High Materia: A concept to allow for some player agency, without destroying balance

[ForsakenRoe]

For a long time, players have asked the question of 'can we have some agency in our gameplay?', referring to their rotation or playstyle. Every Paladin uses the same rotation, you either 'do it right' or you 'do less damage'. The same is true for almost any job, only Healers get to break out of this (and not for good reasons, but because they don't 'have' a rotation per se). With this in mind, and with an expansion on the horizon (heh), I've thought about how we could have a bit of additional flavour, spice, whatever you want to call it in how our characters function in combat.

We all know what's coming in 7.0: Grade 11 and Grade 12 Materia. It happens every expansion, SE throws one bajillion materia into the economy of each world, because every A-Rank hunt and it's mother drops those crystals you can trade in for them. The concept of Hunt Trains, and the fully organized nature of them, allows for everyone who turns up to one, to ALL receive these crystals, injecting insane amounts of Materia into the game. So, of course we get new Grades, so that 'stockpiling' the older Grades is not relevant. This comes with a downside of it's own though: Materia is boring as hell, as it stands. We will go from a Grade 10 Materia granting us 36 Crit, to a Grade 12 Materia granting us 72 Crit. Or 90, or whatever arbitrary value. But thanks to the formula behind the scenes, chances are the amount of 'chance to Crit' that it gives will be the same as what we already had. Just a different Grade number, and a different icon.

Instead, I'd like to see something along the lines of this, an idea I've had for a while that I'll refer to as High Materia. I've recently heard that the term is already used in JP, so a different name might be required. Perhaps 'Fireforged/Levinforged/etc Materia' to reference elements, or Astralblighted/Umbralblighted for Light/Darkness. Anyway, these materia would be extra special, allowing only ONE of them to be melded, either on your weapon, or to your soul crystal, if that's possible to program. Either way, it'd be specific to the job, thanks to the gear slot it is melded to, meaning no re-melding concerns for 'omni-tank', 'omni-healer' etc. players if they want to swap jobs within their role.

Edit: Since the effects of this system is a sort of 'breaking the limits of a specific job action', I should have realized sooner that 'Dynamis' would be a good tie-in for the naming system, rather than Materia (which is made of Aether), but this forum does not allow for editing thread titles

The effect of these High Materia would be based on the job, and effectively function as a choice for the player between several passive effects, akin to traits we get from levelling up. These would ALL be non-damage related, so as not to cause one Materia to be 'the correct choice' (because it provides more damage and the others do not), instead, any 'damage gains' possible through the system would be entirely indirect, and based on capitalizing on the opportunities the extra effects provide, rather than a direct 'This skill is now stronger' effect.

Example effects could be things like shown in the following posts. These aren't intended to be balanced against one another, but just ideas of what I mean by 'non-damage related effects'. Please also remember that, with a system such as this being added, things like 'how much we have to heal' versus 'how much healing we have', or 'how much sustain a tank has' versus 'how much damage they take from autoattacks' would be changed a lot, meaning that while a healer/tank effect might look OP in the current game, that doesn't necessarily mean that it would be if the system were to exist (as SE could justify increasing incoming damage somewhat because of it).

[ForsakenRoe]

Tanks:

PLD

Cover reduces the transferred damage taken by the PLD by 20% (we had this in SB)

Hallowed Ground's CD is reduced by 120s (becoming 300s)

Intervention now also removes one cleansable debuff from both the PLD and the target upon execution (cough cough P12S part 2's Crush Helm TB)

WAR

Bloodwhetting/Nascent Flash's Shield effect (400p) is reapplied upon every weaponskill used during it's effect

Shake It Off no longer consumes Thrill/Vengeance/Bloodwhetting, instead always being 20% instead of 15%

Spending Beast Gauge reduces the cooldown on Equilibrium by 1 second

DRK

Salted Earth's CD is reduced to 5s (giving 100% uptime and easy repositioning), but it's potency is also reduced to 10 per tick (to keep it's damage roughly the same, give or take because it's less bursty). Salt and Darkness' CD is increased to 90s. While standing within Salted Earth, every weaponskill or spell used restores 50p of HP to the DRK.

Oblation now applies a shield equal to 10% of the DRK's Max HP upon execution

Dark Mind and Dark Missionary now mitigate against Physical damage with 50% of their usual effect against Magical damage

GNB

Bloodfest immediately refreshes charges of Aurora to maximum

Brutal Shell's shield is increased to 300p, and Heart of Stone/Corundum always consider Brutal Shell to be active for their transfer effect. If the GNB is the target and Brutal Shell is present, it is replaced with a Brutal Shell of double strength (600p)

Superbolide's CD is reduced by 60s (to 300s), and drains your MP to 1 instead of HP (has no effect on gameplay, it'd just be there cos it's funny)

[ForsakenRoe]

Healers:

WHM

Plenary Indulgence applies it's 'additional healing of 200p' as a Shield, rather than as direct healing. Additionally, it grants 10% damage reduction to allies while active

