Please remove CUL and ALC specalists

[Sepher]

CUL:

Currently, CUL has 5 2-star recipes in Stormblood. Most of the food stat combinations are very undesirable. There is almost no incentive to become a CUL specialist and the potential earnings are extremely small compared to other crafters.

ALC:

ALC is the complete opposite of CUL, it is the best and most profitable crafter. It has created the mats for every set of gear, every patch. It also creates Potions for raids, which are in much higher demand than food. This is because you may only use 2-3 food a raid night while spending 30+ potions in the same time.

For these reasons, I believe removing these two crafters from the specialist formula will better balance crafting as a whole. If not, better balancing needs to be considered to increase CUL usability, while decreasing ALC demand.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

For these reasons, I believe removing these two crafters from the specialist formula will better balance crafting as a whole.

It doesn't make any sense to suddenly remove specialists for CUL and ALC just because one is making more gil than the other. Don't forget specialist status comes from the Soul Stone, which adds extra stats. And the stone allows some very neat skills to be performed by the class. Don't you think removing it from CUL will only make it further suffer? And how about fairness? You can't have 2 classes which have no specialist status! That will be extremely unfair! Despite CUL having so few high level recipes, it's actually a very profitable class. Persimmon Leaf Sushi and Jellied Compote are still extremely popular among raiders. Perhaps they don't make as much money as the potions, but they are still making a lot of money.

If not, better balancing needs to be considered to increase CUL usability, while decreasing ALC demand.

Balances change every patch. Once in awhile, certain class(es) will be having an edge over the others. It's normal. Yet, I do agree that CUL is being a big neglected since the beginning of Stormblood though. I do hope they will adjust it by providing more food choices and more high level recipes.

[Canadane]

What an odd request for something that could change dramatically in a patch or two from now.

[Sepher]

Don't forget specialist status comes from the Soul Stone, which adds extra stats.

Despite CUL having so few high level recipes, it's actually a very profitable class. Persimmon Leaf Sushi and Jellied Compote are still extremely popular among raiders.

Balances change every patch.

Neither Persimmon Leaf Sushi or Jellied Compote require a specialist, which strengthens my point that specialist for CUL is currently close to worthless.

The specialist's moves are mostly pointless. I have crafted everything including the new 2 star without using any of them. I see your point though for people that may rely on them, but they could just be given the specialist status but the status does not count towards your total.

Balancing does change every patch, but ALC does not. It is always needed and could be considered the OP class since you literally can't make new stuff without the mats it makes.

[Elamys]

I feel like the better solution would just be to make components not require specialist to craft, only final products.

[Solarra]

You can change specialists quite cheaply now. It does require a bit of planning if you want to make multiple items but it's fairly easy to do. In my opinion that change alone has made specialists palatable. If you want to omni-craft you can simply switch round your specialists as you need.

One of the biggest issues with specialists in my opinion, has been the uneven number of recipes the different classes get. CUL definitely got the short end of the stick this time, but removing the ability to be a specialist on CUL won't solve that; it also locks people out of abilities and lowers their stats. I don't think anyone who is a CUL specialist with no other crafting class, is going to like your idea at all.

Alc is necessary now but that may change in the future. Soul-stones are cheap, taking the ability to be an ALC specialist away isn't going to make the current ALC recipes much more accessible than they are now.

[Wintersandman]

HW relic HQ King Cake. I rest my case.

[Vidu]

Balancing does change every patch, but ALC does not. It is always needed and could be considered the OP class since you literally can't make new stuff without the mats it makes.

For this patch-cycle, yes. I dont expect ALC being the only one again to provide base-mats when it comes to crafting DoW/DoM-gear. We'll most likely gonna see metal, leather, wood and fabric spread over all crafting-class (except CUL). ALC will probably still get those dissolvents, so technically it will always be needed, but it will even out more again (considering that dissolvents often use much cheaper mats or are at least crafted in quanteties of 3 already they're often cheaper on the marketboard than other basemats - you cant craft everything yourself anyways)

I agree that CUL does need some more and better recipes but neither needs their specialist status removed - specially not considering that specialist-exclusive recipes only stay that way for a certain amount of time. So you want always need a ALC specialist to craft the mats for the current crafter/gatherer gear. My guess would be that for the next crafting-patch ALC mainly gets dissolvents - making it a potent crafter, but not as OP as it currently is.

[Elamys]

ALC is going to be very valuable as long as it creates an item that is required for every end game gear craft in the game, like dissolvents/reisuis/fibers. I can't really imagine any point where it wouldn't feel near mandatory with how they've been handling craft balancing. Every single end game crafted gear set in HW required items ALC made - astral oil, luminous fiber, grade 2 and 3 dissolvents. Which is why I'm very strongly against specialists crafting components.

I also don't think "just switch your specialists" is the best solution as you're limited on how many times you can switch per week and again ALC is required for everything so you might as well keep it around if you want to be self-sufficient.

That being said, removing CUL and ALC specs would not be a good solution.

[Solarra]

ALC is going to be very valuable as long as it creates an item that is required for every end game gear craft in the game, like dissolvents/reisuis/fibers. I can't really imagine any point where it wouldn't feel near mandatory with how they've been handling craft balancing...
...Which is why I'm very strongly against specialists crafting components.

I also don't think "just switch your specialists" is the best solution as you're limited on how many times you can switch per week...

You are absolutely right on both points. I agree locking component recipes to specialists is a major issue. Being able to switch soul-stones is a work-round that is better than nothing and much better than what we had before but it is not a solution.

The problem that specialisation was supposed to solve seems far smaller to me than some of the problems it has created.