Crafting specific question thread. Moar undyed canvas.

[miokomioko]

Having a solid 80+ worth of "Advance Progress" abilities equipped is pretty awesome for spamming Careful on skill-up synths until you're almost out of Durability, guaranteeing success with about +200% exp. I feel like this is pretty borked.

[solracht]

Having a solid 80+ worth of "Advance Progress" abilities equipped is pretty awesome for spamming Careful on skill-up synths until you're almost out of Durability, guaranteeing success with about +200% exp. I feel like this is pretty borked.

I've switched to +50% progress, then +50 durability, and then Careful spam. Definitely feels borked, lol. Loving it.

Not sure what to use for my last skill though. I never go close to failing so another +progress skill feels like an overkill, and I don't have the third +quality one.

[miokomioko]

Hmm, I should probably swap in the +durability one, I only find myself needing like 60 progress tops by the time I'm done spamming Careful...

How much do the Brand abilities increase Quality by? I tend to destabilize when I mash Careful, I wonder if that would benefit me in the long-run...

edit: Brand of Whatevers give you +100 Quality apparently, not bad.

[Drako]

im getting a lot less quality then before, i dont like this new system =/

i could usually hit 30-50% (700+ quality) using NQ itens for almost all synths (except 50+ ones)

now i can barely get to 20% (i got to 600's couple times)

also, culmination + rapid while unstable will give half progress.. someone said earlier that would get full..

[Niiro]

Don't think anyone said that.

Half progress is now the only effect of all instabilities.

The advance progress abilities are unaffected.

[Spider-Dan]

Having a solid 80+ worth of "Advance Progress" abilities equipped is pretty awesome for spamming Careful on skill-up synths until you're almost out of Durability, guaranteeing success with about +200% exp. I feel like this is pretty borked.

http://viperbeam.com/ffxiv/leve-exp.jpg
I like my strategy.

[Ayarel]

This is the best I've gotten with 2 skills to 50% progress, halving dura loss, brand of wind and 50% quality for 3 steps.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...XIV/Expa-1.jpg

[Raldo]

Save your progress skill(s) for the end of the synth. That way you can squash your durability into the single digits, making sure you've squeezed every last drop of quality out of it, then easily finish it off with progress abilities.

[Spider-Dan]

Hmm, I should probably swap in the +durability one, I only find myself needing like 60 progress tops by the time I'm done spamming Careful...

How much do the Brand abilities increase Quality by? I tend to destabilize when I mash Careful, I wonder if that would benefit me in the long-run...

edit: Brand of Whatevers give you +100 Quality apparently, not bad.

If you are consistently getting instability, Improvise (CRP20) is Quality+200% for three turns when used during instability.

[Raldo]

If you are consistently getting instability, Improvise (CRP20) is Quality+200% for three turns when used during instability.

Your mileage may vary. If you're consistently getting instability, your success rates are probably in the trash can. If your success rates are in the trash, then quality+200% for 3x will do less than a brand-of or a forced success. Set it if you have room, I guess, but with only 5 abilities now, I highly doubt it's worth the slot. In conjunction with Perfection/Culmination, however, it's worth its weight in gold.

I originally set that ability while I was making Lv47 synths on my 38WVR, but that shit wasn't worth it.

[Croy]

Your mileage may vary. If you're consistently getting instability, your success rates are probably in the trash can. If your success rates are in the trash, then quality+200% for 3x will do less than a brand-of or a forced success. Set it if you have room, I guess, but with only 5 abilities now, I highly doubt it's worth the slot. In conjunction with Perfection/Culmination, however, it's worth its weight in gold.

I originally set that ability while I was making Lv47 synths on my 38WVR, but that shit wasn't worth it.

Its very hit and miss, on one hand it could easily give you the most quality possible. I once got quality 490 on a leveling synth due to 3 great success during instability followed by the appropriate brand ability. That combo alone netted me 350 quality. On the other hand you get instability and then it 'breaks' on the next careful synth, you lose durability, you lose an ability, you get nothing for your effort and you lose a chance to use a brand ability for extra quality. It is one of the few risk/reward abilities left for a crafter. Right now I have it as part of my repertoire (Because I don't have all my crafting classes leveled high to get some of the progress and extra durability abilities, just have Manipulation at the moment from GSM) and it works for me, but there is a hint of risk and uneasiness during instability thanks to it.

[Carraway]

For grinding:

Greater Calling
Byrgeot's Blessing
Perfection
Piece by Piece or By the Book (+30% progress)
Brand of whatever

Greater Calling, rapid x3/rapid x2+careful x1 (depending on synth difficulty), Byrgeot's, careful x3 (use Perfection when prismatic/flashing), careful all the way until at 10 or less durability, finish with +progress. Brand if unstable.

