Materia system should be streamlined and based on FFVII.

[Gukie]

Here's what I'd like to see:

- Materia that doesn't stat-stack, and provides actual abilities and spells.
- Different amounts of materia slots on different gear
- Materia can be equipped and removed freely to different gear
- Some slots are "linked," causing materia to combo together in various ways (think Thunder magic + All to hit all enemies, etc.)
- All materia starts out at Tier I, then gradually levels up to higher tiers when gaining experience and becomes stronger (Fire -> Fira -> Firaga, etc.)

...so yeah, pretty much what everyone else said, lol. You could still have your stat-stacking materia too, of course.

My only concern from there would be how DotH's and DotL's would be involved, as there probably wouldn't be much need for catalyst items or melding anymore. Perhaps they could keep the current melding system, but reserve it for when you want to meld materia to gear that doesn't have enough slots on it. You could still have the drawbacks of possibly destroying your items, having the materia stuck there until purged by the goblin NPC, etc.

Materia that HQ Search all for one cycle for example for gathering* random proc
Materia that Give enhance your Progress -
Materia that enhance your HQ possibility when crafting- and so on of course mostly for primary tool

[Arkine]

I hated the materia system since it was introduced because its entirely based on luck and it out shined gear stats and turned crafted gear into materia housing instead (nothing is good because its good/has good stats... its good because it has materia on it)

I'm 100% with the slots idea.

[Tetsaru]

I hated the materia system since it was introduced because its entirely based on luck and it out shined gear stats and turned crafted gear into materia housing instead (nothing is good because its good/has good stats... its good because it has materia on it)

I'm 100% with the slots idea.

It's kinda funny because PSU's weapon grinding system worked almost exactly the same way: a weapon could be grinded up to 10 times to increase its stats, but if a grind failed, you'd lose your weapon and have wasted your grinder items.

Later on, after enough people bitched about it, it was changed to where if a grind failed, you wouldn't lose your weapon, but your current grind would be reverted back to 0, and your number of maximum grinds for that weapon would go down by 1, so it couldn't reach its full potential. So, if you were trying to max out a weapon (0/10 to 1/10, then 2/10, etc. up to 10/10), and it failed, it would become a 0/9, and you would have to start over. I think now, they even have a cash shop option to where you can undo this damage or even guarantee a grind, lol...

Of course, having a high elemental % (I think 50% was the highest) on a weapon or armor was the most important modifier, so grinding only provided miniscule stat boosts in comparison...

[Neptune]

Totally agree with you. Materia should be completely redone. And having a ridiculous amount of inventory taken up by all the ridiculously complicated materia types is ..ridiculous! That should change too.

[Teakwood]

While I kind of like the suggestion in the OP and a lot of what's been discussed in this thread, and I'm not a huge fan of Materia the way it's currently implemented...

Materia's spec, its purpose in the game, is not really to provide gear customisability in the first place. It's to keep crafting relevant by generating constant demand for goods and preventing sell-back at the wards, and it's to provide people with an alternate (grindy, gil/time-sink) way towards getting gear.

It might be a boring, crappy system, but it /succeeds spectacularly/ at its goals from the designers' perspective, and so I think any replacement system suggestion should try to succeed at the same goals the current Materia system succeeds at, that is, "find a way to keep creating a demand for gear". People (probably people who have played lots of FF games but few MMOs) are seeing "Materia System" and it's triggering FF7 memories for them - which is exactly why the developers were loath to call it Materia in the first place - but what they should really be thinking of are things like the enchantment system in TERA and... I forget what it was called in Aion but there was a similar mechanic of "old gear -> item -> buff to current gear", I don't actually know what MMO introduced that mechanic, but Materia is its clear heir with a few spins put on it; sadly most of said spins are annoying prayers to the random number god.

I don't have any great ideas as to how to adapt the system so that it's both interesting -and- fulfills the design spec of "keep crafters relevant", and frankly I'm sceptical about the Materia system /ever/ not making me rage, but I think it's important when criticising the system to consider why it was set up the way it was set up in the first place, and what the developers will be definitively unwilling to change.

[Arkine]

I don't have any great ideas as to how to adapt the system so that it's both interesting -and- fulfills the design spec of "keep crafters relevant", and frankly I'm sceptical about the Materia system /ever/ not making me rage, but I think it's important when criticising the system to consider why it was set up the way it was set up in the first place, and what the developers will be definitively unwilling to change.

Even if it turns into a sloted luck-free system, you'll still need a crafter to do the slotting for you and maybe make it that there's a chance that a materia can break off your gear if you die (low chance, maybe a crafter can fix the broken materia then reattach it? sounds like a decent death penalty).

Crafters will stay relevant, Gatherers will stay relevant, and the demand for materia will still be decent.

[prymortal]

+1 for this idea

[Guevara]

I totally agree with the OP. Very nice post

[Doho]

also about ease of use for materia.. on the last player survey i picked the option having every crafting class be able to affix materia :| was I in the minority there? I just feel like it's too much of a hassle to trade for double melds and such. *sigh* I dunno I probably just think differently from a lot of people, I don't even like the idea of double melding tbh. I'd much rather items just be slotted. sorry, /end pointless jabbering

[DrakoRocks]

as i crafter i think the system is great, keeps economy going and gives everyone something else to do. Getting to triple melds is really hard, and if they ever change that is going to make a lot of people angry and if they change a lot, it might ruin the economy for a while/forever.