FFXIV Raid(Endgame) Materia

**Nystai** · 12-04-2015 02:30 AM

FFXIV raid Materia and Gear set bonuses:

Long have (some)players wished for gear in FFXIV to have more meaning; to not be simply vertical step-ups from the previous gear. Long have (some)players wished to have some unique stat or bonus to be a part of some armor; an efficiency bonus when playing Mage’s Ballad, counter damage when damage is received, a damage boost on finishing damage combos, etc.

Square-Enix has decided against such a route, and it’s understandable. Such gear could lead to certain pieces being required by party compositions, if SE makes a bonus unintentionally too strong they get hounded by the nerf/no-nerf crowds and it becomes a rock/hard-place situation.

However (some)players want more, they want meat, they want sustenance. You can only provide the same buffet for so long before people stop coming around. You need to rotate in condiments, weekly specials, treats to allure players to continually come back.

The Meat:
This suggestion revolves around solving the following ‘issues’:

1. All stats on gear are currently simply weighted exchanges of one another (crit/det/SS) no real special or unique stats.
2. No set bonuses for gear.
3. Very Limited customization or uniqueness of individual’s gearing
4. Vertical “gear treadmill” with limited horizontal variance, players get the i190 gear then move on to i200, then i210; sometimes variation with void ark(24 man loots) and Diadem but because of point #1 there’s no real significant variance.

Now 3.1 considerations:
5. Raid, Alex-Savage, gear is no longer BiS due to Diadem’s gear and RNGness. Understandably upsets raiders but also appeals to the larger casual base.

The main concept of this suggestion is to incorporate an Endgame-Tier materia system; a system based on providing “special” stats or bonuses to gear via unique materia not unlike pvp-gear and pvp-materia following the basic rules below:

1. This type of materia can only be melded to Tomestone gear, upgraded-Tomestone, or Raid gear (eg Alex salvage i210 gear). Not Diadem or crafted gear.
2. Only the gear on the left-side can be melded (<Head>,<Body>,<Hands>,<Waist>,<Legs>,<Feet>).
3. The above gear can only be melded with this specific system’s materia; regular materia such as Savage Aim IV cannot be melded to the gear.
4. The gear cannot be over melded and each piece only has 2 available meld slots.
5. Each piece has a 2 specific materia sets that goes with it and that does not overlap with the other pieces (See the Examples section below)
6. Each materia is categorized as Tier I or Tier II (Eg Flashfire I and Flashfire II for BLM).
7. The stat/bonus cap of each individual materia effect is capped at a Tier I + Tier II (If you meld 2 Flashfire II materias the stat/bonus is capped as if you had melded only Flashfire I + Flashfire II instead). But you can meld a Flashfire II and Hailstorm II you will get full effect of both.
8. The bonus effects of each set relate to each other in some fashion creating a choice A or choice B situation (See Examples Section below).
9. The materia cannot be sold or traded with other players.

Examples:
(Disclaimer: These are simply examples to explain the system; they are not intended to be the actual suggestions for the materia effects as they have no extensive theorized testing to balance them nor do I have experience on how some jobs are played.)

Obtaining the materia:

1. Spiritbind/convert non-upgraded Tomestone gear (current content/patch) for 85%/15% at a Tier I/Tier II materia that piece can be melded with (BLM body will convert to Flashfire or Hailstorm only). Waist converts into a random materia for one of the roles in that slot, right-side accessories can be converted into a random materia for the role.
2. Spiritbind/convert upgraded Tomestone (current content/patch) for 25%/75% at a Tier I/Tier II materia that piece can be melded with (BLM body will convert to Flashfire or Hailstorm only). Waist converts into a random materia for one of the roles in that slot, right-side accessories can be converted into a random materia for the role.
3. Spiritbind/convert Raid gear (current content/patch) for 10%/90% at a Tier I/Tier II materia that piece can be melded with. (Casting body will convert to a BLM or SMN (random) body-materia only). Waist converts into a random materia for one of the roles in that slot, right-side accessories can be converted into a random materia for the role.
4. Spiritbind/convert 24-man gear (current content/patch) for 60%/40% at a Tier I/Tier II materia that the equipment slot can be melded with (Casting body will convert to a BLM or SMN (random) body-materia only).
5. Spiritbind/convert Diadem gear (current content/patch and highest ilvl) for 90%/10% at a Tier I/Tier II materia that the equipment slot can be melded with (Casting body will convert to a BLM or SMN(random) body-materia only). Waist converts into a random materia for one of the roles in that slot, right-side accessories can be converted into a random materia for the role.
6. Each “turn” of the current raid rewards 1 Tier II materia for random job/equipment in addition to the 2 normal equipment pieces dropped (3 drops total per turn).
7. Trade in any 5 Tier I materias for a Tier II at materia goblin in Central Than. The Tier II received is determined by the 5 traded. All 5 must be to the same job.
Example, trading 5 different Tier I materia will return a Tier II of one of the 5 (20% each). If you trade 5 Tier I materia with 3 being the same Flashfire I materia then you have 60% chance at getting Flashfire II materia and 20%+20%(40%) of getting a Tier II of one of the other 2.
8. Expert Dungeons have a chance (let’s say 20-30%) to reward a random job/equipment Tier I materia on the last bosses’ chest. These can be needed by jobs that can use them otherwise greeded by others.
9. 24-mans (Void Ark) drop a random job/equipment Tier I(80%) or Tier II(20%) materia per party at the last chest. Can only win 1 a week but the materia and equipment lockouts are separate (Can loot 1 materia and 1 equipment piece a week from Void Ark)

