Please let us socket materia without crafting

[Ilenya]

Not once in FF7 did Cloud and his team stop what they were doing hunt down a crafter and have them stick a ball in a hole.
I sure don't remember Kadaj & his troupe in Advent Children squatting down and melding. They just stuck the materia in their gear and went about their business.

I love this, namely because the system for Materia between FFVII and FFXIV is different to begin with, but also the fact that Cloud himself was considered the expert on materia slotting, hence not needing to find anyone. Remember, Barrett had to ask Cloud how to do it for the tutorial, CLOUD ALREADY KNEW!

[Defias]

I love this, namely because the system for Materia between FFVII and FFXIV is different to begin with, but also the fact that Cloud himself was considered the expert on materia slotting, hence not needing to find anyone. Remember, Barrett had to ask Cloud how to do it for the tutorial, CLOUD ALREADY KNEW!

In that tutorial Cloud literally said to Barrett that if an item has a materia slot you just need to put the materia in the slot.
Aka: "Put the Ball in the Hole."

Cloud never mentioned needing a Catalyst, nor was Cloud trained in any crafts.
Barrett felt like an idiot.

It's also worth mentioning...that to Remove Materia they would just:
"Take the ball out of the hole."
And the Materia & item did not get destroyed in the process.

Video: https://youtu.be/XTXHFFOLUko

[Ilenya]

In that tutorial Cloud literally said to Barrett that if an item has a materia slot you just need to put the materia in the slot.
Aka: "Put the Ball in the Hole."

Cloud never mentioned needing a Catalyst, nor was Cloud trained in any crafts.
Barrett felt like an idiot.

It's also worth mentioning...that to Remove Materia they would just:
"Take the ball out of the hole."
And the Materia & item did not get destroyed in the process.

Video: https://youtu.be/XTXHFFOLUko

And here you miss the "Different system" part of my comment.

[Defias]

I did not miss that part of your comment.
But honestly this shouldn't be an issue. Melding (like repairing) just should not be an issue like this.

Like repairing it should be something that players can do themselves. Either by NPC or like in other MMOs, through their own menu. This the only MMO that requires another person to update/slot your own gear.

Offline game or not. FF7 had the right idea. True Materia in the game served more a bigger purpose than stats.
But, the concept was sound. Made sense.

Why do we need a Catalyst for a slot?
Are we stuffing the slot with paper/glue so the orb doesn't fall out?
Can the Warrior of Light honestly not put a ball into a hole?