1.20 Ease of crafting

[Kiote]

Personally, I think the current UI system needs to be scrapped. I really liked the "parts" as well. I felt they gave alot of depth to crafting and offered an affordable way to skill up. It was ok to simplify the crafting recipes in a sense, but what Yoshida did went way to far and made synthing hollow.

What we really need is an engaging mini-game that cannot be won by simply spamming the enter button. Players should have to think about what they are doing and making finished items SHOULD take extra time. But when it comes to gaining XP players should not be grinding on crafts to begin with.

Leveling crafting should be far more quest based than the current system allows. Other systems like retainers could be incorporated as well to create a system where selling your wares nets you experience. Something to the effect of the GC supply system but for crafter XP would be good too. It would only require the implementation of a system where the game recognizes that you created the item to prevent buying XP.

Crafters are supposed to be merchants as well, or at least thats how it has been described since the beginning of the game. We could also use a system of trading between merchants to earn XP.

User speaks to Merchant. Merchant requests item and provided investment capitol. User must obtain item under budget. Uses Parley on other merchants. Gets items under budget. Difference between budget and cost is converted to xp.

I would really like to see leveling crafting expand beyond it's current form. What we have now should be focused on making items that are intended for use. There is not reason for us to endlessly grind on a single item when there are a plethora of other ways we could incorporate to gain xp.

[Estellios]

On paper, Crafting is for the most part excellent now. Doing a few leves gives you enough materials to make several pieces of gear and materials for everything is actually sold in the wards now, so it doesn't take me half a day to make something for someone when they need it. The parts system really had to go and was a step into making more people interested in crafting. Materia is another step and the future dying plans would be a 3rd.

The largest hurdle right now is how absurdly slow and boring crafts are to level. Something quest-based like Kiote said would work. I've toyed around with some system that rewards you greatly xp-wise for making gear that's low in stock in the wards (Market Ward Levequests? haha). As it is now as I level new crafts I make multiple items when i make something for myself and sell the excess so everyone can benefit. I know quite a few people that really do want to craft but the leveling up process is a nightmare, so if it's changed more people would get into it and it would help the economy greatly.

[Mirh]

Personally, I think the current UI system needs to be scrapped. I really liked the "parts" as well. I felt they gave alot of depth to crafting and offered an affordable way to skill up. It was ok to simplify the crafting recipes in a sense, but what Yoshida did went way to far and made synthing hollow.

What we really need is an engaging mini-game that cannot be won by simply spamming the enter button. Players should have to think about what they are doing and making finished items SHOULD take extra time. But when it comes to gaining XP players should not be grinding on crafts to begin with.

Leveling crafting should be far more quest based than the current system allows. Other systems like retainers could be incorporated as well to create a system where selling your wares nets you experience. Something to the effect of the GC supply system but for crafter XP would be good too. It would only require the implementation of a system where the game recognizes that you created the item to prevent buying XP.

Crafters are supposed to be merchants as well, or at least thats how it has been described since the beginning of the game. We could also use a system of trading between merchants to earn XP.

User speaks to Merchant. Merchant requests item and provided investment capitol. User must obtain item under budget. Uses Parley on other merchants. Gets items under budget. Difference between budget and cost is converted to xp.

I would really like to see leveling crafting expand beyond it's current form. What we have now should be focused on making items that are intended for use. There is not reason for us to endlessly grind on a single item when there are a plethora of other ways we could incorporate to gain xp.

@Kiote! Your ideas are incredible and definitely a breath of fresh air.

Some people have gone to the extent of suggesting that the world should have quests such as repairing buildings/bridges, trinkets for NPCs, and so on. Really, there's so many possibilities to make crafting intriguing and draw even the most casual player in, but it would seem that none of these amazing ideas and scenarios such as yours are getting through to Yoshida, who continues to pump up players on the concept of things being as simple as possible to combat a current system of mindlessness.

@Physic Excellent point, as always, it seems.

As much as I disagree with Yoshida's clamoring to please the most religiously attention-deficit players, I'm sure his big picture plans in the end will be "quite good" for a simple reason, albeit not exactly more than a hunch: Gear and leveling crafting right now blows, but in 1.20 it supposed to be PLEASE LOOK FORWARD TO IT™ material.

What I mean here is, okay, take Goldsmithing. Dated gear is complete rubbish but is the most efficient to level on. Goldsmithing is getting a nice booster shot/revision in 1.20, just like gear, recipes, and so on. Until 1.20 happens, though, the current players (Who Yoshida seems to care most about, for good reason) are left hanging with, essentially, the scraps and remains of a dead era that Yoshida wants to put behind him - which is why it's hard to get gear for a reasonable price, for example.

To put it short and sweetly, the fact that it's agonizing now makes it seem like there are big plans for crafting, since Yoshida's track record so far is leaving large gaps of missing content and place value where, eventually something nice will come in a year or two (See: Leveling 1-50 super fast and feeling hollow and unearned).

Crafting itself was supposed to be something you had fun with. People want it automated because they're sick of dealing with idiotic systems that confuse them because the systems don't properly work. Making it complex, can also be making it fun. As much as I want masochistic, it doesn't have to be masochistic to require thought and be fun.

There are so may ways to do this besides making it automated but there's just not enough outcry for it. It's crazy.

I really do like the idea of the minigame simply rewarding more XP. Obviously not scaled to the sense of how Hasty Hand rewards you in comparison to a full synth, but I think that would be a nice medium. Being lazy isn't something the Japanese usually seemed to reward in their games, so it's insane to seem them playing ant farm with the Westerners in this regard to crafting.