Why No Melds?

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Originally Posted by aesteval

Excuses? Pfft. :-p I've melded plenty of gear but I will not fault someone who thinks that melding materia into gear that is soon to be obsolete is futile. :-p It's even worse that augmenting tome gear destroys existing materia so that it's more like you're getting an entirely new piece of gear vs doing what the name implies, augmenting.

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Everything becomes obsolete after a certain time in MMO's.

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Originally Posted by Zojha

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PotD gives out materia V that sells reasonable well
The new hairstyle sells for a lot as well
Most outfits from potd hoards sell for 100k ish or more
Buying a dragonskin map usually lands some profit mainly if you get a wool top that sells for 5m+
Lore items are currently a great way of money making as every crafter needs them in bulk

You're only poor if you really want.

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Originally Posted by Mandudez

Everything becomes obsolete after a certain time in MMO's.

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Meanwhile my crafting and gathering gear will last a year and potentially spiritbond many times over. Battle gear? Maybe it will be spiritbonded before it's replaced. Maybe it won't. There are pieces of battle gear I've just received and I already have obsolescence plans for.

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Originally Posted by Zojha

19k gil as of now to be precise. Last I checked a couple months ago, those were around 2k - suppose the price shot up now that they are needed for star velveteen, so that's nice - shame you also need the seals for squads. Depending on what content you do, you get around 1-3k seals a day due to turning in dungeon drops, provided you greed on anything. So make that 10k a day.

As for the lore (and esoteric before that) - yes, that is, so far, the best way to get gil asbattle class, because (refer to the distribution system) it allows DoW/DoM to get money back from crafters, our resident gil sponges. But make that closer to 5k for the 10 lore tomes - the new 20 lore mats were down to 9k yesterday, Eikon going for around 5k. You gotta play broker to make the most out of your lores there, but doing expert every day can net you around 75k daily (seals and roulette bonus included). Until you'll need the tomes for the Anima again anyway, then you'll be down to 14k a day. That buys you, uh...a partition, a haircut and some teleports?

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Ok, that seems to be server dependant. And well, maybe my comment should be treated as an advice for the future then.
In the first week all prices for those mats were times 10. I still feed on my money I made in the first week and I'm still in the plus-side, although I bought (well, bought the mats for) at least 5 crafted gear pieces + pentamelds.

It's just 1. imo you don't need money at all (if not focussing on housing and/or glamours) and 2. it's soooo easy to make money. And with some pre-planning in mind you can also buy some V's every last month of a patch for really cheap prices, because just like the prices of those mats now drop over time those materia prices will too.
Everyone who sold their precious crit IV materia in 3.35 for 20k gil each... well tough luck, I held back 50+ of those, sold one half and melded the second in 3.4 and likely made more money than someone who sold them right away.

It's just.. if I hadn't meld my gear the only difference would be 150+ less crit, but 3-5 more millions on my bank. Wow. I don't need.
In the same time I bought 7 V's for my crafter for 9 million gil, which I didn't make back by crafting yet, and supposly never will because I'm too lazy to craft beyond self-demand, lol.


Also you can get 75*7 + 100 centurio seals a week without "real" hunting, which is 3-4k Grand Company seals per day alone. One new A-Rank is 1800 seals?! One weekly old B-Rank is 2800 seals. And so on.. Lel, 1-3k seals a day. xD

If your not raiding then its unnecessary.

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Originally Posted by mp-please

Most outfits from potd hoards sell for 100k ish or more

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The most expensive, the moonfire halter, goes for 89k. The rest is between 500 and 15k gil. Only the hairstyle still sells quite well.

As for the V materia - weren't we talking about how socketing materia instead of selling it is a waste? That was my original point.

I personally don't meld that much unless I want to be "totally effective", and even then I don't do raids or extreme so why would I even bother? I can only meld secondary stats and how many of them are actually useful? Exactly.

Melding itself is quite unpolished anyway: unless it's crafted gear you really can't put any main stats into your slots, cannot overmeld either, and when you upgrade you lose your hard-earned V grade materia. Talk about waste!

If you could meld more main stats into it - and also give stats bonus, like WoW JC (worst game ever, yadda yadda) used to do - on top of also being more lenient (overmelding feels like I'm playing a cheap p2w game without the % boost) and overall being "better", I can see more materia melding being done.

As it is, it's just pointless to even bother and whenever I can, I just sell V materias until I can upgrade my gear, which will be in months anyway. I can only see an utility for gathering, crafting and if you want to min-maxing your potential but beside these, what's the point?

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

I personally don't meld that much unless I want to be "totally effective", and even then I don't do raids or extreme so why would I even bother? I can only meld secondary stats and how many of them are actually useful? Exactly.

