Thank you for the crafting changes

[Nabiri]

really? your going to throw a tantrum like a 5yr? This is not "dumbing it down for stupid people" this is taking something that is way to cumbersome, and taking it down a few notches to make things simpler. This is still way more complicated then some more simpler crafting systems that I can think of (aka WoW)

the one and only major item I made was for my THM, I wanted a Red Cotton Robe.....a level 16 body armor..... simple no?.........no -.-

http://ffxiv.yg.com/recipe/cotton-robe-red?id=1483

now this is utterly ridiculous to make one piece of clothing......... and with the time I had to play when I made it, it took me 3 days........ 3 This game was advertised to cater to the casual player as well right? Well with the new changes in 1.8 - 1.20 that will hold more truth then it has.

All those items????? That's INSANE. I had no idea that some recipes took that many items to make. >.>
To make that list simpler, for those who might just say, "yeah well a lot of those items are repeated." Yes they are, but lets count how many individual items are in this one recipe...

1. Alumen
2. Cotton Boll
3. Cotton Robe Back (Red)
4. Cotton Robe Front (Red)
5. Cotton Sleeves (Red)
6. Cotton Yarn
7. Distilled Water
8. Earth Shard
9. Fire Shard
10. Formic Acid
11. Hempen Yarn
12. Ice Shard
13. Karakul Skin
14. Lightning Crystal
15. Lightning Shard
16. Linseed Oil
17 .Mesa-red Cotton Cloth
18. Mesa-red Cotton Dye
19. Mesa-red Dyer's Moss
20. Moko Grass
21. Mole-brown Dyer's Moss
22. Mole-brown Hempen Cloth
23. Mole-brown Hemp Dye
24. Muddy Water
25. Sheep Leather
26. Sheep Leather Strap
27. Sheep Leather Strap (Taupe)
28. Squirrel Fur
29. Squirrel Fur Shoulder Guards
30. Squirrel Pelt
31. Taupe Scale Bugs
32. Taupe Sheep Leather
33. Taupe Sheep Leather Dye
34. Walnut Chips
35. Walnut Log
36. Water Shard
37. Wind Shard

37 different items, many multiples of those items, for ONE robe.

Now imagine if you wanted to make 5 of these robes. As gifts for friends. Or perhaps a whole set of similar armor. I don't know about anyone else but I don't have this kinda space, and I have LOTS of space. >.>
I don't want to even think about all the running around to find all of these items. ... For ONE ROBE. JUST ONE. lol (No, I'm not shouting.. it's just that looking at a single recipe in this game blows my mind. XD)

I love crafting. I can't wait for the changes coming in 1.19.

[Estellios]

look at the rest of what he said
on its own its a terrible statement, but given what he was replying too....the guy claiming you needed everything to 50 when you needed a few crafts to 5

This is true, my apologies. That attitude just hits a nerve. For how needlessly complicated the current system is now, getting the crafts up to those levels is easily doable in a short time (although you run into the issue of the new player needing the gil for tools, i'm not sure how gil rewards are at low levels nowadays.)

[Zangetsu]

Why don't people understand that SE probably intends for us to focus on Materia instead of 10 parts to make one item. From the example they gave it looks like you have basic materials for it to visually makes sense. Just pretend your making buckles, straps, or whatever parts during the mini-game.

I think people also forgot what Yoshida said in his most recent letter. Here it is:

System-wise, MMORPGs are generally more complex than their offline RPG counterparts, and this is evident in the jargon they employ. In implementing the above changes in terminology, we wanted to make it so that at least the core aspects of the game can be easily grasped by anyone. We realize that more established players may find this change unsettling, and would like to apologize and ask for your understanding in advance.

[AJ_Anyia]

As a Culinarian, I approve of some simplified recipes. However, some high rewarding recipes should keep a certain complexity or at least some rare mterials (Raxe/Ex raid drops comes into mind) to balance out.

I agree with this completely, I wouldn't even mind parts and ingredients being kept for later and more difficult synths later on down the line. Who knows, the parts and other things no longer used in the main could be used for possible upgrading and/or customization of the gear. Probably not, but one could think/dream/wish. lol

[Wynn]

Why don't people understand that SE probably intends for us to focus on Materia instead of 10 parts to make one item. From the example they gave it looks like you have basic materials for it to visually makes sense. Just pretend your making buckles, straps, or whatever parts during the mini-game.

I think people also forgot what Yoshida said in his most recent letter. Here it is:

System-wise, MMORPGs are generally more complex than their offline RPG counterparts, and this is evident in the jargon they employ. In implementing the above changes in terminology, we wanted to make it so that at least the core aspects of the game can be easily grasped by anyone. We realize that more established players may find this change unsettling, and would like to apologize and ask for your understanding in advance.

Way to take that quote COMPLETELY out of context.

[darkstarpoet1]

This is a terrible sentiment.

More people would enjoy crafting (myself included) if they could produce actual stuff. Crafting shouldn't be some kind of exclusive club.

ok let's try your ideas. i think battle is too cumbersome. they should remove having multiple weapons, sets of gear, accessories, tp moves, and abilities. let's take it and give only basic attacks and auto attack.

