Dexterity, Mind, and Intelligence materia

[Jonnycbad]

The following materia have an actual use:

Strength: Can be melded on Tank accessories, since Tank DPS is based on Strength.

Vitality: Can be melded on Tank/DPS/Healer accessories to boost their HP for doing high-end raids at minimum ilvls


Dexterity/Mind/Intelligence: These stats only governs potency for their respective jobs, but they cannot be melded on their respective Jobs' accessories, because these accessories already capped for these stats (e.g., DEX on Scouting gear, MND on Healing gear). Furthermore, new accessories since 4.0 are Job Locked, so it isn't as if Healers could equip Fending accessories and Meld MND onto them like prior to 4.0. So I ask you, what is the point of having INT/DEX/MND materia if they have no actual useful purpose like VIT (all jobs benefit from VIT) and STR (only for Tanks, since tanks use it for DPS too).

[QT_Melon]

Spiritbonding. Gambling for better Materia with Mutamix Bubblypots at Black Brush.

[Ekimmak]

It used to be good for getting a head-start in gathering, since those stats were used for getting a bonus attempt. Melding one of those materia would give you another swing at the node before your natural stats from level would allow you (potions worked as well, but you'd need them to take up precious inventory space for that).

But in 4.0, they changed all node bonus to be gained from gathering related stats, so that's not there anymore.

[Aster_E]

It used to be good for getting a head-start in gathering, since those stats were used for getting a bonus attempt. Melding one of those materia would give you another swing at the node before your natural stats from level would allow you (potions worked as well, but you'd need them to take up precious inventory space for that).

But in 4.0, they changed all node bonus to be gained from gathering related stats, so that's not there anymore.

That changed in 3.0, actually. I don't recall ever seeing combat stats being necessary when I used to farm tons of mythrite or rainbow cotton. =p

On the other hand to all of this, I keep meaning to but forgetting to start off one piece of gathering gear with a Str materia just so I can have a laugh while my Btn or Min (or even Fsh) fights against a random mob that's however many levels lower. lol

[Caitlinzulu]

well those materia could concievably have a use, but what about the elemental materia? fire, ice...... there isnt any use whatsoever for it in the whole game besides mutamix but we could do that with every other materia too

[Aster_E]

well those materia could concievably have a use, but what about the elemental materia? fire, ice...... there isnt any use whatsoever for it in the whole game besides mutamix but we could do that with every other materia too

I can think of four uses for elemental materia:

1) Mutamix
2) Spiritbonding
3) Trading Grade IVs for Crystal Sand (for anima relics)
4) Ice melding, if you decide to run FATEs in Coerthas Central Highlands (because a couple of FATEs spam ice attacks), but even this is minimal.

[Tint]

you can use the mainstat materia on NQ gear, since the stats are only capped on HQ gear.

so you can buy a cheap NQ armor, meld the missing mainstat-points into it and it's almost as good as HQ gear. i do this while leveling.

[Rufalus]

Mutamix and things like that don't really answer why elemental materia exists. It would probably be better for them to be removed since their resistance effect as a meld does close to nothing. Then you'd never get duds on gear conversion any more, and no dud outcomes on mutamix exchange, although you'd also no longer have duds to give away. I just don't think dud items should exist any more. And yeah mnd int dex materia could be melded to nq armor but they can't fix the shortfall in def/mdef of nq vs hq pieces and take up meld slots that could have been used on better materia if the armor was hq so the benefits are dubious.

[ChameleonMS]

Back in 2.0 I remember there was actual testing done on the elemental materia. IIRC, they did contribute to mitigation, about 80 element points = 1% DR. If you maxed out your elemental resistances you could get about 12% DR for that element. Since DPS is the game meta, not DR, elemental materia is considered junk in comparison.
This meta still continues today. There have been what, 3 times in entire game history when Tank LB has to be used?
And outside of the mass dungeon there are still only a handful times that the strong CDs need to be used.

[MistakeNot]

well those materia could concievably have a use, but what about the elemental materia? fire, ice...... there isnt any use whatsoever for it in the whole game besides mutamix but we could do that with every other materia too

The elemental materia can be used to provide a bit of extra protection against elemental attacks. The usefulness of this is admittedly very limited, and you'd almost always be better off using some other materia, but still....

The real reason for why they are in the game is likely that once upon a time (back in 1.x?) they were actually useful and they remain in the game even though mechanics have changed.
Similar with other materia: Once upon a time all stats were somewhat useful to all classes, and thus people might have wanted to improve any of the stats. This is no longer the case.