HQing stuff

[TechnoTechie]

Well, yeah, if I had the best gear with overmelding from ARR, I'd be able to get HQ no prob too probably. As I said, though, I didn't reach 50 during ARR in any of my crafting classes save one so I never had that end game gear to help push me over the hump to the next expac.

you should be able to get the artisan gear for pretty cheap now. Retainers are bringing it back and people are crashing the prices on many servers. I actually did 53 -> 60 on my crafting classes with almost no overmelding aside from CP on accessories. Getting from 50 -> 51 would feel like the biggest hurdle I think. HQ some archaeoskin gear after that and you'll be fine as you hit each tier of gear.

[MN_14]

You really don't have to worry about getting the artisan's gear as they don't provide that big of an upgrade over AF pieces. However, if you're under-leveled, don't have a lot of melds done and are missing a lot of level 50 cross class abilities, you'll likely have to use some HQ materials. I tested this a while back (using no level 50 cross class abilities):

Item: Level 51 Mythrite Nugget using all HQ mythrite sand and an NQ mythrite ore.
BSM Level: 50
Gear: Combination of i55 AF gear and i60/70 artisan's gear
Craftmanship: 346
Control: 341
CP: 366 with food (I did not use comfort zone, but CP was stretched very thin so I had to rely on a high enough number of good procs)

In this case, progress can be completed with a single rapid synthesis and 2x careful synthesis 1. I used a GS and AT finisher and got 100% at IQ9 and 92% at IQ8.

I've replicated this using a simulator and looks like you can use manipulation up to 3 times depending on RNG (and your starting CP).

If I had used byregot's blessing instead of advanced touch and had a starting quality of 1000, I'd end up with 80% on 8 stacks of IQ (89% if innovation is used as well). Once you reach level 51, however, 0 starting quality is fine since your level is matched, provided that you have Byregot's blessing.

[TechnoTechie]

Item: Level 51 Mythrite Nugget using all HQ mythrite sand and an NQ mythrite ore.
BSM Level: 50

Were you actually a level 50 blacksmith at the time? I remember trying to craft heavensward recipes right out the gate as a level 50 and having 450+ craftsmanship and 420+ control with around 356 CP without any food buffs (fully melded end-game artisan set with lucis tools), and it was as hard as trying to synth a 3-star item as a level 50.

With those stats, I'd already been beyond 3-star crafting and was making 4-star items on a daily basis, so the actual items weren't much of an issue, but I remember the materials giving me the hardest time at level 50 because the recipe was 51. I had actually had an easier time HQing final products with NQ nuggets because I was more familiar with the extra durability allowance.

This is why I say that the biggest hurdle will be getting from 50 -> 51 unless they reduced the difficulty modifier for crafting above-level recipes since 3.0 -- I'd highly suggest hitting level 51 before you attempt heavensward recipes.

EDIT: I just read that you were using full HQ sands. I guess that makes things much easier LOL

[Alisi]

snip

Oh, I'm doing okay right now. The comments here have really helped me out. I'm getting much better at judging things. I have two of my craft classes at 60 now. Alc is 58 and Wvr is close to that. I'm chugging right along.

I was just responding to the very unhelpful 'I have no trouble what-so-ever' comment that some people feel it's necessary to say when others are asking for help. It just irked me.

[Callback]

Just a small thing, for 40 dura items I personally like to slot in manipulation so I can pop that at 20/40 (or 15/40) instead of risking showing an excellent at 10 and needing to ToTT it.

Not sure how applicable this is at 60, but it hasn't failed me so far up to 59.

[cgbspender]

At 60, you don't need ToTs or manipulation at all anymore. Everything at that level (assuming a few melds, and the necessary cross-skills) is rng-free, except for 2-stars recipes.
I could be popping an excellent status over a "bad" ball, it just wouldn't make a difference.

[Granyala]

Compared to ARR leveling it is ridiculous how hard it is to HQ stuff.

In ARR: invest the time to farm HQ mats and you pretty much got a guarantee for HQ craft.
Now: even with all HQ mats it's 50/50 at best because proc-RNG always f*** with you.

Really frustrating, considering how much time you pour into farming HQ mats and makes me wonder whether it's even worth the time during leveling or whether I should just spam NQ crafts for leve-quests GC turn ins and leave the HQ stuff for gear my crafter equips.

[Alisi]

snip

Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt when I wrote this. It was SO frustrating. I was even considering quitting crafting altogether. Now I think I've got the rhythm down pat and am happily chugging along.

I think the thing that I needed to shift the most is with how I dealt with BBlessing. I didn't really have much use for it, seeing as I leveled my craft classes to 50 in HW. Now, even when I'm just making parts, the two things I look at are always, always, always if I have enough CP to at least do great strides and how many stacks of inner focus I have. You can get to 100%, even if you've only got like 15 to 20% HQ. Generally, if I don't get HQ on something, it's probably because I wasn't paying attention to my CP/stacks. Unless it's pure RNG hell and I literally miss on every, single hasty touch I try (yeah, my luck is sometimes that awesome.)

You should press to get a class to 56 so you can start the blue scrip collectables. The mat turn in's are really easy to do and fast. They don't give as many scrips as the other items, but they generally give the same EXP. If you have all HQ items, then you're already pretty much at the thresh hold of the right collectability. Like Noble Gold's collectable worth is 4000 and, if you use all HQ items, you start off with like 3950.

Focus on one and get that to 60. Rinse and repeat. It get's easier each time. I lvled with NQ non-melded stuff too. If I can do it, you can do it. Don't give up. =) Though there should be a support group for the trauma of getting an item to 99% HQ and still making a NQ item. >_>;

[Granyala]

Thanks for the kind words.

Unless it's pure RNG hell and I literally miss on every, single hasty touch I try (yeah, my luck is sometimes that awesome.)

Miss rate of 30% is more like miss rate of 50%+ and "good/excellent" almost ALWAYS proc when Steady Hands II runs out. <_<

I try to preplan for BB ut these procs are so unpredictable. If you can't use them due to "lol no hands up again!" how am I supposed to reliably HQ stuff with 35! HP (except vastly overgearing it)?

Edit: just pushed my jewelcrafter to 60 EZ-mode via Dragontooth earring collectible turnin and saw what the red script gear requires. Erm.. I think it's best if I stick to combat classes for now. Can't be arsed into that kind of insanity.