Synthesis Guide Part 2 Done (with link)

[tymora]

Small Sidenote to that, it seems that different ranges of End Quality give different ''Chances'' of getting +1, +2, or +3.
Quality definately effects HQ succession rates, but i dont believe its as set a value as most people think.

Some JP did a fairly large test on this...forgot the link but I think it is somewhere on this forum.
If I remember correctly, +1, +2, +3 scales with quality at a different rate.

[tymora]

Ah...found it.
http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...4558&tag=11552

Excerpt:

Simplify linear approximate

+1 Probability = ((Finish Quality) × 0.04% - 2.00%) per touch up
+2 Probability = ((Finish Quality) × 0.02% - 2.00%) per touch up
+3 Probability = ((Finish Quality) × 0.01% - 2.00%) per touch up

(These can fit 200-350 Range only)

So at 300 quality, you'll have a 10% +1, 4% +2 and 1% +3.
It also fits well with the observation that you can't get +2 under 100 quality and +3 under 200 quality.
His study didn't include touch-ups.

Taking that into account, using 300 quality as example...
Probability of +1 = 1 - (0.9)^x where x is number of touch-up attempts
Probability of +1 = 1 - (0.96)^x
Probability of +1 = 1 - (0.99)^x

So there is an additional depth to crafting which requires you to balance quality and final durability.

And just to add...moon phases and other elemental beliefs remain superstition for now.

[Haru]

I notice that your quality and durability using your control sets went down as your level went up?
This would mean that control is only useful when attempting items much higher than your own level and that when you are closer / above you should use craftmanship/mag craft

[twinkles]

I notice that your quality and durability using your control sets went down as your level went up?
This would mean that control is only useful when attempting items much higher than your own level and that when you are closer / above you should use craftmanship/mag craft

In each test batch the control set had the best ending durability per rank.

Yeah i noticed that too. However for these tests in guide part 2 i wanted to focus primarily in terms of ease of completion. So everything was done from the standpoint of "whats going to help people stat wise get through the synths the most effectively.

This of course is jsut my opinion on the matter but when grinding syntheses purely for rank up, the goal is the fastest route and not the most HQ. As for HQing these tests aren't what i would consider good rank for crafter vs. the synth. What i mean is that if you the crafter are going for HQ rates, you would want to perform your synths at the highest rank in your favor, and not the other way around. Performing iron celeta visors at R33 when the synthesis rank is r40 is purely to capitalize on the sp bonus for harder syntheses.

Interestingly enough going control heavy when you way out rank a synthesis also helps with HQing. I recently switched to a max control set + control food for my HQ synths, and even though each action seems to produce less quality i am able to push teh quality much farther because of the reduced unstables and fails.

[Ronik]

Awesome guide. Excellently written and full of useful hard data.

I have a question - do you have any idea what Ease the Burden does or when it's useful? I purchased it, and I notice absolutely no difference after using it aside from losing 10% progress.

[twinkles]

For abilities i have tested a lot of them, and find the ones that work best for me are Hands of the Gods, Perfection, and Ingenuity. These are my workhorse abilities and i will add in stuff depending on what i'm aiming for.

Ease of Burden specifically i played around a little bit with but wasn't convinced by what i noticed in terms of effect.

Tymora's advice on rank up is very good, although i will add that using the above listed abilities will raise your success rate up quite a lot. To give you an example currently im ranking ARM doing a tuff 700sp synth and botching maybe 1-2 per rank. I am completely certain that those abilities are what's making this possible.

If you're looking for risk reduction i recommend using Harmonize, its low slot cost and low rank to learn is very nice (learned at CUL rank10). I tend to use this late synth (70% progress or there about) on HQ attempts.