Specialist again? Really?

[Millen1]

Specialist was a bad idea in 3.1 crafting and in crafting relic items. Last night we saw that you removed the these items from specialist and guessed that you had enough negative feed back to stop with the specialist system. I guess you haven't heard your player base and forgot your motto that you are making a game that is fun to play.
Why not add specialist to gathering, so players can only gather top items on one gathering class, or lock players into specialist as a tank, healer or dps only? Why go out of your way to ruin end game for crafters? My end game has always been to craft the best items on any of the 8 classes. You see it differently. I have been here since beta, I don't plan on staying if you keep up with specialist. You have lost a loyal customer.

[Silverbane]

Many people are fine with the Specialist system. I'm neither a fan nor a detractor myself: the game is what it is, and I will adapt.

I don't know whether most crafters like the Specialist system, hate it, or don't care: I have not asked a large random sample of FFXIV crafters their opinion on the matter, and my Japanese is not good enough to really do it properly anyway, since so much of the player base is Japanese.

Forum posts don't always accurately reflect general player sentiments: it seems inherent in human nature that unhappy people post more than happy ones do. So claiming that SE "haven't heard your player base and forgot your motto that you are making a game that is fun to play" is a self-serving fabrication. If there is anyone who hasn't heard the actual player base, it's we forum posters, not SE.

MMOs change over time. You adapt or you find a new one to play. BTDT.

[Vasala]

I am very unhappy with the specialist locked recipes. Adding bonus stats to the specialist stones to help them hit the crafting breakpoints easier is fine. Giving them skills to help them do the same things that omnicrafters can do is fine. Locking recipes is not fine. Specialists were supposed to just allow folk that did not want to put in the time to become an omnicrafter to compete. It is getting further from that and is going against the game philosophy that you can do everything on one character if you put the time and effort in.

[Lemuel81]

I have no issues with the specialist system. and I know a lot of people who do not mind it either. So it causes people to rely on other people as a community. I think that aspect is missing from today's MMOs.

keep in mind that the people who express their disappointment with the specialist on the forums are just a fraction of the playerbase. while i do dthink there should be tweaks. hasnt exactly been game breaking and in no way required to play as a specialist.

[itti18]

i dont have any problem with specialism , in fact i am enjoying it and find it a very cool addition to the game

[iambanana]

im fine with specialization if the special recipe is just for a patch, and make them accessible for omnicrafter for next patch.

[Sollux]

The original concept and intent of the Specialist system was good, but it was implemented poorly. The Specialist skills were way too RNG based and very unclear in their execution. I can understand a little more RNG to keep them less powerful than the originals, but almost every single Specialist skill was PACKED with RNG and had their own hidden interactions that non-HC Crafters wouldn't even think to look for. This was likely a big factor in the original push for Specialist Recipes; People wanted a REASON to be a Specialist because they skills they got in return weren't good enough.

As for Specialists recipes, I've said this multiple times before but they're both a good and bad thing.

The Good:

The economy stays healthy longer due to less competition.

It's much more difficult for a single person to dominate multiple markets. Yes, HC Crafters will make alts but those willing to go to that extent are an extremely small minority.

For newer merchants, it's easier to find a niche in Specialist items than it is to research market trends and flows of other items, making it easier to learn how to work the MB.

It promotes social activity. Having a friend or finding someone who will Craft for less than MB price saves a lot of gil in the long run.

Gil flows easier between players. Whether they have the ability to Craft an item or not, if someone isn't a Specialist they're going to have to pay SOMEONE to craft that item unless they find a friend to do so for free (See Social Activity).

The Bad:

For those who prefer to be self sufficient (I include myself here) we can no longer do so unless we level alts. Personally this is what bothers me the most about this system as I'm primarily a solo player. I'm not anti-social, rather I don't want to have to rely on someone else to do something I know I'm more than capable of taking care of myself.

When materials are hard to acquire (See Pterodactyls) it can either make a market stagnant due to high resulting prices

The flip side of the social activity coin, you now have to rely on another person to make the item you need. If it's a friend, you have to wait until they're online/willing to Craft. If it's from the MB you have to hope that the item isn't ridiculously overpriced. If you don't know someone with a certain Specialist you're then forced to pay MB prices or try and PF for a lower price.

Depending on the demand, materials cost, and scarcity of Specialist class an item might not even be available on the market for months on end (See 2* Tank Headpiece for glamour) and the only option would be to Specialize in that class for one item.

For Combat mains a healthy economy isn't exactly a good thing when it can take quite a while for the price of an item to drop.

If you want to switch Specialists (For example, because of a recent patch) it costs a little more than a week worth of Red Scrips progress/profit. If you don't have any Scrips saved this means you have to wait 2 weeks before you can change to the Specialist you want

Conclusion:

I know I'm likely missing a few points, but I'll wrap it up here:

Personally, I'm dissappointed they released Specialist Recipes and I think they could have been avoided entirely had Specialist been implemented better. That being said, I can't honestly say that they're a bad thing, nor that they don't benefit newer or non-Omni-Crafters.

I'm a HC Omni-Crafter through and through, so I can't really relate to many of the struggles some Crafters have like limited cross-class skills or difficulty making gil on the market. It seems like Specialist recipes are here to stay, and whether that's fortunate or unfortunate depends on the player. I will continue to do what I can to enjoy the things I love, and if that means leveling/gearing an alt then I will do so, not because I want to control every market, not because I don't want to be social, but because I want the feeling of accomplishment again knowing that I can Craft anything I or my friends might need at any time.

[Divine_Intervention]

and guessed that you had enough negative feed back to stop with the specialist system.

They arent gonna just stop using something they put a lot of work into . It was a pretty safe bet they were just making room for more specialist stuff.

lock players into specialist as a tank, healer or dps only?

Hell no. I enjoy playing many classes thanks.

here since beta, I don't plan on staying if you keep up with specialist. You have lost a loyal customer.

And i'm pretty sure you haven't stayed and payed £9 a month since beta purely for crafting. Suck it up, find what you enjoy, ignore what you want.

[Katlyna]

Actually I played all the way up to 2.4 without getting my 2.0 mainquest finished. On the other hand I had all 8 crafters complete, and 4 star worthy. Honestly this whole specialist mess is just a failed experiment some dip at SE isn't willing to let go of. Its NOT doing anything healthy for the game except forcing some cross interaction between FC crafters (or one crafter and another in the economy). And our FC was doing MORE of that in 2.x before this specialist mess.

In our FC crafting in 3.x is a PALE piece of garbage in comparison to the crafting activity, fun and excitement we had in 2.4. Likewise when something you pay for changes like this. You have every right to complain. I'll keep griping and throwing complaints their direction until they either fix this crap, I give up on crafting, or quit the game because the company doesn't deserve my money if they're going to continue to make stupid choices.

[MomomiMomi]

or lock players into specialist as a tank, healer or dps only?

They kind of already have since the beginning with weekly lockouts.