Liturgy of the Bell is reduced to a 90s CD, and it's 'detonate instantly' penalty is reduced from '50% less healing per stack remaining' to '0% less', but has 3 charges instead of 5 (it is currently 1000-2000p of healing depending on stack count, this would make it a consistent 1200p but available twice as often)

Divine Benison applies a copy of the Regen spell upon being fully absorbed, for half of it's regular duration (250p, 9s, total of 750p)

SCH

The effect of 'Summon Seraph' is permanently active, but Consolation's charge time is increased to 60s. You can change Seraph's appearance back to Eos or Selene with /petglamour

Fey Blessing is replaced with Fey Sacrifice, wherein the Fairy channels for 10s, costing 50 Gauge. 10% of any damage taken by the party is redirected to the Fairy. The Fairy cannot drop below 1HP (meaning you'll always get the full 10s of mit). Should the Fairy hit 1 HP, at the end of it's channel it will disappear temporarily, resummoning itself after 10s

In addition to Galvanize, Deployment Tactics can now spread Excogitation, Protraction, and Catalyze (crit Adlos are back)

AST

Synastry has no duration, but only 25% of the healing done is transferred

Synastry now also works on OGCDs, and also transfers any additional effects (i mean regens, shields, etc, NOT cards), but at half of their original potency (eg Exaltation applies with 5% mit and 250p heal upon expiration)

An entirely new button we've never heard of before, Nocturnal Sect, is added. This can only be used out-of-combat (changing to Diurnal Sect upon use, which takes you back to 'regular AST gameplay'), and modifies certain skills as follows:

Aspected Benefic: does the shielding half we know from Neutral Sect
Aspected Helios: does the shielding half we know from Neutral Sect
Collective Unconscious: Mit lasts 20s, regen lasts for 6s. Channeling refreshes the duration of each effect
Celestial Opposition: 200p heal, 10% mit for 15s
Earthly Star: 10% mit during chargeup time, does not 'grow' to Giant size, heals for 350p upon detonation
Horoscope: 5% mit for 10s. Empowering with Helios or Asp.Helios extends the duration to 30s. Heals for 100p/200p upon expiration

SGE

Krasis is now AOE and applies to all party members, but has 10% increased healing effect instead of 20%

Breaking Eukrasian Diagnosis/Prognosis shields leave a 6s buff on that player, called Second Opinion. Pepsis can consume this buff, healing for the same potency it would have healed had the shield been consumed by Pepsis (450p ST, 350p AOE)

Kardia becomes an actual mechanic While under the effect of Soteria, Kardia instead applies one layer of Panhaima shielding (200p) per healing instance it provides (instead of being increased by 70%). Soteria's CD is reduced to 5s, but it has an MP cost of 600

[Absurdity]

Healers:
SGE

Krasis is now AOE and applies to all party members, but has 10% increased healing effect instead of 20%

Breaking Eukrasian Diagnosis/Prognosis shields leave a 6s buff on that player, called Second Opinion. Pepsis can consume this buff, healing for the same potency it would have healed had the shield been consumed by Pepsis (450p ST, 350p AOE)

Kardia becomes an actual mechanic While under the effect of Soteria, Kardia applies one layer of Panhaima shielding (200p) per healing instance it provides. Soteria's CD is reduced to 5s, but it has an MP cost of 600

I would add one more potential effect here, simply because it has been bothering me the entire expansion that Sage doesn't have this.

"Soteria now applies Kardia to every player in your party for 15 seconds or until all stacks of Soteria are used, but Soteria no longer increases the cure potency of Kardion effects provided by you."

[ForsakenRoe]

DPS

I will just do one example from each of the 3 subroles, as this is getting long and we all get the point by now, I think. (and also because DPS are a bit harder to come up with ideas for, given their whole thing is 'do damage' and we're trying to avoid effects that directly affect damage)

Melee - MNK

Mantra applies a 300p shield to everyone upon execution

Riddle of Earth now applies True North upon execution

Anatman builds stacks of Inner Focus for each second you channel it, up to a maximum of 5. Each stack reduces the damage you take from the next hit you take by 3%, up to 15% at 5 stacks

PhysRanged - BRD

Nature's Minne now applies a 10% damage resistance, in addition to the increased healing

Warden's Paean is now AOE and applies to everyone within a 30y radius

Peloton can now be used in combat, but has a 10s duration and a 120s CD

Caster - RDM

Verraise is now an OGCD with a 5s CD (but it still costs 2400MP so it's not exactly spammable)

Vercure is replaced by Vermedica, making it 300p and 15y AOE. It also grants 10 White Mana upon use (probably still a meme, but might be good for week 1 prog for things like Harrowing Hell safety?)

