[dev1017] Materia crafting system & Materia: A Matter of Mystery (08/26/2011)

[MeowyWowie]

Hence the quotation marks. Even though they very technically don't make it, they upgrade it, they are also the ones to repair it. If you need to have the skills to make an item in order to socket it, what level blacksmith do you think a Blinding Dagger will need? The Blacksmith Level 4 of the Bronze Dagger? The Blinding Dagger itself is Alchemist 14 to "make".

Though... Isn't this kind of out of topic?

Wanted to add: This is an argument nobody can win.
Materia Slotted > Rares:
"Rares are now useless, what's the point of doing a raid now??"

Rares > Materia Slotted:
"Materia is a pointless system, consumes time and money and I can just go do a raid with my shell."

How about, guys guys, listen, guys, how about
Listen, shut up, guys
Guys

How about we just do whichever we like and not use it if you don't like it? You can still turn a profit regardless. Opportunities for everyone.

How about a 3rd option:

HQ crafted gear = Raid gear (both can be enhanced with materia)
(Holy crap, both sides win)

Raid gear doesn't have to be better than HQ gear, but it damn well better be equal to it otherwise what's the point? It should also be better than NQ crafted gear, that goes without saying.

Honestly, this should be how they handle it. Caters to both types of players. Keeps high tier gear on par with other high tier gear, regardless of how it's obtained. Adds replay value to existing content instead of making the content instantly obsolete for the min/maxers.

It would be completely idiotic NOT to do it this way, and I really don't think SE is that stupid.

Edit: Even if they made raid gear slightly better than crafted gear, it's still balanced. You can't sell your 5-materia raid gear when your done with it, unlike crafted gear where at least you get something back when you're done using it.

[Estellios]

Yea personally I'm gonna try and go after any rare gear that I like appearance-wise and functions well for my class and blow the rest up multiple times with materia.

[Viridiana]

I think the only major issue of crafted gear being outright better than "rare" gear is in the case of weapons. For armor I was looking along the lines of say a Revolutionary's Bliaud vs. Vintage Robe (Looking only at Combat Stats):

Bliaud: INT+5, MND+5, PIE +5, Magic Acc +4, Parry +4

Robe: MP+57 MND +4

The Bliaud essentially has 3 more "Materia-like effects" on it over the robe. I'm guessing rare gear will be balanced so that It is more general purpose but better than what you could potentially get if you tried to make something similar with materia. You'd be able to make that vintage robe as good stat-wise or better than the Bliaud, but it would take a lot of time and luck. You'd need 3 materia attachments to make it comparable and a very risky 4th or 5th materia attemptto make it better. It also can be geared to be super specific (ie: instead of MND add more INT or Magic Potency to make a nuking piece). The balance would need to be that rare gear is powerful immediately and somewhat above the possibilities of materia, but it is not as "malleable" as crafted gear with materia set.

Silver Tricorne +1 arguably has better defensive stats than Helm of the Lone Knight. At +2, it's equal or better in every single stat. At +3, all of the stats are higher. Really, though, depending on how much better Eva and M.Def are compared to normal Def, even NQ Tricorne might be better.

Depending on how well Mind converts to M.Def, Toadskin Harness beats Buccaneer Shirt at either +2 or +3. For evade stacking, Harness wins hands down. On the Def side of things, Harrier's Jacket takes over Alpine War Jacket at the same point.

Granted, I'm talking about +2s and +3s, here. On the other hand, soon there's only going to be one tier of HQ, and I'm confident that the stats will be equal to either +2 or +3, on top of being easier to make.

[Felis]

Silver Tricorne +1 arguably has better defensive stats than Helm of the Lone Knight. At +2, it's equal or better in every single stat. At +3, all of the stats are higher. Really, though, depending on how much better Eva and M.Def are compared to normal Def, even NQ Tricorne might be better.

Now, you need a NM loot to make the silver tricone. I would say it's a half NM gear ^^

[Viridiana]

Hence the quotation marks. Even though they very technically don't make it, they upgrade it, they are also the ones to repair it. If you need to have the skills to make an item in order to socket it, what level blacksmith do you think a Blinding Dagger will need? The Blacksmith Level 4 of the Bronze Dagger? The Blinding Dagger itself is Alchemist 14 to "make".

Pretty much what I was going to say. I mean, the requirement to be able to materia something is being of the class and rank needed to make it. Even a 50 BSM can't make a Blinding Dagger, or disabling claws.

[Viridiana]

Now, you need a NM loot to make the silver tricone. I would say it's a half NM gear ^^

Ah, but it's still crafted.

But, yeah, that's exactly why I was getting annoyed before when they kept talking about NM gear vs crafted gear. Tricorne is both.

That notwithstanding, though, I could almost make the exact same argument with Vintage Coif, which has high M.Def, Eva, and +HP. >_>

[Lionix]

How about a 3rd option:

HQ crafted gear = Raid gear (both can be enhanced with materia)
(Holy crap, both sides win)

I think this would fall under the jurisdiction of "Rares > Materia Slotted:", I don't really see why I'd go bust my chops farming money, or materials to buy that ludicrously expensive HQ when I can just run me a dungeon.

I believe this might be a touchy subject we might want to cover.

If stat-wise they are equal and allowed to slot, would it be worth it to go through all the hours of farming for materials/money of an HQ, when you can hit a raid? Would we even end with a market like say (God help me for mentioning it around here) World of Warcraft's where honestly it's hard to give a crap about crafting? You could go the entire game without ever buying any equipment. Craft's supposed to have center stage here along with fighters.

Given that vastly superior could put people of raiding because we hardly do that kind of thing for fun too often, why would they raid? Maybe we should head back in that XI (Oh God, I'll a riot shield now) direction where most of those events yielded something crafting related instead?

Hmm... I just don't think the effort is the same. If they are pretty much equal, a raid seems like the way to go. Both from an effort and a fun perspective.

[Viridiana]

Have the raids drop mats for crafted gear, much the way NMs used to?

[JackDaniels]

I'm not sure if this was asked yet but does turning a piece of gear that has materia in it (materia earned by transforming your last piece of gear into matieria) into another materia increase the chances of getting a higher tiered materia? Also, do the odds grow exponentially the more generations of materia we encorporate into one piece of gear?

=Sorry if this post didn't make any sence, I've had a bit too much whisky this evening=

[Viridiana]

I'm not sure if this was asked yet but does turning a piece of gear that has materia in it (materia earned by transforming your last piece of gear into matieria) into another materia increase the chances of getting a higher tiered materia? Also, do the odds grow exponentially the more generations of materia we encorporate into one piece of gear?

=Sorry if this post didn't make any sence, I've had a bit too much whisky this evening=

. . .The dev post in this thread says no.