HQ Items Hints & Tips?

[Mikita]

1. In what way do materials affect HQ chance?
2. How do skills affect HQ chance?
3. Are there any abilities that will make HQ items easier to make?
4. What other hints / time saving tips do you have for players making HQ stuff?

Hello. Rukkiri has told us that the method for HQing will change in 2.0 so having multiple crafts leveled up will no longer be necessary, but as it stands now:

1. Using all HQ materials provides you with the greatest chance of HQing the final item (by going into the synthesis with a much higher level of quality at the start), but it is not absolutely necessary if you have a lot of crafting skills at your disposal. You can still HQ from NQ or partial HQ ingredients, but you need to be very skilled, lucky, or both.

2 & 3. Skills right now are very important. There are different ways to approach this, but my personal set is:

• Comfort Zone (Alchemy Lv 36 ability -- 0 Durability loss for 3 steps)
• Master's Mend (Alchemy Lv 45 -- restores 30 Durability -- gives me 3~4 more attempts to raise Quality)
• Byregot's Blessing (Woodworking Lv 45 -- +100% Quality for 3 steps)
• Culmination (Weaver Lv 45 -- guaranteed Great Success for next step)
• Greater Calling (Blacksmith Lv 45 -- guaranteed Success for 3 steps)

As you can see they are all pretty high level abilities, but they help immensely when trying to HQ items.
A helpful thread is here as well: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...all-the-things

4. Some tips that come to mind are:

• Use Rested Bonus and Engineering Manuals to go up in crafting level more quickly.
• Food is also beneficial for boosting certain stats and gives a 3% EXP bonus.
• Craftsmanship and Magic Craftsmanship are still mysteries, but Control reduces the chance of an element going unstable... which will really mess up your synthesis even if you have all the abilities you want.
• Gather yourself or find a partner who can gather HQ materials for you. Starting with HQ materials is very, very helpful which is why they command a much higher price in the market wards.

[LinkDarksteppe]

Wow, incredible response. Thank you guys so, so much - really appreciate the help