Directions during crafting

[kasuki]

well i was reading through the threads looking for this >.> and couldnt find it so i thought i would ask

Whats the best direction for :
Skill up?
H.Q?
>.< breaking stuffs lol?

and whats the best day to skill up or HQ on, and the worst day etc...

i'm starting bone craft tomorrow ^^ so i hope i do well, also should i take Leather craft past lvl 13 to aid my bone craft? at the moment its lvl 1.2 was just wondering should i take that up higher to?

[Caspian]

Re: Directions during crafting

Note: All of this is considered hypothetical and in some cases few people believe it at all.

Directions: This is the one that is highly debated and a lot of people dont believe. Facing the direction that corresponds to the element of the crystal you're using will slightly increase your level. Facing 45 degrees to the left i.e. S then move to SW will lower your level slightly. Basically the theory is if you face the directoin that element is weak to then it will increase your HQ rate as well as up the break rate. I usually do it just for skillups, but mostly just because, I really don't buy it, but then again it really doesn't change anything.
Days: Darksday and the Day your crystal is weak to are the best days for HQ's, again theoretically. They also have the most breaks. Lightsday and the same day as your crystal, and perhaps the day its strong to (unsure on that one) are the best days for successful synths. Again, darks and weak to day slightly lower your level, lights and such sightly raise it.

One theory is that there's a zone in there where skillups are highest, the 4-5 levels under the cap of the current synth range. Supposedly this has a higher rate for skillups while not losing your butt off in breaks. I've tried this and it seems to be true. However its entirely possible that its all placebo effect since I haven't parsed all my skillup synths to see if there's any truth to the matter.
Regular synth enhancement gives you +1 skill, advanced gives you +2 until you become a veteran in your craft, then its +3.
You won't get a skillup on a broken synth until you are no more than 5 lvls below the cap for that synth.
HQ's go in tiers. Tier 0 is <11 levels above the cap and have an estimated hq rate of 1%.
Tier 1 is 11-30 levels above the cap and has an estimated hq rate of anywhere from 10-15% depending on who you talk to.
Tier 2 is 31-50 levels above cap and has an estimated hq rate of 25%
Tier 3 is 51+ and has an estimated hq rate of 50%.
Tier 1 is tricky as it seems to be different with different synths, but all in all you'll get around a 12.5% hq rate when strectched over a large enough base.

You'll also hear of people who get two hq's in a row on a tier 0 synth or people that go 150+ synths and dont get any hq's. There is a certain element of luck involved, but probably if you parsed every crafter in the game it would still probably even out to the above percentages.

Guild point items that add plus skill, which include the body piece, the second equipable piece, the furnishing guild point item, and synth imagery all add to whatever level you're at to determine the tier. I'm assuming at lvl 100 if your a NIN with the cooking katana then you could get to level of 107 rather than every other craft which can only go to 106.

Oh and people have thought that ele staves and bar spells also add to HQ rate. Ofcourse people also thought the sun orbited the earth, so you can just blow that off as nonsense.

For some pretty interesting research and crafting info, check www.theorderls.com They have a good crafting section and lost of good info, if you can wade through the pages upon pages of flames. Also if you do start looking there, then DO NOT post those question on there. They will flame you endlessly for it. There's nothing wrong with asking those questions, but they're something of elitists for the most part and expect that if you post on there, then you have checked all the available data thus far accumulated and will flame if you if they consider what you asked to be common knowledge....Just a forewarning.

[Sabaron]

Re: Directions during crafting

HQ's go in tiers. Tier 0 is <11 levels above the cap and have an estimated hq rate of 1%.
Tier 1 is 11-30 levels above the cap and has an estimated hq rate of anywhere from 10-15% depending on who you talk to.
Tier 2 is 31-50 levels above cap and has an estimated hq rate of 25%
Tier 3 is 51+ and has an estimated hq rate of 50%.
Tier 1 is tricky as it seems to be different with different synths, but all in all you'll get around a 12.5% hq rate when strectched over a large enough base.

You'll also hear of people who get two hq's in a row on a tier 0 synth or people that go 150+ synths and dont get any hq's. There is a certain element of luck involved, but probably if you parsed every crafter in the game it would still probably even out to the above percentages.

