Giving a reason to level DoH/DoL

[Urthdigger]

So, during the live Q&A I asked a question:

Are there any plans on giving Disciplines of Hand exclusive perks to levelling them, since you can just buy the gear they make? #XIVLive

Now, I'm not sure they answered my question, but they did answer a similar one, seeming to misinterpret it.

Q: Once 2.0 goes live, will gatherers and crafters be able to become primary classes that can actually fight and not just sub-classes?
A: The FINAL FANTASY that I envision is one in which the player is an adventurer who saves the world. Crafting and gathering are certainly important elements of the game too, but looking at the larger picture, battle is going to be necessary. There is no need to rush, so I would like for players to try out various classes, including battle classes and then decide on which class best fits them. Of course, this can be a crafting class if they so choose.

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If my question was indeed the one they answered, I was NOT asking for DoH (And DoL as well) to be able to fight alongside DoW/DoM. Rather, it was a topic of giving a reason to level these disciplines. As it is, the only advantage these disciplines have is that they can acquire ingredients other classes cannot, or create equipment other disciplines cannot. The problem, however, is that DoW/DoM can obtain ingredients and equipment that DoH/DoL cannot, while also being able to participate in story missions and attain greater survivability to help them explore the world. Also, every thing the DoL/DoH can get, a DoW/DoM can simply buy with gil. At this point, there is quite literally no reason to level a DoL/DoH, aside from minor convenience issues. What I propose is two options, either of which (or both if preferred) can give DoL/DoH their own exclusive advantages, things that open up new possibilities for you, or make existing things easier.

Option A: Exclusive craftables

This option is more suited simply to DoH, but can be extended to DoL by having rare ingredients that cannot be traded. The idea is to have either new gear, or perhaps variants on existing gear, that are untradeable. In order to use these items, you will need to create them yourself. The idea is of customizing the armor so it suits you perfectly, lorewise any regular item is created to a certain standard, with an appropriate weight, balance, length, and other specifications aimed to be equally usable by all types of people. These new items would be custom-tailored to fit your exact specifications, tastes, and style, thus allowing you to use it easier (reflected in higher stats). Now, I know some of you may be saying "But what about all that equipment from dungeons and NMs and such, I worked hard for that too and my effort should not be invalidated!" You're absolutely right, but they could simply make recipes to take your ifrit's bow or charred axe or whatever and convert it into a version with stats that are 20% cooler.

Option B: Traits

In this example, as you level up your DoL/DoH, you'll earn access to new traits, reflecting ways to use your mundane knowledge as a tradesman to access enhanced insight into ways to do combat. One example is having Miner, Botanist, and Fisherman getting tiers of traits as they level that offer a damage bonus to Forgekin, Seedkin, and Wavekin respectively. Another example is traits earned from DoH that reflect an enhanced knowledge of how to utilize and care for your weapons and armor. This could be a simple damage bonus reflecting that you keep your blades sharpened and... whatever it is you do to make blunt weapons more effective, or perhaps bonuses to slow the rate that equipment degrades at, or increase the rate at which the spiritbond increases. In either case, these are simply examples for what sorts of traits can be offered.

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In either case, it is my sincere belief that DoL/DoH and DoW/DoM should be two halves of a whole, things that can work together, rather than compete against each other.

[Starplayer]

Wow, this is a great idea! The idea that my archer can possibly have an untradeable bow that nobody else can have (Unless they have leveled carpentry), sounds very appealing to me as a Woodworker. It really is a nice incentive to leveling Carpenter. Sounds like a great idea, I like!

[Coglin]

i am not so sure its a good idea to interweave dow/m in gameplay with dol/h, as far as abilities go. i levled and am leveling a doh and dol, so it would work for me to some extent, but i think its much safer to leave it as a barter/trade (ish) system between DoM/W and DoL/H

[Anonymoose]

Don't get me wrong, I like it. The majority of me wants to say, "This should have been a no-brainer!" But, oh, man, the "I botted all my crafts to cap and now I call foul on other bots and look down on everyone for not being as awesome as me." crowd is going to have a FIELD DAY with this idea.

The whole time I'm thinking to myself, "What a wonderful idea!" there's this little voice in the back of my head reminding me of all the people who bot to 50 and call for harsher EXP curves so other people can't catch up to them, who use the game as justification that they're actually achieving something somewhere, who gauge their items' value only by whether or not YOU have it... and knowing that it'll give them even another millimeter by which to measure their epeen in the mirror makes me angry.

But, I mean, good luck stopping that sh!t with or without crafter exclusive Rare-Ex's right? +1'd!

[Urthdigger]

i am not so sure its a good idea to interweave dow/m in gameplay with dol/h, as far as abilities go. i levled and am leveling a doh and dol, so it would work for me to some extent, but i think its much safer to leave it as a barter/trade (ish) system between DoM/W and DoL/H

The main problem I'm trying to avoid is the inevitable issue that crops up in any game with crafting: The market becomes saturated with items from people grinding on them for xp, meaning it's difficult (Or impossible) to turn a profit by crafting, which ruins its sole purpose. If there's enough items on the market that you can cheaply buy anything you need (and likely for less than it'd cost to craft it), then what purpose is there in crafting? Materia certainly helps a little bit, but the requirement to spiritbond the item first means you can very easily make things faster than people can turn them into materia. Supply WILL outpace demand, it is simply a matter of time. When that occurs, DoH/DoL need something to call their own, some advantage to the player for levelling them, in one shape or another, or they will simply be useless content.

[Coglin]

Honestly, no one really expects to make a profite in the grind items, they use thise as a step to get to the levels they need to make the usefull rare items of the class that they can sell, or to be more dependent in repairs, gear need, or materia crafting. Nut no one looks to get rich of the 8-10 main grind synths for each class.

[Starplayer]

Don't get me wrong, I like it. The majority of me wants to say, "This should have been a no-brainer!" But, oh, man, the "I botted all my crafts to cap and now I call foul on other bots and look down on everyone for not being as awesome as me." crowd is going to have a FIELD DAY with this idea.

The whole time I'm thinking to myself, "What a wonderful idea!" there's this little voice in the back of my head reminding me of all the people who bot to 50 and call for harsher EXP curves so other people can't catch up to them, who use the game as justification that they're actually achieving something somewhere, who gauge their items' value only by whether or not YOU have it... and knowing that it'll give them even another millimeter by which to measure their epeen in the mirror makes me angry.

But, I mean, good luck stopping that sh!t with or without crafter exclusive Rare-Ex's right? +1'd!

This is true. I'm getting so tired of RMT and botters ruining the fun for everyone else. Somehow, anytime someone has a good idea for the game, we end up voting against it because of it (the auction house comes to mind). Still, I would love to see this implemented in the game, I absolutely love this idea.

[Wynn]

It should be obvious to you that the question they answered was asked by someone else.

[Urthdigger]

The basic premise is the same, making DoL/DoH actual classes instead of stuff pushed to the wayside.