Grade 4 materia needs to be rethought.

[Zelth]

Why are grade 4 materia the ONLY items in the game that are made harder to get with every patch? When the Novus step for relics came out, I'm pretty sure you were guaranteed an IV from any i70 gear. Then they pushed that up to needing i90, and now that doesn't even get you an IV every time. Prices for IV materia has gone up on my server by about 400% or more in a very short time, so getting a properly melded Novus nowadays can only be done by the super rich.

Something that used to take a week or two back then can take months now if you don't feel like/can't afford buying IVs. How exactly is this discrepancy justified, SE?

[gamesmart]

Spiritbonding hasn't been changed since the update that nerfed it - since then i90 has never 100% given grade IV materia. The reason for the price spikes is because all the hardcore progression people are needing to pentameld crafted i110 to meet the DPS checks in T12/13.

Besides, you can always readjust your Novus stats later. Get it first then worry about the secondary stats as you work towards Nexus.

[Radacci]

then triple meld instead. the difference, if any, is fractional %.
i checked with quad melded Gae Bolg, and HA spear; provided i messed up a bit on both tests, the gae bolg came out on 428dps, and HA 430. that's about 0,5% difference, between quad-meld (with acc) and HA spear.
ppl are buying IVs for millions, for relic....for no benefit.

[Ellatrix]

The majority of people buying IV materia are doing it for i110/i90 accessory melds right now.

You can also build an effective Novus using zero IV materia.