Ask the Devs (10/29/2010) : Synthesis

[sruon]

The development and management teams continue to address the questions and concerns of the community in an ongoing FAQ. The topic addressed this time around is synthesis.

Q. What happens exactly when the harnessed element of a synthesis attempt becomes unstable?
A. When an element of a synthesis becomes unstable, the following effects take place respectively:
Lightning: Progress greatly reduced
Wind: Durability consumption greatly increased
Fire: Quality greatly reduced
Ice: Progress reduced, chance of aetherial sparks reduced
Earth: Durability consumption increased, chance of aetherial sparks increased
Water: Quality reduced, chance of aetherial sparks increased

Q. What steps can I take to ensure that the element of my synthesis does not become unstable?
A. The element has a chance of becoming unstable whenever any step of the synthesis process ends in failure. It is at its most susceptible when the glowing light representing the craft is colored, and is at its most stable when this light is white. Additionally, the chances of an element becoming unstable increase as a synthesis attempt nears completion. Naturally, the element which becomes unstable is determined by the type of crystal or shard being used.

Q. What do the crafter-related attributes Craftsmanship, Magic Craftsmanhip, and Control each do?
A. Among recipes in the game, there are those for which the rate of progress and chance of success are increased by higher Craftsmanship, and those for which they are determined by Magic Craftsmanship. Control helps to reduce the occurrence of aetherial sparking (see below), and exerts its influence over both types of recipes just mentioned.

All recipes, however, have set attribute requirements. Attempting a recipe with attributes below those required will result in lessened progress and quality, even for successful actions.

Q. There are sparks flying out of my synthesis. What is going on?
A. The phenomenon known as "aetherial sparking" indicates strain on the synthesis materials. When your synthesis emits aetherial sparks, you will suffer the following repercussions:
Reduced chances of success
Increased durability consumption from excessive element destabilization
Increased durability consumption during Touch Up

The results of actions taken during synthesis determine the degree of aetherial sparking. The more dramatic the sparks become, the more dramatic the above repercussions will be. These negative effects are even further enhanced during Rapid Synthesis. Only certain crafter-related abilities serve to curb aetherial sparking. Craft with caution!

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...f271d7a0a84d5f

[miokomioko]

I guess we can count on eventually getting the official low-down on everything in the game. I'm incredibly grateful they are doing these kind of explanations this time around.

Also, it's somewhat odd that unstable Ice element has a beneficial aspect to it while all the rest are 100% bad.

[Kaylia]

Why they are not including this information in a tutorial ingame is beyond me...

[Dooom]

I suppose it's left to the playerbase to work out which synths need crafting, and which need m.crafting.

[Elcura]

I'm guessing things like making cloth is crafts, while breaking crystals is m. crafts? It's kinda hard to test, as most of the time my stats are even across the board.

[Elcura]

Why they are not including this information in a tutorial ingame is beyond me...

Probably a bit weird to put in character/universe. In a way though, this stuff should have been in the manual at the very least.

[Rocl]

Why they are not including this information in a tutorial ingame is beyond me...

Have you played the in-game tutorials?

[Datonare]

What? I'm sure everyone has had their water element go unstable when they are just using earth shards, for example. The way they word it, is that this shouldn't happen. I suppose it's just a bug.

[Kaylia]

Probably a bit weird to put in character/universe. In a way though, this stuff should have been in the manual at the very least.

Have you played FFXIII? Or any recent FF actually? When you encounter a new gameplay elements, a tutorial window pop up and give you all the informations you need.

I don't see why they couldnt do something similar for the game. The npc dont need to break the 4th wall.

Have you played the in-game tutorials?

I havent touched crafting. Are they explaining these things already? I was under the impression it wasn't mentioned ingame.

[Rammses]

Guess except for Touch Up, Control is completely useless seeing as aetherial sparking does not exist in these days of standard spam. They really do need to re-balance Rapid and Standard yet again. Rapid is even completely worthless for "here goes nothing" situations - you'd be much much better off hoping for a 0 durability Standard.

[Franzer]

or they could just make a wiki with all the shit and save us all the trouble

[Olo401]

"Naturally, the element which becomes unstable is determined by the type of crystal or shard being used."

So now I'm wondering how the hell I had a lightning element go unstable when I was using fire and wind shards..

[Lucavi]

Yeah, that makes no sense. Also, they talk about shit going unstable when the particular color flashes, but every color flashes randomly in that situation. So, they're saying it then becomes a random chance of a random chance?

Jesus. So. Much. RNG.

[Sephiroth]

Wow, most people go for +control first, craftmanship second and magic craftmanship third on my server. I think I will have to re-evaluate my gear. It looks like +control should be my third priority. Time to swap the Canvas coif for the pink hat.

[Rammses]

Yeah, that makes no sense. Also, they talk about shit going unstable when the particular color flashes, but every color flashes randomly in that situation. So, they're saying it then becomes a random chance of a random chance?

Jesus. So. Much. RNG.

They, or you? If the former, when and where?

[Lucavi]

They, or you? If the former, when and where?

I misread it. I thought it said that that it was at its most suceptable only when the orb matched the color of the synth, not simply any non-white color.

I take back my above comments. It works as we thought it did, with white being the best, and every other color offering a varying state of decreased chance.

[bruiser]

This is actually a really awesome Ask the Devs. Love this shit.

[Lordender]

You know your game is bad when you spent 5x longer on how to make the crafting system more indepth than the rest of the game like combat,fixing lag, class development.

This isn't to bash the crafting system itself but everyone should now see this is where they spent most of their time and why alot of those bugs and other things didn't get fixed from beta/retail. Instead of saying OH! the UI is laggy they said "I think we need to make that require undyed canvas."

In before FFXIV: where crafting is srs business.

[CasualPlayer]

Since it will be a long time before people figure out which synths need craft and which ones need m.craft, seems like control is the best bet to me since it helps both.

Also, holy shit at the timer really influencing something during synthesis. That guy in the crafting thread was actually on to something.

[bruiser]

Since it will be a long time before people figure out which synths need craft and which ones need m.craft, seems like control is the best bet to me since it helps both.

Also, holy shit at the timer really influencing something during synthesis. That guy in the crafting thread was actually on to something.

Err, what? Maybe I fail at reading, but where are you getting this thing about the timer from?

Edit: Is it this?

Additionally, the chances of an element becoming unstable increase as a synthesis attempt nears completion.

I take that to mean that as your progress gets closer to 100%, you have a higher chance of getting instability.