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Crit for all, Strenth for tanks, accuracy for the healers and SS for BLM. Those are "effective" enough to feel the impact usually.

What things, which you can buy with gil (besides crafted gear), are more useful than this?

After all the fluff (like you have all your glamours you want and earn a house/appartment) the main focus of this game is battle content. And that's why I focus my spendings on that type of contents. After having all my fluff the only options are either 1. get more and more money or 2. get more AP. I don't see the point in "1.", especially if you do it only for the sake of it.

I rather clear contents (even the slightest) faster, than just to have a number growing up in my upper right corner of the screen.

Why would you? If you aren't raiding there's no point at all in melding. Your gear will suffice for any content anyway and it will be obsolete in a month or two. Makes way more sense to sell the materia than meld with it.

I meld my healing (have to, for raiding), casting, and aiming gear (I play blm and brd often). Maybe eventually I will meld my tank gear, since I play pld every now and then (when doing easy content solo and I want an insta queue). But eh, it's not really a priority. I don't play drg or mnk so even though those are at 60, I don't care to meld slaying/striking gear. Same for nin, if it was at 60 already. I'm just lazy about doing beast tribes for tier 4s.

I don't meld my alt character's gear because frankly I don't need them, my alt's just there to get me an extra mhachi matter per week. Besides, why bother when 95% of df pugs are so bad I don't need melds to be top dps? :)

i meld my pld first since its the main class i play (i use the machi things for V materia , ive never bought any V materia tho :P ), then my sch ,the rest of the classes i dont care that much coz the ilvls on them are low , and i usually dont play my not so good equipped classes in raids/trials ^^ maybe a dungeon here and there for fun , and then it depends on how much the materia costs if i can get some IV materia for a reasonable price i buy it else not.

i raid only occasionaly per PF , so im not really in a hurry to have everything right away :P (maybe someday ill join a static again , but not for now :P )

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Originally Posted by MrPresident

Why would you? If you aren't raiding there's no point at all in melding. Your gear will suffice for any content anyway and it will be obsolete in a month or two. Makes way more sense to sell the materia than meld with it.

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Because I still make money without crafting/gathering with also melding my gear. I have an FC house and I settled my glamour last year. Also I am raiding, but if I see that I don't need the money I'll invest in even the slightest upgrades, even if I wouldn't be raiding.
That's what I learned after playing years of RPGs (and also Action games like FPS) where I saved everything up to the last boss and all I got out of it was clearing the game with a big bank account (or high ammount of rare ammunition which got never used in regards of FPS games).

Money is there for to be spent. There are no interest, nor a pension plan in this game, nor does wealth have any impact like in the real world.
Saving Money doesn't make sense until you know that you need or want a specific piece.
Same thing for food and pots. I rather spent my dispensable money on those and use them than to not spent it at all.

Right now I'm at about 15 million. I have 3 months or so now till 3.45 and will likely get some more millions until then. Why in the name of the twelve should I stick to that money?! Money will rain from the sky with 3.45 again anyway, like with every patch.

All I'm saying is: It's no problem to stick 40+ materia V's into your gear within a patch and still come out even or maybe still make a few millions without being a crafter and/or gatherer or selling runs. Take it or leave it.

No point in Melding since a majority of the population doesn't even Savage which its only noticeable on.

I stepped down from farming tomes and doing raids. Since melds are mostly needed for doing endgame raiding/crafting and I do neither those two, I see no reason to meld my gear.

I started melding my upgraded Lore gear but I soon realized I cared more about getting the gil from selling them than about having melds.
I don't run current high end content and don't worry about min/maxing my battle classes.
I love having extra gil around for rare minions and my occasional forays into crafting and gathering.

Most people are already over geared for everything except the latest raid. So if you don't raid there is really no point. Plus they are practically throwing gear at us now. You only get a few weeks out of melded gear before you're changing it out for something else. Once I get I'll 270 I may add some melds while waiting on the expansion.

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Originally Posted by CaptainLagbeard

Upgrading gear or replacing it takes away your Materia, so I'll leave Melding V-Rank materia for the hardcore raiders...

Imma just stick with putting IV-rank ones on my gear because I won't miss that when it's gone.

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no, overmelding V materias is for the harcore raiders.

If you're not raiding on a job, why make it a priority? That's time and money a player might want for something else. I do Savage but I don't meld non-raid jobs because I can do other things with it (gear crafters, buy crafted gear for raid, housing, glamour, take a break and play another game, sub for other groups, play with Wondrous Tails, etc).

It's "cheap" and "easy" until you think about how much time you do need to invest in beast tribe quests for one of the quests that gives you materia, or the price spikes on popular melds like Acc or Crit this early in a raid patch. And how often you'd be remelding as you replace and upgrade gear for a very minimal increase in EX roulette.

