Crafting theories discussion. Dev craft talk in OP

[ascalon]

Synthesis
Q. I haven't been having much success crafting items. What am I doing wrong?
A. The colored, glowing graphics provides players with a large hint toward a successful synthesis. When the glow is white, the synthesis is at its most stable, and the chances of success are high. When the glow takes on a color, however, the chances of success are low. Players seeking simple completion of their synthesis rather than high-quality results should attempt to use the Wait command when the indicator is colored to restore the stability of the synthesis before finishing it.

Q. Is there a trick to synthesizing high-quality items?
A. Though synthesis actions carried out while the colored circle graphic is red suffer a reduced rate of success, they often serve to increase the quality of the synthesis. In addition, the successful execution of consecutive actions also serves to increase quality. Ultimately, the higher the quality of the synthesis process, the more likely it is to yield a high-quality result.

Q. What do the values attached to synthesis materials, such as +1, signify?
A. These values represent bonuses applied to the durability and quality of a synthesis when it is first begun. Unlike increases to quality made during the crafting process, this initial bonus has no bearing on the degree of difficulty of the synthesis. Such bonus materials therefore increase a player's chances at synthesizing high-quality items, without increasing the difficulty of the synthesis.

Q. I am able to choose between using my main hand or off hand tool when beginning a synthesis. What is the difference?
A. Main hand and off hand tools have varying characteristics which manifest themselves in different ways when a high-quality result is achieved while synthesizing. There are many possible outcomes. For instance, a successful synthesis with a main hand tool may result in a +1 or +2 item, while the result obtained with an off hand tool may be a higher yield of regular quality items.

Q. I don't have enough of the crystals I need for synthesis. Is there a way to get more of the certain crystal type I need?
A. Other than looting fresh corpses, crystals can also be obtained through gathering. Further, for Disciples of the Land, allotting elemental bonus points to a certain element will result in a greater likelihood of procuring crystals of that type. Location is another factor to consider, as some places will yield more of certain crystal types than others.

Gotta admit. This is more info from them than I ever expected.

[ChocoFeru]

Yeah, nice info!

[Uzor]

Nice, I was correct on the colored orbs :3

Had no idea what the difference between main-hand and off-hand tools were though. I'm actually quite surprised they came out and told us in actual details.

[Sinzfeldt]

.

[arshesney]

Finally a step in the right direction! Hope they keep up.

[Elcura]

This is nice stuff, though it seems I was wrong about +1/2/3 mats making the synth harder. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

[Celeras]

lol at all the noobs that thought you use rapid on red and bold on yellow.

^

Though people I talked to swore by rapid on yellow/bold on red instead, lol.

[Freelancer]

Now that that's out of the way...

Make it so crafting junk 1 level blow your rank isn't a freaking nightmare.

Got Armorer to 12 by whoring out Copper wire since anything with bronze in it is a bitch and seems like I got 3 more ranks to go before I can start on bronze...

ATLEAST make crafting things your level work, ever since the rapid thing was nerfed I keep botching things my level and suffer on anything that isn't 4 lvls under me...

[Izzy]

I just spam rapid anyways. FINISH THAT SHIT!

[hopefulki]

I just spam rapid anyways. FINISH THAT SHIT!

lol same here, but after yesterday's patch that doesn't work for me anymore :-\ standard is the new rapid

[Kirbyprime]

I've been failing with Rapid regardless of Color now so its off limits for me. I've never cared about color for bold synthesis though I guess that's only because I use Masterpiece so I rarely fail anyways lol. But damnit, I guess that's why I haven't been able to get any HQs on some of my synths. I had anywhere from 300-500 Quality and still got NQ results and thought my luck was just horrible.

[Lucavi]

So, now I need lots of high quality off-hand tools so I can churn out doubles and triples of actual gear instead of just mats.

This is good info - far more than SE ever talked about in XI's intricate systems. I hope they'll update the website and the official guides with this info for newcomers.

[MrSamuels]

The only thing i don't get with yesterdays change, how is spamming standard pretty much 24/7 now, any more fun or exciting then spamming rapid 24/7, surely it would of been better to change it to a colour based system where something like red is more dangerous but if you do it perfect, you get 30% increase in synth for taking the risk to do it on a red. THen add numbers for yellow and white as need etc.

They could of been so much more intricate with their system, rather then just spam one ability unless you are massively over the level you need to be

[Kurokikaze]

Wow I'm impressed SE just came out and gave us that. Shocked even.

This is great info.

[Vuitton]

Haha, I always knew that those yellow/red orbs were bad news. Always use the wait commmand!

[Lucavi]

Naw, they aren't bad news, they just lower the chance of success. That, in itself, isn't all that good of news, but it means that if you DO succeed, you get a bigger bonus. I think that's how I got that freaky 96 craftsmanship from that bold - it must have been a super crit on a red.

This information helps me out so much because it lets me know that for tough synths I need to make sure I'm sticking to white, but for lower level synths, I can plow through, and more importantly, look for those red orbs to go for bolds.

Honestly, given the time-frame between the first and second "chapter" of Ask the Devs!, and given the short time between them (not even a week, I think), it has me looking positively at some of the communication. Even if these questions weren't asked by actual individuals, and were simply "framed" by the devs, they are still good questions, and the fact that the Devs are comfortable giving away some of their "trade secrets" leads me to believe that this game will be much less "cryptic" than XI.

I'd like to see the next one all about the stats that show up on gear. What's the difference between craftsmanship and magic craftsmanship, ect.

[zalasta]

This is nice stuff, though it seems I was wrong about +1/2/3 mats making the synth harder. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

It may be working as intended now (as in since yesterday's maintenance), but all through beta and the head start, my experiences have been similar. Using + mats resulted in a lot more failures.

[Chastiti]

So when you're making materials, you're better off using the off hand tool?

[Hyan]

The only thing i don't get with yesterdays change, how is spamming standard pretty much 24/7 now, any more fun or exciting then spamming rapid 24/7

I don't think it's any more fun or exciting but I think it makes more sense being this way. Standard didn't have much of a use before, but now rapid still has it's uses and standard as well.

[Gulkeeva]

Well I knew my hunch on the synths was close to right considering the alchemy Lv10 pretty much says in a way "white orbs are best" (and 4 turns of guarantee white orbs is awesome).

Now I know to not risk really on other color orbs.