Final Skybuilders' Tool

[TaleraRistain]

They don't really seem worth it, even for a more casual player. It's locked behind Expert recipes, which from what I've seen just come down to fishing for certain procs. I tried some of the "right" ways I read about and they were so boring. I don't use macros so I've been playing around with it to do it my own way. I've managed to find a comfortable medium that gets me the minimum for 1 item, lets me take advantage of the procs as they come up if I want to experiment with pushing, but doesn't have me sitting around bored fishing for step after step after step.

RNG is frustrating but there's a difference between frustrating and challenge. SE has a habit of equating the two and using RNG for their challenge. I really wish they'd steal an idea from EQII. In EQII you have skills that move forward progress and quality like here. There are procs while crafting but they require you to hit a specific skill (that you may have just used) and there's a short time limit to hit it. If you miss it, there's a negative effect either in your craft or even to you if it's severe enough. Hell, I've died crafting there before. You have to pay attention. You have to react quickly. And you have to react quickly with the right skill. I applaud SE for the new conditions. Those are fun. But fishing for them is not fun and doesn't really seem to be much of a test of skill except someone's ability to resist boredom.

I'll do them because I like shinies, but ugh.

[Caimie_Tsukino]

They don't really seem worth it, even for a more casual player. It's locked behind Expert recipes, which from what I've seen just come down to fishing for certain procs. I tried some of the "right" ways I read about and they were so boring. I don't use macros so I've been playing around with it to do it my own way. I've managed to find a comfortable medium that gets me the minimum for 1 item, lets me take advantage of the procs as they come up if I want to experiment with pushing, but doesn't have me sitting around bored fishing for step after step after step.

RNG is frustrating but there's a difference between frustrating and challenge. SE has a habit of equating the two and using RNG for their challenge. I really wish they'd steal an idea from EQII. In EQII you have skills that move forward progress and quality like here. There are procs while crafting but they require you to hit a specific skill (that you may have just used) and there's a short time limit to hit it. If you miss it, there's a negative effect either in your craft or even to you if it's severe enough. Hell, I've died crafting there before. You have to pay attention. You have to react quickly. And you have to react quickly with the right skill. I applaud SE for the new conditions. Those are fun. But fishing for them is not fun and doesn't really seem to be much of a test of skill except someone's ability to resist boredom.

I'll do them because I like shinies, but ugh.

Sorry, I just wanna say, I disagree with pretty much everything you said here.

Firstly, whether the tools are worth it or not really comes down to what you're trying to achieve. If you just want glamor, they're totally worth it. If you were sitting on lightly-melded i490 or the Skysung i500, then the i510 Skybuilders are definitely a boost to your stats. The only time when it's not worth it, is when you're already sitting on a heavy-control-pentamelded i490 while seeking more control.

Secondly, they're not "LOCKED" behind anything. Anyone can do Expert Recipes.

Thirdly, although some fishing for procs is required, Expert Recipes is NOT just about fishing for certain procs. It is actually more about utilizing whatever conditions that come at you. I dunno what "right" ways you've been reading about but here's what I came up with: http://ffxivrealm.com/guides/caimie-...ers-tools.201/

I had only Aesthete tools with +6 CP melds, and I only used mostly HQ Matcha and sometimes HQ Blood Bouillabaisse without using any Chilli Crab. I used only NQ Cunning Syrup as well. And yet, I was able to get enough tool parts from merely crafting 21 collectables for 4 classes. "Skills" are CLEARLY involved, even though it's not the kind of "real-time skill" that you were talking about.

RNG is frustrating, but there's a difference between crafting by pure RNG vs crafting with brain. You actually need to be VERY quick with your head to make complex decisions based on your current CP, durab, condition and quality acquired/needed. This IS a kind of intellectual skill.

If you had studied the Expert Recipes that we did back in Phase 2 of the Ishgardian Restoration (in one of the earlier threads here https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...Recipes/page16), you'd see that a good number of us were able to achieve at least 80% of our crafts getting max quality. I started off with only about 36% of my crafts getting max quality... Then improved to 40-ish%, later ~70% before finally reaching above 80%. Are we just all super lucky? No. We just "got better"... i.e. becoming more "skilled". (Although, in Phase 3 and Phase 4, I have to admit more RNG was involved, and I was only able to achieve about 45% of my crafts max quality. But that's because of the changes in our stats, changes in the crafts' difficulties and even changes in the conditions available that affected the weighting of RNG importance.)

Again, Expert Recipes is NOT just about fishing for conditions. Some fishing is needed, but you're ONLY fishing for conditions, you'll be very heavily relying on RNG, and you are likely to do poorly on these recipes.