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One nice thing about this game/the community so far -- aside from the fact that everyone seems to think that /shout (zone-wide chat) is the default method of communication x.x ... is that people seem to be quietly competent, for the most part. The fact that I rolled on a Legacy server probably helps to strengthen the latter and at least reduce the former ^_^
And now...An observation about Synthesizing (Crafting) -- specifically, things which may not be apparent when you first begin.
The main one -- and this is never explicitly spelled out -- is that the number of "Steps" shown in the top-right corner of your synth box is actually really important. Its apparent function is simply to tell you how many individual steps you've taken while trying to synth the current item...Its actual function, however, is to give you an idea of how much free Crafting EXP you'll get for successfully making the item.
Put simply, the more Steps you take (keep an eye on Durability, of course), the more EXP you get. Making an item in one button press/Step yields the lowest possible amount of EXP (except for Quick Synth, I'll get to that in a minute). Making the exact same item by going through ten Steps will yield much more EXP, which can make a significant difference, especially when you are making an item for the first time, and will get the huge associated bonus for doing so. Adding steps this way can double the EXP reward or better.
It's unlikely you'll be able to take any real advantage of this until you hit lv6 or so, when you gain the ability "Observe"; you also gain the ability to discern the chances that a given Step will have poor/normal/good/excellent chances of success, as well. What Observe does is very simple: it skips a turn without dropping Durability. If your chances are currently Poor, USE OBSERVE! As long as you leave enough CP to improve Quality/HQ chances to your liking, and can finish the item successfully, you can use Observe as often as you like until you run out of CP.
Quick Synthesis - You get this at level 10 of your first Crafting class. It lets you produce items in bulk, as long as you've made the item in question successfully at least once before. This means that you will only need to grind out, say, 400 wads of moko grass ==> 200 spools of hemp yarn ==> 100 bolts of hemp cloth, until you gain this ability. You just make sure you have the right components, tell it how many to do, and go grab a Coke or something. One caveat, however: This will yield minimal EXP, so it's best used when you just wanna save your fingers/keyboard some wear, and reduce the monotony/drain on your sanity; it's not good for leveling. e.g.: making that cloth might be good for 80 exp manually if done in one shot, or 120 if you take 5 steps, but it'll only give you around 30 if you use Quick Synth. As such, you'll wanna use it for items like those I mentioned, that will require hundreds of repetitive steps otherwise.
Also, Quick is great for raising Spiritbond, something Synthesis already does well. Use it with old crap gear on that you wanna break down into Materia.
Materia:
- To convert items to Materia: Just follow the main storyline, you'll get the ability somewhere around lv20. You can Convert any gear you have that has a Spiritbond at 100%, as long as it's actually Convertible.
- To attach Materia to your gear, do the above, then return to that outpost once you have a NON-Gathering crafting class up to level 19. You should level at least two Crafts for this purpose (or just have others Attach for you, it's one of the options when you click on someone who's qualified) -- one for your main Class' armor type (weaving, leather, armorsmithing), and another for you preferred weapon type (smithing, gold, wood). Your crafting class DOES matter when it comes time to attach Mats.
Note that you always have 100% success rate when attaching Mats to gear that has open slots. You only get a failure chance if you want to add more Mats than the items has slots; failure only destroys the Materia itself.
And now...An observation about Synthesizing (Crafting) -- specifically, things which may not be apparent when you first begin.
The main one -- and this is never explicitly spelled out -- is that the number of "Steps" shown in the top-right corner of your synth box is actually really important. Its apparent function is simply to tell you how many individual steps you've taken while trying to synth the current item...Its actual function, however, is to give you an idea of how much free Crafting EXP you'll get for successfully making the item.
Put simply, the more Steps you take (keep an eye on Durability, of course), the more EXP you get. Making an item in one button press/Step yields the lowest possible amount of EXP (except for Quick Synth, I'll get to that in a minute). Making the exact same item by going through ten Steps will yield much more EXP, which can make a significant difference, especially when you are making an item for the first time, and will get the huge associated bonus for doing so. Adding steps this way can double the EXP reward or better.
It's unlikely you'll be able to take any real advantage of this until you hit lv6 or so, when you gain the ability "Observe"; you also gain the ability to discern the chances that a given Step will have poor/normal/good/excellent chances of success, as well. What Observe does is very simple: it skips a turn without dropping Durability. If your chances are currently Poor, USE OBSERVE! As long as you leave enough CP to improve Quality/HQ chances to your liking, and can finish the item successfully, you can use Observe as often as you like until you run out of CP.
Quick Synthesis - You get this at level 10 of your first Crafting class. It lets you produce items in bulk, as long as you've made the item in question successfully at least once before. This means that you will only need to grind out, say, 400 wads of moko grass ==> 200 spools of hemp yarn ==> 100 bolts of hemp cloth, until you gain this ability. You just make sure you have the right components, tell it how many to do, and go grab a Coke or something. One caveat, however: This will yield minimal EXP, so it's best used when you just wanna save your fingers/keyboard some wear, and reduce the monotony/drain on your sanity; it's not good for leveling. e.g.: making that cloth might be good for 80 exp manually if done in one shot, or 120 if you take 5 steps, but it'll only give you around 30 if you use Quick Synth. As such, you'll wanna use it for items like those I mentioned, that will require hundreds of repetitive steps otherwise.
Also, Quick is great for raising Spiritbond, something Synthesis already does well. Use it with old crap gear on that you wanna break down into Materia.
Materia:
- To convert items to Materia: Just follow the main storyline, you'll get the ability somewhere around lv20. You can Convert any gear you have that has a Spiritbond at 100%, as long as it's actually Convertible.
- To attach Materia to your gear, do the above, then return to that outpost once you have a NON-Gathering crafting class up to level 19. You should level at least two Crafts for this purpose (or just have others Attach for you, it's one of the options when you click on someone who's qualified) -- one for your main Class' armor type (weaving, leather, armorsmithing), and another for you preferred weapon type (smithing, gold, wood). Your crafting class DOES matter when it comes time to attach Mats.
Note that you always have 100% success rate when attaching Mats to gear that has open slots. You only get a failure chance if you want to add more Mats than the items has slots; failure only destroys the Materia itself.
Spent rest of the day packing/making new character for campaign starting Monday. 
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