How does the item system looks in this game?

[Nedkel]

As far as i know there are materia, something similar to "stones" you put in other games for extra stats.
I have seen common, purple and green colors of items, but are there any more? Like stronger orange or red? Or the color doesnt matter all that much?

Are there any sets of items that gives extra bonuses? Or anything like that? Could i change existing bonuses in certain item or there all are fixed and not possible change?

I want to know how it all looks like, because many games has different things and its really complicated sometimes to catch up with everything.

[Enkidoh]

Welcome to Eorzea!

To answer all your questions, requires some instruction on the basics.

Firstly, as you noted gear icons have a certain colour which is a guide to that item's rarity and usefulness, but they can be misleading. So an overview of what each means is needed:

'White' or 'grey' gear is the basic gear you can get pretty much anywhere. It's sold cheaply by npc shops, and can also be crafted by the relevant Disciple of the Hand class (cloth items can be crafted by WVR (Weaver) for instance). Grey gear comes in two favours: 'NQ' or 'normal quality', and 'HQ' or 'high quality' which can be differentiated by a special character at the end of it's name and a golden discolouration of the icon. HQ versions have slightly better stats than the NQ version. Upon completing the revelant quest most grey gear can be spiritbound to 100% and then converted into materia. Both NQ and HQ gear can be sold through your retainers on the Market Board, and most can have materia melded to it. As well, after completing a certain early quest most grey gear can have it's colour customized by dyeing it (if it can be dyed it will have a small coloured or clear circle on it's icon showing the colour it is currently dyed as).

'Pink' or aetherial gear is the next step up from grey gear, and usually is identical to grey gear in appearance. However, pink gear has extra stats that are randomly determined from item to item, the exact stats can vary wildly even between multiple versions of the same item. Usually this makes pink gear stronger than grey gear, but not always. Pink gear is gained through treasure chests in dungeons and battlecraft levequests, and certain high level FATEs also drop some pink icon accessories. Pink gear cannot be sold on the Market Board, but can still be spiritbound and converted to materia. Like grey gear most can also be dyed. Pink gear can be traded for Grand Company seals at your Grand Company HQ.

'Green' gear is dungeon or quest gear. It's usually more stronger than pink gear and often has unique appearences compared to grey and pink gear. It's usually found only in dungeon treasure chests but some quests also reward green gear. A couple of pieces also can be crafted. Most green gear cannot be sold on the Market Board but there are a couple of exceptions to that. Some green gear can be melded with materia, but cannot be converted into materia. Green gear can be traded for GC seals with your Grand Company.

'Blue' gear is the 'elite' gear of the game. This is the type of gear considered usually 'best in slot'. It's almost always only gained through special quests or gained from certain special npc vendors in return for endgame 'Allagan tomestones' currency. The first set of blue gear you will get probably around level 50 which is your Job's 'Artifact Armour' or AF which takes the form of that Job's traditional appearance in past FF games (like WHM's AF is a white robe with red triangles, just like the original FFI WHM). All blue gear is listed as 'Unique' and 'Untradeable'. Most blue gear cannot have materia melded to it, but there are exceptions. Blue gear cannot be sold on the Market Board, nor can it be converted into materia. Blue gear can be traded for GC seals at your Grand Company.

'Purple' gear is the supreme level of gear you can get in the game. This colour icon is pretty much exclusive to weapons only and is used for the elite 'relic' and 'anima' weapons which are gained through a long and challenging series of quests to create. There is one exception to this though - the wedding ring the Eternity Ring is also classed as purple gear, probably due to it's special status and the special teleport ability it has. Purple gear is 'Unique' and 'Untradable' and thus cannot be converted to materia nor can it be sold at a Market Board, although some can have materia melded to it. Purple gear can be traded with a Grand Company for GC seals.

As for gear bonuses, some gear does have special effects (such as the aforementioned Eternity Ring has a special unique ability that allows the holder to teleport to their partner once every half an hour (except if they're in an instanced area or dungeon). These items will normally have the special effect listed under their stats. These items are not common though.

Materia is a complex topic, but the basics of it is that all gear has a special 'Spiritbond' gauge in the Character screen. This will gradually increase to the maximum 100% by using that item (either in battle or crafting items/harvesting items if you are a Disciple of the Hand or Land). Once that item reaches 100% Spiritbond then it can be converted into materia if it is a grey or pink item or a green item that allows it. Converting an item into materia destroys it so it can never be regained. Once converted, it can be added to certain items that have materia slots on them which will customize the stats of that item depending on the piece of materia.

Either way, there is far too much to cover about materia melding to list here so this page can give you more information on melding it.

[Rongway]

Minor note on blue gear: combat jobs' blue equipment is heavily restricted as Enkidoh described, but crafting and gathering equipment breaks these rules. Some blue gear for Disciples of the Hand and of the Land can be crafted, traded, and sold.

