This change is so typical of SE's over-reactionary fixes to broken aspects of the game. A perfect example of this is MP consumption, where they went from one end of the spectrum ridiculous to the other end of the spectrum ridiculous.
Anyone that's done any degree of extensive crafting knows the current system needs alot of work, but in effect, to essentially scrap the current system for this frustrates me to no end.
IMHO, the biggest problem with the current system is the very large RNG in the coding, and the resulting lack of causality in success rates and HQ's. I am of the silly notion that the higher my crafting rank the easier a particular recipe should be, the less penalty I should suffer for a failed attempt, the better chances I should have for HQ, etc.
A perfect example of how this is broken is in one of my recent crafting sessions in my attempt to craft a crab bow +3. After spending days gathering as much HQ materials as I could to synth some oak composite bows for the base ingredient - with very good gear, support and food, my very first attempt on a recipe that's 15 ranks below my rank, I crit failed my first 6 attempts at an oak composite bow. Seriously? >< Where is the causality here? Why is this so damn random? 15 ranks below me, mind you.
The randomness of materials synthesis is nothing short of a dice roll. There seems to be no direct correleation with success and rank. Synth after synth 350-500 quality it doesn't matter. To me it appears almost 100% random, which is very frustrating, especially after spending days farming materials.
No one will convince me there is not some periodic 'rage' mode in the coding. It happens way to consistantly. How often have you been crafting along for 8-9 synth with reasonable success/fail attempts, only to, all of a sudden 8 nasty fails in a row. Anyone who thinks thats totally RNG is crazy. Remove that crap, please.
So now, instead of fixing the existing sytem, this is what SE is going to do?
What this does, with the requirement for all HQ materials, is shift the emphasis away from crafting competence to gathering, NM drops, dungeon drops etc. Wonderful >< I'm so glad I wasted all this time leveing my crafting classes.
As far as for all the people in this thread that think a R20 crafter should have the same HQ success probability as a R50 crafter, get real, and at the same time, get off your lazy asses and go work on your crafting.
As loyal a FF fan as I am, and having endured all the shortcomings in this game for the last 11 months, I honestly am on the verge of throwing in the towel.
Afterthoughts:
Why take away the guild books that people worked so hard to earn? Instead, why not adjust the leves that require books for R10 recipes.
Why take away support requirements? Instead adjust the leves outside of the guild city that require > T1 support. Further, once you reach a certain rank in relation to the recipe, why not do away with the support requirement. It's silly that @ R50 I should still require support for a R20 synth.
Why take away subclass requirements? Instead, remove some of the ludiscrous requirements like alchemy R41 sub for jade crook.
Bottom line, the current system has the potential to be honed into something special, if the huge RNG was eliminated from the coding. Crafting success should be a direct function of competence, not some random role of the dice, or heavily reliant on items that come from drops or raids, etc. To give equal HQ success to a R20 as a R50, based solely on HQ materials content is just plain wrong.