What is...Materia?

What is it good for? I think I am not the only one disappointed with the materia system, but I suppose what I am wondering is what the developers envisioned the materia system to be.

First, I want to clarify that it is obviously useful for Disciples of the Hand/Land...simply as a substitute for more varied gear (oh well). But at least there is some progression in "power" here, I suppose.

For Disciples of War/Magic, materia slots are completely absent from all high level gear and dungeon drops. However, they appear on crafted whites? The only classes that use materia are tank classes, and even then only 2 types (with a smattering of other types simply because of cap).

I have several questions with this system.

1. At what point did powerful materia become relegated to...stat boosts?
2. Why shouldn't materia actually have useful qualities? It seems like a cheap way to copy gems from other games...while retaining none of their usefulness, and also not retaining any of the FF uniqueness of materia.
3. Is there a reason high level gear doesn't have materia slots? Why? At any given moment in progression there is basically no choice in gear. You have at BEST 2 pieces to choose from.
4. Why did you decide on the Korean grind version of random upgrade lottery + destruction chance with overmelds? Why not just have exponentially increasing costs? That way everything is easily quantified, and there would be no frustration.
5. Why can't we remove materia from sockets?
6. When was elemental materia ever useful, and why haven't they been removed from the game yet?

To expand on #2, it is clear materia can't grant actual abilities or summons or whatnot. But why not make them specifically useful, tailored to a playstyle?

For example, lets make materia give healers a boost.
[Green materia] - Your heals deal an additional HoT of 1/2/3/4% of the healing dealt over 6 seconds.
[Blue materia] - Your heals grant a 0.5/1/1.5/2% absorption shield to the target lasting 6 seconds.

For tanks, the same materia would have different effects
[Green materia] - incoming heals are increased by 1/2/3/4%
[Blue materia] - The final hit of your threat combo decreases damage taken by 2/4/6/8% for 3 seconds.

Similarly we can split yellow and red materia.
[Red] - Chance on ability use to increase damage dealt by 1/2/3/4% for 10 seconds.
[Yellow] - Chance on ability use to increase a random offstat by 10/20/30/40 for 10 seconds.

Etc. etc. There are so many things you can do with materia and gear that is so much MORE than just having a bigger statstick.

People should realize by now that the only difference between ilvl160 and ilvl200 is your stuff hits harder...but you're doing the exact same thing as you were doing back then.

Since FF14 doesn't have class sets or trinkets or other things that actually differentiate gameplay, the materia system had so much promise in the ability to customize your playstyle, that is horribly underutilized.

Right now only 3 classes use them, and only because itemization for tanks is so bad that parry (the only actual defensive stat) is completely useless and dps is the only thing they think about.

It is a pity, I think.

They made a use for materia with 2.0 relics.
Elemental materia is good for transmuting. (Give 5 unwanted materia to Mutamix, receive 1 random type of materia)

I don't really think trashing materia or essentially feeding them to an NPC is a valid gameplay use, but I understand your response.

I suppose what I mean is why don't we have materia in all (or really, any?) of our gear.

Materia is a remnant from the 1.0 system, and likely wouldn't exist at all if it wasn't already baked into the system.

As it was, it provided an easy way to keep crafters busy by making crappy items that got broken down into materia that was slotted into better items. Like everything else that tends to be involved in the game economy, however, it's somewhat been phased out and thrown into the 'optional' area of item enhancement.

I'm annoyed with how materia is implimented in this game. It was always cool.how it gave you an effect, or allowed you to learn/use spells/summons. Its so boring with it being basic stats. Beyond boring. Even the ones that could potentially be cool, the elemental ones are worthless as it essentially has no effect.

I consider both Materia and Limit Breaks a mockery of their original concepts.

Quoting from a thread I created not so long ago:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Materia-System

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nurvus

Here are a few ideas on how the Materia system could be improved, in a way that restores the awesomeness it has in FF7 and more!

[1] - Materia is separated into 5 types:
- Purple (Independent) - Stats - the current bonuses. There could also be percentage bonus Materia, if needed with a flat maximum like Food: +X% (max Y).
The flat bonus Materia "+5" would be best to compensate stats you might be lacking, and the percentage Materia "+5% (max 7)" ideal to maximize your best Stat(s).
- Green (Magic) - Magic
- Yellow (Command) - Skill
- Red (Summon) - Summon
- Blue (Support) - Utility & Linking with Green/Yellow/Red (see [2])
[1.1] - Green, Yellow, Red and Blue Materia do nothing on their own when melded. Instead, they can then be attached to Abilities.
Example:
Step 1 - You meld 4 Slots:
(Purple) +5 Str
(Green) Impact (adds AoE Splash to spell)
(Blue) HP Absorb (damage with attached skill partially absorbed as hp)
(Blue) Overcool (Cooldown on attached skill reduced by 1 sec when you use other skills)
Step 2 - Impact, Cooldown Recovery and HP Absorb become visible in the ability menu.
Step 3 - You attach Impact to Fire III, HP Absorb to Fire II and Overcool to Swiftcast.
[1.2] - You shouldn't be able to stack more than 1 of the same Materia in a piece of equipment, getting a penalty when you do.
Example: Having 2 "+5 Str" Materia might result in a 20% penalty, ending up with "+8 Str" from the two combined Materia.
This is aimed at helping make sure that Independent (Purple) Materia isn't just used on the "unlinked" chest/leg pieces, as you will not be able to just stack your favorite stat that way, thus allowing it to still be attractive for other pieces of gear.

[2] - Materia Slots in gear can have Linked slots (pairs only)
[2.1] - By default, an ability can only be affected by 1 Materia, but by linking a Blue Materia with a Green/Yellow/Red Materia, they both affect the same ability.
So in the example above, if the Impact (Green) and HP Absorb (Blue) Materia are in linked slots, they can both attach to Fire III.
[2.2] - Some Blue/Support Materia may be Link-Only.
Example: Added Effect (Blue/Support) - Adds attached Ability's effect to the Ability attached to Linked Green/Yellow/Red Materia.
(So you can attach Added Effect to Phlebotomize and Double Cut to True Thrust, and if Added Effect and Double Cut are linked, True Thrust will apply Phlebotomize's bleed on top of benefitting from Double Cut.)

[3] - Items could provide "set" bonuses for melding specific combinations of Materia (order/position does not matter).
Example:
A chest piece with 4 Slots might give you:
+2 Int if you meld at least 1 Purple Materia
+2 Crit if you meld at least 1 Purple and 1 Blue
+2 Determination if you meld at least 1 Purple 1 Blue and 1 Green.

[4] - Materia could be allowed to level up, unlock additional effects, and produce a new level 1 Materia once it reaches max (Master) level.
Example:
Double Cut Materia (Yellow/Command) -
Level 1 (2x-Cut) - Every 5th use of the attached damaging ability will hit the target 2 times for 90% damage each (180% total).
Level 2 (3x-Cut) - Every 5th use of the attached damaging ability will hit the target 3 times for 80% each (240% total).
Level 3 (4x-Cut) - Every 5th use of the attached damaging ability will hit the target 4 times for 70% each (280% total).
Level 4 (Master) - A level 1 Double Cut Materia is born.

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tuis game doesnt have unique gear. it wasnt designed around that unfortunately. you wont see x weapon doing % increase to x skill (in 1.0 gae bolg increased jump dmg, etc) and because of that the rest of the content is following suit because it just wouldnt work without changing the core game.