Pentamelding?

Looking at various gatherer & crafting materia guides I see they are all based on pentamedling one's gear. So I need to learn more about the process (yes, I have it opened/enabled).

Yes I understand each of the "non-socket" spots seems to have a percentage attached to them, that seems to vary greatly based on what "strength" of materia one is trying to attach. Still, is it not true that if the percent is 10%, you may need as much as (if not more) 10 pieces to gain that attachment? Yes it could happen after 6 or 7 attempts, but can it also go way over the 10?

I have also heard talk about strengths considered ideal for pentamelding. Is this true and what strengths" might we be talking about (DoL and DoH).

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Originally Posted by RiversideGuy

Still, is it not true that if the percent is 10%, you may need as much as (if not more) 10 pieces to gain that attachment? Yes it could happen after 6 or 7 attempts, but can it also go way over the 10?

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Correct. A 10% chance means that on average it will take 10 materia. You get get lucky and succeed on the first try, or you might get unlucky and go through 30 materia before it works. You're not guaranteed success after 10 tries.

Mmmm, so out of control RNG...

Even if the probability of success were 99.99%, it would still be possible to fail 100 times in a row. If the probability isn't 0% or 100%, there are no guarantees.

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Originally Posted by Rongway

Even if the probability of success were 99.99%, it would still be possible to fail 100 times in a row. If the probability isn't 0% or 100%, there are no guarantees.

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...as is proven by the several times I've attempted to gather something at about 99% success rate just to here *thunk thunk thunk thunk*

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Originally Posted by Hezzlocks

...as is proven by the several times I've attempted to gather something at about 99% success rate just to here *thunk thunk thunk thunk*

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Cut to me having just BiS pentamelded my smn set, having multiple 5% chances hit on the first time, but having multiple 17% chances go completely kaploot.

Spent like 5m total (so far outside of what I normally spend!) because my RNG was just… *so* bad.

Is the percentage success rate based totally on the level of the materia? So like a IX might be 17% and a VIII 10%??

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Originally Posted by RiversideGuy

Is the percentage success rate based totally on the level of the materia? So like a IX might be 17% and a VIII 10%??

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It is based partly on the level of the materia, but mainly on which materia-slot you are trying to meld it into. Trying to meld materia in the first "extra" slot is easier than doing it in the last slot.
That 5th slot can have a mere 4% chance of success. Much materia will typically be wasted when pentamelding, which is why one doesn't bother with it until you reach levelcap and have a really good item.