Regarding the Proposed Desynthesis Changes in Live Letter LIII

[Nezerius]

you can only desynthesize in 3 categories at a time.

You can only fully cap 3 at a time.

The total cap of desynth levels can be spread out over all 8, although one of them will get its level reduced whenever you go over the total cap.

As for the change itself, it doesn't really surprise me that they went with a low effort change. They haven't really done anything with desynthesis since ARR, with its useability popping up every now and then after that (glass fibers in HW).

[Brightamethyst]

I'm honestly okay with this. It always seemed weird that desynth was almost completely separate from the rest of the crafting system. I'm not sure why they went with the current system in the first place (unless maybe it was a 1.0 remnant they had to work around or something.)

[Niwashi]

As for the change itself, it doesn't really surprise me that they went with a low effort change. They haven't really done anything with desynthesis since ARR, with its useability popping up every now and then after that (glass fibers in HW).

Doing nothing except for giving it some reward items would be an even lower effort change, and one that wouldn't screw over the players who've worked on it or who like it.

I like desynthesis primarily because it gives me something else to level up and another way to advance my character. SE is planning to take that away from us. Updates should add to the game, not take away from it.

[Raldo]

I'd like to see them actually utilize the desynthesis feature for more than just "Don't want this dungeon gear? Break it for free crafting materials!" however if they're going to continue to neglect it, then throwing away the leveling concept is fine by me. I keep my 3 desynth skills near-capped, but rather than complain if they take away the levels, I'll look on the bright side and be happy that I can finally desynth the stuff from DoHs that I've never been able to desynth before.

I completely understand the idea that, for most players, the idea of burning materials and money to get over 400 levels (up to 3x) into a skill that's only marginally useful is a fool's errand. Much like streamlining the 2.0 MSQ quests, I totally see the reasoning for cutting the chaff.

I will certainly be sad to think of the wasted time and effort that went into leveling them, but I'll get over it.

[Callinon]

I might feel better about it if it's linked to specializations or something. But it's still going to feel really gross no matter what. Leveling desynthesis represents a LOT of time and money invested. To now just have that wiped out feels awful no matter what they replace it with.

[aesteval]

Doing nothing except for giving it some reward items would be an even lower effort change, and one that wouldn't screw over the players who've worked on it or who like it.

I like desynthesis primarily because it gives me something else to level up and another way to advance my character. SE is planning to take that away from us. Updates should add to the game, not take away from it.

What you consider being taken away can be considered adding by someone else in this case. You lose a tedious level up process, how many people are going to have desynth as a feature that they can take advantage of once it's gone.

[Miminming]

I say make it that anybody can desynth every equipment with any level BUT make all the good item locked behind higher desynth level

Ill be dissapointed if they just remove level all around... its a tough path to raise desynth all this time

[Chiami]

Would it suck to see all the gil and time I spent leveling my desnythesis gone? Yes. Imagine how it would feel for someone who did a battle job up to 80 and then is told "oh, and now everyone gets this job at 80, fully geared!" Or to say "Everyone now is automatically a an Omni-DoH level 80!"

Yep, that would feel definitely... meh. Very meh for all who invested the time and effort into getting there before. But that is just a personal "meh" feeling, and if it would be good for the game overall? Something to get over with and move on.

In this case though, and I hate to say this, it feels like the answer to some issues with the desynthesis system now chosen by the devs is not a real answer, it is simply scrapping the system completely as a low-cost, low-effort method to get rid of the existing problems once and for all. Which... feels not simply meh, but very very unsatisfying, all the more given it could cause severe issues in my opinion.

My main concern with the proposed changes (let everyone desynth everything 100%) is mainly two-fold.

1) Mats inflation
We will probably end up drowning in mats from all the desynthed dungeon drops, crashing according markets and thus devaluing gathering and to a degree crafting (base mats).

We saw already what plentiful drops of base mats from maps did last expansion -- it was simply not worth gathering/crafting those anymore, just as it is not worth crafting most items that are on the loot table from quick ventures, given the prices crash into near-nothing easily (yes, those items could then be desynthed with the newly planned system... but only to inflate according mats...).

Do that kind of thing too much on to many areas of the game and you can severely hurt others. There is a reason why inflation is feared nearly everywhere. Saying on one hand "hey everyone, level your crafters!" and on the other hand making it increasingly devalued... does not sound right to me.

2) It takes something away we had, something Yoshida stated in an interview during the media tour they avoid doing. (and I very much support this stance)

For those of us who like desynthesis it gave us something to level and work on, but with the proposed changes this part of the game will be simply GONE, without replacement.

Desynthesis was hardly ever required since ARR times (where the demimateria played a huge role for endgame crafting pluse for some furniture/glamour, and made a revival occasionally later on for some bits of endgame gear). Any crafter leveling it up enough to get that demimateria (which is fairly easy/cheap) from old ARR items would be fine, though, no issue there.

So as it is desynthesis is an optional part of the game fun to some, giving us another time sink to enjoy. Why scrap this entirely?

Right now desynthesis needs some love and maybe some fixes, but simply removing the entire system probably would cause more problems and bad feelings than leaving it untouched, imo.

What I would like to see is really mainly two things:

1) Give us the means to reasonably get over the "expac canyon", as I like to call it.
There is a gap between the last gear (or fish) from the previous expac and then the new gear, and that gap is REALLY painful to bridge.

I think the easiest method would be introducing some kind of item that can be crafted and then desynthed, for right that painful level range (please with mats that do not require me to sell my soul to RNGsus and the gods of time).

While we are at it... it would be nice to make some other gaps a liiiiittle bit less painful, and/or slightly increase chances to succeed. Not a lot, but there are some rough spots where you essentially have to pentameld gear to have any reasonable chance to succeed with your attempt. That feels a bit much for what desynthesis is. So this... would be really just some smaller adjustments, and it is fine. Or alternatively make Bacon Broth and Tinker's Calm more powerful, and we are golden.

2) Remove the cap.
Let those of us who enjoy this part of the game level all the desynthesis we can eat -- the investment in time and gil/mats to do so is significant, so it's not like everyone and their dodo will do it anyway. It is, and rightfully can stay a niche for the dedicated. Artificial barriers like the "no more than three at max" cap rarely do any good, and this one might have made sense back in ARR... but now it is just a gate that has outlived it's usefulness.

With all that said...

... I really cringe though at the thought of what "everyone can desynth everything 100%" might potentially do to some other parts of the game, besides needlessly taking away some fun some of us had... please don't do that to the game and us

(And for those who say "but I wanna get rid of my dungeon drops" my answer is simple: Hand all the green stuff to your GC. Those seals can be converted into mats, which can be sold -- we crafters need that stuff still quite a bit. It's not tons of gil you are making, but better than throwing desnythed mats into crashing markets.)

[aesteval]

"Very meh for all who invested the time and effort into getting there before"

Speaking from the perspective who has done quite a bit of desynth leveling across alts so that I had access to all of the areas for desynth: 5.1 is too long to wait for this change, it sounds great. I've invested time, effort, and a mountain of gil into desynth and I'd appreciate it if you didn't try speaking for me.

[StouterTaru]

1) Mats inflation
We will probably end up drowning in mats from all the desynthed dungeon drops, crashing according markets and thus devaluing gathering and to a degree crafting (base mats).

I don't think enough players are going to take up desynth in the long term for this to make any significant dent. We're already near the point where the best stuff you would get from desynthing the top dungeon gear sells for less on the MB than you could get from exchanging it for GC seals and buying the right items there.

My biggest concern is the loss of a money hole.