Can you really guarantee an HQ synth using NQ materials

[TrystWildkey]

I posted this in the crafting forum also, but I'm impatient

Ok, I've got all my crafts except cooking to 50. I recently leveled cooking to 37 for Hasty Touch and Steady Hand 2. Theoretically, I have all of the abilities recommended for crafting HQ finished products using NQ materials.

There are numerous references to always being able to HQ a recipe using NQ materials.

I've been practicing. I call Shenanigans.

Is it really possible to HQ anything or are these people claiming to do so exaggerating?

Or, do I need to have all +2 gear with forbidden melds in order to do so?

I pop Inner Quiet at the beginning of every synth. I use Careful Synthesis II to get progress up far enough that just one more will finish it.

I use Tricks of the Trade when up to restore CP.

Now I start the phase where I try to increase Quality.

Sometimes I use Great Strides and Steady Hand II. Sometimes I don't. But, at this point I begin using Hasty Touch, and Tricks of the Trade when up.

When I get to 20 durability, I use Masters Mend II to take me back to 80.

Then I go back to Hasty Touch and Tricks of the Trade.

Here is where it starts to vary depending on my available CP.

I can either use a Master's Mend, Manipulation, or Waste Not to give me either more durability or less durability loss.

When I can no longer restore or reduce the cost of durability, and when I'm down to 10 durability and nothing else I can do, I finish the synth with Careful Synthesis II.

Sometimes I HQ, sometimes I don't.

Am I doing it wrong, or do I really need the tricked out gear to do this successfully?

Anyone willing to help me? Or is everyone keeping their secrets secret so they can corner the market? I really only craft stuff for myself, my husband and a couple of my friends.

[Appleh4x]

You should have all HQ i55 gear with materia, yes. Having so many jobs at 50 I am amazed that you don't already. I only have armorer at 50 and I have all my stuff capped

[TrystWildkey]

See, therein lies the problem.

I have a hard time hq'ing the starred recipes.

You tell me I need HQ gear to HQ the starred recipes. >< Catch 22....

I am saving all my cash for housing and am not going to purchase my gear.

So, do I have to just keep trying to craft the starred gear until I luck out and get HQ?

[Appleh4x]

See, therein lies the problem.

I have a hard time hq'ing the starred recipes.

You tell me I need HQ gear to HQ the starred recipes. >< Catch 22....

I am saving all my cash for housing and am not going to purchase my gear.

So, do I have to just keep trying to craft the starred gear until I luck out and get HQ?

I did it by spiritbonding until I had about 600k gil, bought all my i55 crafting HQ gear for like 80k of that, then bought the materia that I lowered the value of on the market during the whole previous week for next to nothing.

[Sunarie]

Speaking as someone who (almost) has all the jobs to 50.. getting capped on the materia is a bit expensive and can be a pain. HQing the gear hasn't really been (I've just been too lazy to gather materials to do so, but the stuff I crafted gear-wise for myself has been HQ so far).

Everything I've read does have to do with maxing what you get from HQ gear and full materia though. So I would assume that the extra control and the like makes a huge difference.

I'm not at that point though, so unfortunately my opinion as far as that's concerned holds little to no weight. When crafting stuff my level or below (1-star or below), I rarely fail to HQ it, but I do still fail sometimes. You may try throwing ingenuity II in there, one of my FC-mates does that's further along than I with the crafts. I know that can help as well, especially with the 2-star stuff.

Edited to add: What I did when I hit 50 with my first craft (weaving), was make level 45-50 stuff HQ, and then used that to HQ the 1-Star items. I then used Weaving to make any pieces I could HQ for any of my other crafts, before crafting pieces on them.

2nd edit: I also made sure to start with all HQ materials when I was first starting out, as it is harder to HQ stuff.

[APilgrim]

I only have smithing to 50 (been at 50 for awhile) but have most of the other crafts around 45 and used to spend a lot of time crafting for sale/profit.

You pretty much closely described the same general process I use a lot: Inner Quite, Steady Hands, progress just 1 action short of completion, start spamming Steady Hands + Hasty Touch + Tricks of the Trade, Master's Mend to full durability, continue SH + HT process to 20 durability, and then Rumination + Great Strides + best Touch and final progress action to finish. If I am going to end up with extra CP I'll use a better touch action than Hasty along the way (I just make sure I have just enough CP for the Rumination + GS + ? Touch + ? Synthesis at the end).

Control melds make a huge difference, more-so than anything else you can do gear-wise I think.

[Pentt]

Yes, it's possible and quite common to HQ 80/70 dura items with NQ mats, 40 dura items can be sometimes tricky.

First off;

I use Careful Synthesis II to get progress up far enough that just one more will finish it

Don't do this, always save the progress for last. There's lots of ways to finish the item at the end without having to use so much durability(Rumination + Waste Not or Ingenuity for example). With your gear it would take around 5 synths to make a 1-star item, that's 20 dura wasted for doing it early.

For 80/70 dura items I go with the following order;

Inner Quiet
Comfort Zone (I don't have this yet but no reason for you not to use it since you have Alchemist at 50)
SH2
Hasty Touch to 20, reapply SH2 as needed. ToT on every Good.
Master's Mend II
Hasty Touch to 40. (Conserve at least 80 CP at this point.)
Great Strides
Byregot's Blessing
Ingenuity and Careful Synthx3 to finish.

If you have generous Good procs use the extra CP to get some durability for more attempts at quality, but always keep enough for the final stretch. Also always make sure you have SH2 up when attempting any touch(unless you get an excellent right after inner quiet, then hit advanced touch and pray 90% is enough)

[Jynx]

To be honest I find matterials much harder to HQ than the actual gear as the 40 durabillity is much less forgiving with failures.

I rarely use Masters mend, but as I have most all crafts to 50 I have alot of wiggle room with usefull abillities.

I generally go.

Comfort Zone (Always use this first no reason not to)
Inner Quiet
Steadyhand 2
Waste not II (The two previous steps may be interchangeable the extra use of steadyhand may outweigh the extra step of Waste not haven't tested it much as just recently dinged 50 LW)
Hasty hand until SH2 wears.
(Depending on the CP I have on the specific craft)
SH2
Baisc/advanced touch CP providing the main goal is to hit as many sucsessfull crafts as possible that Steady hand relies purely on luck with SH2 even basic touch is 100%
Great Strides
(Use any spare white orbs remaining from Waste not 2 for Carefull synth II)
Byregots (On Red orb or last available white orb)
Use remaining durabillity to complete the craft


Get's me pretty good results I've considered mixing Rapid Synthesis (250% progress) with my Steadyhand II rotation but again it's pure luck and I avoid relying on getting lucky for my synths.

[SchalaZeal]

For starred items, Ingenuity provides more quality gains, not just progress gains.

[Nanga]

OP: Give an example of something, specifically, that you are trying to craft and having difficulty doing so.