Current problem with battle materia

[NekoMataMata]

Outside of endgame its really annoying to me how materia matters...little if at all. If youre above item level materia doesn't matter and when it does its only if youre trying to min/max. I'm not saying make the game harder or require materia but I really wish there was an advantage to utilizing them throughout the game, ya know?

I mean it does actually matter for Crafters/Gatherers, and in Savage+ it's usually helpful, especially if you're in a fresh tier with recently released crafted gear and have to penta.

Which... is something else I really dislike. IF they want to make materia matter that's fine, but if they made it so you had to pentameld everything then I would just outright quit cause pentamelding sucks. I don't care what other MMOs you compare it to either. If it sucks then it sucks.

I'd like something in between where they still matter but not overwhelmingly so, and without any sort of awful overmelding system.

Every game system ever created.

So what you're saying is that the bar is low, and therefore the fact that the issue doesn't need solving and is instead acceptable.

[dspguy]

I'd like something in between where they still matter but not overwhelmingly so, and without any sort of awful overmelding system.

I can't speak much to gathering, but when it comes to crafting - melding materia matters, but only so far as the trade-off you wish to make.

Either pentameld to hit certain stats so you can HQ from NQ ingredients while using food/draughts... or pocket that money and spend more time making HQ leathers, ingots, cloths, etc so you can HQ from HQ materials. In that way, it is fairly balanced. The cost of melding the guaranteed slots and the first overmeld isn't so bad. Across one gearset, that's 17 materia for the guaranteed slots and probably 70 for the first overmeld. If a player were to use those slots wisely, they'll probably get near the max CP possible and some craft/control boosts that can help them 100% HQ the materials needed to then 100% HQ the final products.