Magick Barrier now applies an actual 'barrier' effect of 250p to all allies when activated

Limited - BLU

is an actual job

[ForsakenRoe]

Quick edit here, I forgot an important detail (and I need it with the rest of the posts): This system could also apply to Crafters and Gatherers! As example effects:

MIN/BTN:

Eureka Moment has 100% chance to activate after Ageless Words/Solid Reason

Gathering any item will also yield one elemental shard/crystal/cluster, depending on the type/element the node holds. This yield can be increased with The Twelve's Bounty or The Giving Land

GP regeneration is increased by an additional 2GP per tick and 2GP per gathering attempt, stacking with all increases from traits

FSH:

Chum lasts for 3 casts instead of 1

You have the effect of Patience2 permanently active, but Precision/Powerful Hookset cost 100 GP instead of 50

Surface Slap lasts 3 catches, and can be used on a mooched fish (so you can catch the mooch-bait fish, then benefit from Slap when going for the actual target), but costs twice the GP (400)

Crafters

Rapid Synthesis/Focused Touch/Focused Synthesis have 100% success rate

Tricks of the Trade restores 30 CP instead of 20

Innovation and Veneration last for 5 steps instead of 4


Thank you for reading, if you have any 'non-damage related' ideas for effects that could be cool to see, feel free to reply with them. Or just like the original post if you like the idea, on the extremely slim offchance that it ends up on the desks of CBU3's design team and gets implemented in some way

[samuel101]

In the central Thanalan there is a place that you visit early in the game and after a few quests you can gamble your materia for a chance at better materia. Myself I just take them to the vendor and bank the gil as before endgame you won't need proper melds to complete most duties.

[Deceptus]

In the central Thanalan there is a place that you visit early in the game and after a few quests you can gamble your materia for a chance at better materia. Myself I just take them to the vendor and bank the gil as before endgame you won't need proper melds to complete most duties.

But then you see people with zero melds on their gear at all (even the bargain bin rank VIII's in their slots) and are missing out on easily 10%-15% of their substats.

[ForsakenRoe]

But then you see people with zero melds on their gear at all (even the bargain bin rank VIII's in their slots) and are missing out on easily 10%-15% of their substats.

In casual content or in highend content (savage prog etc)? Because one does not matter at all (casual content, as it has no enrage timers)

If I saw someone had no materia melded in an EX roulette, I'm personally not going to care, because we're still going to clear. On which note, if people can go into content with no melds at all (even EX trials) and clear, where's the stance of 'this system is not possible and a waste of resources, because one will be more damage' coming from I wonder? Since in the choice between 'not melding substats' and 'melding substats', one is 'more damage', but we don't hold people to do so unless they're in a certain threshold of content difficulty

idk I just don't understand the whole obsession with 'we must have perfect balance and anything that threatens it cannot be permitted', especially given that we had Abyssos this expansion, which saw certain comps mathematically unable to clear, something that has not happened in this game since Gordias. We've never had perfect balance between jobs, we never WILL have perfect balance, so why is there such a push to reach for it, even at the cost of everything being streamlined into a (subjective) bland morass of samey gameplay (cough healer and tank rotations)

[Mikey_R]

It is worth noting that there is a difference in comparing jobs to each other and comparing jobs to themselves.

In the case of comparing jobs to each other, ie. party composition, you don't necessarily take the highest DPS jobs as different people prefer different jobs and as a result, they are more likely to play and get better at said job, meaning they will perform better than if they played as a "higher DPS" job.

On the other side, comparing a job to itself, you want to take the best version of that job you can. Why should someone use Spec A when Spec B is just better in every way. This then isn't a case for job preference, but your functionality in the team you are in. This is likely why people are more strict when it comes to balance for a job itself when comparing it to itself than comparing jobs to each other. I'm going to take a PLD, when is the best PLD I can take.

On that subject, you might think your ideas provide no DPS benefit, which they don't really, however, how many provide useful utility that is just a great help in general? Again, just looking at your ideas for PLD;

Cover with 20% mitigation, useful in SB, don't see why it cannot have it's uses here,
Hallowed Ground having a 5 minute cooldown, insanely powerful, more uses out of (almost) complete invulnerability is just going to help in many scenarios,
Cleanse on Intervention, ok, how often is that actually useful? I assume the comment on P12S's tank buster is in relation to this, but if the only thing is one specific mechanic, it doesn't seem that useful, especially if you consider a shorter Hallowed Ground to (I assume) just invuln through.

So, you have 2 useful ones and one, questionable. Already you can see where people will say you have to take either option 1 or 2. However, between these 2 options, which one is better? Maybe, it is fight dependant? Which leads to the next question, how easy is it to swap between different options? If it is simple, why bother with the whole 'materia' thing and not just have it as a menu option? If it is also fight dependant, people will expect you to have the right materia for it as well, strats for PF at least will be made with specific specs in mind to make the PF life easier, this then defeats the point of it being a personal choice as, again, we are back to it being required.

On the flipside, if it is harder to swap, people will complain, especially if you have to swap several times throughout the savage progression. It just turns into needless busywork.

What a lot of people forget, just because they only focus on it, is that DPS is not the only thing you have to consider when designing a fight, a tank's mitigation kit and a healer's healing kit also have to come into play. You can design a fight that requires specific setups in order to win, which leave no choice, or you look at the basic kits, design fights around that and leave it up to the player to choose what to use, at which point certain things can destroy the balance you have crafted when designing fights, taking away that initial challenge you set out.

This again comes down to, to try and make a choice, but in reality, there is only the right choice and the wrong choice and noone wants to pick the wrong choice.