1 items getting too out of control in terms of price.

I, personally, would be very happy with a 3:1 ratio when converting from Clusters > Crystals > Shards. Keeps the materials prices balanced against each other without completely destroying the market.

Alternatively, increase the output (maybe 5:1), but require some kind of catalyst to break the cluster/crystal down so that the conversion isn't free.