Crafting is often boring, here fantastic: The fantasy MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a truly great crafting system for these 5 reasons.
Each of you probably knows the phenomenon of “just one more round of playing” and then it’s 1 o’clock. I experienced this last night with Final Fantasy XIV – especially with crafting. Suddenly it was 1 AM and I was wondering what I was actually doing: I was crafting.
In most MMORPGs, crafting is a joyless affair, where you watch bars fill up. In Final Fantasy XIV, it’s really good. But why?
The 5 reasons why Final Fantasy XIV has a really good crafting system
It’s due to these 5 specialties of FF14 that I want to introduce to you:
- Crafter are their own jobs. Just like you can play as an archer or mage in FF14, you can also spend time in Eorzea as a leatherworker or blacksmith. There are 8 crafting and 3 gathering classes. You gain experience points through crafting. By taking the “appropriate tool” in hand, you switch from job to job. So, there are no “crafting alts”, you are your own alt.
- There is specific crafter gear and stats – the jobs in FF14 are characterized by their own occupational clothing. My crafters look like artisans, not like warriors with a secondary job. I can also craft or buy items that make me better at my job. The different stats can be increased and clearly affect what I do. Just as I feel “more strength” as a warrior, I notice as a craftsman when my stats in control increase.
- The “self-sufficiency” gene is strong in Final Fantasy XIV. The synergy effects are grand. With the blacksmith, I craft better armor for my dragoon, the weaver sews the appropriate clothing for the blacksmith, and the miner can collect ores. This results in an interesting system. As I get better in my job, I can craft better items for the next job. The individual jobs feel almost like my own colony. I somehow like “self-sufficiency” in MMOs.
- There are even skills for crafters and thus a mini-game is created. How do I use my skills to create masterpieces? If I reach certain levels in “other jobs”, I unlock additional skills through the cross-job system. In practice, this is surprisingly exciting: Do I aim for the maximum or settle for smaller chances to create a masterpiece? Am I satisfied with the 55% chance or do I get greedy, go for 80% and mess it up in the attempt?
- The items are really useful and at least in the level 30 area, where I have most of my chars, are not instantly obsolete by drops. After a crafting session like yesterday, I feel that I have improved as a craftsman and have also enhanced my “combat” characters. I’ll notice that in the next instance.
Overall, a great system that other MMORPGs can take as an example! Just staring at bars – that was yesterday.
We also deal with the playful peculiarities of Final Fantasy XIV here:
