Can we please have something to help us meld.

[LongsunZhao]

I'm totally shocked to have seen a friend of mine in game, waste over 100 blue IV materia on melds. (I have a photo... Thought I could just upload it, but asking for a URL or something)

And while I know the econamy would crash if all melds are perfect.

Couldn't we get a culinarian food, or a alchemist potion to buff it a little bit, If you could save five materia per item it's five materia for the next, or a few hundred thousand gil. (depending on server etc)

But I personally think this could do with a small buff. We have Bacon Broth for desynth. But nothing for melding.

[Ragnvard]

Overmelded gear is supposed to be a luxury. Any buff to melding chance (even if its 5%, which is a lot to a 11% meld) will only lower the price of the associated materia since people will need less of them, and also the final value of the item.

Take the two most commonly melded sets:
i) Slaying acc (with vit)
- A quad-vit meld gives you a piece of accessory which is arguably superior to the 210 drops if you need the extra vit. @1.5mil-2mil a piece for "top of the line" equipment can be considered a bargain.

ii) Crafting gear
- You can always just ask someone to craft the 2star pieces for you. Those who have invested in the overmelds... well, it's an investment. Currently, by investing millions into 2 star equip, crafters gamble the investment can be justified in the future with the release with 3 star crafts. Those who don't craft as often should just pay those who have the gear if they don't want to invest into the gear themselves.

[doctapeppa]

Overmelded gear is supposed to be a luxury. Any buff to melding chance (even if its 5%, which is a lot to a 11% meld) will only lower the price of the associated materia since people will need less of them, and also the final value of the item.

But it isn't a luxury, it's absolutely required. Especially so for DoH gear. A food or potion that boosts meld chance by ~5% is not going to break the materia market.

[Ragnvard]

But it isn't a luxury, it's absolutely required. Especially so for DoH gear. A food or potion that boosts meld chance by ~5% is not going to break the materia market.

Why is it required? As I pointed out in the rest of my post, you can always ask someone to craft the item for you. In fact, all you really need is to ask someone to make you the offhand and you can prob just craft the rest with minimal stats (all you really need is cp4 on every piece of gear)

It will prob only get worse with the introduction of grade V materia.

imo that is how a proper market should work. Those who have invested in their melds should be able to charge a premium for their investment. This is the same as leveling up crafting: getting a craft from 1-60 cost millions. Those who have invested those millions should be able to charge the premium in items on the marketboard.

Also, with crafter gear, SE already provided a fail-free alternative in the form of ilvl 180 gear. Zero melds/favor mats needed.

[Katlyna]

I have some "easy melds" for crafting listed under my 2 star post... but even they are not cheep. I concur the melding system is a bit insane.

[Silverbane]

I enjoy the challenges and risks that FFXIV offers, including the escalating amount of risk/cost involved in over-melding gear. Yeah, I've had a 24% over-meld fail 13 times in a row, but that just makes it sweeter when a 19% chance works on the first go.

But some people always want to make the game easier and easier and easier.
Well, I'm against that. I'm not interested in playing a game where it's easy for anyone to achieve anything they want. That's boring.

[MN_14]

I think an adjustment is quite a bit overdue myself. It was fine in 2.0 when most of my 4th or 5th slot overmelds were grade 1 materia (and not all pieces even needed that many overmelds). Even the i150 melds weren't terrible since you only had to meld a single set using grade 3 overmelds. However, large amounts of grade 4 overmelds are insane, especially when we have up to 8 sets of DoH gear to work with.

At this point, it's becoming cost prohibitive even for a crafter with a few hundred million gil.

[Katlyna]

I'm not interested in playing a game where it's easy for anyone to achieve anything they want. That's boring.

I concur with Silver here in that when crafting is too easy and the highest level of crafting can be achieved by anyone with little help, the value of crafting and its goods will plummet. On the other hand I believe crafting is too inaccessible right now, so only a few people see the end systems. Consequently there is little need or interest for SE to keep crafting working well.

What is correct is a balance between the two. Personally I would like to see NQ and HQ item stats become equal and HQ having more materia melding slots, but being notably harder to craft (where even good crafters NQ more often) Likewise pair this with better materia acquisition rates and I think we would get a healthier system overall for everyone.

[Jamillion]

I enjoy the challenges and risks that FFXIV offers, including the escalating amount of risk/cost involved in over-melding gear. Yeah, I've had a 24% over-meld fail 13 times in a row, but that just makes it sweeter when a 19% chance works on the first go.

But some people always want to make the game easier and easier and easier.
Well, I'm against that. I'm not interested in playing a game where it's easy for anyone to achieve anything they want. That's boring.

24%? 19%? Those don't sound like the numbers of someone who seriously overmelds. Try 6% on a grade 4 materia. On multiple items. It's not okay. It's a pointless gil sink and to be competitive you HAVE to do it. The overmeld system is a punishment in its current state, a chance to improve the odds of success would be nice.

[Porkchop]

24%? 19%? Those don't sound like the numbers of someone who seriously overmelds. Try 6% on a grade 4 materia. On multiple items. It's not okay. It's a pointless gil sink and to be competitive you HAVE to do it. The overmeld system is a punishment in its current state, a chance to improve the odds of success would be nice.

Just a funny anecdote.. I did my belt & right side recently and the 6% melds (craftsman IV on the last slot) gave me way less trouble than the 10-11% melds (4th slot). I spent on average 18-20 cunning IV for 4th slot melds (the worst was 37). Whereas the 5th slots took me 5-10 usually. Coincidence? Most likely. But this has been my experience throughout the patches.