Ifrit Hard Mode Loot vs 5-Slotted Materia Gear?

[Madruk]

Crafted should never be better than raid gear. This is a lesson pretty much every MMO the last 10 years has learned but apparently we have to do it again here.

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

Crafted should never be better than raid gear. This is a lesson pretty much every MMO the last 10 years has learned but apparently we have to do it again here.

I haven't seen an mmorpg where crafted gear was ever better than raid gear (of the same tier) (except DAoC for a while). But with crafting having as large a presence here than other mmorpgs, I would hope that a crafter that invested *that* much time in their craft (even if most of that was Netflix) would be able to make the best items. The compromise? Adventurers bringing back those raid drop components for crafters to forge that "best" gear.

Unnecessary example below:
i.e. Boss Sword Drop: Attack, Accuracy, Critical, and Parry all high, +5 to some relevant stats, unique effect unavailable from crafted items, but no materia slotting.

High-quality custom-made sword: Attack, Accuracy, Critical, and Parry may vary, but otherwise fairly high, +2~3 to some relevant stats, no unique effect. Materia boosts may be enhancing the Parry higher than the Boss Sword Drop, +defense, +elemental resist, or +Vitality that make this sword more viable for tanking. Or something more offensive may have materia boosting +Attack and +Critical higher than the Boss Sword Drop, but still not having that unique effect and such.

Useless example below: Things like that. Versus say, dare I say WoW pre-expansion?
Level 60 sword, that is untradeable, so you craft it, you wear it, after you've specialized as a swordsmith to make it. And the best you can make and still trade is the equivalent of a green world drop for a level 58 with relevant stats. The blue drop from a 5-man dungeon is better. And then the epic drop from the 40-man raid is even more delicious (mo purplez mo problemz rap song comes to mind). And then there's the rare orange drop that gods-only-know-who-hacked-what to get.

edit: insane-look-in-the-eye + foam at mouth... rabid miqo'te style because I make no sense anymore