Quote Originally Posted by DemonForest View Post
Brain = Fried.

What is the purpose of off hand items? I thought they would be for special recipes but not so?

Where can I find a comprehensive guide to crafting and what skills are worth using and when is best, and what the crap does elemental instability do? etc.
It used to be that certain recipes had better success rates when using off hand tools. For example, making thread was better done using a spinning wheel versus a needle. You could still do it with the needle, but you had a higher rate of failure.

Now it just seems to affect what you get when you HQ the synthesis.
If you used the off hand tool you get more of the item you were making.
If you used the main hand tool you get a single +1 item.

Elemental instability reduces your rate of progress for each action. It also -seems- to lower your chance of success of each action a little... but it's so random that this is difficult to prove.

For abilities, I think the ones you use depend on what you're going for. Aiming for HQ versus grinding would use different sets of abilities.

Sorry. I don't know of any guides... maybe someone else does?