Etiquette for crafting requests

[scarebearz]

snip

While you don't want to spent millions melding LTW, the person your expecting to craft for free, will have done.

Many crafts don't make much that'll re-coup their costs, so I don't think the quote you got was *that* unreasonable.

Like others have said, if you don't like a quote, find another crafter.

For random requests I let people pay what they feel is fair/can afford, but I don't need the gil.

[Lebenoshl]

talking about Crafting request...
I recently got the Levin Orb from Ramuh HM, that can be used to craft the Barding...
while I have a lv 50 LTW, I don't meet the requirements to craft it myself, so I shouted around Mor Dhona/created a pf asking if someone could craft it for me...

i specifically wrote that I have all the materials required (even the Saurian Leather AND the clusters).
now, i can understand wanting a little tip for crafting it...
but I got answered something like "I'll do it for 100k"

why would you even ask people to get paid so much for a craft that don't even requires you to make it HQ, and you spend like 1 minutes max doing only careful syntesis II ? ._.

Do it yourself if it is so easy.

Oh wait you need a million in mats and melds to get 3* capable, as well as multiple cross class skills.

[Mishini_Dracoto]

talking about Crafting request...
I recently got the Levin Orb from Ramuh HM, that can be used to craft the Barding...
while I have a lv 50 LTW, I don't meet the requirements to craft it myself, so I shouted around Mor Dhona/created a pf asking if someone could craft it for me...

i specifically wrote that I have all the materials required (even the Saurian Leather AND the clusters).
now, i can understand wanting a little tip for crafting it...
but I got answered something like "I'll do it for 100k"

why would you even ask people to get paid so much for a craft that don't even requires you to make it HQ, and you spend like 1 minutes max doing only careful syntesis II ? ._.

So, Find a good FC, contribute to he FC, especially crafters, come up with the mats, talk to them and come up with a system for completing FC order requests.

Most of my DoL/DoH Gear I'm grabbing is crafted by the same guy. Surprise, he's in my FC. As I get 10xFC1's I send him (via moogle mail/delivery box) the mats, plus a tip (Sometimes gil, sometimes Soils for gardening, sometimes other stuff he needs, occasionally nothing.) and he crafts me the item on his time, and sends them back.

I prefer the idea of Free Trade within a Free Company, a least to people who are contributing. A few of us feed each other's Chocobo's Krakka Roots, we have 1 gardener, a few people who are super dedicated DoH, I gather from 2* Mining nodes, etc etc. Melos doesn't expect tips, as he wouldn't be where he is in crafting if we didn't fund him to get there back in the day, but because I do, when he NQ's a synth for me, he feels bad, buys the mats, and re tries for HQ. I imagine, since I keep tipping, and because the value of what I'm gathering VS what he's made from mats I've given him for other things, he's still turning a profit on me. I don't mind, because it means all my crafting needs are taken care of. Speaking of which, I gotta put an order in for more HQ Black Truffle Risoto.

[Fornix]

<snip>
but I got answered something like "I'll do it for 100k"

why would you even ask people to get paid so much for a craft that don't even requires you to make it HQ, and you spend like 1 minutes max doing only careful syntesis II ? ._.

Not to cut into your own profit margin. Ultimately crafting at high-end in any game takes a major investment in terms of both time and money in order to get there. It can require many months of investment depending on playtimes. Even if the endproduct takes little effort to produce, the road it has taken to get there is comparable to R&D costs in RL corporate business. The investment has to be made worthy in some way to compensate for the effort put into it as well as restock the money supply to ensure you can keep it up in the future.

And on exclusive items there's a high profit margin which can be used to cover for that. In turn the profit margin on many consumables is low. And can only remain low by being able to make net profits out of other sources.

Plus the window of opportunity on making gil tends to be small. The market, at least on Odin, is constantly shifting. Something can be without supply for weeks. You play in on that, people notice there's demand for it and suddenly the produce is flooding the MB again. It's no different from any other MMO in that sense really. Take when you can. And succeed by remaining ahead of the wave.

[ruskie]

Melds I'll do for free from anyone that wants... Crafts... if I have the mats in plenty of supply I'll do it free(i.e. stack or more), if not I'll ask for mats or cost of mats. When asking someone else to craft for me I generally offer mats and shards/crystals/clusters. I always say no hurry for it... and for ways of a tip I will generally add extra crystals or extra items(i.e. I have some extra raw rubies(even hq ones) I'll add them all) - usually items that are used in the craft itself - or if they want can go gather some stuff from any of the high level nodes.

