An educated rant: Why pentamelding is %@$&*!-backwards

[Lunalepsy]

So the new tier comes out and you want to do damage to the bosses. Right? Wrong. The ability to pentameld is locked behind unnecessary side quests and gatekept by the gil markets. Seriously. Has anyone ever questioned why you need CRAFTERS and GATHERERS so you can overmeld on COMBAT CLASSES? It's just a timesink that punishes people who want to do real content instead of blowing away their subscription time on garbage. Imagine you have your driver's license and you want to drive a car, but before you could even step into a car you had to learn how to learn how to play the violin. FFXIV is a world where only violinists can drive cars, and the actual racers are left taking the bus. And when you dare to point that out, all the violinists say "well it's not fair! Go learn to play some Vivaldi!!!". So you go "ah well, might as well look at a youtube tutorial on how to play this thing" and you realize that the violin is more expensive than your rent. It's prohibitively expensive to even get things melded. Seriously, it makes no sense to brickwall the people who want to actually play the game instead of jumping through pointless hoops. Solutions are to

1) Divorce pentamelding from non-combat classes, and give it to people who reach the level cap of an expansion OR
2) Make materia drop from current extreme trials and normal raids. When you clear a savage fight of the tier, then you're 100% guaranteed to have the overmeld go through.

What's the problem with having a bit of synergy and teamwork? I think it's beautiful gathereres and crafters have a say in this game.

[technole]

What's the problem with having a bit of synergy and teamwork? I think it's beautiful gathereres and crafters have a say in this game.

OP would really lose their mind if this was HW again, where you need a specialist for certain pieces of crafted gear.

[KDSilver]

What's the problem with having a bit of synergy and teamwork? I think it's beautiful gathereres and crafters have a say in this game.

Don't bother explaining this to people who can't understand it's a waste of energy really.

[Michieltjuhh]

What's the problem with having a bit of synergy and teamwork? I think it's beautiful gathereres and crafters have a say in this game.

And yet the only thing these casual jobs have a say in is the exclusive non-casual content. I appreciate the sentiment, but it's similar to telling professional football players that they need a personal water boy to fuel them with steroids before a match (they're free to be their own water boy, of course).

It also doesn't help that all of it has to be done on the day of the tier's release. They should at least make it available a week early, if they want to keep it in.

[Kes13a]

And yet the only thing these casual jobs have a say in is the exclusive non-casual content. I appreciate the sentiment, but it's similar to telling professional football players that they need a personal water boy to fuel them with steroids before a match (they're free to be their own water boy, of course).

It also doesn't help that all of it has to be done on the day of the tier's release. They should at least make it available a week early, if they want to keep it in.

I can only guess that you are well versed with something like WoW where crafting is indeed a useless profession. they made sure, at the request of hardcore people like yourself, that crafting be made that way because it gave, in your words "casual players" too much say over the elite players who focus only on end game raiding etc. which turned into the current system of crafting in WoW being the most useless thing anyone can ever do.

fortunately, or, unfortunately in your view, that is not the case here. your example is nonsensical. do the football players not need uniforms? shoes?.. a ball? those dont just grow on trees you know, it will obviously surprise you to know that they are actually crafted items, made by people who likely dont play football. huh... go figure.

as for day of the tiers release... well, thats on you if you need things that fast now isnt it? no one is forcing you to be impatient....

[Michieltjuhh]

I can only guess that you are well versed with something like WoW where crafting is indeed a useless profession. they made sure, at the request of hardcore people like yourself, that crafting be made that way because it gave, in your words "casual players" too much say over the elite players who focus only on end game raiding etc. which turned into the current system of crafting in WoW being the most useless thing anyone can ever do.

They've made professions very relevant again, though not to the extremes of FF14. And, unlike in here, it's not all held back until the raid's release, so people actually get to sort their gear in peace before the raid comes out. Significantly better system than having you replace your entire gearset minutes before entering the raid.

fortunately, or, unfortunately in your view, that is not the case here. your example is nonsensical. do the football players not need uniforms? shoes?.. a ball? those dont just grow on trees you know, it will obviously surprise you to know that they are actually crafted items, made by people who likely dont play football. huh... go figure.

The uniforms are the pre-raid grind. The ball (and field) are the raid, provided by the developer. Crafted items, especially added on release, are the steroids, which are forbidden in traditional sports, yet encouraged in FF14.

as for day of the tiers release... well, thats on you if you need things that fast now isnt it? no one is forcing you to be impatient....

The "race for world first" is as much in the developer's interest as it is in the player's. Viewers means exposure, which is basically free marketing. People talk about it, people have something to enjoy outside of playing the game, and it puts some extra interest in the raiding scene as a whole. It makes you feel like the game is more alive, gives players something to strive toward. Just like is the case in any other sport. Making it harder than it needs to be is, thus, shooting themselves in the foot.

[Kes13a]

The "race for world first" is as much in the developer's interest as it is in the player's. Viewers means exposure, which is basically free marketing. People talk about it, people have something to enjoy outside of playing the game, and it puts some extra interest in the raiding scene as a whole. It makes you feel like the game is more alive, gives players something to strive toward. Just like is the case in any other sport. Making it harder than it needs to be is, thus, shooting themselves in the foot.

so now your position is that you deserve special treatment and crafters should be removed because.... you are doing the game a favour?

I dont usually say this, but WoW suffered from those kinds of favours for years, and what put it where it is today. FFxiv has done well for years without your kind of favours... thanks anyway.

[Illmaeran]

I dont usually say this, but WoW suffered from those kinds of favours for years, and what put it where it is today. FFxiv has done well for years without your kind of favours... thanks anyway.

Indeed!! Some of my best times in WoW were when I was gathering to craft resistance gear for my raid group. Crafting in Vanilla was *important* and worthwhile. We made a meaningful contribution to our team, unlike later years when it was only good for gearing twinks.