Crafting Stat Caps, Gear, Point Allocation, MH/OH

[zzapp]

OK, admitedly, crafting is not my favorite thing. Initally, I crafted primarily to repair my own gear, but the game is so crafting-concentric, you essentially craft (some) or you don't play this game. As distasteful as I found it, with the extreme RNG in the code, broken abilities, etc.,I somehow managed to get carpenter to R50, and (yes) primarily thru local leves alone, weaver and leather to R43, GS to R36, and lately even been working on Alchemy, with the main objective being Hands of the Gods.

For most my crafts I have HQ tools where I found the price reasonable. As for gear, I'm stacked with craftsmanship + gear, frankly, without alternative gear for magic craftsmanship or control (inventory room is always an issue).

From what I've read, I know I'm doing alot wrong, for example, some synths favor main hand vs. offhand, whether it be in the form of ease in synthing or HQ results. I've read that attributes such as vit, str, int, etc., depending on craft, favor MH vs. OH, and many more theories associated with this.

All this said, I'm finally at the point where I want to take this much more seriously, and I have some basic questions for the esteemed crafting community, so whatever guidance/direction you would kindly provide me is sincerely appreciated. Please forgive me, in advance, for any noob-like questions.

1. Is there a cap for stats such as craftsmanship, magic craftsmanship, control, etc.? As I mentioned earlier, right now all my gear is craftsmanship +. Am I wasting some of that vs. a cap?

2. I imagine I really should have alternative gear for magic craftsmanship. How can I definitively tell if a particular synth is better off with craftsmanship or magic craftsmanship? Can I tell by the tool? It appears most MH tools are heavy on craftsmanship, while offhand magic craftsmanship. Is that the key or indicator to this?

3. How do I definitively know if a particular synth is better off with MH vs. OH? I mean some are kind of obvious, like weaving thread or cloth. Is this all established thru various sample bases? Same with HQ/NQ results - is this all from players' experience? If so, where is the best database to get this? I use YG alot because I like the format and it's easy to query. Is there a better, more definitive source for this information?

4. Just how much do attribute points (str, dex, int, etc.) play in all of this? I know SE says it does, and I've seen the list by tool, MH/OH, by attribute, but I've also seen results where this may not be supported in testing. Are the convert attribute abilities worth getting and using here? If I'm really doing an extremely important synth, is it worth resetting my attribute points to support the synth?

5. I ask all this primarily as it relates to HQ synths. I can grind with anything, frankly. I know with the RNG prevalent in the code, HQ is very random, and there is no guarantee whatsoever, but clearly, in my experience, HQ's seem to be most affected by quality, and the ability to 'touch up' with lots of remaining durability to support. Also, there is no question in my mind that HQ ingredients affect all of this.

[twinkles]

From what i can tell question 1 would be the most difficult to answer, and i am currently testing the affect as a compare/contrast with craft heavy gear vs control heavy gear and i will be posting the results in my next guide.

[zzapp]

Thanks, Twinkles. I've read your guide. It's very good ^^.

What about my other questions?

Regards.

[twinkles]

2. That is somewhat answered in the first guide, but i usually define better as what outcome i am after. Lets use ingots as an example: ingots hq are OH and i've found that most (i haven't tested every case-that would take years) OH synths favor mag craft. I tend to use that as the rule MH=craft OH=mag craft, and base what tool i will use on what produces the high quality version. I use YG as a resource for recipes.

3. Question 3 is very related to question 2. I define better as HQ vs quantity and yes YG seems to be the best site for listing recipes.

4. This is heavily answered in guide part1. I have all the stat swap abilities and use them all the time because of the instant nature of swapping, i also have a complete set of rings for each stat that i swap in and out.

5. Also is covered very heavily in part1, i think more towards the end of the article. Durability and quality relationship is really about getting both to end at the maximum values. Often i am ending synths with 120durability and 320+ quality on finished items. Abilities like Perfection and Hands of the Gods allow what i call free progress, where progress can be defined as either more quality or zero durability loss or both on a given action. I can tell you this much, ive seen every combination of touch up outcome:

Multiple quality raises during the touch up process

Multiple ranks of quality raised on a single touch up

Quality raises on the touch up that botch the synth

No quality raises on touch ups