Economy of FFXIV

[Anderian]

So, this was actually my idea for a multi-part blog entry originally, but after writing it up I decided not to publish it because it was basically just me explaining, in the most simplest terms I could, why the current economy sucks big time and makes crafting and gathering incredibly unrewarding.

But, I decided it was better to open conversation on the matter to get other people's opinion on the subject, as well as maybe offer some solutions in some vain hope that they might be influence the direction the game will go in the future (just being real here).

The way I see it, the current economy is pretty much crafter to crafter trading, and gatherer to crafter trading for most part. Combat classes gear from quests, then from dungeons, crafting food is an insanely time consuming endeavor compared to the (very minor) bonuses that it provides and medicine items are incredibly weak with long cooldowns. This isn't to say that there isn't money to be made, but it's mostly in form of materials (ore, logs), or refined materials (cloth, lumber) with very little actual equipment being sold.

The funny thing is, most of the people who ask me to craft them something are OTHER CRAFTERS that basically want me to powerlevel them by HQing items for their leves. That alone is insane, because I don't understand why I would want to basically powerlevel my own competition. Say what you say, but crafting and gathering is always PVP, you are competing for customers (I'm not even that aggressive on market board, but that's what trading boils down to).

I have devised a few solutions to make crafting and gathering more involved. I'll start with the solutions that are faster to implement and work my way down the list from there.

1. Food / Medicine reforms
Basically, make food and medicine recipes use less shards/crystals/clusters, remove HQ food and medicine and make HQ chance generate more food/medicine than NQ (FFXI, wink wink nudge nudge, c'mon guys that game was also made by you). Buff the food effects across the board, and make star and two star food buffs persist after death. Drop medicine cooldowns significantly and buff the NQ medicine to HQ levels (because HQ medicine will not exists anymore).
This will create a healthy supply and demand for the items.

2. Rare equipment recipes for exceptional items
I don't much care what the delivery method will be, but we need rare recipes in order to be able to create a niche for ourselves, so we don't all end up competing with each other. And the items produced by these recipes need to be actually exceptional. Like several iLevel above what the normal and dungeon gear is. And I'm not talking about endgame gear, that's a whole different can of worms. I'm talking about there needing to be a reason for a person to buy crafted gear while leveling. If a crafter could create a blue quality item for level 30 combat class, that outshined anything from dungeons, there would be an actual reason for the person to buy that item.

3. Crafting class specialization
You have that nifty job crystal system, why not use it for crafting classes. I thought crafter classes were supposed to be a viable option for experiencing the game too, right? Now, unlike DOW/DOM job crystals, you could only get one per crafting class, maybe out of three possible crystals. Each would give it's own recipes, further enabling crafters to carve out a niche for themselves.

4. Actual content for DoL / DoH
Last but not least, how about we get actual content for gathering and crafting classes? There has been a lot of talk about crafting/gathering dungeons and whatnot on these forums lately. I understand that S-E had to "re-prioritize" the game with ARR, and bring DOM/DOW classes to spotlight, but that doesn't mean that people who enjoy crafting should be denied content altogether. Housing will bring new recipes for crafters, but I doubt it will bring even a shred of actual content for DOH and DOL classes.

Sorry for the wall of text. I have four crafting classes and two gathering classes at 50, and seeing the current economy for what it is (a joke) just really pisses me off, when FFXI had a better one even after gil sellers basically took over the servers. And no, I'm not going back to FFXI, that's not what this is about. I just wish MMO devs would widen their horizons even just a little bit and not assume that scripted combat content is the be all end all of every MMO ever.

[Kaliban]

1. I think this would be better really. Though FFXI had HQ versions of food (Mithkabobs--> Chiefkabobs) but they lasted longer, typically double the time

2. I completely agree. There is really no reason for most crafters to take up the trade. You can make money with niche or endgame accessories but that is largely a crap aspect of a crafting system imho. I think if they began re-instituting extra stats aside from materia (increased counter-attack %, evasion, etc) it would HELP crafting. I think it was in during 1.0 so the precedent is there.

3. This would work best if tied into #2. WoW did this with certain kinds of leatherworker and FFXI did it somewhat in that you could get the Key Item to be able to make sushi, anima, or ensorcellment of other things.

