I have grown very frustrated with this game's insistence on wasting my time. I have no problem grinding every job to 50 and the like, but when a grind offers no actual content, that's too much. I've capped out my materia on Fisher, so now the game expects me to sit there, beholden to the RNG to catch silver sovereigns in a mind-numbing grind for 20+ hours. There is no skill involved, and it isn't fun. I already have a job, and they pay me to spend my time doing boring tasks.

A really good example of good vs. bad design is the original crafting master books. Having to make five HQ two star materials is a good test for mastery. They're expensive to try, so you have to make each attempt count, and getting lucky and HQing one isn't enough. You need to be able to make HQ two star materials fairly consistently to get a master book. And if you only make an NQ material, you can use it for something else. That's great design!

Then, to get the next tier or tool to make three-star stuff you need to... HQ fifty of an item. Which has a virtually worthless NQ version. This isn't even something you'd attempt unless success were virtually guaranteed, so again it's just a mindless, repetitive, time-wasting grind.

To put it another way, if I could master a crafting or gathering class in six hours or so, I would probably try to master them all. Making each one take 20 hours means I won't bother with any. By increasing the time required, you are actually reducing the amount I will play your game.

My time is valuable. I've decided to spend it playing your game. So why do you insist on wasting it?