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With players having polarizing opinions on whether Square Enix learned some lessons from it's long experience with Final Fantasy XI, one thing to support the notion that they have opened the doorway into their game to their global community has been their ongoing Developer FAQ.
With Market Ward changes announced just a few days ago, the Lodestone has now revealed some of the mysteries of synthesis, which has the potential to drastically change the way some Disciple of the Hand players approach their craft.
Read on for the full details and discuss this on the ZAM forums!
From the Lodestone:
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.
You can read the discussion on the ZAM forums here.