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

[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.

[Oizen]

I generally would like this approach more than the generic +damage, +critical hit, +dritical hit stuff we have right now.

For how cool Materia can be in the mainline games, it sure is a boring system here.

[fulminating]

I like the deployment tactics one most. Although nocturnal sect sounds novel and interesting.
Would these effects work synced down or be removed like my direct hit chance?
Black mage might get a shareable ley lines for their one?

[Shougun]

This stuff is wild... I like it. You undo your strikeout for BLU this second!

Good job not missing out to show that the idea can traverse outside of combat (showing DoL). I appreciated that touch.

I have massive sympathy for those responsible for balancing the game, but at the same time everything is so insanely pristine and structured (which is an achievement worth recognizing) that I feel like I'm playing in a brand new 100% stainless steel kitchen where everything including the floors and walls are stainless steel. Sure it all has different functions but my mind starts to lose definitions because it's all so.. smooth...

It's why I like the PvP kits so much, they example straight forward yet crunchy. I don't really mean to knock the normal kits, because I can see someone very intelligent made them (I have specific criticisms, like 1 to 50 BLU, or questions on what's going on with healers, but as a whole it's not made by a monkey on a typewriter), but it's like they got rubbed so polished that the texture is minimized / gone.

Yet I know very well that bringing back that texture will mean new problems that person gets to hear about. They'll never win lol. Then again-- I am getting a bit tired of the stainless steel, that can very well end up being exclusively a me problem but I can feel it when I load up the game. I have always been one for RP (it has been in my feedback in a sense since the beginning), but is probably more obvious since I bothered to make that Kholusia sized wall of a post.

----

I had one for Dragoon when SE was attempting to remove the 'jump' part of the ability and make it more like just any other ability- and that was when Dragoon uses jump they get wind bristled scales which increase movement speed and grant % max health shield (changing a negative of their jump into a potential buff).

[ForsakenRoe]

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.

I'm aware of Mutamix, the issue is not what I can use the current materia for, but moreso that they're just bland. There's almost no choice in them, pretty much every job is 'Crit where you can, DHit where you can't, Det if you cant get either for some reason'.

I like the deployment tactics one most. Although nocturnal sect sounds novel and interesting.
Would these effects work synced down or be removed like my direct hit chance?
Black mage might get a shareable ley lines for their one?

Uhh, if it were up to me I'd like for them to be accessible in any content where you have access to the skills they affect, but knowing SE, they'd make the effects only meldable onto gear going forward (eg if the system were added to DT, it'd only be meldable on level 91 or above weapons). But if you have, say, the Pepsis effect for SGE, getting synced down below the level they get Pepsis means you wouldn't have the effect, I'd think

Shareable Ley Lines would cause two issues. One, people standing in them would bait more AOEs onto it, and I'm not sure any BLMs want that. But secondly, BLM is one of few classes that actually want Speed, every other class would have their rotation thrown out by it (one of the reasons given for why AST can't really get old Arrow's effect back). But also, even if people DID want Speed on their jobs, this would become the defacto 'correct choice' as it is a way to increase, directly, the raid's damage output.

I can't really think of much for BLM, but one funny idea that comes to mind is being able to ally-target Thundercloud procs, allowing it to function as a very scuffed Raise spell. It would not only cost the BLM damage (because it costs a TC proc), but also I would make it apply some kind of 'unstable vitals' debuff, which would essentially be a 15s 'get them to max HP or they die' Doom debuff. So the healers need to heal them fast to keep them alive, else they're going to drop dead again pretty fast

Good job not missing out to show that the idea can traverse outside of combat (showing DoL). I appreciated that touch.

Ironically, part of the inspiration for the idea was the current relics for DOH/DOL. Small passive effects like 'your quality multiplier from Good conditions is increased from 150% to 175%', or 'Hookset costs are 50% cheaper sometimes, but we're not going to tell you how often this effect triggers (seriously, it just says 'a chance'). If we can have these small gameplay effecting passives, why not have several, and let the player choose based on the situation they're tackling, so it feels like we have more agency? EG I am a Big Fishing enjoyer, I have one left to get (Whale, damn that 13 day gap). The effects above, I could choose one of them based on which fish I'm going for. For something that's a direct catch (especially those with the small window Intuition enforces) like Unconditional, Warden, etc, 'Chum lasts 3 casts' would be incredibly powerful. Conversely, if something requires a Mooch, you have the option of Perma-Patience if it's a long Mooch chain (Ruby Dragon, Greater Serpent of Ronka), or Slapping a Mooched catch is good for certain other 'catch one fish, then it can sometimes Mooch into the BigFish, but mostly garbage' like Sidereal Whale or Hyphalosaurus from the latest patch (though that effect is kinda weirdly worded, and I'm not completely happy with it as an idea)

Maybe an effect for spearfishing, like 'Electric Current can be activated without having to get 10 chained catches, but now costs 400GP' or some such, I think I've used that skill exactly once and it was because I was purposely trying to set up an opportunity to use it