So I talked to DJ Helsing today about alchemy

[Diosu]

He said that he doesn't know the numbers on why they have to make small changes at a time, but they're adjusting the drop rates of the rare components. They can't make a big change right away. He said that some rare things should stay rare. But he said that there are 2-3 meetings a week about alchemy. I asked him why Narumi Misuhara hasn't gotten back to us "the" alchemy meeting, but he said that's all Narumi. I also asked him why they can't just put all of the components and formulas in the Bifrost for a reasonable price, but he said that would screw over the people who are already working on alchemy in the higher levels. He said it's been suggested about a million times.

I'm really tired, but if I remember anything else from our conversation I'll post it.

[Total Space Ninja]

So they are increasing the drop rate of Rare items from Philosophers Caches? That'll be nice. I hate investing in them in the hopes of saving money on rares for alchemy and then I end up with garbage.

[Opera Phantomess]

Masquerade! Paper faces on parade. Masquerade!

I am sick of the "but it will screw over the ones that have already worked in it!" excuse. They want change as much as everyone else, but those blinders are still up and working their magic.

Also, adjusting the drop rates for the more sought-after components (Sea Water, Whetstones, etc. ) to make them easier to obtain will then cause a rarity issue with the other lesser sought-after components, making them harder to obtain and make other formulas just as hard to complete. Just because Shark's Blood is only used in making the Tsunami Shirt recolours does not mean it should have a lower drop rate just because the artists decided that the Quest formulas need millions of the same few components to complete.

Two to three meetings a week? I have a very hard time believing that.

Hide your face so the world will never find you.

[Lei_Trigar]

Well you know, its not like they're being forced to buy the components at the extreme prices they are at, its their choice, so the whole 'screwing them over' shouldn't even be a factor, i've been waiting ever since they released this high class fail for them to make it more easier and cheaper for everyone.. it was THEM who said alchemy is for everyone.

[MistressMinako]

Nice to see there has literally been zero change since I had a very... intense discussion with him in January at my home convention.

Hey Gaia: if something's been suggested a lot of times? It's because that's what the users want out of your shitty item exchange system. No one wants what you have now, not even your intended audience. Stop making excuses and make some progress, for your sake as much as mine and whatever deity of your choice.

[Fansub]

Opera Phantomess

I am sick of the "but it will screw over the ones that have already worked in it!" excuse.

That's a bullshit excuse anyway, since we know for a fact that the majority of these people WANT changes. But it's also a bullshit excuse because it apparently only applies to alchemy. They have no problem re-releasing rare items and/or putting them in the cash shop on Black Friday for everyone to buy. What about all the people who quested those items for years, Gaia? How is that any different than fixing alchemy right now? One of my friends spent I think 2 years questing a Kitten Star, now it's worth less than 10% of what she paid for it. What about her? Was her hard work less worthy than the hard work of the alchemists? Because you sure as ******** screwed her over, and so many like her, and you didn't seem to give a s**t.

[Voat]

^

Yeah I dumped gold into some level 2/3 alchemy formulas to get some XP at level 3, but I did it with the possibility in mind that they might change the system to make it easier/tougher down the road. I'm sure plenty of the other people working on alchemy and losing gold have similar mindsets as well (not all of them...but a lot of them).

If they are concerned about being fair they/we need to clear the air that it's okay to make drastic changes that make alchemy easier. If they have to, I think Gaia should survey all the people level 4+ and ask them if changes are okay.

If we want to see faster results, someone should go around surveying the high level people in the services subforum and get some numbers Gaia can work with, and if it looks like people are okay with changes that make alchemy easier, show it to ATA

[Random 03 account]

I'm mostly fine with most of alchemy as it is, keep in mind I said MOST... rare formulas SHOULD be rare and hard to get, plain and simple, any alchemy system in any game it usually is formulas are rare/hard to get/etc while components are farmable/easy to get, while there are SOME rare components, even those are monumentally easier to get then the formulas, the problem is you have formulas that are so common, yet components for them so rare and not only that but those components are also needed in OTHER formulas, that's the main issue, it's that a component one person needs 20 of, another needs 60 of, another needs 40 of, yet there is only one available on the market for an exorbetent price of 5M at any given time, and THAT is NOT right, especially for a component meant to be 'common'.

The Quests need over 100 each of Sea Water, Cherub Feather(well maybe not demonic/risen but the other three do), Smooth Whetstone, and Licorice.

These components should not be running over more than a few hundred k a piece, cause even then that still will mean a good 100M or so for all of them, but 100M is a lot better than, oh, let's say 5B(yes 5 BILLION) that the CURRENT prices would make them run...

A simple fix is needed for alchemy, one small fix, and that's it, we don't need damn serpent stones, frog slime, green goo, etc, they aren't used in anything, or if they are nothing anyone cares about, take those out of caches, make them 10g components, stick them in enki's catches, and give anyone who pulled these from caches sealed caches for any of them they pulled... second, MASSIVELY increase the drop rate of Cherub Feathers, Sea Waters, Smooth Whetstones, Sugar Crystals, and Licorice...

I mean is anyone working on Glacemella when it needs TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY sugar crystals?

Maybe... it's a lot more doable than other stuff now that sugar crystals are down in price... I'd love to see/make tentacreep, but with 15 sea waters as a requirement, sadly, that's gonna have to wait until sea waters are a couple hundred k each and there's a few hundred listings at any given time on the market, will that happen in the near future? maybe...

