Can we move away from factory style gathering and crafting?

[Colt47]

After playing the game for a while and looking at when crafters really seem to enjoy their time, it really seems like having this system where we need gatherers to get huge stacks of materials and crafters having to grind making tons of common items is a waste of time. The other day when I had someone make a Chivalric Coat of Fending, they were using tons of abilities, carefully going through each step to make sure they made the right numbers, and really trying to aim at making a HQ item. That actually looks like a lot of fun and maybe even a challenge, but having to see people sit and make common NPC items all day just for the sake of leveling looks just as bad as running in circles gathering the same wood or metal resource.


Why not just make it so that the hard part is getting all the materials to make an item, then give the crafter that kind of "end game" craft experience while they are leveling? The crafting log is there so really the system is in place to make it more rewarding to just make that one item well instead of making tons of common coats.

I'm not sure what would happen to DoL to make it fit a system like that, but I'd rather go on an epic adventure to find Aetherial wood in a forgotten part of Eorzea than run circles getting common oak logs. Also Alchemy and cooking would probably have to work differently than major crafts like armorsmithing and such.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

Then lets go away from factory style leveling, shall we? Instead of mass killing monsters in dungeons, churning out FATE after FATE, and doing fetch quest after fetch quest ... lets try something different.

A series of challenging boss fights each worth a level, perhaps?

Illustrate absurdity by being absurd ... unfortunately, that sort of mindless tedium (the "factory style" stuff) is exactly how you get good at something you're not naturally good at IRL, and that tendency has made its way to most RPG's, MMO or otherwise.

[Catwho]

I had planned on leveling all my crafts and my gatherers more or less together, so that they could share gear as I progressed, and I could make my own stuff and meld. In ARR, gathering and crafting fed off each other and as long as you had at least one battle class at level, you could farm everything yourself and be completely self sufficient.

Then in HW you start encountering stuff like a level 54 goldsmith levequest requiring items from a level 60 mining node.

[Colt47]

Then lets go away from factory style leveling, shall we? Instead of mass killing monsters in dungeons, churning out FATE after FATE, and doing fetch quest after fetch quest ... lets try something different.

A series of challenging boss fights each worth a level, perhaps?

Illustrate absurdity by being absurd ... unfortunately, that sort of mindless tedium (the "factory style" stuff) is exactly how you get good at something you're not naturally good at IRL, and that tendency has made its way to most RPG's, MMO or otherwise.

I was kind of expecting your reply, actually. The difference is that you can get good at something by doing something new as well as doing something repeatedly. Making it about making that one item and then getting a lump sum of experience makes more sense than having to make hundreds of coats simply because if we are treating ourselves as being a step above guardsman when running about, it makes sense that we should also be more than fill ins for NPC goods vendors. The stuff that we make should be better than the stuff the NPCs do, because we actively look for the best and hardest to find materials to make those goods. HQ should be a cherry on top and a reward for mastery, not a requirement. Not to mention it would also help make it so more people go check out the market boards instead of just buying NPC armor and being done with it while leveling up. Right now crafters basically just turn in stuff to leves since not a lot of people would go to a marketboard for some helmet they can get in Costa de sol.

They don't have to even get rid of what is already in the game. They just need to add specific items that we can make that give that end game "really think about what you are doing" kind of experience and give a nice big juicy experience reward for making that item. That way if someone wants to just factory grind they can do that, or they can try making the really cool and superior items instead for a lump sum. The system in the game already wants people to do this, it's just done really really badly.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

While you can grind out, say, a gazillion Silver Ingots in order to get your GSM levels, the expectation apparently was that you would indeed grind out the Crafting Log, supplementing that with GC hand ins and Leves.

They just made GC hand ins, and Leves, too good compared to the Crafting Log.

[Limecat]

I'd have been happy to get a huge chunk of my exp from the crafting log, but the new recipes need several mats that already take 5+ base items to make themselves. There's not a chance in hell I'm going to do anything but beeline for the scant few synths that take the bare minimum of crap to make. They'd have had to have made crafting proof bonuses incredible, like 100k+ at Lv50, for me to be able to force myself to deal with the logistics of making dozens of different things to level each craft.

[Illmaeran]

I agree. When a single item requires close to 100 pieces of raw material to make (including making the mats for the item itself, such as cloth), it gets excessive really fast.

[Dererk]

In 1.0 crafters never had to use their own mats for leves own the exp was horrible but now they have to use their own mats here the exp is good but now inventory problems.

[Colt47]

I'd have been happy to get a huge chunk of my exp from the crafting log, but the new recipes need several mats that already take 5+ base items to make themselves. There's not a chance in hell I'm going to do anything but beeline for the scant few synths that take the bare minimum of crap to make. They'd have had to have made crafting proof bonuses incredible, like 100k+ at Lv50, for me to be able to force myself to deal with the logistics of making dozens of different things to level each craft.

Yeah that is part of my gripe with the craft system. They just aren't rewarding enough experience points for those more difficult ones that require several synths. The reward has to be worth all of the synths combined at the very least or it's just excessive work.

[Bishop81]

If you are mass producting common goods to level you are doing it wrong.

Leves + HQ is the way to go.

Collections are an alternative >Lv50 if you are low on Leves allowances.