4. While this would be nice the way the game is set up it would be difficult to pull off and be worth the effort I think.

I loved FFXI, still do really, but this is not FFXI and I think we all know and accept that. That being said, it is asinine to not utilize things that worked form that game or others. I personally wish they could make crafting as viable as it was pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies. I hope they show crafting love. A lot of love. Balance them with respect to the rest of the game. But the above I personally think would go a long way towards making them both relevant and more enjoyable.

[roohan]

For me it is this:

1: Increase the XP-Gain for gathering classes, so the market is not flooded with items. I mean Gatherers collect alot of stuff just to level up. Crafting classes don't need that much materials to level up.

2 :Let crafting and gathering classes unlock guild leves. I'm stuck at my Botanist at level 37 now because my BLM is not high enough to unlock new leves. I don't want to get forced to level my BLM first.

4: Make the game more dependent on crafters. I mean you get Gear for free when you're doing quests. Buying gear from NPC's is way to cheap. I could imagine lots of ways to make crafting more viable but thats not my part.

5: Gatheres and Crafters should really have more quests. But I guess that's something the development team doesn't have in mind. It might have a very low priority.

6: GP really need to get adjusted. It's boring as gatherer to use skills and the GP recovery is damn slow especially when the good skills cost almost all GP you have.

[Anderian]

FFXI had HQ versions of food (Mithkabobs--> Chiefkabobs) but they lasted longer, typically double the time

I completely forgot that FFXI had HQ foods. O_O
Well, XIV crafting system is more simplistic anyway, in regards to HQ, there are no HQ2s, HQ3s or HQ4s, for one. HQs seem to be a binary system; either a recipe has a HQ (most of items) or they don't (dyes for example).

And I know I didn't outright say it, but obviously my hope would be that all of my suggested changes would be implemented in some form. Doing just one or few of them is basically damage control, it won't keep crafter-oriented players like myself playing. Whether or not crafter/gatherer content is difficult to pull of, it needs to happen. Otherwise, what in Byregot's name was the point of making the crafting professions actual classes in the first place?

For me it is this:

1: Increase the XP-Gain for gathering classes, so the market is not flooded with items. I mean Gatherers collect alot of stuff just to level up. Crafting classes don't need that much materials to level up.

2 :Let crafting and gathering classes unlock guild leves. I'm stuck at my Botanist at level 37 now because my BLM is not high enough to unlock new leves. I don't want to get forced to level my BLM first.

4: Make the game more dependent on crafters. I mean you get Gear for free when you're doing quests. Buying gear from NPC's is way to cheap. I could imagine lots of ways to make crafting more viable but thats not my part.

5: Gatheres and Crafters should really have more quests. But I guess that's something the development team doesn't have in mind. It might have a very low priority.

6: GP really need to get adjusted. It's boring as gatherer to use skills and the GP recovery is damn slow especially when the good skills cost almost all GP you have.

In regards to making crafting actually more relevant (which obviously is my goal with the suggested changes), I think the best short-term solution they could do right now is just flat-out remove all gear and material vendors from the game. I know that sounds harsh, but if you think about it, that would generate actual synergy between combat, gathering and crafting classes, and make even low-end gear something that people would buy.

[Kaliban]

I agree with crafting needing love, and I can understand your desire for crafting related content in terms of dungeons, instances, etc. I think this would be difficult in that it would not be (nor should it really) be something they could throw together. I think damage control now is better than nothing though. That being said, what would be really really cool (in my mind at least) is the following:

Be able to queue through the DF with other Crafters (parties of 8 so it would be a full party) similar to how we queue for other instances; but in this instance, each class would have to create a component that would help the war effort and directly stop the advance of the enemy (obviously instance only) in the town, area, region, etc. This enemy currently would be Garleans or Beastmen, but as expansions come out it would be something like the Dragons from Ishgard, or something else we have not thought of. The instance clears in the same way the others do, and several stages must be overcome by mechanisms involving a number of Crafters.

I think that would perhaps be the coolest and best use of the DF and crafting classes with instances. This would obviously be something long-term though. However, the pieces are there and so it would not be as tough to institute. Thoughts on the matter?