Plus, Weeping City. Last night I paid 350k for an Acc V rather than get a free one from that place. Others are welcome to my money if you'll run it in my stead.

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Originally Posted by Neophyte

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Crit is useful yes, but you can do it without it just fine. Plus it's the only really useful stat to meld on so...it's pretty much guaranteed you want it all the time. Same for Determination.

Strength can be only melded on accessories (if it's tome gear), and even then you're just fine as it is for 90% of the content. Oh, I'm a tank: I can safely say this without issues.

Accuracy for healers is good only if you like to maximize your damage while healing, which again isn't a big deal if you don't bother. Unless you are really wanting to maximize your efforts, you don't really care. I certainly don't and I heal just fine!

SS is the only stat I can think that benefits one class only...which is a shame because it's quite weak and BARELY increases your attack speed. I played BLM a lot lately and while it was an increase in dps, it was a very small margin for each stack of SS put.
Most other classes don't really need it because they get more benefits from Crit and Det anyway.

So what's more useful than these? I think the best question would be "What are these materias needed for?"

I'm not really casual because I do like challenges (i would gladly try extreme but SHEESH the toxicity is unbearable) and I occasionally do some harder stuff to keep my attention up, but I sincerely never found a use for melding materias that wasn't Raiding or Extreme primals. You can easily finish a dungeon without a single meld, you can pvp without melding too (although I'm sure hardcore pvpers would recommend certain materias), you can pretty much do ANYTHING without melding materias into your gear. So I ask again: why even bother?

So unless you are a raider, you like to min-max, you're heavy into BiS and all that stuff, the answer is "Yes, those are useful". If not, then I don't see the point of wasting money on armors and weapons that WILL be weak in the next patch.

PS: and ironically, spending money on glamour is not a bad investment. At least they don't get oudated with each major patch! x)

I've seen a few comments from people with crafted gear that don't meld it because it will be replaced too fast. These should absolutely be melded with something. Melding increases the rate of spiritbonding so you can buy that crafted accessory for 700-800k (my server). Meld it for cheap or free if you use 1s, 2s, 3s, or do beast tribes. Then you should have it spiritbonded within a week or two of very light content and can convert it and sell it for a chance of getting 40-50%ish of your original cost back.

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

SS is the only stat I can think that benefits one class only...which is a shame because it's quite weak and BARELY increases your attack speed. I played BLM a lot lately and while it was an increase in dps, it was a very small margin for each stack of SS put.
Most other classes don't really need it because they get more benefits from Crit and Det anyway.

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I wouldn't say barely, high SS vs low SS can be the difference between being able to do certain openers or not, or being able to get a cast off before dodging or not. The speed is also very noticeable on MNK, where high SS can get your TP dry but low SS doesn't.

Crit and Det just increase damage, but speed can affect your gameplay either positively or negatively, some classes feel very smooth with high SS.

i dont add materia to my new tome gear because with upgrades it's wasted. And at 250,000 a pop it's a big waste. And I know you can get them from POtD...trust me..I have a few. I just am waiting for the opportune time.

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Originally Posted by Violyre

Because people already insult me enough for buying HQ crafted gear, do I really need to be insulted further by having proper melds?

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in the almost 4 years of playing i have never been insulted for wearing High Quality gear....

...I'm confused. Was this suppose to be sarcasm?

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Originally Posted by Annah

i dont add materia to my new tome gear because with upgrades it's wasted. And at 250,000 a pop it's a big waste. And I know you can get them from POtD...trust me..I have a few. I just am waiting for the opportune time.

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The opportune time will never come because gear keeps being replaced every 3 months, the only difference to this is the patch before the next expansion.

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Originally Posted by alimdia

The opportune time will never come because gear keeps being replaced every 3 months, the only difference to this is the patch before the next expansion.

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hence the paradox lol

I only meld anything if i do a raid or savage. And I usually dont do those

Although I did run the Void Ark. I did Alexander a few times...but im not into doing one little section piece by piece like that...it turns me away. Its cool other folks like it...for me its meh.

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Originally Posted by Annah

in the almost 4 years of playing i have never been insulted for wearing High Quality gear....

...I'm confused. Was this suppose to be sarcasm?

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Not at all. I've had a number of encounters where I've been accused of RMT. Usually it happens when I'm trying to learn new fights and fail. Just to clarify, I'm talking specifically about the HQ raid tier armor, not just leveling gear.

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Originally Posted by alimdia

I wouldn't say barely, high SS vs low SS can be the difference between being able to do certain openers or not, or being able to get a cast off before dodging or not. The speed is also very noticeable on MNK, where high SS can get your TP dry but low SS doesn't.

Crit and Det just increase damage, but speed can affect your gameplay either positively or negatively, some classes feel very smooth with high SS.

