Honestly, I find crafting to be more boring (if a lot easier) than it's ever been.

Why? Because the emphasis is ALWAYS on quality & spamming the right abilities. For one thing, there are too many overlapping abilities - there's something like 4 skills that all give +50% quality for 3 turns... is that really necessary? And there's 2 or 3 that advance progress 20% - lack of creativity much? Why isn't the GSM 45 skill automatic great success for careful synthesis for 3 turns? (OP I'll admit but well, it's GSM - it only feels right to me that the class who's main emphasis is on shiny things pays the most attention to quality)

I like the idea of CP, of making us select our skills according to our needs. My only concern is with regards to the rate that CP is used up and refills; there are days where I don't craft much and then there's times where I just go on a binge.


The last point I'd like to make, is again about the emphasis on quality. Originally, you just had to focus on finishing the synth for your EXP. You could raise quality if you liked for bonus rewards on leves and/or HQ (though HQ was much more random then). I'd much rather that the EXP bonus for quality be reduced, base EXP per synth increased, and EXP per synth be increased as well on leves like it used to be. I'm an avid crafter & gatherer, but my sanity can only take it for so long. Emphasis on quality should really be for HQ and extra rewards from leves. I hate spending 3~4 minutes on what should be a 30~60 recipe to milk it for as much exp as possible.

Furthermore, it strikes me as a bit silly that HQ ingredients are pretty much mandatory even when your skill level and stats greatly exceed the recipe. A level 50 crafter shouldn't need all +1 materials to HQ a level 5 recipe for example, that's just silly. I don't have a problem with needing them for better odds, especially when the recipe is equal to or higher than your level, but I feel like having a good deal of skill should count for more.


Ah hell while I'm at it what about the guild facilities? We can still pay for support, but it doesn't do anything anymore as none of the newer recipes require it. Are there any plans to have guild support have an impact on synthesis again? One thing I always wanted in XI was to be able to pay a guild to actually use their equipment.

I think that could have potential for some cool minigames. Instead of the normal synthesis interactions, you get to use whatever tools/machinery the guild has set up (though, this would probably be too much without private instances and even then that'd be a hassle) to enhance your abilities. So instead of just my stupid little hammer and anvil, I would get to process my ores inside an actual forge.