[Tekaru]

I like these suggestions. I find that I'm a "casual" player of crafting in other MMOs, but I really wanted to give FFXIV crafting a shot. Mostly because it's so unique and does have some fun aspects to it.

but you guys are right, there's not much of an incentive here, other than being some kind of masochist or obsessive compulsive type that HAS to complete everything in a game.

just some of those easy fixes you guys suggest would make a big difference. why can't crafters make "blue" items, for example? you could have a choice: buy regular "white" gear from vendors or check the Market Board for crafted stuff.

anyway, while we are throwing out suggestions - what is up with the crafting supply vendors not having the same stuff?? I get that its trying to promote trading with other players - but it's so inconvenient.

[Anderian]

Thoughts on the matter?

I'm all for any content that's tailored specifically for crafters and gatherers, even more if it's group content, but to be honest, instance content is the last thing I would want. I'm one of those grumpy old people who think instances have pretty much ruined MMOs, since they are nothing but a lame cost-cutting way for companies to churn out repeatable content for players. I truly think crafting is pretty much the last bastion of hope for actual MMOs, where if done properly, it creates bonds in the community and actually makes a virtual world feel more real. Everything has turned in to this lobby based, "let's get the loot quickly so I don't have to see you guys ever again", trolling, selfish bullcrap where everybody thinks that they are an unique little snowflake and other players are there simply to serve their needs. It has to stop, or this genre truly has no future.
So my vision of the content would be, that S-E actually gives us what we deserve, not simply "what they can piece together". Recipes that require multiple crafters at the same time, a token system that rewards crafters and gatherers with better equipment, quest series that take long time to finish and reward the crafter/gatherer with vanity gear and actual events that celebrate the non-combat side of MMOs, like for example, a weekly market event where crafters would be able to rent a stall and sell their wares directly to players.

[Enfarious]

1. Food / Medicine reforms
Yes, as it is food/pots are kind of 'weak'. It would be nice to see consumables that are really put to use, and even demanded, to create a real market for crafters of this type. Of course the armor and weapon markets would still be hurting badly, but that is addressed later.

2. Rare equipment recipes for exceptional items
This could be useful, assuming that fates/general speed of leveling were adjusted in a way that left people with a 'need' to gear during the level grind. I can also see that crafting 'blue' or even just dungeon equiv. 'green' gear being tied to your next point:

[Enfarious]

1000 char limit ... why does it exist?
3. Crafting class specialization
Crafting 'jobs' that allowed for the extremely difficult recipes of true artisans and produced crafted 'blue'/'purple' gear that, for a recipe that is doable at 50, would produce iLevel 80/90 respectively. This would be awesome, and could provide a reason for people to go back to buying gear for the current endgame content.

The only place I see any problem is, altering the leveling process enough to get people to have interest in buying early~mid game gear would mean some potential(likely) outrage. Of course without some kind of adjustments the early~mid game gear markets will probably remain a slot that is used simply for crafters that are grinding. Even now with the relative cost/reward of crafted endgame gear there isn't much of a market for it. It's far more cost effective to get full DL than it is to get full HQ crafted and materia, both the time costs and gil costs of each are wildly unbalanced.

[Anderian]

1000 char limit ... why does it exist?

You can get around it by editing your post. Yes, I know, S-E ingenuity at it's finest.

I didn't want to touch on the endgame crafting, because honestly it's such a huge can of worms, with countless variables that need to be taken to account. Mainly the number one reason; some people seem to consider equipment the end goal of playing an MMO, and as luck would have it, these people are not a minority. So, if you make the best equipment (or close enough to best) available for crafting, these people will buy gil, get the gear, get bored since they have no reason to do any content, and quit. You gotta keep dangling that gear like a carrot.

My only concern is making crafting (and gathering by extent) rewarding to the player, and positive to the community as a whole. Luckily for me, this doesn't require iLevel 80/90 recipes, it just requires content that is A) fun to do and B) rewarding enough that it won't matter if it feels a bit like a grind in some parts. Right now, there is a remarkable lack of synergy between gathering, crafting and combat aspects of the game, especially for a game that prides itself on having made both gathering and crafting professions actual classes.