Are there any sets of items that gives extra bonuses?

There are set bonuses, but they only appear on Grand Company gear, which is largely irrelevant from 45 on.

Could i change existing bonuses in certain item or there all are fixed and not possible change?

Purple weapons start with certain stats, but after a certain point in the quest line you get to customize the stats to your liking. This is typically not until several steps in, however. The Stormblood purple weapon quest lines are expected to start soon, but it will likely be a few months before we get to customize them.

[Urthdigger]

Most of the other stuff was touched on, but there's one point I need to greatly stressed. Unlike games such as WoW, Diablo, Torchlight, Borderlands, etc, COLOR IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT! I have seen so many people use gear that's 20 or more levels out of date because they're insisting on only wearing colored gear.

The most important thing is actually Item Level. This essentially determines the stat caps on gear, and any HQ or non-crafted gear will be capped on all stats present on it (Main stat for the intended jobs, vitality, weapon damage or armor, and one substat) plus one substat that's not quite capped. Ergo, higher item level means higher stats, color doesn't enter into it. Also of note, when it comes to materia you can't exceed the stat caps for an item. Thus, the main stats and the capped substat can't be boosted further, but you can boost the secondary substat or add substats not present on the base item this way.

Where color DOES matter however, is its relation to equip level. Especially early on you'll find that crafted gear has an item level matching the equip level, but that green items from dungeons have an item level slightly higher than their equip level. This also will apply to some crafted green items made using "damaged" equipment you can find in dungeons (and you may notice the damaged base items have a lower item level than their equip level). This only really applies up to level 50 however.

Once you pass 50, color is largely irrelevant. You'll have crafted whites and dungeon drop greens with the same ilvl increase with each equip level increase, only difference being one level has just crafted items and the next has just dungeon drops. There's also the level caps for each expansion (50, 60, 70) where item level keeps going up with each patch for the expansion while staying at the same level. So, for instance level 50 gear ranges from ilvl 50 to 130. Just get the highest ilvl you can feasibly get (Poetics tomestones work wonders for this at 50 and 60).

So, that whole spiel given, the way I list colors is as follows:

White: Common craftables.

Green: Uncommon but not special. This gear just exists, nothing really special to it, but requires dungeon drops or special gathering nodes that are only up occasionally to craft it, if it's not a dungeon drop itself.

Blue: Lore items. These are either quest rewards or raid drops, or obtained via tomestones, and they always have some lore attached to them. Whether it's the old equipment of a hero of your job, the masterworks of a once-great smith, or ancient allagan armor, every piece has a story and a purpose.

Pink: Aetherial items. Ok, not all of them are "aetherial" in name, but most are. These have random stats but they still follow the rules of typical gear (Full vit and main stat for the job, one substat at full and one at a lesser amount), it just picks two random substats to be the main and secondary. Aetherial gear also gets a bonus to spiritbonding. Each aetherial gear is based on a crafted piece, though the equip level will be adjusted to match the content where it came from (dungeon or guildleve). Later gear from the Diadem does the same thing, though the appearance is also randomly generated.

Purple: Sentimental items. As mentioned before only two types of items qualify, relics and wedding rings. Wedding rings are a statement of one's love, while relics require an immense devotion of time and energy to complete, and thus usually have great value to their owners outside of their effectiveness.

[Shurrikhan]

Most of the other stuff was touched on, but there's one point I need to greatly stressed. Unlike games such as WoW, Diablo, Torchlight, Borderlands, etc, COLOR IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT! I have seen so many people use gear that's 20 or more levels out of date because they're insisting on only wearing colored gear.

This. Just know that craftable gear will have stats about 20 item levels less in value relative to other colors with the same alleged item level. Likewise pinks can vary hugely in their total secondary stats per item level, though their primary stat values are of the same amount per item level as all other types. That's it. Apart from those two exceptions, all colors are identical. HQ whites/grays, Pinks, Greens, and Blues (no serious gear will be Purple) all have the same primary stat values per item level, and all but Pink have the same secondary stat totals per item level.

[Nedkel]

Thanks guys for that big explanations, its not so complicated as i was worrying it to be, thanks again.

[Urthdigger]

This. Just know that craftable gear will have stats about 20 item levels less in value relative to other colors with the same alleged item level. Likewise pinks can vary hugely in their total secondary stats per item level, though their primary stat values are of the same amount per item level as all other types. That's it. Apart from those two exceptions, all colors are identical. HQ whites/grays, Pinks, Greens, and Blues (no serious gear will be Purple) all have the same primary stat values per item level, and all but Pink have the same secondary stat totals per item level.

NORMAL QUALITY craftables are functionally a lower item level. High quality crafted items are THE SAME POWER as colored gear.