Believe it or not.. once again the community is split right down the middle on an issue...
Surprise, right?
There are several issues here though.
1. NM's dropping gear as opposed to mats for gear
2. Unique/untradeable gear vs crafted materia gear (single AND double slotted)
3. Old content being made pointless by new, easy-to-make crafted gear and materia
Here are some possible solutions:
1. Unique Materia
We know the Cobalt Cuirass is the big dog tank piece. What if there was an Adamantoise NM that dropped Adamant Materia that gave +50 def, +50 vit.
But it would use up all materia slots, so you had to put it on a cuirass with no other materia on it. And the cuirass becomes the "Impenetrable Cobalt Cuirass"
2. Unique Materia V2
Materia that only fits 1 piece. Similar to upgrading gear...
At 2.0, there would be 2 NMs (I know hopefully more than 2, but 2 that concern us for this suggestion).
Some type of unnamed as of yet Fire Wyrm and Phoenix. Beating this Fire Wyrm gives you a special Materia that can ONLY be used on an Ifrit weapon. That has some CRAZY stats like Att +100, fire resistance +100
And Phoenix drops the catalyst needed to attach said materia...
I know Ifrit possibly wont be in game as of 2.0, but you get what I mean
3. Melding like repairs
So you've got your adamant materia. But it is Unique/untradeable. Make it so you can put the gear, catalyst and materia in your Bazaar. And since there is a 100% success rate, there is no real risk to doing so
4. Bound gear
A good alternative to unique/untradeable would be gear that is crafted from some big, hard-to-get NM drop is unique, but doesn't become untradeable until you actually equip or use it. Once you do that, it becomes "bound" to you. This would fit in good with the whole "Spiritbonding" and "Aether" lore of the game. I wanted this special gear to be bound to you upon equipping, but my buddy Darkstar likes to try on the gear he makes for people before he gives it to them and thinks it should be bound to you once you actually use it. Either way, the same idea remains
What do you guys think?