[Rant] Shards, Crystals, and Clusters...

[Ksenia]

If you buy shards off the market board you are supporting RMT. RMT botters get gil to sell by gathering shards.

I used to think so too and like the OP I loathed the shard and crystal farming but in truth the methodical process of becoming a shard and crystal juggernaut can all be done above board with no need to exploit, bot or cheat.

You can have 8 retainer slots and that's per character. You can have 8 character slots so 64 retainer slots. By leveling 8 characters to 30 in either mining or Botany and taking them through MSQ to where they have a Grand Company and get all 64 retainers to level 30 in mining or Botany, you have a shard production potential of 64x60 every 40 minutes. Once you have all 8 characters in a grand company they can obtain ventures with some leg work, more than enough to sustain shard gathering for a few days. With crystals the numbers are halved at 64x30 every 40 minutes.

That's 3840 fire shards every 40 minutes as long as you have ventures in inventory to support it. In my case I have 32 retainers, not 64 and not all of them are botany or mining because I have 3 characters in Heavensward so I want hunting stuff as well. 20x60 and 20x30 per 40 minutes are my output potentials and it's all done using legit methods. It is unfortunate that they have reduced the game to this level of min maxing but when in Rome.

[Aerowaffle]

I used to think so too and like the OP I loathed the shard and crystal farming but in truth the methodical process of becoming a shard and crystal juggernaut can all be done above board with no need to exploit, bot or cheat.

You can have 8 retainer slots and that's per character. You can have 8 character slots so 64 retainer slots. By leveling 8 characters to 30 in either mining or Botany and taking them through MSQ to where they have a Grand Company and get all 64 retainers to level 30 in mining or Botany, you have a shard production potential of 64x60 every 40 minutes. Once you have all 8 characters in a grand company they can obtain ventures with some leg work, more than enough to sustain shard gathering for a few days. With crystals the numbers are halved at 64x30 every 40 minutes.

That's 3840 fire shards every 40 minutes as long as you have ventures in inventory to support it. In my case I have 32 retainers, not 64 and not all of them are botany or mining because I have 3 characters in Heavensward so I want hunting stuff as well. 20x60 and 20x30 per 40 minutes are my output potentials and it's all done using legit methods. It is unfortunate that they have reduced the game to this level of min maxing but when in Rome.

It's unreasonable to expect people to casually have 32 retainers much less have 64. It might surprise you, but some people only have 1 character and 2 retainers.

[Ksenia]

It's unreasonable to expect people to casually have 32 retainers much less have 64. It might surprise you, but some people only have 1 character and 2 retainers.

It's completely unreasonable to to use me as the base standard for obtaining crystals and shards but don't point to me for that, point to the company that made the game. To be truthful I saw my worker empire as an adventure and setting it up was just content I created. I didn't do it with malice or intent and never took it close to what I could in size but most of it is passive. I put more effort in to keeping market orders up to date than I do in sending out retainers.

I don't know if Square measure difficulty on getting shards and crystals based on this level of output but the point is, that's the high side of what we are capable of.

[Aerowaffle]

It's completely unreasonable to to use me as the base standard for obtaining crystals and shards but don't point to me for that, point to the company that made the game. To be truthful I saw my worker empire as an adventure and setting it up was just content I created. I didn't do it with malice or intent and never took it close to what I could in size but most of it is passive. I put more effort in to keeping market orders up to date than I do in sending out retainers.

I don't know if Square measure difficulty on getting shards and crystals based on this level of output but the point is, that's the high side of what we are capable of.

High end? Sure. In the extreme sense of the effort involved.

Realistically, how many people do you think make such an effort on a server? You would basically be spending 100% of the time either talking to a retainer bell or farming seals for the huge costs of ventures you'd be burning through. There would barely be any time for you to do anything else.

I really doubt that the shard market is composed of players that take that much effort. Especially those with retainer names that are just a face-roll combination of letters.

But back on track with the OP's concern;

The OP is talking about the difficulty of retaining shards as an reasonably active crafter, and I remember it being tough at one point as well. But as you level up crafting and gathering (mostly gathering), SE opens up very efficient methods of getting shards and crystals. Be it through beastman dailies, retainers, or Aetherial Reduction, it's not really a problem unless you completely loath all three of those methods. And at that point you're just being picky.

[Ksenia]

High end? Sure. In the extreme sense of the effort involved.
Realistically, how many people do you think make such an effort on a server? You would basically be spending 100% of the time either talking to a retainer bell or farming seals for the huge costs of ventures you'd be burning through. There would barely be any time for you to do anything else.

I really doubt that the shard market is composed of players that take that much effort. Especially those with retainer names that are just a face-roll combination of letters.

But back on track with the OP's concern;

The OP is talking about the difficulty of retaining shards as an reasonably active crafter, and I remember it being tough at one point as well. But as you level up crafting and gathering (mostly gathering), SE opens up very efficient methods of getting shards and crystals. Be it through beastman dailies, retainers, or Aetherial Reduction, it's not really a problem unless you completely loath all three of those methods. And at that point you're just being picky.

I used to think so too and like the OP I loathed the shard and crystal farming

- Ignored -

It's completely unreasonable to to use me as the base standard for obtaining crystals and shards but don't point to me for that, point to the company that made the game.

- Ignored -

You seem to have a need to create an optic around what I offered to the topic so I will give up trying to elaborate any further.

The point being we can obtain far more shards and crystals (clusters as well with 50+ retainers) and contrary to what you think the 'extreme effort' is not that great. It's easier than you think though it is a long term objective, mostly passive and not a youtube guide worthy solution though. More of a play every day and build your account solution.

[Mysticdraggon]

- Ignored -
- Ignored -

You seem to have a need to create an optic around what I offered to the topic so I will give up trying to elaborate any further.

The point being we can obtain far more shards and crystals (clusters as well with 50+ retainers) and contrary to what you think the 'extreme effort' is not that great. It's easier than you think though it is a long term objective, mostly passive and not a youtube guide worthy solution though. More of a play every day and build your account solution.

Great!
(quits job)

but seriously, it just seems that your including reasoning within your post then just telling me to walk it off, become a pro, and buy more retainers while spending more time than i already do on the game. while i do appreciate that you understand my situation, id rather not go for a "try harder" solution. rather, i want the devs to walk off whatever coding they need to do in order to make this system better

[Ksenia]

Great!
(quits job)

but seriously, it just seems that your including reasoning within your post then just telling me to walk it off, become a pro, and buy more retainers while spending more time than i already do on the game. while i do appreciate that you understand my situation, id rather not go for a "try harder" solution. rather, i want the devs to walk off whatever coding they need to do in order to make this system better

If this was difficult I wouldn't be doing it. By hard core standards I'm as lazy as they come. Churning out low level alts to establish retainer empires is a pretty low key commitment and I seldom maintain full production though I do like having 32 'minion retainers' to gear up on my crafting main or making GC crafted turn in items for the seven Alts to keep seals and ventures in supply when others are screaming for the next content patch. I never have find myself with 'nothing to do'.