We should probably talk about slot costs, stats and the GSers burden

[Gr33nBud]

Hey all, 50MIN/48GSM here. Figured I would also put in my 2 cents here.

I will agree that the current state of the slotcost system is horrible. A good 1/3 of our gemmed items are earrings/chokers/wrist pieces. How many times have YOU actually seen one being worn? Out of my entire LS one tank has ordered +1 wristlets instead of the 4/7 stat rings.
The other big problem I have with GSM is the cost of HQmats vrs the value of the HQitem IF succesful. It order to have an even decent chance at a +2/3 7 stat ring you are looking 2 +2/3 elec nuggets and a +gem.
Having rasied Miner to 50 as my first class I can tell you that making +2/3 elec nuggets OR the +gem is no fun job on its own. I think to date I've made 48 +2 and 12 +3 electrum nuggets. So I'm left with the choice of just selling the raw hq mats at high cost or take a chance and burn the mats with the slim chance of +2/3 the ring, anything lower then that and I'm losing money.

Which is why right now my GSM just sells nuggets and HQ parts. There is just no money in it right now with this system.

[Fleur]

As a newbie I blithely took up goldsmithing, not knowing that it would be such a pain to rank up. I'm only r32 GLD but am planning to focus on weaving instead now that I can fix all of my jewelry and my weapon. Honestly, I don't make much money off of goldsmithing except by selling things to the NPC -- it is usually more worth it to just sell the drops I get from mobs on my retainer. And I don't even bother making earrings, chokers or wristlets, hardly anyone wears them.

I agree that the slot cost system is in need of fixing! It seems silly that you can wear so much more rank-appropriate stuff at lower ranks that at higher ranks. I guess higher ranked items have a higher slot cost to prevent lower ranked people from wearing a bunch of them, but I think it would make a lot of sense if you just got more slots (maybe through a quest?) as you ranked up so you could wear the same amount of jewelry, relatively speaking, as you could when you first started out.

[Peregrine]

If they do unlock accessory slots I understand that goldsmithers could potentially make way too much money from the increased opportunity and that if HQ is tied to matt macc att and acc then we might really overdo it in terms of moneymaking...but accessory mats are common as dirt right now. Metal and gems. That's all there is to it. You can't charge an arm and a leg for something that just takes metal and gems.

Somewhere between the ludicrously stupid black pearl market where 1 pointless magic accuracy is 2 million gil, and this market where everything is pointless AND dirt cheap, is a good balance.

[Shampooo]

If they do unlock accessory slots I understand that goldsmithers could potentially make way too much money from the increased opportunity and that if HQ is tied to matt macc att and acc then we might really overdo it in terms of moneymaking...but accessory mats are common as dirt right now. Metal and gems. That's all there is to it. You can't charge an arm and a leg for something that just takes metal and gems.

Somewhere between the ludicrously stupid black pearl market where 1 pointless magic accuracy is 2 million gil, and this market where everything is pointless AND dirt cheap, is a good balance.

i agree, and its incredibly easy to get r40 goldsmith and to be able to just make your own rings etc... or at least have a friend in your own LS who'll make it for you....unless you have some sort of greedy LS mate.

[Shampooo]

Hey all, 50MIN/48GSM here. Figured I would also put in my 2 cents here.

I will agree that the current state of the slotcost system is horrible. A good 1/3 of our gemmed items are earrings/chokers/wrist pieces. How many times have YOU actually seen one being worn? Out of my entire LS one tank has ordered +1 wristlets instead of the 4/7 stat rings.
The other big problem I have with GSM is the cost of HQmats vrs the value of the HQitem IF succesful. It order to have an even decent chance at a +2/3 7 stat ring you are looking 2 +2/3 elec nuggets and a +gem.
Having rasied Miner to 50 as my first class I can tell you that making +2/3 elec nuggets OR the +gem is no fun job on its own. I think to date I've made 48 +2 and 12 +3 electrum nuggets. So I'm left with the choice of just selling the raw hq mats at high cost or take a chance and burn the mats with the slim chance of +2/3 the ring, anything lower then that and I'm losing money.

Which is why right now my GSM just sells nuggets and HQ parts. There is just no money in it right now with this system.

lots of crafts have trouble making money, really the ones making money are the ones selling raw SP materials. because thats whats highest in demand and in shorter supply.

[Catapult]

I have no plans to take my Goldsmith beyond about rank 38 since I see no practical point in doing so.

There is no class-specific quest after Rank 36, by 40 you can repair anything a Goldsmith can repair, certainly everything I would consider using and if I want some high level equipment, it doesn't take me too long to buy it, either by browsing the markets or calling around my Linkshells for a favor since I know a few R50 crafters. For main plot, you only need one class to reach rank 46 and my miner will probably hit that first.

When new content gets released, probably together with an increase on the level cap, these will change, but they'll probably give us new recepies to work with then as well. Then Ranks 50-60 will be the hard ones.

[Scarface]

Well I'll speak as one of the first generation of 50 GSM's and say that I miss the days where gem rings were 60-80k.

However, any GSMer who thinks that they need to remove slot cost for them to make gil, needs to stop synthing and sell all their mats now, lol.

I've made easily over 60-70mill off of GSM in the last 2 months, and didn't sell 1 ring. Well actually just black pearl rings, but that's not your best bet for gil making. I'd love to educate those on the Wutai server, but last thing I need is more people getting in my way to a billion

Also, having carp at 50 is a great way to supply yourself with bottom tier weapons to use for HQing on GSM. My one line of advice.

[Corwin]

We should probably assume that things will change considerably once the cap of 50 raises - I for one expect there to be more interesting and unique recipes requiring difficult to obtain materials. The points about slot costs is well made - it would be far more effective to remove that aspect and focus on making item-stats force hard choices; this will have to wait for the review/revamp of stat importance - but it certainly does not prevent us from making gil. I for one do not expect to see large profits until I hit 50 and can start reliably HQing either quantity or quality. I fully expect gsm to have three economic choices as we go forward:

1) repairs on end-game gear
2) pre-processing materials needed for other crafts
3) the production of HQ accessories. GSM would fulfill its vision by making HQ +2 and +3 'must haves' for min-maxers.

This would provide play styles for the casual, the cautious but industrious, and the truly insane among us.

And yes, you can make money while skilling up. Our market just happens to be much more volatile than resources or even weapons and armor. One word of advice though: there really is no good reason to not level mining - I like my gold and mythril to be free.

[Scarface]

It's never really free, if you're not selling it, you're losing

[Peregrine]

Black pearl rings are sold to idiots by simple hustlers. Both are dime a dozen players. We're petitioning for legitimate balance, not playa-play ballin where people pay 3 million gil for 1 magic accuracy point. Only reason I don't bother putting your GS out of its weapon-making misery is because I have blacksmith that's better at it, and Vegas is a goldsmith.