Quote Originally Posted by Eekiki View Post
So much truth. As a whole, the materia system is way too restrictive to be useful in the big scheme of things.
Exactly, it never really serves a purpose except to allow someone to leapfrog a level of gear. Properly overmelded Vanya allows you to skip most Darklight for example. But you can't meld Darklight. So where is the real value in using Materia? As I see there is none. Not until the system is more transparent, and more items can be melded. I'll continue to use it if the system remains the same, but I'd love for the Materia System to be overhauled so that it matters at all levels of play rather than specific gear ranges. It would be a great way to get the whole gear stat game rolling.

I don't know about anyone else, but I love napkin-mathing gear at endgame to see which combination of gear etc gets me the most VIT or ACC or Parry. But that doesn't exist in FFXIV. A proper Materia System could change all that for the better.