Advice on Adding Material to Items

[CrisGer]

OK, i am interested in learning to add material to enhance armour, seems like a good thing to know, rather than having to try to buy it. So i got the starting quest for that skill but didnt have a Work of the Hand class going then, i have goldsmith now and plan to do Blacksmith next..so wanted to ask how this stuff works?

as i understand it you can convert anything that is bonded to you to material, and it will have certain properties. how do you find out what properties it will have before you convert it? And how long do you have to wear it before it is bonded? sadly i sold some early stuff that was bonded as i didnt know then about this.

any advice on this would be great thanks.

[Niwashi]

as i understand it you can convert anything that is bonded to you to material, and it will have certain properties. how do you find out what properties it will have before you convert it?

You don't. The specific materia that it converts to isn't determined until you convert it. However, there is a tendency for DoW armour and weapons to convert to materia with DoW-relevant buffs, DoM armour and weapons to convert to materia with DoM-relevant buffs, and so on with DoH or DoL items.

And how long do you have to wear it before it is bonded? sadly i sold some early stuff that was bonded as i didnt know then about this.

I haven't paid enough attention to it to tell you exactly how long it takes, but each piece of gear will show its SpiritBond as a percentage. When that percentage reaches 100%, it's possible to convert it. So if you reach the point where you can upgrade a piece of gear, but it's at 97%, you may want to keep it equipped a little longer to finish off the spiritbond first. On the other hand, if you have better gear to replace something that's only at 45%, go ahead and replace it and just vendor the old gear, it's not worth keeping poor gear equipped that much longer.

[Urthdigger]

Ok, to start with it's materia. No L, just like the christmas song.

Anyway, as far as how long it takes to fully spiritbind something, that depends on a number of factors. Spiritbind is gained by doing actions that would gain you xp, namely killing monsters, making items, and gathering items of a sufficient level. From what I've heard, how much xp these give is irrelevant, so it's less "Gain X amount of XP while wearing this" and more "Kill X monsters, craft X items, or gather X items."

There are a number of items that increase your "Spiritbind" stat, these will make you spiritbind stuff faster.

High-quality items spiritbind faster. Items with materia in them (throw in junk materia nobody uses, like resistance ones) spiritbind faster also. HQ items with materia in them spiritbind fastest of all.

[CrisGer]

OK thank you i will be wearing lots of things for a while

[CrisGer]

Looks like a partner and I will be starting a nice new FC and i wanted to ask if there is a guide online or somewhere to get all the info on how to do it that someone knows about? i presume i have the live help pop up menus that came up when i first joined one in my log book but sometimes those dont appear, so i wanted to ask here first.

any advice, things to do or not do? those would be great too. A wonderful community here with lots of help sure makes this a lot more fun. I never would have had the courage to do a FC before but this seems like a good and safe place so it may indeed happen. thanks in advance for any tips, advice, or help.

[Urthdigger]

I'd say the dos and don'ts of creating a free company have more to do with your philosophy, rather than what methods you take.

First, consider the purpose of your group, and whether it suits a free company. A free company is made for a large number of players to get together to achieve common goals. The advantages of belonging to a FC are having a large pool of people who may help you (In return for your help), reduced prices on teleports depending on the FC's standing with an area, and FC-wide buffs. The latter two are where a FC has an advantage over a linkshell, and are why it's a much better idea to have a large FC than a small one: More members means points go up faster which means standing shoots up and you can afford to use the buffs.

Now, you may be interested in a linkshell instead. For instance, if you're only interested in having it comprised of you and your partner, it's probably best if you just join an FC together and use friends lists. Similarly, if your goal for the group is not progression, but more social in nature (Such as an RP group, or folks who share a common hobby), it would be a better idea to form a linkshell so everyone can keep in touch, while allowing folks to join free companies for progression. Finally, it's easiest to join an existing free company.

Now, that all said, if you plan on trying to make your own mark as the leader of a group, or are unsatisfied with the existing free companies on your server, go ahead and make a free company that you'd be proud to call yourself a member of.

[CrisGer]

ok thanks, i am sorry about my mis post, i meant to start a new topic, and then did, not realizing i had posted it into my already existing topic on Materia, i will move your nice post over there. it is very good advice imho.