Crafting...... Jesus $%#@ing Christ!

[Reika]

Not entirely possible to nor is it a good thing to just stick to low recipes. The recipe 2-6 ranks above you could be finished items that require 6 mats. No one in their right mind would try to grind on those. And what he is saying is hes getting unstable elements that dont match the shards he's using. That really isnt supost to happen, and is just another broken aspect of some recipes. and not every recipe does that, which is another broken aspect. Try sything Fleece at R34 leatherworker. R44 Recipe yet it is soooooo easy to make, and gives a ton of SP. Then try to make toad leather, and get unstable lightnings when the recipe doesnt use any lightning shards/crystals/clusters, and the beginning of the recipe.

[Radaghast]

Not entirely possible to nor is it a good thing to just stick to low recipes. The recipe 2-6 ranks above you could be finished items that require 6 mats. No one in their right mind would try to grind on those. And what he is saying is hes getting unstable elements that dont match the shards he's using. That really isnt supost to happen, and is just another broken aspect of some recipes. and not every recipe does that, which is another broken aspect. Try sything Fleece at R34 leatherworker. R44 Recipe yet it is soooooo easy to make, and gives a ton of SP. Then try to make toad leather, and get unstable lightnings when the recipe doesnt use any lightning shards/crystals/clusters, and the beginning of the recipe.

You give me a level for any craft and I'll give you a name of a recipe that's easy to grind on. There's stuff for every level. Not that I'm defending bizarre differences in difficulty on certain items that are of equal level, but why would you grind on those in the first place.

The only stuff I've ever had difficulty with were items that I didn't have the right books/support/too high level for. With HotG, Ingenuity, it's damn near impossible to fail anything.

I semi agree on the unstable elements, mainly because you have to guess at which element is going to go unstable, and that the counter skills are pretty much useless to even consider spending points on. There's just plenty of other skills you can get to ensure you don't fail. About the only time an unstable concerns me is trying to HQ an item. The wait technique Eldaena refered to above does help somewhat.

[Reika]

GSM 26, LTH 29, ARM 33, ARM 37, could pick out a bunch. Theres 'A' Recipe, and then there is 'The' Recipe for each rank. none of them are 2-3 ranks away. I know them, done them.

So you dont think it is bad that you can only list 2 skills worth using? You can honestly say that with these 2 skills on your bar, you can complete absolutely every recipe without fails? How does hand of the gods ensure success?- It reduces success rate >.> so your fails wont lower durability... Ingenuity does not ensure success, it just lowers synth difficulty. I use it all the time. That is why it is broken. None of these skills ensure absolute 100% success in synthing.
Not every recipie that is magically more difficult than others is a grind recipe. you'll find some of them in local leves.

And have you never tried synthing something without using skills at all a few times, then synthing using every skill at the most appropriate time possible? can you really not see the lack of major difference? Something 2ranks above you and less, skill usage doesnt matter, unless it is one of THOSE recipes with unnecessary fail rate, even if you're above them.

[Eldaena]

Rapid + Hand of the Gods is one form to gain easy progress in a synth without losing a lot of durability. Rapid is a viable option, just not in every synthesis. Same as bold. Why would you try to bold something several ranks above you?

I honestly don't think crafting takes that long, and it's interesting to see the different animations used depending on the synthesis action. I actually think they should add more animations depending on the ability you are under the effect of. Say you use Innovation, and then you bold, why not have something that looks a little more fantastic than just a regular bold action?

What I do agree on with the OP is about how the quality of an item has a bigger influence on if the item HQs or not. I'm tired of getting way over 500+ quality on items with no results. I'm not saying +3s should be handed out like candy, but even rank 50 crafters who are several ranks above a synth and have very good abilities are lucky to get a +1 in most cases. This seems a bit off.

I also agree that abilities should not be broken and do what they say they should do. I'm okay with them showing up at random times, but I'm not okay with them just refusing to work. (Also, one time use abilities should be used wisely. If the synth orb is red, it has a higher chance to fail as well.)

And another thing: About the elemental unstables. I do believe that they can be used to actually further your goals in crafting. I know it sounds odd. That thing that you hate that shows up on 90% of your synths that tends to blow up in your face...however, if you can manage to synth successfully through a destabilization (and maintain it without it exploding) you notice certain characteristics of each one. For example, lightning unstable typically nets you more quality and reduces progress by a lot. They are fickle mistresses, however they do and can serve a purpose. It makes it so you're not slacking off as well as they allow themselves to be abused for your benefit.

