Can Someone Please Explain Materia Caps Please

[Zell]

Here's my biggest issue,....

Certain armor, even though it has two materia slots, caps the stat (like Control) at 2 or 3, marking it in RED .

Doesn't that mean that you will only get a +2 stat increase instead of 3 or 4.
With this premise in mind, why do people do forbidden melds of extra stats when it's already capped.

I saw a guide on how to "overmeld," but i really don't understand the concept. I also saw someone meld +vitality on a tanking ring x5, when the ring capped the first meld. Doesn't that mean the other 4 materia slots are wasted on stat that is capped?

Any clarification/explanation on materia caps, overmelding/forbidden melding and how this fits into optimizing Crafting gear to do ** Synths is GREATLY appreciated.

[Conradus]

Here's my biggest issue,....

Certain armor, even though it has two materia slots, caps the stat (like Control) at 2 or 3, marking it in RED .

Doesn't that mean that you will only get a +2 stat increase instead of 3 or 4.
With this premise in mind, why do people do forbidden melds of extra stats when it's already capped.

I saw a guide on how to "overmeld," but i really don't understand the concept. I also saw someone meld +vitality on a tanking ring x5, when the ring capped the first meld. Doesn't that mean the other 4 materia slots are wasted on stat that is capped?

Any clarification/explanation on materia caps, overmelding/forbidden melding and how this fits into optimizing Crafting gear to do ** Synths is GREATLY appreciated.

An item has an absolute cap on how much it can bonus each stat, calculated from the item's level and its slot. The bonus provided by the item itself plus its materia cannot exceed this number. Materia that would increase the bonus past this figure is capped to provide only enough to reach it. If the item is already at the cap, additional Materia that would increase the stat will provide no bonus. If a prospective meld would be reduced by the cap, the interface will tell you, and highlight the reduced bonus in red.

"Forbidden" Materia melds are attemps to meld Materia to an item that has no more open Materia slots (it doesn't allow you to meld Materia to items that had no Materia slots to begin with). Unlike melding Materia for which there is an open slot, which always succeeds, this has a chance of failing. This chance increases with number of forbidden melds that have already been done with the item. If a forbidden meld fails, you lose the Materia you were attempting to meld. Forbidden melding is not directly connected to the stat caps except that, of course, melding more Materia to the item increases the bonus and thus is more likely to put you over the cap.

[Orophin]

I also saw someone meld +vitality on a tanking ring x5, when the ring capped the first meld. Doesn't that mean the other 4 materia slots are wasted on stat that is capped?

They were probably going for the achievement to get the Gambler's Crown.

Above poster summarized melding pretty well.

[Zell]

Confradus... thanks for the thoughtful and well summarized post.

So the gist of it is... you can forbidden meld, with decreased chance of success, only those stats which have yet to be capped? One one stat is capped, you should meld a stat that is not capped.

Do you think it's better trying to forbidden meld a Lvl 2 Craftsmenship materia to get to cap, if you can't afford the lvl IV materias? It seems that even with the failure rate, it comes out cheaper since lvl 1 and 2 materia are like 10x less expansive than IV.

[Conradus]

Confradus... thanks for the thoughtful and well summarized post.

So the gist of it is... you can forbidden meld, with decreased chance of success, only those stats which have yet to be capped? One one stat is capped, you should meld a stat that is not capped.

Do you think it's better trying to forbidden meld a Lvl 2 Craftsmenship materia to get to cap, if you can't afford the lvl IV materias? It seems that even with the failure rate, it comes out cheaper since lvl 1 and 2 materia are like 10x less expansive than IV.

You *can* overmeld a stat that has been capped; one has nothing to do with the other. You would simply get no bonus from the overmelded Materia, so it is difficult to think why you would find this worthwhile, exactly the same as with regularly melded Materia.

The problem with trying to overmeld lots of low-level Materia is that the chance of success drops fast as you pile on the overmelded Materia. By the time you get to the fourth forbidden meld, your chances of a successful meld drop to a few percent.

[BaconNarwhal]

Another reason they might do so is because the more melds you have, the faster it spiritbonds.

[Orophin]

Do you think it's better trying to forbidden meld a Lvl 2 Craftsmenship materia to get to cap, if you can't afford the lvl IV materias? It seems that even with the failure rate, it comes out cheaper since lvl 1 and 2 materia are like 10x less expansive than IV.

One thing you have to keep in mind as well is that each tier of materia have a minimum ilvl requirement for melding. Tier IV materia can only be melded to the ilvl70 crafted gear to the best of my knowledge.

[Lemon8or]

But his question was if a tier IV or tier II will max out the stats anyway, wouldn't it be better to try and overmeld the tier II since they're compatible and cheaper to try?

[Zell]

But his question was if a tier IV or tier II will max out the stats anyway, wouldn't it be better to try and overmeld the tier II since they're compatible and cheaper to try?

My point exactly.

[Conradus]

But his question was if a tier IV or tier II will max out the stats anyway, wouldn't it be better to try and overmeld the tier II since they're compatible and cheaper to try?

Not when you blow up twenty of them before you get that next meld to take.