**Nystai** · 12-04-2015 02:30 AM

Pros:

• Raid gear gets to stay on top in BiS charts cause of the unique stats/bonuses trumping Diadem normal stats
• BiS still “weekly locked” behind tomestones and raid lockouts but players are able to use strong Diadem gear between upgrades.
• Non-upgraded tomestone gear also beats out Diadem gear due to these effects (keeps blue >pink status).
• Players to place the materia bonus they wish with the equipment piece they wish, they’re not stuck to one equipment piece to keep the bonus effect they want.
• If any bonus is later deemed that it needs balance the materia effect can be changed instead of individual armor pieces.
• Because each materia bonus is capped at Tier I + Tier II it helps combat “everyone would pick most optimized bonus” situation. Some might go Flashfire II + Hailstorm II to get high bonuses for both or Flashfire I + Flashfire II for that extra fire-speed. Differences should be minimal while still providing uniqueness.
• Casuals and raiders both get to participate without one group feeling cheated by the other.
• Creates good-sized horizontal blanket and reduces monotony for players by having them participate in different events while working towards the same goal. They can convert old tomestone gear they have replaced or farm up Diadem some to keep old tomestone gear.

Cons:

• Each “new Raid Patch” will reset the armor bonuses and players would have to farm up new set of materia and equipment again. Even if materia keep the same effects.
• May make players reluctant to upgrade from their i210 melded gear to new unmelded i230 gear drops until they acquire new materia to meld the new i230 gear.
• If materia<>equipment sets do not keep same effect bonuses throughout the raid/patch tiers and are changed each patch it will lead to some materia<>equipment set bonuses being better than others, some old sets being stronger than new sets.
• If materia<>equipment sets do keep the same effect bonuses throughout the raid/patch tiers and are not changed each patch it will lead some to players stocking materia in anticipation for the next patch and get a head-start in melding the new gear. Leading to players completing content at a quicker rate.
(Perhaps have materia<>equipment set be ilvl restricted, ilvl 200-210 materia can only meld with ilvl i200-210 equipment. Keep the materia affects the same each patch, just upped in ilvl)
• Tomestone/Raid gear will have to Spiritbond easier/quicker than they do currently, otherwise it will be quite a grind for some.
• More joyful inventory management

**IllyriaKnotfred** · 12-04-2015 02:49 AM

I believe you meant to say Ley Lines instead of Enochian for the very first suggestion

Some nice ideas otherwise!

**Saccharin** · 12-04-2015 03:19 AM

These sound similar to GW2 to me.

3.2 all gear will have materia sockets, I believe.

The problem comes due to the fact there's just not enough stat variety to have different gear, or interesting melds.

I'd love to see some kind of enchant system with your weapon having a proc.

It'd be nice if the relic eventually had a proc as the relic is just underwhelming for something you spent so long on.

**Magis** · 12-04-2015 03:25 AM

XIV used to have more... interesting materia as well so can take a look there for examples, look under Materia > All:

http://ffxiv.mozk-tabetai.com/

**Saccharin** · 12-04-2015 03:37 AM

Originally Posted by Magis

XIV used to have more... interesting materia as well so can take a look there for examples, look under Materia > All:

http://ffxiv.mozk-tabetai.com/

They look much more customisable but the issue arises by the random nature of the way we get our materia.

**MiniPrinny** · 12-04-2015 03:42 AM

I think the system is a good idea. Some of the more boring choices like "Flashfire" and "Hailstorm" could be reworked. And I don't like the idea of limiting the player to certain slots. I do think that capping these procs per slot is a good idea though. But let's say you're an off-tank like I am. And you need more damage, you could in theory stack up on offensive materia that has good synergy with your static's line up. For example, as a Dark Knight, I'd love to have like "Aetherdrinker" materia that was usable by Dark Knights and Paladins and it converted something like .5/1/1.5/2/2.5% of your physical damage to MP. With most items capping around 1-2%. So in theory you could get like permanent 10% MP stealing for more selfish damage... or alternatively, you could slot in something like "Insanity" materia that was usable by only Dark Knights that made Delirium decrease the targets magical defense by up to 10% since you don't have a Monk, but you do have yourself, a Machinist, and a mage. And each rank of "Insanity" materia could be something like 1/2/3/4/5% magical defense decrease on Delirium, so if you got lucky and managed to obtain two "Insanity Materia V," you could just slot two and be set. But yes, I support this idea, and this is really what I would like to see happen to Final Fantasy XIV in 3.2. Hopefully, the developers have prepared this ahead of time, after all... they could just cause all our materia to "break" like they did from Bahamut's Teraflare. I'm sure they could write it off as Alexander using "Divine Judgement" on the Hinterlands, destroying the entrance to Idyllshire as a "warning shot" of sorts.

**Felis** · 12-04-2015 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by Saccharin

They look much more customisable but the issue arises by the random nature of the way we get our materia.

You can buy them wih diadem coins

**Nystai** · 12-04-2015 04:09 AM

Originally Posted by IllyriaKnotfred

I believe you meant to say Ley Lines instead of Enochian for the very first suggestion

Some nice ideas otherwise!

Ah my bad, ty and fixed

.

Originally Posted by MiniPrinny

Snip

While some of the examples may seem bland or nothing special. The conception is to essentially have melded job-traits or class traits that are more specific than "Increase healing by 20%" but still generic enough to have a hint of... generalism :P

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