This red scrip system doesn't seem very casual-friendly..

[Fenral]

What I've been saying (rather, trying to) is that there's a pretty obvious amount of progression required before you can jump into the two-star recipes, so not being able to now doesn't surprise me in the slightest. People need gear, and while some people are willing to forsake that for the sake of doing favors right off, many more are taking the safe route and gearing up first.

Me? I look at the Forgemaster's Hammer recipe in my Master Blacksmith III book and think, "that's gonna take some work." I'm not trying to craft it now because the materials required scare me, and I know my odds of success are fairly low with the gear I currently have. I also know that, once I am able to craft it in HQ, and hit the meld caps, I'll have a tool that will last me a pretty long time. I know the long-term investment will be worth it, but it's exactly that: a long-term investment.

[scarebearz]

What I've been saying (rather, trying to) is that there's a pretty obvious amount of progression required before you can jump into the two-star recipes, so not being able to now doesn't surprise me in the slightest. People need gear, and while some people are willing to forsake that for the sake of doing favors right off, many more are taking the safe route and gearing up first.

Sorry but you have no idea of what your saying.

The 2* crafts themselves are easy, there is no progression needed to craft them, 3.0 white gear is fine.

once I am able to craft it in HQ, and hit the meld caps, I'll have a tool that will last me a pretty long time. I know the long-term investment will be worth it, but it's exactly that: a long-term investment.

Because Lucis tools were a worthwhile long-term investment? xD

There was a big and expencive grind for those and in the end they were totally and uterly useless.

[PirateCat]

What I've been saying (rather, trying to) is that there's a pretty obvious amount of progression required before you can jump into the two-star recipes

It's possible to hit the stat requirements for the two-star crafts without any of the scrip gear, though granted, it takes a ton of melds to get there. Most of the people in this thread who are going for all of the crafting mats they can (myself included) are likely going this route. That being said, this is almost certainly not an accurate representative sample of the playerbase - the act of choosing to participate in a forum discussion tends to have people self-select toward being at the high end of the spectrum of interest/focus in the area.

Me? I look at the Forgemaster's Hammer recipe in my Master Blacksmith III book and think, "that's gonna take some work."

I look at the stats of the Forgemaster's Hammer and think, "no way that that's worth it over the scrips-only version." Having to HQ a recipe that takes that many trade-in mats, only to need to overmeld 15 craftsmanship and 8 control onto an item with one free slot just to break even? No thanks.