Optimistic Speculation on Specialization + Links

[Whatever]

Nah.. that be too much work.. I'm planning on leveling 2.. that way it will open up some market options later in the future.. they can cover what my main won't

[giantslayer]

The Reddit translation of the Famitsu interview says:
"With the new system, once you're at 60, you can then become an apprentise to each respective guilds' guildmaster. You'll gain new skills and recipes by becoming a meister/specialist. You can have more than one trademeister but there'll be a delay before you're allowed to switch."

I have a new hypothesis. I am fairly optimistic that some of this will be right because it seems consistent with both the stated mechanics and the stated intent of the developers (return to the armory system concept of being able to do any class without being required to do all of them).

After reaching level 60, you can apprentice under a guild master. You can only apprentice under one at a time and you can switch masters. Quests for new tokens may possibly be handed out by your master. There will be some sort of progression with each master. Progress is retained with the old master after switching (think beast tribe reputations, not desynth).

Skills and recipes are acquired through progression. New recipes are basically a replacement for the master book system. Skills are class specific and intended to give casual/single-class crafters a fighting chance at making top level recipes. Recipes and skills are retained after switching masters.

[Sibyll]

Outside of the specialization, I'd like to see them give crafters a reason to eat craftsmanship and control food. Currently these stats act as nothing more than an "accuracy" cap in the sense that once you hit the minimum there is really no reason to invest into raising them.

And yes, I am aware you can cut off on an extra hit to your progress bar by adding a little extra craftsmanship, but there is hardly a decision that goes into that. Up until the chocobo apron, the off-hand has really been the only piece of gear that you can't max meld so it's not like you are giving up CP to be able to reduce the progress steps.

I'd just like to see crafting branch out to have more then just one meld option and more than just one strategy to synths. Spamming HT until you get 11 stacks of IQ gets pretty old over 8 DoH classes.

[Squand]

snip

Yeah, it's kind of funny that I'm worried about getting locked out of recipies. From a game play perspective. 4* Cul plays exactly like 4* Wvr. The only difference is the name of the item you get. I do a lot of the same rotations day in and day out. So yeah, I'd like to see varied strategies per class.

Also, I wonder if there will be any UI tweaks. I'd like to see the marketboard become easier to read. Perhaps the could put the lowest price currently listed on the same page as the item your updating?

[Xenosan]

I have speculation, but it's not optimistic ha.

I foresee more class-specific gear that will be mandatory for new recipe synthesis, and will require time-restricted materials to craft (think oaknots 2.0). This system is practically already in place, just imagine if ehcatl sealants were untradeable and all 4-star recipes required untradeable Artisan Offhand.

I'm sorry! /bow

/runaway

[giantslayer]

E

I have speculation, but it's not optimistic ha.

I foresee more class-specific gear that will be mandatory for new recipe synthesis, and will require time-restricted materials to craft (think oaknots 2.0). This system is practically already in place, just imagine if ehcatl sealants were untradeable and all 4-star recipes required untradeable Artisan Offhand.

I'm sorry! /bow

/runaway

More class-specific gear: yes. Mandatory and time gated? Probably not. In one of the interviews, Yoshi explained that you can get gear from the new crafting tokens and this was an alternative to our current hardcore melding system, which will still be there and will be the fastest way to gear. I feel pretty confident stating the token gear will be class specific. The melded gear: I don't know if they will go specific or all classes.

Edit: I would be fine with class specific because I really enjoyed every class looking unique (Lord knows they didn't play unique so the look sure was nice). Even though I have the full Artisan set, I actually kept my AF crafter gear and still use it as my normal stuff unless I am doing 4*.

[Sibyll]

snip

So you mean like DoW/DoM gear? Token gear is better but crafted + melds is faster if you want to go that route?

I agree. I was disappointed when I saw the artisan gear. It's bad enough all crafters play the same, but having them look the same? :S

[Gillionaire]

At this point, I welcome any and all gates, provided it doesn't lock me into one specific class. If I have to get 8 sets of gear and either use meld/token to get'em all ready. Fine by me, I just don't wanna have to work on my alt to be ready to take on more than 1 class.


Hopefully tonight's patch provides us with some insight of how the expansion and specialization system will pan out. They can't just drop a bomb like that and not tell us the details

[giantslayer]

So you mean like DoW/DoM gear? Token gear is better but crafted + melds is faster if you want to go that route?

The impression I got was acquisition of the gear would be very similar to Soldiery and Poetics. It was clear that their intention was to create a slower, less-hardcore way to gear up DoH. As to which is better, it wasn't clear. I suspect they will be close enough it won't matter much (like AF vs current Artisan turn-in gear).