Materia: the new Armory System

[Matsume]

I second (third? fourth..'d?) the great idea of making ALL gear crafted and making HNMs, dungeons, etc drop the crafting materials.

The idea of having HNMs drop actual gear that can be used as one of the materials in a recipe for an even better, meldable crafted version of that gear is a good idea that fits in with this, too.

I like these ideas but methinks a system in which such gear binds on equip would have to be implemented.

However, I think you are very mistaken in thinking the only or the best solution is to get rid of the materia system. I think the OP is very thoughtful on this matter, yet I do not think to have considered every possible remedy.

That said, I would suggest, instead of phasing out the materia system, do the following:

Make all gear crafted. No more exclusive items. Instead of dropping items directly, bosses will drop an abundance of materials. For example, Batraal, instead of dropping 1-3 items from a chest, his death will produce various pieces of hide and bone, even possibly a broken blade that can be refurnished into a sword for paladins. The abundance of items will allow people to get drops reliably, and then allow them to reliably turn them into gear and meld over and over. Thus, those who complete the dungeons the quickest and with the most ease are able to acquire the most materials and most chances for success in melding materia.

This system would actually impose skill into getting the best gear melded with multiple materia, it would keep crafters necessary and make the materia system more interesting. In addition, it would allow the current problem of terrible droprates to be eliminated, favoring players to get drops quickly and reliably each time, so they can then attempt multiple melds.

It would also allow groups of players to earn gil by selling these items to crafters and players who wish to meld themselves.

/thumbsup I support this idea.

I'm going to add 2 gils worth:

Gil 1) Make melding like repairing: Adventurer X has Materia Y and Gear Z to which he wants meld. Adventurer X sets up the demand + reward + catalysts (instead of dm, duh) through a UI not ulike the gear repair menu. Random Crafter X performs meld without having to trade gear.

This has two main benefits:
-No adventurer can be ripped off by random crafters who do not trade back gears or materia
-My next point, which has been brough up by a number of posts:

Gil 2) Make U/U gear meldable. Obviously this con ONLY work synergistically with my first sugggestion.

This will also have several obvious beneficial effects:
-It will give U/U gear the potential to be on par with multi melded crafted gear.
-It will greatly increase the Replay Value of all instances, raids, coffers, NM/HNM/Primal fights that drop U/U gear seeing as multi melded U/U gear will become the desirable end game gear to have, and no doubt countless will be lost in the process- necesitating another visit to said destination.
-It will add uniqueness to peoples garb. This way every mage in town wont be wearing the same multi melded piece of crafter gear.
-Pride and Accomplishment. People will have tales to tell about their trials and tribulations attempting to 2x or 3x that damned Revolutionary's Bliaud or Solid Scale Mail etc.

Discuss...