Doing this on a +10 synth should be able to net a regular 2.5-3.5k base experience, maybe even higher. I haven't tested anything else after settling on this routine, and after you get it into muscle memory, it beats the hell out of spamming standard. Even on an at-level synth, you can get the quality so high you're still getting a base 1.5k-2k per synth.

On a +9 synth, I got:

[Gokulo]

That's pretty awesome but still means you need a couple of 45 crafts @.@

[Raldo]

Damn, I need to get Greater Calling.

Anyone with LTW45+ know if Determination (or any of the Progress +% abilities, like Great Strides ARM30) stacks with progress+ abilities?

I have LTW43, so I'm close. If that works, it would save me a lot of durability, since right now I use Makers Muse to get to my requisite progress level before pushing careful.

[Drako]

failed my first hasty hand.. lvl 51 synth (electrum ring)

i seems every synth lower than you current lvl is 100% on hasty hand.. i still have not failed a single one (30+) except for this.

I used this combo for a while lancaster, except i wouldnt do 3x or 2x rapid, that would give me 100% for sure on high durability.

for grinding im using now

Greater Calling/Culmination
Byrgeot's Blessing
Perfection
By the Book/Piece by Piece
Master's Mend/Brand if many unstables

i start with Byrgeot's Blessing + Perfection and careful, then i use careful until i get prismatic orb, when i do, i use by the book to see if get a better orb, if not, use master's mend, it usually goes to a better orb, then i keep using careful until i get to around 25 durability, if i get there and im unstable without a brand and lower than 75% i will use a standard, careful then culmination + rapid. If im not unstable and over 60% i will use 2 carefuls and culmation + rapid. These are very rare situations, usually and over 90% when i use culmination + rapid to close the synth, sometimes i can even close with a careful (only try this if you are at 96%, great success doesnt mean 5% progress for careful)

i also have another set for lower level synths but i trade master's mend for comfort zone, by the book for a brand and perfection for a 50% quality for next 3 steps, this one is my lower level HQ set.

[Spider-Dan]

I think Culmination is inferior to progress abilities for ending a synth. With progress+, you have a hard target (after which success is guaranteed) and can manage your durability as such, whereas with Culmination, you can receive anywhere from 15-40% progress.

edit: It's not so much that Culmination is "inferior"; it's just that (in combination with something like Byregot's) Culmination is incredibly more useful as a quality booster than as a synth ender.

[miokomioko]

Agreed, I manage my Durability down to always landing on 1~10 because you know you can only lose 7~10 Durability on a Careful step, fail or success. I just make sure I get past the Progress threshold I need in order to have my Progress abilities carry me the rest of the way through. You really can't rely on Rapid to get you to 100% unless you consistently hit 85% progress... which you won't.

[Spider-Dan]

Well, to be fair, I only have one progress+20 ability and I consistently manage my progress (using Comfort Zone) to hit 80+, then burn up my durability from there.

My issue with Culmination+Rapid as an ender is twofold:

1) Culmination is a huge quality boost during Byregot's, and there's only one other comparable ability in the game (Perfection)
2) Culmination+Rapid has a big range of outcomes (~15-40), which basically means that (for purposes of risk-free results) you have to treat it as 15; Culmination as a progress+15 ability is a waste

[Drako]

I think Culmination is inferior to progress abilities for ending a synth. With progress+, you have a hard target (after which success is guaranteed) and can manage your durability as such, whereas with Culmination, you can receive anywhere from 15-40% progress.

edit: It's not so much that Culmination is "inferior"; it's just that (in combination with something like Byregot's) Culmination is incredibly more useful as a quality booster than as a synth ender.

you just dont understand my method, thats all..

If i change culmination to a progress ability, i will just gain progress, but with culmination once in a while i will be able to finish the synth using it with a careful or standard, gaining much more quality than 0 (progress abilities), i will use with rapid only if i get lower than 9 durability.

i barely use standard or rapid anyways, 50 to 70% of my progress is using careful, i tend to miss much or get lower quality only when im using spiritbind equip, i will inclined to say you get spiritbind for the item lvl, not xp gained, i say this because i got lots of it using hasty hand some lvl 41+ equip for spiritbind, and got a lot less doing leves with high quality.

[Spider-Dan]

you just dont understand my method, thats all..

If i change culmination to a progress ability, i will just gain progress, but with culmination once in a while i will be able to finish the synth using it with a careful or standard, gaining much more quality than 0 (progress abilities), i will use with rapid only if i get lower than 9 durability.

What other abilities do you use? I'm not suggesting to replace Culmination with +progress, I'm suggesting to replace something else with +progress and use Culmination on Careful during a +quality ability.