Quote Originally Posted by Jinko View Post
That's not really content though is it. (unless you are a crafter)

The whole purpose of the materia system surely is to customize your character to perform better in boss battles.
Materia grinding is going to be a massive task for not only crafters but fighters and gatherers to get the best materia and take the time to get the best attatchments.

Crafters are only a small part of the puzzle that is materia grinding.

-Spirit bond grinding
-Sorting through the good and bad materia
-Getting a weapon to attatch
-Getting the materials to attatch the materia
-Finding a crafter to do the same attatch
-Praying is doesn't explode

In the end you have a system that is gruelingly difficult but with "Perceivable" amazing results. The gear your going to get from Boss battles will be mediocre at best compared to a customized 5 sloted +3 weapon of your choice. (At least it better be) Because if it's not the materia system will collect dust for being too hard for too little reward.

While I abhoar the "Please everyone" development style it is what they are trying to do. The people who need to have the most elite gear will probably spend more time obtaining materia than they would fighting ifirit, in turn allowing them to crush ifirit with the higher end gear allowing more casual or less skilled players benifit from the strength of the "Hardcore" peirs. Casual players can either fight Ifirit with their own groups or grind some lower tier materia or less slotted items for the fear of loosing the item they don't have "Time" to obtain more of.

Casual players can do any of the content, and Hardcore players have at least one system they can sink alot of time into and in the end also help the casual players in the long run.

It's far from a ideal system...but I can see where they are going with it.