This new crafting system is pretty horrible for HQ crafting and makes having all your crafting classes 50 somewhat a waste. I admit from feedback, it seems a lot easier to level and I do like how crafting is slightly faster. However, now it seems that HQ crafting has gotten nerfed to the point that if you don't have all HQ mats, then good luck. As for the fun of crafting, it's now been lamed down to what it was prior to 1.21 which was a thoughtless spamfest.

Starting from launch HQ crafting was simply start off with HQ mats, get the item to 100% progress, maybe do some bold synths for some ups in quality then spam touch ups. 1.21 made it so HQ crafting was more consistent and less dependent on luck. I actually would change skills depending on what synth I was doing, calculating remaining durability, figuring out how many more actions I would have before I needed to finish. Then 1.22 hit and it feels like HQ crafting has completely devolved into this redundant mess.

Now the crafting system has turned into picking 5 skills, spamming careful and relying solely on luck that it doesn't spark or the element doesn't go chaotic. There is no need to have 10 skill slots since you can only choose 5 or play roulette and most of the higher end skills wouldn't really make the cut. Most of the new skills are redundant in usefulness. The changes were set so that we would use a larger variety of skills. Sure brand of wind etc seem more useful than before but with 5 whole skill slots and the way the numbers have changed, can you really afford to put them in if you're going to do a HQ craft? The numbers have also gotten seriously nerfed as well, meaning that a mix of NQ and HQ mats no longer is viable at higher levels.

Right now I use 5 skills that I've found are somewhat useful, but the main problems I have with the new system is once again relying more on luck once again like prior 1.21 and how we can only use 5 skills while crafting. This new system makes having more than 5 skills useless, if you load more than 5, then you randomly get 5 of the skills you picked. So there's no consistency with that aspect. Why give us 10 skill slots if it's only going to hurt us if we use more than 5? Because of the limitations in quality gain, you once again have to pray for a "great success" and even if you get that, you then pray again for a high number. There's no real play skill involved in crafting now, as all I can do now is, use skill a, do some actions, use skill b, do some actions, use skill c etc...

HQ crafting has just become even more boring than it did before. There's no real reward for trying hard now. With this new system if you don't have all HQ for higher levels synths your chances are slim to none for getting a HQ. No matter how much thought or strategy you put into it, the outcome is far too dependent and limited to luck. Unless the synth is heavily lower level than you are, you probably won't be able to HQ it with 3/4 mats being HQ. Personal skill no longer matters, just choose the best 5 skills the min-maxers use then spam the same actions they do and pray you get lucky enough to HQ. That's basically what this new system is. Personally I no longer feel that it's even worth dabbling in NQ mats and have completely been turned off by crafting now. I have all my crafters at 50 so I can repair everything, only left for me was HQ crafting and now that's gone down to the crapper.