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I like a certain amount spell speed on SMN. Around 650 casts feel different and more fluid. I'm planning around 700 det and ss and maximizing crit from there (will probably hit about 1,100 crit.)

Lazy, cheap, or both.

There's no better excuse for it really. Even putting grade 1 2 or 3 materia in is better than leaving it empty.

As a healer, I don't even know what I'm supposed to meld.

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Originally Posted by basketofseals

As a healer, I don't even know what I'm supposed to meld.

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It's pretty obvious honestly.

Accuracy if you like to dps, if not just put crit (unless you're a white mage as some prefer to slot piety or determination).

Only thing to keep in mind is the secondary with the highest number is already capped so you'd have to put something else if crit is the highest number.

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Originally Posted by FoxyAreku

Lazy, cheap, or both.

There's no better excuse for it really. Even putting grade 1 2 or 3 materia in is better than leaving it empty.

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There's a great excuse actually - materia isn't needed for the vast majority of content in this game. Elemental materia is just 'there' and whilst the other stats are more useful unless someone is tackling high end content then no real incentive to add it to gear. Perhaps if dungeons were more along the lines of Pharos Sirius before it was nerfed then there would be more need for people to make use of materia.

Because by the time someone gets gear and melds it, new gear is out again?


I am just kidding.
It is probably people do not think it is worth doing or are cheap

I think upgrading gear every 3 months is too fast. Maybe every 6 months would be perfect.

It would have been fun to meld if Materia weren't just stats but passif/active buff (like a trinket), anyway, it's also hard to meld has update change the ilvl stuff often... and personnaly as i don't know the BiS i can use for this update, i wont try to lose my money on it.

It is sad because, Materia is a great addition to the game and less frustrating than any other melding/socketing game (like Aion).

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Originally Posted by FudoMyoo

I think upgrading gear every 3 months is too fast. Maybe every 6 months would be perfect.

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Every expansion would be better ;)

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Originally Posted by AnaviAnael

This is something that's been bothering me ever since the materia melder NPC was introduced. Why do people still not meld their gear? I'm asking this genuinely and honestly since I still see many people without a single meld in any of their gear.

Tier Vs can be acquired through Weeping City or potshards from Palace of the Dead. People don't have to level crafts or find a crafter in order to have it melded, only pay a 2k fee. I like to try and understand other points of view, but this one continues to baffle me. Do people not know that it's easier to meld up your stuff now?

Edit: Forgot to mention Tier IVs can be acquired through beast tribe quests.

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Because I'm not melding something i'm gonna throw away / upgrade next month.

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Originally Posted by Zafrei

If gear lasted us a much longer period of time, I suspect you'd see more player investment in each individual piece.

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Also this. why invest in melding throw away gear?

one of many problems with this game. Yoshi P wants players to focus on gear instead of character development but all gear is throw away junk.

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Originally Posted by Masekase_Hurricane

Have to agree it is a huge waste of gil, although I always put t5 on highest tome gear and t4 on lore,alex etc. I would rather they slowed down on gear upgrades and making new armour and actually just gave us new content, dungeons etc. Also nothing stopping the other dungeons dropping same gear as another dungeon/raid etc.

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What are you going to do the new content for if it has no rewards?

Personally, I haven't been completely caught up on gear except maybe when Darklight was the thing to have. Until I hit some kind of content where melding is required to clear it, I'm not sure why I'd bother melding something I'm going to be replacing with whatever the next tome piece is in a week or two.

I'm sure if I was on the bleeding edge of content and had BiS tome gear, it'd make more sense to meld, but I'm usually several patches/tiers of gear behind, and by the time I catch up, a new tome tier comes out or a new patch adds new content and nerfs the stuff I hadn't cleared yet, making it only necessary to grind tomes to clear it. I hang onto materia that would be helpful, but I'm waiting until I know I won't be throwing away whatever I meld it to inside of a month.

I am compelled to meld because I just feel so naked without most of my stuff without.

It helps that I did my Mhach weekly and PoTD weekly, or I get lucky and get a Potsherd drop in the dungeon itself so there's an extra. As a result, I don't actually need to pay anything for the materia since I get it well in advance.

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Originally Posted by SendohJin

What are you going to do the new content for if it has no rewards?

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http://www.l2pnoob.org/

Admittedly, I don't meld, but I'm planning to meld my normal alex gear with Vs. Accessories tend to have the weakest overall impact and so are typically replaced last. Considering that, I'm more than happy to meld some Vs into them because for the foreseeable future, I'm gonna be hanging onto them for at least a few months. Admittedly, I rarely buy tome accessories, since once I've got my mains left side, I move on to my subs left side, so I never really get around to upgrading accs. More str Vs plz!