Always HQ?

[Conradus]

You're not using Great Strides? Great Strides is the best thing since sex. Great Strides + Standard Touch = two Standard Touches, except you spend 10 Durability and not 20.

My build for 40 Durability that I can complete in one Standard Synth is mostly like this, assuming the CPs hold out:

Inner Quiet
Great Strides
Steady Hand
Standard Touch
(Great Strides + Standard Touch) x 2
Steady Hand
Standard Synth

Condition is *crucial*. Good condition substantially improves your touch and Excellent condition will almost certainly put you over the top for an HQ. If you get a Good or Excellent condition, immediately go to the best Touch you can afford. If you get a Poor condition when you're up to do a Touch, do something else unless Great Strides is about to run out. Steady Hand is good; even it's already up you'll reset the countdown. If CPs are critically short, Observe can be the cheapest way to wait out a Poor condition.

Don't forget equipment--and food! More craftmanship means more Progress on Synths. More Control means more Quality on Touches. And who couldn't use more CPs on a synth? At your level, a good CP food can give you close to 20 more CPs. That can be a critical difference right when you need it.

[Capita]

You're not using Great Strides? Great Strides is the best thing since sex. Great Strides + Standard Touch = two Standard Touches, except you spend 10 Durability and not 20.

Aye, I never thought of it like that. I'll be using it a lot from now on. Actually excited to get off work and craft some more.

[Riko_113]

This is the best thread I've seen on the topic of crafting. Thanks guys! Lots of useful tips in here.

My alchemy is level 30 and i was able to feel my away around successfully crafting items much higher level than me but was never able to get the HQ rotation down.

I took notes! Can't wait to go home and make something! XD

[Vyniea]

I don't think it's possible to "always" HQ an item with NQ mats, unless the item is considerably lower than yours.

I can HQ somewhat reliably AF gear without HQ mats, but it's still a matter of luck.

Obviously were I to get Ingenuity it could make a difference. (And also better gear, I wear BiS everything, but no materias yet)

[Capita]

So I had a brief chance to try these out. I've been having great success so far. Haven't been able to consistently get 100% quality, but I usually fall between 45-80%, and I've HQ'd 8/10 items so far. I was even able to HQ my next level gear. I'm still working on getting my 40 durability synths up, and the 70+ synths can use a bit of tweaking for more efficiency, but overall my crafting has improved a ton.

Thanks, everyone!

[NJA]

For me, Great Strides is also the key skill. I ALWAYS have it up and then use my best Touch action when I get Good, Excellent or when GS is about to expire. Then GS straight back up! Inbetween I improve progress or use Steady Hands or Observe.

[Zareth]

I'm confused about the crystal thing. I assume you mean the little ball that the crafter works with when making something. But what's the meaning of the different colours?

My method is to use Inner Quiet -> Steady Hands -> Waste Not -> Great Strides/Standard Touch (depends on condition). Repeat until durability goes too low or HQ rate is 100%. It might not always HQ but it does so often enough that I use it regularly. And because I keep my equipment in top condition (HQ and materia-loaded), I can HQ stuff that's 4 or 5 levels above my level fairly often. Which lets me do the triple turn-ins of the highest level I can do while still handing in HQ

[Mjollnir]

Curious why everyone is choosing to use standard touch instead of basic touch or advanced touch?

If you multiply the efficiency of the skill by the success rate you get the "expected output" of the skill. If you then divide the expected output of the skill by the CP cost you get the "quality efficiency" of the skill. Or the expected quality boost per CP point.

Basic Touch is the most efficient skill by this method.

It seems like standard or advanced touch would be of situational use only when you have a good or excellent orb to craft on to maximize your quality boost.

If you have Steady Hand up, the success rate on a Standard Touch is raised from 80% to 100%. The way I craft is to ensure Touch abilities are only used on Good/Excellent and to focus on coaxing out the Good/Excellent orbs. I 100% Quality with NQ mats on every craft that's up to two levels over my level - all my crafts are 22-27 at the moment.

So by your calculations, sure Basic Touch is more efficient, but you can influence your situation to make it irrelevant. The only time I ever use it in is when I only have a few CP left as a preference to Hasty Touch. Different methods may make it useful though.

I'm confused about the crystal thing. I assume you mean the little ball that the crafter works with when making something. But what's the meaning of the different colours?

The colours influence Quality gain through Touch actions only.

• White = Normal. Only Touch while on this if absolutely necessary (ie last tick of Great Strides, penultimate Durability and out of CP)
• Red = Good - Successful Touch actions result in 150% Quality. I aim for this, combining with Standard Touch (125%) and Great Strides (200%). An 87 Quality synth turns into a 322 with this method.
• Multicoloured = Excellent - Successful Touch actions result in 300% Quality.
• Violet = Poor - Always and only follows Excellent. A Touch action will result in a much-reduced Quality increase. Use another ability or Synthesis action at this point.

They took Gold out for ARR

[Conradus]

• White = Normal. Only Touch while on this if absolutely necessary (ie last tick of Great Strides, penultimate Durability and out of CP)
• Red = Good - Successful Touch actions result in 150% Quality. I aim for this, combining with Standard Touch (125%) and Great Strides (200%). An 87 Quality synth turns into a 322 with this method.
• Multicoloured = Excellent - Successful Touch actions result in 300% Quality.
• Violet = Poor - Always and only follows Excellent. A Touch action will result in a much-reduced Quality increase. Use another ability or Synthesis action at this point.

They took Gold out for ARR

And if you don't want to strain your eyes trying to make out the color of the synth crystal, the condition is written right there in the synth status window.

[Alenghil]

My rotation is:
Inner Quiet
Trick of the Trade when possible
Steady Hand II (refreshing every 5 turns)
Hasty Touch
At 20/40 (Manipulation)
At 20/80 (Master's Mend II)
When I don't have any more cp I cast Rumination, Inner quiet II and Rapid synthesis.

This gives me HQ in every 1 star item.