Before the flames, I looked everywhere for this but can't find an answer.

For a while there has been a notice that pops up that says gear was equipped, but materia and aetherial attributes could not be restored. It seems after update 2.28 if you update your gear set after getting this message you get an asterisk next to the avg. item lvl (i.e. MIN(*17)). Is this a bug? If it's not, why can't these attributes be restored? How are the attributes lost in the first place. If anyone can clarify this, I would appreciate it.