Naoki Yoshida, Producer on Final Fantasy XIV, has a couple of ideas on how to make crafting better. The first problem Yoshida wants to address the Disciples of the Hand by balancing rank requirements, materials, and the number of recipes.
An idea further down the road is a big change to all of the Disciples in Final Fantasy XIV. The developers are working on a Materia system, which will allow the Disciples of the Hand to fuse materia to weapons and armor. They’ll need help from Disciples of the Land to retrieve catalyst items from the field. Finally, Disciples of War and Magic and use the materia fused gear to enhance their abilities on the battlefield.
Before either of those tweaks come into play, Square Enix will make a major adjustment to the party system. The next Final Fantasy XIV patch puts a cap on the maximum party size. You can have up to 8 members in a "full party." Groups with 4 to 7 members are "light parties." Each of group will have different status enhancements, which Yoshida has not announced at this time.
Update 1.17 comes out tomorrow, so if you want to explore Eorzea in a giant party today is your last day to do it.
