Dropped Items and Materia

[Brannigan]

Yeah I noticed this too - id much rather have a double or triple meld anything than most dropped rare/ex gear .... it makes it pointless - the stats are ridiculously high on the materia

Right now a single meld is better than most stronghold gear and all darkhold gear. Darkhold gear being outdated is whatever - it kind of sucks but they completely changed a lot of stuff without updating the gear so it was kind of expected. Even moogle and ifrit weapons are kind of crappy for gla/con/thm. If this stuff was meldable it'd actually be worth going out and getting.

[Delsus]

Hi,

the materia system is a cool way to get crafted items out of the game and keep crafters making items. The big problem with it, though, is that because Unique/Untradeable items cannot be melded, they are basically (with a few exceptions) worthless.

Some might point to the Ifrit Lancer, Marauder, and Archer weapons for an example of dropped items that are better than their crafted/materia equivalent. Unfortunately under the current system items like these eventually make the materia system useless.

Basically, with the materia system the way it is now, I see two possibilities in the future. Either A) Materia remains king outside of a few pieces of gear, giving a lot less incentive to do actual content when it's easier to just buy cheap crafted gear in town and gamble on forbidden materia or B) Future content drops actual good gear, killing off the materia system.

They're both bad choices, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd go with B since going and getting items with a group is a lot more interesting than playing the materia slot machine.

There is another way, though! If U/U gear is allowed to meld materia, both situations are avoided. The materia system stays useful since people will need new materia every time they upgrade their gear, and dropped gear is actually worth getting. Crafted gear can remain a cheap, quick option for leveling up and fresh 50s and it can still be converted into materia. If you want good gear, you'll need to go fight some bosses and clear some dungeons and buy/convert some materia.

Of course, a system to meld another person's gear through the bazaar will be needed, but that was going to be needed eventually anyway.

I really hope that the devs take this into consideration for 2.0.

This is just someone who whats his epeen and the best gear, to boss everyone around, he doesnt care about having fun.

Move along please.

[NoctisUmbra]

Right now a single meld is better than most stronghold gear and all darkhold gear. Darkhold gear being outdated is whatever - it kind of sucks but they completely changed a lot of stuff without updating the gear so it was kind of expected. Even moogle and ifrit weapons are kind of crappy for gla/con/thm. If this stuff was meldable it'd actually be worth going out and getting.

Are they? I was under the impression that the Mogblade was the best weapon for GLA at the moment - what with the high proc rate of HP return.

As for the mage weapons, I believe it was mentioned that the devs were looking into making it so the bonus effects (ie. fire damage and MP recovery) on mage weapons would proc on attack spells as well - which would make the Mogwand and Mogstaff very desirable as well.

[Volsung]

I'm all for single melding Ra/Ex gear.

[NoctisUmbra]

I'm 100% against melding of Blue W gear.

I am for restricted melding of Green W gear.

[Reokudo]

If I have no item/quest/story/whatever incentive I'll probably do content a few times with my friends and then choose the option you failed to mention: play a different game. Items are what keep games like this going. I am certain that the developers know this since Yoshida has played games like EverQuest, etc. Dropped items are GOING to outclass crafted/materia eventually. Allowing U/U to meld materia would stop crafting from becoming useless.


I'd also like to mention that while forbidden materia is cool on paper, in practice it's kind of dumb and completely dependent on chance. I think the system would be better and allow for more interesting items if every item just had a set number of slots.

For example a Cobalt Winglet might have a single Tier IV slot while a Cobalt Shamshir might have two Tier IIIs and Ifrit's Blade has a IV and a III.

This would be awesome.

[Jynx]

you have the best gear in the game so now what?

A) stand in uldah doing nothing?
B)put your uber high stat gear to good use and go out and kill something, showing off your epicness to a group?

You would be amazed at how quickly the novelty of having amazing and rare gear wears off. Many hardcore FFXI players quit not long after reaching the epic status of "Dude who has a relic weapon" Without a purpose or sensed of progression people get bored rather quickly.

Having a great community is one of the ways to combat this as many people stuck around XI just for the people they knew and the sense of community the game had.

Unfortunatly I feel cross-server mingling will kill the sense of a server community IMHO.

[KenJammin]

I think if they'res going to be an imbalance it belongs on the materia side, Its expensive, looks generic, and doesn't require a difficult boss fight. They'res no sense of accomplishment when you make a tipple melded item even if its significantly better then something you get from a difficult boss fight, also no one in town knows how cool you are unless they take the time to check your equipment.

Once you got the best gear the game is pretty much over, its sad but hey what are you gonna do. I think its important they keep re-introducing jobs, achievements, and cosmetic items.

The fact that you can change jobs gives FFXIV a pretty useful tool in keeping content interesting while still maintaining an acceptable level of entry for average players. A hardcore player is not going to stop playing once he's gotten 1 job to max level with 1 set of gear, especially if they're engaging in LS building, and achievement hunting.

I see a pretty fair amount of shouts for Materia parties and ifirit/moogle parties, considering how wonky all the content is right now the materia system is surprisingly balanced.

[Brannigan]

Are they? I was under the impression that the Mogblade was the best weapon for GLA at the moment - what with the high proc rate of HP return.

As for the mage weapons, I believe it was mentioned that the devs were looking into making it so the bonus effects (ie. fire damage and MP recovery) on mage weapons would proc on attack spells as well - which would make the Mogwand and Mogstaff very desirable as well.

I haven't gotten a mogblade but it's my understanding that the amount healed was based on damage dealt with autos. Nice for soloing and small stuff (Ifrit blade is nice for this as well), but at the end of the day I'll take the hate boost from Touch of Rage materia. I'm not saying Ifrit/Mog sword are garbage, but considering just how easy it is to get a weapon that is arguably better for a tank they look kind of dumb.

Regardless of current weapons, the materia system as it stands will probably be incompatible with the game going forward.

This is just someone who whats his epeen and the best gear, to boss everyone around, he doesnt care about having fun.

Move along please.

Nope. I'm actually someone who kind of likes this stupid game and wants a reason to actually play it in the future.

[sunburn]

would be nice to be able to meld materia to ra/ex pieces or do some kind of quest to achive this or unlock the ability to do so, all the dungeon runs seem to be a waste of time now all that gear that has become almost obselete.I know they have a plan but this is SE we talking about , the ones who got us fatigue and did away with alliances im sure the have a crack pipe idea coming.