More people would enjoy battling (myself included) if they could kill things easily. Battling shouldn't be some kind of exclusive club.

the truth is you could produce actual stuff. the fact is you just didn't want to invest the time to do so.

it's no different than how some people feel about running the same dungeons over and over. they don't want to take the time to run something over and over to get that one item. should they be set to where you run it once and get every piece of gear for every party member? no, you should work for what you get.

System-wise, MMORPGs are generally more complex than their offline RPG counterparts, and this is evident in the jargon they employ. In implementing the above changes in terminology, we wanted to make it so that at least the core aspects of the game can be easily grasped by anyone. We realize that more established players may find this change unsettling, and would like to apologize and ask for your understanding in advance.

let's translate this post.
System-wise, MMORPGs are generally more complex than their offline RPG counterparts, and this is evident in the jargon they employ.

"we understand that these games are usually complex in nature by comparison to single player games"

In implementing the above changes in terminology, we wanted to make it so that at least the core aspects of the game can be easily grasped by anyone.

"we wanted to make the system so simple that even the lowest of intelligence levels can understand it easily"

We realize that more established players may find this change unsettling, and would like to apologize and ask for your understanding in advance.

"we realize that people that actually craft now won't like this and please don't get too upset and leave"

[Wynn]

That quote doesn't even have anything to do with crafting, he was talking about the removal of phys level and changing the term sp to xp and rank to level.

[OJtheLIONKing]

Another example of how this system has an overly high barrier to entry, and through that is negatively impacting the ability of new players (which this game needs) being able to get into the game.

I decided to get a new axe for my marauder, after using the basic bought one. Now I thought the NPC price for a Bronze War Axe was a bit high, so I decided to try to make an axe myself. my blacksmith's at level 18, so it should be no problem right? So let's see, I need Animal Glue, an Elm Axe Haft, Bronze Axe Butt, a Buffalo Leather Strap (Black), and a Bronze War Axe Head (which I already made a few weeks ago for a guild task, a process that itself took a few tries because it's a level 18 recipe even though the axe itself is a lvl 5 one). I have Animal Glue, so next is the Elm Axe Haft.

Woops, no Elm Axe Hafts on sale, looks like I need to make that too. I'd better make it with Lumbercraft. My weathered saw is in kind of bad shape and I've already failed a few lumber recipes I probably should have succeeded at, so I look to buy a Bronze Saw to make that axe haft.

Woops, too bad there are none on sale, and the next lowest one is selling for 200k, and so forth until the first one I see for under 100k is too high for me to be able to repair with my blacksmithing, so I'd need to wait who knows how long to get it repaired or pay 30k for repairs when it quickly breaks with my underleveled Carpenter. That's fine, I think, I can just make a Bronze Saw first. It's only a level 10 recipe.

Woops! There are no Ash Saw Grips on sale, so I wonder what it'll take to make that? Level 17 carpenter? i can't make that! And that recipe also requires Iron Rivets and Iron Nails in its components, which are several levels higher than I can make with blacksmith. These, at least, are on sale for a reasonable price, the first material I've seen selling for less than 30k+ in this process.

I'll stop here before this drags on for even longer, but this is the trouble I end up going through to make one, level 7 weapon that someone might need a day or two after he starts playing. Although these are now sold at NPCs, I know I didn't have 18k when I hit rank 7, and even so that's not considering upgrades to armor, and I've already run into situations where the next weapon upgrade I need isn't sold anywhere.

Hopefully by now, you see my point. This kind of thing has happened almost every single time I've tried to make something, and I usually waste a few hours trying to track down all these necessary parts before I give up. The system as it is is ridiculously and unnecessarily convoluted, nonsensical, and emphasizes existing problems with the market wards, not to mention my inventory is bloated with metal parts and materials I've kept just to try and prevent attempting to make an item and there being none of a certain item in stock. This has worked exactly once, when I was able to make a level 38 Bronze Celata, which is a rank 25 recipe for who knows what reason.

This, in turn, impacts the ability of players who want to craft but can't or don't want to spend hours tracking down mats for one item or spend months upon months leveling all crafting and gathering classes to avoid that and end up with completely overloaded inventories. Meanwhile, players leveling combat classes often can't get the logical gear for their class and level because it's never in stock, because not enough people are willing to wade through the morass of the crafting system to keep supply up.

The change was a long time coming and completely necessary for various reasons. I'm actually kind of mad about the implications that it will stay this ridiculous at higher levels, because that still has the problems that have been mentioned, only for gear that people need to stay competitive at endgame. Still, for now, this is a very good change.

tl:dr change is good, this change is good and should be embraced as part of getting the game back on track to be a success.

[CrystalObsidian]

I love the changes as well!! I can't help but blame the many many ingredients required for my jobs like weaver and leatherworker is the cause for my crafting ranks to be low >.< Because I never feel like doing local leves, and I never feel like running all over Eorza to pick up "nails" and "brass buckles" for making some sort of LEATHER. o_o

I agree that high rank/rarer items should require more labor, but for normal and common crafts, these changes are very welcome!

[CrystalObsidian]

Another example of how this system has an overly high barrier to entry, and through that is negatively impacting the ability of new players (which this game needs) being able to get into the game.....

tl:dr change is good, this change is good and should be embraced as part of getting the game back on track to be a success.

I have run into so many similar situations >.< It is quite a pain, and also why I'm happy to embrace the new changes.