DoH static leves, a temporary fix to a larger issue

[Sephrick]

Sonomaa (BG): What are you planning on doing about the monotonous crafting mechanics? People literally sit and press enter for hours on end. Why was this specific crafting style chosen over something simplistic and automatic ala World of Warcraft? I hate to keep going back to World of Warcraft, but they're winning.

Square-Enix: It's a matter of priority so far. For the past 10 months, we prioritized all of the things we thought we needed to get fixed first. On the top of that list: UI, Battle System. Also, Content, where the content was based on Guildleves. So, over the past 10 months, it has been fixing the things that needed fixes and adding more content. With the Crafting System, again, we prioritized what needed to be fixed first. The first thing that needed to be fixed was that the Recipe System was way too complex - way too many ingredients, way too many steps to get to your final product. Something that was way too difficult for the novice player to get into. You would have to be hardcore if you wanted to make something. So getting those things fixed first was our priority.

[Yoshida speaks more]

And he's going on more; it's the amount of materials you needed. It wasn't just pressing Enter, it was having to get ALL of these materials before pressing Enter. And so the next step, which we hope to do really soon, is now shorten the number of steps to actually do the crafting. Instead of, you know, sitting down, doing the thing, standing up, getting your stuff, etc. Consolidate all of it and cut down on the steps is the next step being taken.

And one of the things we're planning is two different crafting systems. One that's very simplified and that you're going just for the item you need without having to worry about High Quality, with a small chance of High Quality. Then there's the other system, where it will take more time and effort, but the chance of getting that High Quality item will become higher. So the people who want to spend more time and do it carefully will have the higher chance of a High Quality, and then the people who want to get it done, they have the consolidated system.

BG: Will you be abolishing breaks? Like FFXI had breaks, where you could lose everything and it was heartbreaking.

SE: Yes, we've already begun discussing removing that loss probability. If it's below, at, or just a bit above your crafting level, then the loss probability would be removed. But if it's something far above your crafting level - if you succeed, then you get the experience bonus, but if it is far above your level, having those item lost are a good way...

The above is from the Blue Gartr interview when Mr. Yoshida did his world tour several months ago.

Since then there has been little word about what is to be done about the monotony of crafting, especially when it comes to leveling.

1.21 will see the completion of major overhauls to battle and recipe systems. But I'm curious, does this mean we need to wait until 1.22 or beyond for changes to the actual act of crafting?

I know this has been brought up before, but I think that on the eve of subscription service, an official update would be much appreciated.

If there aren't any plans for this in the near future, can an interim solution be implemented in 1.21? Say, something like finally giving DoH classes static Guildleves every five or 10 levels like all the other classes in the game get?

It's just that, currently, it takes longer to actually gather materials than it does to process them.

It's easy to hit 10-15k an hour while actively grinding, but when adding in the time spent gathering or farming, that rate of exp significantly diminishes.

And all of this is further compounded by the need for shards. A stack of 999 shards on Rabanastre can run anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000 Gil.

Sure, archers have to procure ammunition. But all it takes is three synths or about 25,000 Gil (two or three leve's worth) and an archer is set for hours of gameplay.

I mean, it's not like these leves need to be created, they're already in the game and designed to increase in difficulty every five levels. They're just not always at our disposal like other classes.

I understand the development team had to make its priorities. But it's time for at least this simple fix.

[Kiote]

Most of what is in that post have already been implemented.

Using +1 mats basically guarantee +1 success. Especially if you use Careful Synthesis.

Failing under level recipes don't lose mats on fail.

XP bonuses have been added for quality.

The only thing left are XP chains. The UI will probably get some overhauls for 2.0, but once XP chains are in most of the UI issues will be solved by simply making the user want to do more than spam enter.

As far as gathering Mats is concerned. That is for DoL. It's a different class. They are not going to speed it up just so you can level crafting faster. You can level both classes or you can buy your mats.

[Sephrick]

Most of what is in that post have already been implemented.

Using +1 mats basically guarantee +1 success. Especially if you use Careful Synthesis.

Failing under level recipes don't lose mats on fail.

XP bonuses have been added for quality.

The only thing left are XP chains. The UI will probably get some overhauls for 2.0, but once XP chains are in most of the UI issues will be solved by simply making the user want to do more than spam enter.

As far as gathering Mats is concerned. That is for DoL. It's a different class. They are not going to speed it up just so you can level crafting faster. You can level both classes or you can buy your mats.

The quality bonus is negligible.

As far as gathering Mats is concerned. That is for DoL. It's a different class. They are not going to speed it up just so you can level crafting faster. You can level both classes or you can buy your mats.

I'm well aware those are the options at the moment.

But it still comes back to the fact that one has to spend an exorbitant amount of time just to prep for gaining exp on DoHs. And then the actual amount of exp gained is abysmal for the total time invested.

I'm not saying they should change anything about the rate of acquisition for DoLs. All I'm saying is DoH leves should be static like every other class gets.

If there aren't any plans for this in the near future, can an interim solution be implemented in 1.21? Say, something like finally giving DoH classes static Guildleves every five or 10 levels like all the other classes in the game get?

Like I said in the OP. The leves already increase in difficulty on a five level basis. We just need regular access to them like every other discipline gets. With how long it takes to travel to multiple camps to deliver leves and the pace at which crafting is done, there'd still be a control on how quickly one could gain exp. But at least we wouldn't have to spend twice the amount of time on a completely different class just to be able to get exp on the desired class.