Crafting needs to become more relevant

[Lemuria]

We all know how gear progression in this game goes. You work your way up through the ranks, relying on quested or crafted gear from 1-50 and then onto Darklight. From there it's AF2 or allagan pieces, with perhaps a stop-gap of Crystal Tower gear. The looming question here is where do crafters fit in?

None of the top-tier gear can be melded, so the need for materia dies down, and the highest craftable (and meldable) gear is only on par with Darklight in terms of item level. With philosophy tomes now quicker to obtain than ever, gear crafting is quickly becoming irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

I propose adding level 90 items to the craftables list and giving players more options. As a counter to that, I also suggest that more gear is added for crafters to reach higher levels of craftsmanship and control so that we can eventually make these stronger items, similar to how current 2-star items have control and craftsmanship requirements.

Higher tier 'dungeon-level' gear could eventually be added with crafted items being required for the process, giving us more of a presence at endgame. As it stands, there's little to no reason to ever use crafted equipment once you hit level 50. With equally strong equipment being more cheaply available through the medium of philosophy tomes (2250 tomes for Vanya body/head vs 1350 for DL body/head), craft items have bottomed and people are moving away from paying for items they'll only use in the interim.

I have no problem with these high level items having a dungeon requirement. Add a system of being able to craft items for another player (and while we're at it, bring back the 1.0 system to repair them for others too) without needing to trade everything, and then create unique/untradable items which are used in the gears manufacturing. You could have these items drop from high level dungeons or fights.

I see crafting being pushed slowly aside in favor of unmeldable dungeonwear, and with FFXIV having such a unique and enjoyable crafting system, that's simply unforgivable

[NekoHina]

100% agreed...even with crafters being able to make things for the houses, armors should have some relevance.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

The real problem is that the crafted i70 armors (with what, two pieces as an exception to this?) cost more Philosophy Times than their DL counterparts do.

You do not have to build up to DL. You can instead build up to the 2 star crafted gear, and from there go to Allagan/Myth with perhaps CT as stop-gap.

Relevant for the i70 to Allagan/Myth climb? Nope. Relevant after hitting 50? Up to the player.

[Nathan061111]

I agree introduce gear to convert into something else that drops in coil or CT or whatever they bring out in 2.2. Make it drop very rarely and make it require a ton of other stuff, catalysts and rare mats, maybe introduce myth mats? make it really hard to HQ, like really hard, make it able to hold materia and then make it iLvl100 or whatever so that it is BiS. Make it hard enough people need to take weeks to get it.
Just an idea.

[Githiun]

Crafting wil not be revitalized until 2.2. Just how it is.

[DarkDedede]

Crafting wil not be revitalized until 2.2. Just how it is.

Sad but true.

[Sylari]

None of the top-tier gear can be melded, so the need for materia dies down, and the highest craftable (and meldable) gear is only on par with Darklight in terms of item level.

This is sort of a disingenuous statement though give that melding it puts it on part or superior to CT gear (and vit melded jewelry is fairly popular for T5).

I do like the idea of high end crafting gear building off dungeon loot: Have HM/XM primals and BCoB enemies have a chance to drop loot that you can then use to make ultra high end crafting gear.

[juniglee]

The real problem here is that people only really need 1 gear for every part for a class. Currently in FFXIV, there is no requirement for people to need 2 gloves for example. You simply chase your BiS and that's all you need to survive through PvE, even up to the hardest content. For example, there is no need to switch between an Ifrit Blade or Garuda's Gaze, because the 2 different stats on both items (Fire Res and Wind Res) do not matter in the game. Therefore, if you have the Garuda's Gaze, it's a direct upgrade over the Ifrit's Blade, and there is no reason to use Ifrit's Blade if you have Garuda's Gaze.

I think what could have been done however, would be something similar to the "Blunt" equipment (ie. Blunt Goblin Longsword, Moth Eaten Coatee). If Coil gave people something like an "Unpolished Gauntlets of Fending", then they would need to seek an Armorer to help them craft it into an Allagan Gauntlets of Fending, for example - and make it non-tradeable too. I don't think this should be applicable to Mythology gear however, seeing that Mythology is capped, and you can only get so many pieces of Mythology gear every week. While this doesn't solve the "need for materia" issue, but this might be a good first step to getting crafters to be a part of the current dungeon-oriented end game. Then maybe, the crafter can take those Allagan Gauntlets of Fending, and perhaps upgrade it into something like Allagan Gauntlets of Fending Zenith, using some rare materials which can only be gotten via Coil (something like a boss drop, such as ADS Frame), which would unlock materia slots and the ability to meld materia onto that item.

A good working of the example above, would be the required weapon for the Relic quest. A crafter is required to craft and meld your pre-relic weapon, before you are able to get your Relic. But without a crafter, you would not be able to get your Relic weapon, which is arguably at the moment, the best and most accessible weapon to people at end game.

[peaches]

I love the crafting in this game, it's the best I've seen yet. But strangely enough, its also the most USELESS of any game I've seen. It really bugs me, I love crafting in games and it was the main reason for me to keep playing before I hit 50 on my Scholar.

[Githiun]

Everyone being all classes really is a killer for the craft. I mean there are people that don't want to craft but there are also countless people that are everything.