[Nyalia]

If you don't like a price you're quoted, find another crafter. There are many reasons why someone would ask that much, especially if it's an item they regularly sell on the MB (as a general rule, selling items cheaply devalues them by lowering the demand, making them harder to sell). Saying that other people should do things for you only at prices you determine to be fair is nothing but entitlement.

On topic for this thread, if a crafter quotes you a price and you don't like it, going to the official forums to whine about it is not good etiquette. Especially if you didn't even try to haggle :P

[Millen1]

With crafting, I craft free gear sets for anyone that hits level 50 in a DoH or DoL in my FC. I use to take on a lot of crafting off the MB but stopped doing that as some non-crafters were asking for things that didn't actually exist. ie can you make "x" ilvl item with "x" stats. No but here are your options in that range. Others asked for a few pieces of gear that they turned around and posted for sale, which devalued the crafting I do and that of the other crafters on my server.
Mats, I use my own unless the requested item is very rare/high gil value. Melds for relics, free but tips never hurt, asking for overmelds, I don't do it much any more as it can be more of a waste of my time than any tip is worth for many reasons. If you have a list of items, mog mail it and I will get back to you in a day to let you know what it takes and costs. Keep it simple and make sure you aren't wasting your time. 3 star crafting can be a large time sink.

[DarkmoonVael]

If someone in my FC approaches me with a reasonable crafting request, they usually get it done for free, and sometimes they will give me some mats as payment, or gather some mats that my DoL can not get. However, even with my FC, there are some things i will not do. Someone in my previous FC wanted 100+ HQ meals making there and then, the answer was a flat out no. Will make them over a few days maybe 20 at a time, but 100 in one sitting is unreasonable.

For people not in the FC, usually you expect some sort of tip or payment in acknowledgement of not only the time spent on that craft, but the time, effort and gil taken to get your crafting class to an appropriate level to undertake said craft in the first place (i.e. 3 star crafts).

I found myself in an annoying situation recently when someone in a LS requested a full set of drachen augments to be crafted, i said if they supply the finished mats, then i would craft them and they can pay me in a tip. Got down to crafting, turns out the mats were not in a finished state and i also had to craft the wolfram squares and the ancient lumber, then craft the augments. 3 different crafting class were used to make these 3 star items, and in the end, once the augments were done, the person suddenly had no gil left for a tip, as they had spent it all on the mats. Now its things like this that are annoying, it takes time, effort and dedication to get crafting classes up to 3 star level, so if someone is requesting a craft like this, they ened to acknowledge this with some sort of tip! Non-crafters too often dont see past the immidiate craft you do for them, and forget about all those hours you put in to get there in the first place!

[rex1976]

don't bother helping strangers unless you are hard up for gilz. it eats up too much time that you could be using to craft for yourself to make real gil.

fc/ls refer them to a crafter that's hard up for gilz.

ppl you raid with regularly just buy it for them from mb if it's reasonable or give them the gil to buy it. if none are available on mb at reasonable rate you have to craft it for them. just eat the cost unless you're talking about Millions for glamour then tell them how stupid they are to waste gilz on glamour gear. usually you can talk them out of it by pointing out that the price will drop to pennies on the dollar next patch. as for food/pots just do up big batches while you're waiting to play the game. sell some, give some away, and keep some. usually if you sell 40ish% you'll break even on mats.

i recommend using downtime to help the ppl who care about you, not strangers or fc/ls members that don't raid with you or talk to you untill they need something.

[rex1976]

I've started getting more requests from FC mates and sometimes people outside my FC to craft items for them. I've experienced a wide range of how people have approached me, from someone asking for full sets of equipment and not offering anything in return to people providing mats then tipping me during the final trade.

What is proper etiquette for approaching a crafter with a request? What is proper etiquette for a crafter to respond? I understand there are not definitive answers to these, but I would like to get some ideas from people with more experience in this.

don't even bother with them imho. the time you waste helping strangers and fc/ls members who only talk to you when they need something isn't worth it.

if it's for friends or people i raid with alot i'll just make it for them and cover the mats cause i'm rich and i know from ffxi days when you're not it's a pain in the ass to grind out gils.