Well.. I think most people are only taking what they want out of that sentence and in doing so are setting themselves up to be let down. I guess we'll find out soon enough. For the record, I hope I'm wrong.
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Exactly, it never really serves a purpose except to allow someone to leapfrog a level of gear. Properly overmelded Vanya allows you to skip most Darklight for example. But you can't meld Darklight. So where is the real value in using Materia? As I see there is none. Not until the system is more transparent, and more items can be melded. I'll continue to use it if the system remains the same, but I'd love for the Materia System to be overhauled so that it matters at all levels of play rather than specific gear ranges. It would be a great way to get the whole gear stat game rolling.
I don't know about anyone else, but I love napkin-mathing gear at endgame to see which combination of gear etc gets me the most VIT or ACC or Parry. But that doesn't exist in FFXIV. A proper Materia System could change all that for the better.
Personally I hope for some means of growing/splitting materia off like in VII once you hit 100% SB, since at this juncture most people can't afford to convert their(likely partially or fully melded) convertible Lv50 gear.
I really hope whatever they do it makes me care about materia. So far, asides from selling it from time to time, I really don't have a need or want of it. Since I can't convert my high level gear, and can't add materia to that gear, I don't remember the last time I even used any.
New system where you trade materia in for tomes so you can buy myth/soldiery gear faster, cuz ya know, you aren't buying crafted gear to put materia in anyway.
They've mentioned being able to customize your relic, so Im assuming they'll allow you to meld onto higher level gear.
The actual quote is: "Patch 2.25 will focus on additions and adjustments to the Wolves' Den, as well as a new system involving materia."
The "as well as..." does not mean the materia system refers to the wolves' den. It is referring to Patch 2.25's focus. If it was about the wolves' den, the sentence would have read "Patch 2.25 will focus on additions, ajustments, as well as introducing a new system involving materia to the Wolves' Den."
Edit- Hooray for English degrees. They're useful sometimes.