People just need to learn how to control it given the situation. Such as waiting. Wait is one of the standard synthesis actions that a lot of people ignore. Some don't like to wait because it just increases the duration of your synthesis. However, without waiting, during these unstables (if you don't choose to use them for something like quality gain) you are only setting yourself up for a fail. Which in turn would take even more time to recover. Waiting for even 4 to 5 turns will most likely lose you less durability (and quality for that matter) than synthing through it, failing several times, then having it explode in your face.

I wish some people would try to discover ways around their difficulties instead of just ask for it to be easier. You're asking to take some of the fun out of crafting because the difficulty of crafting is part of the appeal.

[Jinko]

Agree that the way you get unstable elements that don't correspond to the crystals used is just stupid.

[Radaghast]

Arm 33 - Iron barbut visors (believe I kept doing iron squares and stored them until I had no room even at this point)
Arm 37 - Iron Celata Visors
GSM 26 - Silver Needles, brass rings

Why are those so difficult? Are you saying you want more options? There's always going to be that one recipe you'll grind on because its either more efficient or better sp.

I'm guessing you don't have HotG so you don't realize how good it is. Generally with this single skill you can get anywhere from 30-50% of the synth complete on average and keep your current durability intact. It's the best skill in the game both for finished items and grinding in general. Combine that with ingenuity and you can even toss perfection in there for a free rapid and you will fail at MOST 1% of your synths.

I'm still trying to see the point here because unless you are trying a synth that is well above your level or you're missing the required book/support for it, the fail rate is pretty low even without those skills. Are you wanting 100% success all the time no matter what or something? The game is designed to use skills to ensure success, why would you not use them? Heh.

If you want to list skills that are worth using for grinding I'd recommend:

Preserve
Fulfillment
HotG
Maker's Muse
Ingenuity
Perfection
Tender Touch

Naturally not everyone is going to have access to all of those right away, but some are available at lvl10 for a reason. The lvl10 ones if you notice are all alike in the fact they help up success rate. If you want to seriously craft, you're going to need to get those more advanced skills, and they'll help even more. The Big Three(tm) I use for anything nowadays is HotG, Ingenuity, and Perfection. You've gotta either be blind or have no idea what you're doing to fail with those three.

[Eldaena]

If you want to list skills that are worth using for grinding I'd recommend:

Preserve
Fulfillment
HotG
Maker's Muse
Ingenuity
Perfection
Tender Touch

Elemental Appeal is an amazing ability too if anyone ever ranks up Culinarian. =p

[Aceroth]

Well, that was an interesting read of some of your comments.. As I'm sure you can tell, I am not rank 20 on 4 crafts trying to debate what is my main and why i suck at crafting... I have done a little bit of crafting, and while I do not currently have HOtG, I will get it soon enough and see how that goes.

And to the comment made by mr. everything goes perfect for me in the game (Rhadaghast), "Either you're trying recipes that are 10 levels above you or you're cursed. I've never had that problem. Stick to recipes with at most 2-3 levels above your current craft level." Stick to recipes 2-3 ranks higher? lol, are you serious? Anyways, yeah I still aim for 400-500+ sp per synth or honestly it's just not worth my time... 2-3 Ranks higher is maybe 300-400 per synth (depending on synth, GG SE) so yeah... While, I may agree that I am cursed considering the troubles I have seen with crafting. I do not sit there and hit enter spam and never use wait or whatever you went on to say in that drawn out reply about your great sucess in crafting! Good day.

[Radaghast]

The point was you were complaining about failing like you were doing simple synths. If you're trying to do a difficult synth well above your level I think it's common sense you're going to have a higher failure rate.

Even then, if you have those three skills I listed you shouldn't have trouble on synths in the 5-6+ range (most of the time).

[Aceroth]

The point was you were complaining about failing like you were doing simple synths. If you're trying to do a difficult synth well above your level I think it's common sense you're going to have a higher failure rate.

Even then, if you have those three skills I listed you shouldn't have trouble on synths in the 5-6+ range (most of the time).

While I still disagree, the point of the game is not to to "simple" shit to rank on. You don't go fight mobs 2-3 ranks higher than you, do you? Well, you might... but i personally fight shit 10+ ranks higher (even solo), and given you can attempt a synth 10 ranks under I would presume they wanted you to rank off things "higher" than your rank, not lower... anyways, not worth my time continuing on with you about it.