I can't really be bothered to continue to read all the posts on this thread as most of them, after 2 pages, are totally off topic. The author of this thread has nailed the issues right on the head. Over the last 7 months, I've noticed the algorithm change several times. Sometimes it's changed for the better and sometimes for the worse. Right now, it is totally stupid.

SE, let me tell you what I think. We who play the DoH classes work hard at ranking up, just like any other class. After we've invested so many hours in a class, grinding, day in and day out, we expect our character to have obtained a degree of "SKILL" to represent our tireless effort. A crafter should not break a synth lower than his current rank more than 3 to 4% of the time. As the distance between the rank of a synth and our class rank gets greater we should fail even less. When we are first allowed to attempt a synth, the degree of difficulty is great, however should gradually get easier as our rank approaches the synth rank. This transition from rank to rank should be fluid and seamless.

SE, I put it to you that you guys are the ones who dreamed up this process. If it were to work the way it should, it wouldn't be a bad system. However, it is terrible in its current state and desperately needs fixing.

Surely after allowing this game to be released in such a state that any company would be embarrassed to even put their name on it, SE corporate must be giving you a large enough budget to work on the various components of the game at an equal rate?

Please, give some attention to this problem because people who craft should be no less important than those who battle?