Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Morning in Vana'diel: Risk vs. Reward.

Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Is the gamble worth the bet?

Risk vs. Reward has always been something for crafters to me. Most of the things in this game are time sinks, but eventually if you do something long enough you will get the items that you really want. If you camp something long enough you will get the claim. If you kill something often enough you will get the drop. I am fine with that and I accept it as part of the time-sink in the game. I am undecided if I like the new FoV system.

Now, I don't have a problem with it upsetting the balance of the gear universe. People that can't except that there gear is inevitably going to be obsoleted are playing the wrong game. Hell, they are playing the wrong genre of games. I am more concerned with the risk in trading in high-dollar items just to get a crappy or even detrimental Augment. Now, you could be Izman and get the item you see above, or you could be me and get -1 AGI, -1 INT and +2 MND on your Warwolf Belt.

As I have written here in the past, I know that this new system is good for crafters. The items are always consumed irrelevant of the quality of the Augment, and unlike the new Fey weapon Augments you only get one chance. It basically makes items that once were rather saturated on the AH into consumables like food. This is especially true of items that have good NQs and the Augments make it possible to surpass the HQ. So crafters get a more stable source of income while I either get to risk some high value item or just upgrade some cheap stuff.

Do you like gambling with your gear? Or are you more of the conservative type? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

3 comments:

Kris said...

At the moment I am enjoying it. I hope to get a good Weskit soon. However, after that, then what...? With possible great stats on many gear slots and items, you could do this forever, especially if you're a perfectionist.

That's kind of frightening.

Anonymous said...

We've had these items forever and they've always been good enough. I'm not going to throw money down a hole in the slim hopes that I'll get meaningful augments.

Ailee said...

I'm not sure I agree w/ your comment on decent NQ items once augmented being able to surpass HQs as being a good thing for crafters. Nearly all Nqs are a significant loss for the crafter, who hopes to make up that loss in the cost of the HQ. Reducing the incentive to buy an HQ would have a negative effect on the crafter. I don't see a world in which enough NQs of most items are selling to make them profitable. Ultimately, I think HQ and NQ prices tend to balance themselves out. I like the risk/reward balance my craft currently has (which is why I chose it as opposed to a lower risk/reward craft). I'd much prefer to craft fewer big ticket items than have to invest the AHing time that is required to be profitable in a more consumable oriented market.