Overmelding needs a QoL change

[Kytrin]

don't overmeld if you don't like it, you don't need it anyway unless you wan't to be op.

Actually, if you plan to do any endgame crafting of any kind... you need overmelds on crafted gear. It's more or less mandatory. You can aim for cheaper overmelds sure, but you still need to buff your stats. The craft, control, and CP simply aren't high enough otherwise as a rule.

I fully support the idea of a melding equivalent of the echo or a similar mercy. Fail a certain number of times in a row, trigger an automatic buff that slowly increases your odds to 100% the more failures you get. Say maybe 20 failures in a row to trigger the buff, which maybe gives you a starting bonus of 15 or 20%, and it goes up by 1% for every failure afterwards? Or something along those lines anyway.

[ForteNightshade]

They won't ever change this simply because materia is among the few things they can throw at us that retain value. Look at Eureka and PotD. People complained because the initial rewards were mostly fireworks, which are worthless joke items. Unfortunately, this game lacks many options when it comes to rewards. If they made overmelding easy enough to mostly mitigate the RNG, they'd become just as worthless.

That being said, I do think increasing the percentage by small increments after failure wouldn't hurt. Maybe something like 1-2%? Or maybe base it around how many times it's blown up. 10+ boosts the chance a slight bit. Regardless, it will never be much if only so they can keep materia semi-valuable.

[Harmonea]

I can agree with OP to an extent actually. I don't like the proposed solution, but there's nothing fun about buying a hundred materia and sitting there with your face propped up on one hand as you mindlessly click... click... click... click... click... click... click... click... click... to try again until it sticks.

Yes, when the melds are done you have something you can feel proud of... but in the moment you get that last meld, there's no sense of achievement, just a sense of "ugh, finally." And if a piece of your game is so punishing that people are just dying for the moment they can stop playing that part, it's a problem.

Ornate gear exists as an option for those who can't tolerate the RNG, but it's far too rare to be brought up as a serious alternative, and the reward for obtaining it is that you get to skip a game mechanic. Again, if a piece of your game is so punishing that it's considered a reward that you don't have to play it, it's a problem.

I don't have a great solution, and it's not like I want max meld stats to be easier to obtain, but overmeld as a gameplay loop isn't fun.

Maybe some kind of system where you can craft "patches" to sew or fasten onto your gear, with difficult crafts that would have to rely on some (but not excessive) RNG to allow for a higher chance of success. Use the collectable quality system; a max quality patch would be extremely hard to make but have a ~75% chance of sticking, while a half quality patch you could macro-craft might be 40-50% chance. And, hell, make each patch consume 5+ materia in the craft ingredients.

Again, probably not a great solution; I suspect SE could come up with better if they decided this needed attention. But at least it would involve some actual gameplay that you aren't just looking forward to the end of.

[Ardox]

I can agree with OP to an extent actually. I don't like the proposed solution, but there's nothing fun about buying a hundred materia and sitting there with your face propped up on one hand as you mindlessly click... click... click... click... click... click... click... click... click... to try again until it sticks.

***THIS***

Could we at the very least have a process/ui window/something that let us meld and unmeld materia without closing in our face in between each action?


Throwing this in there:

– Allow DoH to regular meld items they have the level to repair.

– Allow the use of a consumable item to slightly bump up the chances for a successful overmeld. (eg. Using 15x Carbonized matter for a 1% increase in chance.. make it scale with ilv, number of meld already there, etc)

[Gneo]

Ornate gear exists, but it's far too rare to be brought up as a serious alternative, and the reward for obtaining it is that you get to skip a game mechanic.

^^^^^^^^^^
THIS


How about "Ornate" becomes the default/regular?

[ForteNightshade]

I can agree with OP to an extent actually. I don't like the proposed solution, but there's nothing fun about buying a hundred materia and sitting there with your face propped up on one hand as you mindlessly click... click... click... click... click... click... click... click... click... to try again until it sticks.

It would be nice if you could do something like put in how many overmelds you're willing to make and the game automate it from there. Say I want to make 30 attempts. So long as I have 30 of the same materia, the game will keep trying without my input. Sort of like Quick Synthesis. That would at least make the process itself far less obnoxious.

Unfortunately, like I said earlier. There is zero chance they increase the odds themselves beyond a very small amount. What else are they going to use for rewards?

[DrWho2010]

overmelding is a gil sink as well as a way to remove excess materia from the system. I don't see it changing anytime soon.

[Harmonea]

overmelding is a gil sink as well as a way to remove excess materia from the system. I don't see it changing anytime soon.

It's not at all a gil sink since no gil is removed from the economy (i.e. given to an NPC) in the process. At most, money changes hands between players and MB fees are involved, but even that isn't necessary with scrips, clusters, and a few slots on a retainer to hold the stash.

As for removing excess materia, let's not ignore the fact that they likely put so many sources for materia in the game specifically to drive overmeld costs down, and that many proposed solutions involve still consuming multiple materia to compensate for the overflow.

I don't see it changing anytime soon either, because it's not a system that broken enough to put people off playing the game as a whole, but you can't deny it's generally perceived as unfun. There's no harm pointing that out and bringing it up to a dev team already looking at crafting in general (with regard to Ishgard).

[DrWho2010]

RNG does not necessarily have to equal something being unfun. that's what this conversation basically boils down to.

[Harmonea]

RNG does not necessarily have to equal something being unfun.

Correct. Glad we're on the same page.

that's what this conversation basically boils down to.

Incorrect. I can't speak for OP, but if you go back through my post again, my gripe is not with the RNG itself at all. Overmelding as a process is simply not engaging because you aren't actually playing an active role in the process. You just click a button until the dice says you may pass go.

It's like old board games where you can't land on the last space and win the game unless you roll exactly the right number. You roll the dice, the game says no, and you're disappointed because the whole interaction is over that quickly and was entirely negative.

I highly recommend the video "The Two Types of Random" on the YouTube channel Game Maker's Toolkit if you're interested in that exact line at which RNG can change from engaging to frustrating. I can come back and add a link in about an hour, but it's an easy search.