Materia Changes And A Crafting Update.

I want to start out today's Final Fantasy XIV post with the changes introduced in patch 5.2 involving materia. I like them. The big change was extracting materia from fully spiritbound gear no longer destroys the piece. The spirtbound level just is reset down to 1%. What that means is if I like a piece of gear, I can essentially use it over and over to generate materia. I think I'll most likely use the regenerative property with my crafting and gathering jewelry. I can really use the materia to boost up my retainers' equipment.

The other big change is all that is required to meld materia to equipment is to have a crafting class of a level equal to or higher than the piece of equipment being modified. Before, the crafting class mattered. Now? Not so much. Plus, no swapping around to the proper crafting class.

Speaking of crafting, I finished five of the eight level 50 crafting quests. The crafting tools are really nice looking, especially the leatherworker's tool.

I like the cutting board and the holders for thread. I like the boots, and not just for looks. Not only do all the level 50 crafting boots give +27 control, but +3 to craftsmanship as well. Every little bit helps.

The carpenter tool, Ullikummi, is huge. When I first saw it, I thought I'd clicked on a shield by mistake.

Chantico, the level 50 culinary tool, is possibly the least impressive of the tools. Although it is a nice cutting board. The boots aren't that impressive, but I decided not to dye them.

The next tool is Urcaguary, the tool awarded for completing the Goldsmith quest. The tool looks better with the animation. Still, the boots are cool once I applied soot black dye.

The final tool is Clotho. I really like the spinning wheel, and the boots are nice also. The coat in all of the shots is the Archaeoskin Jackcoat of Crafting that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Yes, the coat looks sharp, but also has +105 craftsmanship.

Finally is the mount update. As of last night, I'm less than 330,000 MGP from getting my mount. I figure maybe in 3 weeks I can buy it. I managed to score 96 in the Fashion Report, earning 66,000 MGP when including the 10% bonus buff my free company runs on Saturdays.

The screenshot above received a score of 95 because I used a brown dye on the coat instead of black.I didn't really like the outfit, although I did come up with one innovation. I'm wearing the Miqo'te Gloves in order to cover up the forearms of the Toadskin Jerkin. But overall, I'm looking forward to the upcoming Fashion Report this weekend and wearing a new outfit.

For now, though, I'm looking on how to earn money on the market, finishing up the level 50 crafting quests, and leveling my white mage job to level 50.