Quote Originally Posted by captainpicard View Post
After acknowledging that the the +1/+2/+3/NQ versions of items were creating inventory issues, next steps were to implement 4 tiers of Materia, each having variable stats, non stacking, and requiring numerous variety of catalysts.
Multiple catalysts were intended to give gatherers of all levels a role in materia craft. Multiple tiers of Materia introduce randomness that allows lucky players to make something more valuable than that made by someone who didn't get lucky.

Increasing our inventory space and removing tiered HQ just made room for the new system. They compensate for this by revamping base crafting so the tiers in materials become less necessary for HQ. I never heard SE say it was wrong to have 4 item tiers at any point. Maybe I missed the memo?

The changes retain the degree of chance necessary in any game while addressing issues with crafting as a whole to make it more enjoyable.