A crafters bane : 1-40 gearing

[VelKallor]

I do a lot of crafting for new players (Hi my names Vel, and Im a craftaholic...), am I the only one who sees the gear systems and items 1-40 as...haphazard? In some slots you dont get upgrades for 4-7 levels, can this be streamlined? Reviewed?

Reset so I can craft gear for new players every 2-3 levels instead of having a 35 player with l 26 jewellery?

Feedback requested, can any crafters dive in and give me their assessment? Am I the only one who thinks some of the ARR crafted stuff needs an overhaul? And WHY in the name of the Twelve is crafter quest gear nq and not hq?

Me confused...

[Iscah]

Why would you want to have to craft replacement gear more often though?

If i26 gear is still your best in slot at level 35, great. You're still up to date and the level 35 recipes are designed with those stats in mind.

You're just not at those levels for long enough to worry about upgrading gear every few levels, even if it's available.

If you want to help newbies out by crafting things for them, your time would be better spent crafting levequest and GC hand-ins for them so they can whiz through those early levels and not even need to gear up in the first place.

[KarstenS]

My biggest issue doing Isghard restoration on alts was that main/offhand upgrades were not on the same level for all jobs beolow level 50.

[kaynide]

I do a lot of crafting for new players (Hi my names Vel, and Im a craftaholic...), am I the only one who sees the gear systems and items 1-40 as...haphazard? In some slots you dont get upgrades for 4-7 levels, can this be streamlined? Reviewed?

Reset so I can craft gear for new players every 2-3 levels instead of having a 35 player with l 26 jewellery?

Feedback requested, can any crafters dive in and give me their assessment? Am I the only one who thinks some of the ARR crafted stuff needs an overhaul? And WHY in the name of the Twelve is crafter quest gear nq and not hq?

Me confused...

Truth be told, yeah, 1-49 is pretty wonky. You can almost get through the entire range with like, 2 sets of dungeon gear gear (the 17 Sastasha/Copperbell/Tam Tara and the 34 Brayflox).

The sheer amount of gear thrown at you via dungeons makes crafted gear just filler, which is unfortunate for people like yourself trying to find a niche to sell in.

[VelKallor]

The sheer amount of gear thrown at you via dungeons makes crafted gear just filler, which is unfortunate for people like yourself trying to find a niche to sell in

Kaynide this isnt about the MB..i told you, I spend a lot of time crafting gear for new players and helping them out. Thats where this is coming from. Im a serious crafter and one of the small joys for me is helping new players with gear, getting them new weps or gear pieces. Gil doesnt worry me, this is about crafting and the 1- 40 gear sets.

[kaynide]

And that's fine, but if your gear isn't selling, then people aren't buying or needing your gear, right?

I mean, you could shout in a town offering to give away gear if that's what you wanted to do, but you'll find most people just don't need it outside of interesting/unique skins (mostly level 1 anyway)

[VelKallor]

And that's fine, but if your gear isn't selling, then people aren't buying or needing your gear, right?

Kaynide maybe I didnt put it the best way, I am not SELLING anything, a lot of players know me and / or point newbies to me so i can help them out.

On my server I am often approached by new players asking for help, and when looking at their gear I make them new stuff as a gift, one player to another, and yes they do need it, but what maybe you dont get is the gist of this thread, that the 1-40 stuff is haphazard and needs an overhaul.

We are going to have a LOT of new players in the coming months, and it would help if I had more choice and options for gearsets, what id like to see is a 3 level changeover with crafted gear FOR that set of levels, rather than walking around with a 26 bracelet on a 35 character when you should be able to get better.

Dungeon drops arent an option as thats rng and wont often be for the slot you want.

Another idea would also be to categorise gear in the craft menus by job, so I can pinpoint what to make for a 45 DRG as opposed to a 45 SMN.

Anyway these are just ideas to streamline the early gearing curve, so crafters like me can help others better.

[Iscah]

We are going to have a LOT of new players in the coming months, and it would help if I had more choice and options for gearsets, what id like to see is a 3 level changeover with crafted gear FOR that set of levels, rather than walking around with a 26 bracelet on a 35 character when you should be able to get better.

There is already an approximate three-level gap between crafted gear types, with dungeon gear inbetween. You don't *need* to regear every three levels. It's a waste of time and resources.

As for jewellery, it simply does not increase fast enough. From memory there is only a one-point stat difference between the level 28 and 38 jewellery; any need to craft more than that would be overkill and a further obstacle to completing the crafting log.

Aetherial jewellery from dungeons, even with the element of luck involved, it likely to be equal value to whatever you can give them.

If you want to regularly craft stuff for people, make your own reference table of best gear for mages, DPS and tanks at five-level intervals, or three if you insist.

[Omedon]

I’m sure more experienced joboholics will have more relevant points to make, but for crafters wanting to make a difference to newer players, the best thing you can do from my point of view is undercut the NPC vendors on right side gear and weapons, particularly at the low 50, 60 and 70 thresholds. Poetics have the left hand side handled, but pre-50 goes too fast to fret over. Where leveling players need your help is breaking in to each new expansion’s dungeon requirements, and that means weapons and jewelry!

That’s been my experience anyway. I’ve become a hoarder of weapons and jewelry as I’ve been leveling alt jobs!

[Vyrerus]

Really, crafting gear for newbies is a nice thing to do, but it's generally wholly unnecessary for a variety of reasons.

1) Upgrades are infrequent as you have noticed. This is because stat increases at low levels have to be small, but this also means that natural levels have more impact than gear for a time.

2) Dungeon gear provides gear at level for each dungeon, and this gear is always of the caliber of high quality gear of a similar level range. For instance, the Brand New Gear/Foestriker's Gear from the three earliest dungeons provides the same stats as almost all of the crafted gear present through the level 20s with the exception of body and leg pieces. The level 20 dungeon gear provides stats that are on par with crafted gear, even as high as the level 29~31 gear. The level 32 dungeon provides gear that is on par with late 30s/early 40s gear. In this way, gear stats overlap more often than not, before level 50, such that dungeon upgrades can provide a streamlined experience. Couple this with now being guaranteed a piece of gear for the job you are on at the end, including weapons for every dungeon. Lowbie crafted gear just doesn't really have much of a niche.

3) They won't change this newly implemented take on dungeon gearing, and it was relatively the same, but a bit more RNG based before this with Aetherial gear. You're better off crafting for level plateaus, since tomestones dry up quickly, especially if one is working on multiple jobs. Also keep in mind that earrings generally have no value, due to the pre-order leveling earrings. It is only really after level 50 that dungeon gear stops being upgrades for the most part, compared to crafting gear, but all crafting gear that is between levels is also still awkward between plateaus. It is also rewarded by the MSQ.

4) Even prior to level 50, gear upgrades are provided by the MSQ. This occurs as frequently as possible with multiple rewards listed to cover every job. The devs fully intended for players to relax on gearing for 5~8 levels, as demonstrated by quest rewards.