I've done quite a bit of alchemy and I don't get anywhere near 10% HQ @ Tier 1. I think Tier 1 is more like 5% and Tier 0 is actually a fraction of a percent--I've gotten maybe 3 Tier-0 HQs over the entire duration of my Alchemy, and in general, my HQ rates reflect this:

Tier -1: Anywhere from a 5% to a 50% break rate which increases dramatically on a per-point basis up to -10.
Tier 0 (+0 -> + 10): 5% fracture to even, few fractures roughly 1 unit of product per synthesis.
Tier 1 (+11 -> +20): low fracture rate depending on recipe (some recipes seem produce fewer fractures than others), 10% increase in product per synthesis.
Tier 2 (+21 -> +30): 20% increase in product per synthesis.
Tier 3 (+31 -> +40): 30%
.
.
.
Tier 7 (+71 -> +80): 70% increase.

Tier 7 is where my current Beeswax production lies--I get roughly 70% more beeswax than NQ would be expected to produce (including breaks). I keep track of this loosely by simply counting the number of crystal-stacks I use vs. the amount of product. Since I'm only talking about overall volume, this includes HQ1, HQ2, and HQ3. Because of this fact, it does not reflect the actual number of High Quality Syntheses which is, in essence, lower than my PPS rate. Of course, with non-quality consumables (i.e. HQ's that produce more product rather than a better product), I could really care less about the number of HQ's as I'm more concerned with the overall amount. A Durable Goods merchant would have better insight into the actual rate of HQ.

[supersimian]

Re: Directions during crafting

Here are your directions

North = Darkness
North east = Light
East = Ice
South east = Wind
South = Earth
South west = Lightning
West = Water
North west = Fire

You don't have to believe this if you don't want. There are lots of reasons and factors behind why and what direction to pick, it has alot to do with the likeness of the day vs. the crystal in use and what you are synthing for. The result of direction you pick only affects your chances of what you are going for, or not going for(HQrate vs. critical break vs. safer synth, skill up, etc..). A little bit of luck and some altered chances can go a long way and makes a big difference (ask a thief) if you are like me and go on massive synth binges for profit you will notice the differance.

The best direction for skill up is the direction that is strong against the crystal used just like the day but if you stack the day and direction against your crystal it is bad if the lvl cap of what you are trying to skillup up will be slightly over a lvl reduced and you will get too many breaks, use this method, atleast the day part---direction really not necessary here, if you are withing 2-3 lvls from the cap.

For HQ the best results come from facing the direction that is stongest against the crystal used. Also using the direction of likeness to the crystal used is good for HQ aswell, like facing light direction using fire crystal or Dark using water crystal. If you use the crystal in the direction against on the day of likeness, like fire crystal facing water (west) on darksday you will have nearly optimal results. Same for using water crystal at lightning direction on lightday,,..etc.

[Empedocles]

Re: Directions during crafting

I use this for my crafting:



I don't claim it to be mine and I don't know who done it as it was linked to me by a LS member, (if the author is reading this, kudos to you) I'm not really sure if it's true or not, but it doesn't really do any harm to follow it...

[Caspian]

Re: Directions during crafting

I honestly haven't noticed a change in break rate, no matter what tier you are once you're past the cap. I usually break about 3 or so per 99 synths. But like Sabaron said, you get a lot of breaks when you're severaly under the cap and slowly get fewer and fewer for every whole point you gain in the craft until you reach cap.

Never heard of anything greater than ~50% HQ rate though Sabaron, atleast on a consistent basis.. I still average right around that for Arrowwood and Ash lumber, and I'm 80 lvl's over Arrowwood atm. I'll try again in the next week or so and see what I come up with.

[Vyuru]

Re: Directions during crafting

Yayyyy!!! Empedocles, that is almost the same as the one I use, just more detailed! I've been looking for another one forever since I only printed off my little Synthing rose (That's what I call it since it's like a compass rose >.>)

Oh, and if you want better HQs, I always seem to HQ Beeswax more often when I am synthing in rain weather out in Pashhow marshlands, I can't remember what my HQ rate is during lightning weather, they might be higher, but I just can't remember. Someday I'm going to take a bunch of synth ingredients for fire crystals and go to the Cloister of Water to see how double weather affects my synthing.

[Mrfrodo]

Re: Directions during crafting

Here's the site I use. ^^

http://ffxi.lokyst.net/timer/crafttimer.html

[mikesjustice]

Re: Directions during crafting

Go with what your heart tells you lol.

HQ averages are King, everything else as independant factors are irrelevant.