[Dev1068], [Dev1079] Can we get clarification on Materia Enhanced Gear vs. NM Gear?

[Amsai]

I wanted some clarification on Materia enhanced gear being better than NM/Raid dropped gear. Because to me it would seem to undermine the challenge and motivation of seeking drops from NMs/Raids. Or perhaps it isn't as cut and dry as the posts I am quoting below suggests?

Originally Posted by Shura
Thanks a lot for the translations Kristina, but please allow me to re-translate the quoted information above, as it seems giftforce has misunderstood the system.

In the quoted portion, it says:

"The Materia system will allow you to make the best gear, and for those interested in the best gear; the materia system is balanced in a way where attaching/adding materia to crafted gear will have better results then attaching them to NM dropped gear."

I apologize if my translation is not 100% correct, but it does literally say that Materia enhanced crafted gear will show better results then Materia enhanced NM dropped gear. Kristina also included this information " [materia buffed gear] > [NM dropped gear]" just not a word to word translation. So thank you again Kristina for the translations and the new information.

Originally Posted by Kristina_Farron
No, my original translation is not word-to-word, and you clarified one thing:
The weapons and armors coming from crafting, with FULLY FUSED MATERIA, will perform better than those looted from NM.

But it doesn't say what if equipment looted from NM are fully fused (as rep commented before, some equipment cannot be fused).

BTW, allow me to point out one more thing: it is known to be hard to get a fully fused equipment because the ability to fuse 2nd materia is described as "very risky" by reps.

So, as a result, the crafted equipment, fully fused with materia, will somewhat as rare as similar one looted from NM.
It sounds reasonable from the view of balancer, to keep both fighters and crafters busy.

This not only seems wrong to me, but not ballanced at all. If anything, I would think it the other way around. Afterall, if materia enhanced crafted gear is hard to obtain and its good, I would think NM gear you had to earn through a challenge, and had to put up with a rare drop rate, and then successfully enhanced with materia would be better.

Now if it were ballanced like fully fused materia enhanced crafted gear was as good as materia enhanced NM gear of equivalent rank and type, THEN that would be ballanced. So I ask for some clarification. Like maybe they meant only NM gear and were not referring to Raid gear? Or maybe materia enhanced crafted gear is the best for classes, but materia enhanced NM gear is the best for jobs?