Materia system should be streamlined and based on FFVII.

[Orca]

Id like to see something similar to FF7's materia, definitely. The materia system in XIV kinda alienates me and a lot of people i know, i generally get the feeling that i just dont want to involve myself with it.

Although im sure im in the minority here, what i would love to see is this;

1: Abolish the creation of tier 2,3 and 4 materia. Make all newly converted materia tier 1, with the stats dependant on the converted items level and quality. (and static, not randomly generated, so all lv 10 harness produce strength +1, all lv 50 harness produce strength +6/HQ +7) The rarest materia should come from items crafted with primal/HNM mats.

2: Make materia equippable/unequippable by anyone, at the cost of one catalyst to equip an orb, and no penalty or loss when unequipping one. Get rid of meld risks and allow materia to be equipped on any piece of equipment, but with less slots. ie, white/common: 3 slots, green/uncommon: 2 slots, blue/rare: 2 slots, gold/legendary: 1 slot. And probably only let tier 4's be equipped to rare and legendary equipment, so common/uncommon can only stack tier 3 at lv 50.

3: Allow materia to level up as you fight with it. Each level up adding a static amount to its base stat + bonus random amount (could be an amazingly high bonus, could be okay, could be 0.) Let it level up with the player at lv 10, 30 and 45 (tier 2,3,4) so a new player can get their first materia at lv 10 and it can grow with them through the game.

4: Instead of losing gear to melding with those low success rates, enable the fusing of materia via crafters. Id love it if we could fuse two tier 4's in to a new tier 1 with the originals combined stats, then level it up. (or if the best materia could only be made via fusion recipes.) The amount added to the materia from its static level ups would have to be reduced a bit but they could let you fuse it with another orb up to 3 times. They just need to use the current double, triple and quad meld success rates for this respectively, so people can still work hard to build godly materia, but every attempt has the chance to destroy both the orbs theyre trying to fuse. And if you fuse something amazing, you might get even luckier with a good random bonus to its level ups. =D

[Onisake]

Id like to see something similar to FF7's materia, definitely. The materia system in XIV kinda alienates me and a lot of people i know, i generally get the feeling that i just dont want to involve myself with it.

Although im sure im in the minority here, what i would love to see is this;

1: Abolish the creation of tier 2,3 and 4 materia. Make all newly converted materia tier 1, with the stats dependant on the converted items level and quality. (and static, not randomly generated, so all lv 10 harness produce strength +1, all lv 50 harness produce strength +6/HQ +7) The rarest materia should come from items crafted with primal/HNM mats.

I agree with this. but we don't' necessarily have to do away with tiers.

a Tier 1 materia can grow from +1 STR to +10 STR as you spirit bond it. fill the gauge once, +1 becomes +2. fill it again +2 becomes +3. etc. etc.

2: Make materia equippable/unequippable by anyone, at the cost of one catalyst to equip an orb, and no penalty or loss when unequipping one. Get rid of meld risks and allow materia to be equipped on any piece of equipment, but with less slots. ie, white/common: 3 slots, green/uncommon: 2 slots, blue/rare: 2 slots, gold/legendary: 1 slot. And probably only let tier 4's be equipped to rare and legendary equipment, so common/uncommon can only stack tier 3 at lv 50.

This i do not agree with. I do like the idea of a set number of slots per item, though. +1 stuff could come with an additional materia slot in some cases.

I despise with a passion the 'gamble' system of melding right now. losing both the materia and the item is just too harsh. I myself will not go past a single meld and opt for gearing up with GC equipment and buying a double melds for stat caps.

I think certain materia going on certain gear is fine. This keeps things more balanced IMO.

My understanding is SE wanted crafting to be it's own class. and not just something you do on the side. This is one reason they play such a big role in hamlet. it's possible that they will continue to play big roles in other content such as PvP.

I have no problem with them being heavily tied to the materia system.

3: Allow materia to level up as you fight with it. Each level up adding a static amount to its base stat + bonus random amount (could be an amazingly high bonus, could be okay, could be 0.) Let it level up with the player at lv 10, 30 and 45 (tier 2,3,4) so a new player can get their first materia at lv 10 and it can grow with them through the game.

I like this idea. it makes spirit bonding more worthwhile.

I do not like the 'random amount' I'd prefer to set it by tiers. IE: Tier 1 materia grows slower than Tier IV materia. so the level 20 or so sword you put a Tier 1 on can hold you over till you get rid of it. but gearing for end-game can require that Tier IV materia you really want to grow with.

This would also open up materia that can enhance abilities. it can start with a small bonus and increase over time as you work on it. similar to meriting in FFXI.

4: Instead of losing gear to melding with those low success rates, enable the fusing of materia via crafters. Id love it if we could fuse two tier 4's in to a new tier 1 with the originals combined stats, then level it up. (or if the best materia could only be made via fusion recipes.) The amount added to the materia from its static level ups would have to be reduced a bit but they could let you fuse it with another orb up to 3 times. They just need to use the current double, triple and quad meld success rates for this respectively, so people can still work hard to build godly materia, but every attempt has the chance to destroy both the orbs theyre trying to fuse. And if you fuse something amazing, you might get even luckier with a good random bonus to its level ups. =D

if they did this i'd like to see a new crafting class. or maybe tie it to alchemy and require the two materia and a catalyst (maybe something rare like philosophers stones for the highest level of materia)

when combining materia the bonuses shoudl be lower. IE a pure STR should grow higher than a STR/VIT. and a STR/VIT shoudl grow higher than a STR/MND/ENM+