Oh in addition to the above mentioned simple fix, they need to put Caches BACK into Daily Chance, of if they ARE still in daily chance, UP their chance to be gotten, we need no more 4th amigo lucky pants or etc... give us more caches... heck make the 'games' daily chance a 'cache' daily chance, that will always grant one cache per day or one cache item per day... oh wait that doesn't work because people will abuse it with mules... but then again would THAT really be such a BAD thing? think about it, it will allow for flooding of many components to the market, dropping their prices, and making alchemy more doable/better for everyone overall, right?

[Constipated Trillionaire]

Animal

I'm mostly fine with most of alchemy as it is, keep in mind I said MOST... rare formulas SHOULD be rare and hard to get, plain and simple, any alchemy system in any game it usually is formulas are rare/hard to get/etc while components are farmable/easy to get, while there are SOME rare components, even those are monumentally easier to get then the formulas, the problem is you have formulas that are so common, yet components for them so rare and not only that but those components are also needed in OTHER formulas, that's the main issue, it's that a component one person needs 20 of, another needs 60 of, another needs 40 of, yet there is only one available on the market for an exorbetent price of 5M at any given time, and THAT is NOT right, especially for a component meant to be 'common'.

The Quests need over 100 each of Sea Water, Cherub Feather(well maybe not demonic/risen but the other three do), Smooth Whetstone, and Licorice.

These components should not be running over more than a few hundred k a piece, cause even then that still will mean a good 100M or so for all of them, but 100M is a lot better than, oh, let's say 5B(yes 5 BILLION) that the CURRENT prices would make them run...

A simple fix is needed for alchemy, one small fix, and that's it, we don't need damn serpent stones, frog slime, green goo, etc, they aren't used in anything, or if they are nothing anyone cares about, take those out of caches, make them 10g components, stick them in enki's catches, and give anyone who pulled these from caches sealed caches for any of them they pulled... second, MASSIVELY increase the drop rate of Cherub Feathers, Sea Waters, Smooth Whetstones, Sugar Crystals, and Licorice...

I mean is anyone working on Glacemella when it needs TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY sugar crystals?

Maybe... it's a lot more doable than other stuff now that sugar crystals are down in price... I'd love to see/make tentacreep, but with 15 sea waters as a requirement, sadly, that's gonna have to wait until sea waters are a couple hundred k each and there's a few hundred listings at any given time on the market, will that happen in the near future? maybe...

Oh in addition to the above mentioned simple fix, they need to put Caches BACK into Daily Chance, of if they ARE still in daily chance, UP their chance to be gotten, we need no more 4th amigo lucky pants or etc... give us more caches... heck make the 'games' daily chance a 'cache' daily chance, that will always grant one cache per day or one cache item per day... oh wait that doesn't work because people will abuse it with mules... but then again would THAT really be such a BAD thing? think about it, it will allow for flooding of many components to the market, dropping their prices, and making alchemy more doable/better for everyone overall, right?

You make it seem so easy... oh wait! THAT'S BECAUSE IT IS!

But no... they have to do some elaborate fix to the caches when some minor drop rate tweaking would really solve so many problems!

[Little Dead Soldier]

Lei_Trigar

Well you know, its not like they're being forced to buy the components at the extreme prices they are at, its their choice, so the whole 'screwing them over' shouldn't even be a factor, i've been waiting ever since they released this high class fail for them to make it more easier and cheaper for everyone.. it was THEM who said alchemy is for everyone.

Thank you.
They did say alchemy is for everyone.
I feel like the rarity should go towards the formulas, not the components.

[xxLuckyLionxx]

heart thanks heart

[Celeste Chantecler]

Opera Phantomess

I am sick of the "but it will screw over the ones that have already worked in it!" excuse.

I am so confused by this excuse.

In Fishing, the only way to get rares was to catch, MP, or exchange them and yes, there're fishers who've quested for years. Finally, after years, you can at least exchange large fish for them. This update wasn't met with "GRRRRRRR, I QUESTED FOR YEARS TO MAKE THIS FISH MASK".

In zOMG, which is technically in beta forever-sorta, orb drops were embarrassingly abysmal. Farming was the only way to make it to the next area in the game. After lots of adjusting, it's much easier to level up compared to being doomed to only get 2-3 orbs per most-if-not-all monsters (or some other number--it's been years). To my knowledge, there weren't any "GRRRRRRRRRR, I WORKED HARD GRINDING FOR HOURS IN THE VILLAGE GREENS FOR ORBS!!" threads.

I think the only real time I've seen "GRRRRRRRRR, I HAVE THIS ITEM AND PEOPLE ARE GETTING IT EASIER THAN ME!!1!" threads are in regards to rereleases (a la Bunny Slippers) and the economy getting funny, where you can easily buy awesome MC's of years past if you sell some cash items.

That said, yeah, I agree with you folks being cool-sauce and not pitching a fit should Alchemy be more accessible.

[Fansub]

Little Dead Soldier

Lei_Trigar

Well you know, its not like they're being forced to buy the components at the extreme prices they are at, its their choice, so the whole 'screwing them over' shouldn't even be a factor, i've been waiting ever since they released this high class fail for them to make it more easier and cheaper for everyone.. it was THEM who said alchemy is for everyone.

Thank you.
They did say alchemy is for everyone.
I feel like the rarity should go towards the formulas, not the components.

Yep, but it doesn't matter what we say anymore. They don't care about us and they are not going to fix anything.

[DarkRybrin]

Thank you for keeping us updated. And for the relevant and helpful comments of every single person who has posted...Gaia seems to perpetually like depressing us.

And here I just wandered in to at least find out if they were fixing Lite fish drops to not be connected to the DC, but have their own database to pull from, since that was mentioned a few AtA ago. Gaia is hopeless sometimes.

[Halloween Amber]

that excuse is a joke, gaia already did that for aquarium anyways.