Quote Originally Posted by Matsume View Post
It is also because stats are relatively worthless other than main hand damage (ifrit in reindeer outfits?) and because of PLing. You can PL to 50 in a day, why would you need HQ gear before lvl 50? Hell, why would you need ANY gear before lvl 50 if you PL? Hell, you don't even need to PL to avoid getting gear because stats are relatively worthless to begin with and lvling is so easy. I got my whm and blm to 50 without having to buy new gear more than twice on the way up. What's up with that?
Plenty of factors contribute to it and have since the game started. I was more referring to the recent affects on the MWs. Leveling and PLing has been around for quite awhile now also. With the ability to gain levels and have instant guaranteed success at crafting to level my point was about people not paying much higher prices for something when they can simply level it on their own. Would that take time? Sure, but not nearly as much as before 1.22. The synth system is much easier to have more control over success and failure now and even one crafting class leveled to 45 or multiple at 30 can now boost your effective leveling capabilities 10 fold with the other ones and remainder of the current ones. Boosting quality is easy for XP. Success is a forgone conclusion except at the very beginning when you start leveling any crafting. All those who were not willing to go beyond 45 are enticed to do so now and that would take less than a few days if properly motivated.

What does that net? A bunch of people who never bothered with crafting or were not using it as a source of income now flooding the market with massive amounts of raw materials, base materials and finished products. They still don't see it as their main source of income so they don't bother trying to compete over price or even keep the price within range. They still have their other means of making gil so if they sell low or don't sell at all is really irrelevant. The bottom line is they don't need the crafters for anything anymore. Now they don't have to pay big money. They just make the NQ version and wait for the market to flood with HQ versions and get one at a much lower price.