Regarding the removal of HQ items from gathering...

[Keyln]

Dear Square-Enix/Yoshi-P,

I recently viewed your live letter, and I saw the upcoming removal of HQ items from gathering. I must say that I am displeased, to say the least.

I spent much time gathering and crafting items in Shadowbringers. As of now, most of my gear is HQ crafted, and there was something satisfying wearing gear of my own creation. It represented hours of my time gathering HQ items and changing them to HQ gear. There was a sense of satisfaction for hunting down HQ items and using them to make HQ gear. Sure, for every HQ ore, I'd end up with 5 or 6 NQ, but that was part of the game. Seeing the shiny ore was worth it.

Now, that satisfaction is being taken away with the upcoming change. I feel that the hours I spent improving my gathering gear, getting my crafter up to the point where I could get HQ items, planning my time, and the endgame of turning it into shiny gear for my other jobs and classes is all wasted. It turns gathering into an unnecessary chore to go to crafting.

Further, hearing that shiny "chop" and that shiny "clink" from getting an HQ item was also satisfying, and that's being taken away too. Instead, I'll be getting that dull clink of getting items that I once didn't want.

I am not at all happy with the upcoming changes. You are taking something away that satisfied me, and leaving me with nothing in return. I would urge that you reconsider this change. This change is something that would make me reconsider buying this expansion and continue my subscription.

[Shadygrove]

They aren't just removing HQ items, they are removing an incentive to gather.

[MsQi]

I wondering what is going to happen to the HQ gathering achievements and related titles. I've been working on that along with the crafting ones for a while. Maybe I need to devote my life to gathering for the next couple months.

[Doru_Nintendan]

The real question is what will Crafting be like in EW, now that only crafted mats and gear are going to be HQ-able. Is it going to be more difficult for getting HQ on standard crafts, or will they make it easier for quality abilities to make up for the lack of HQ mats?

[MsQi]

The real question is what will Crafting be like in EW, now that only crafted mats and gear are going to be HQ-able. Is it going to be more difficult for getting HQ on standard crafts, or will they make it easier for quality abilities to make up for the lack of HQ mats?

I'm guessing they will make it a little easier to make getting HQ across the board, but the dynamic changes as you level and from expansion to expansion anyways.

This really does diminish the gameplay for gathering and crafting. Quality actions are said to be changed to yield(quantity) actions. This makes quantity the only objective (other than collectability which is a separate thing) There are only so many ways you can modify quantity when it's your only objective. Those actions are doomed to be pruned in the future because of redundancy, as has happened with many crafting actions.

If you are gathering for something you plan to craft you have that choice to try for the HQ or live with the NQ. If it's to sell you can try to maximize your profits or just hope you can sell a lot. When crating you have the choice of what type to use to make life easier or to try to make do. The whole dynamic is flattened and less interesting.

The inventory issue is a week reason. I have filled up my inventory with mats, but it's a temporary thing. If you are going to craft you choose what you need. You keep the HQ and sell the NQ or use the NQ to make the intermediates. If you are fine with the NQ you either reduce the HQ or sell it, or just mass produce your intermediates using both. There is more of an issue having different items rather than quality. Reducing either reduces the gameplay in a game where crafting and gathering are their own gameplay styles, not just a chore raiders do to minmax their performance as in WoW. They should not reduce gameplay to address an inventory problem.

I don't know about you but the bulk of my inventory issue is with things I want to keep for the long term. Sure my crafting mats often bump into that, but those come and go. I know I can get more of almost any common material if needed, so I'm not afraid to vend mats if I need to. But I don't know how many runs of a particular dungeon or raid it will take to reacquire that bow I like.

This along with the belt thing seem to indicate they are not willing to address the inventory issue head on. I'm not sad to see belts go, but if they need to eliminate an entire equipment slot to increase inventory for others, and also reduce the gameplay for all crafters and gatherers, addressing the inventory issue head on is long overdue.

A special crafting "bank" would be nice and help a lot but it also means adding more inventory. A collection based glamour system where you learn styles permanently should actually inventory needs as it reduces your glamour inventory to a checklist. Of course that requires reworking systems that already exist. They have said they have considered removing rings, which would really make some people angry.

[Kuroka]

Bots just gonna have even more of an field day and I guess if they really go away from that just so they can add 40 mats we actually dont need each patch then its the final nail into my crafting as imma not bother to sell stuff anymore... not for like 15k per lv 90 gear lol

[Alpheus]

Doesn't this also affect what little monopoly FC money you gain by gathering and synthesizing HQ items?

[Jojoya]

They aren't just removing HQ items, they are removing an incentive to gather.

I don't see it as removing an incentive to gather. The incentive is still there - the materials are needed to craft. Retainers will never bring back the quantities we need for end game crafting.

But it is removing some of complexity that helps make gathering interesting. Diadem shows how boring gathering is when it's reduced to a straight grind for yield.

I also have to wonder what will happen with hidden items. Will they be straight RNG now we'll no longer be able to use Luck of the Pioneer/Mountaineer or will those be changed?

The real question is what will Crafting be like in EW, now that only crafted mats and gear are going to be HQ-able. Is it going to be more difficult for getting HQ on standard crafts, or will they make it easier for quality abilities to make up for the lack of HQ mats?

I doubt SE would see a need to adjust the standard recipes considering most players seems to be using the Restoration to level. Other than the rough spot that is the 50-54 HW recipes, it's also not needed. It's not that difficult to get HQ from all NQ as long as gear is up to date.

Doesn't this also affect what little monopoly FC money you gain by gathering and synthesizing HQ items?

I'm confused where you think FCs come into this.

[MsQi]

I don't see it as removing an incentive to gather.

Not the overall incentive to gather but an incentive that is currently part of that. Actually two.

There is that satisfaction of the different sound and getting something special. It's a dopamine thing.

But also the incentive to try to get HQ items for more "practical purposes": Easier time crafting or higher profit.

[Lemuria]

I have so many questions regarding this. The first one being why? There is literally no reason why this change was needed or desirable, and just serves to remove mechanics from classes which are already light on them as is. With no HQ fish, Mooch 2 is now redundant and Mooch 1 needs to be completely reworked. Perception is a gathering stat which exists purely for the purpose of increasing HQ. Now relegated to a meaningless stat aside from getting the occasional random bonus at nodes.

We already have skills to increase yield, so what happens to those? Do they stay? Are they replaced? Do they just remove any and all HQ chance skills from our hotbar? Do we end up with duplicate skills which do the same job, just with different icons? Will there ever be a reason to use one over the other? Do they stack?

New crafters may also have a harder time getting HQ goods for their quest hand-ins, or simply for their own jobs, and that goes double with the removal of belts and the materia slots they provide to customise your stats.

All in all, this whole thing is a headscratcher that I can't for the life of me figure out an explanation for. One redditor suggested that it's to save memory on items long term by reducing bloat, but that only works if they're removing the items from the game. They aren't. Any items held by players will still be held by players. We still have elemental and main stat materia after all this time, not to mention 1.0 items, so it's clearly not about reducing the total number of them.

I'll reserve judgment until I've played around with the new systems, but this feels like a step backwards to bring it in line with other MMOs rather than an innovative step forward.