Please Fix Materia.

[ForsakenRoe]

I posted an idea a long time ago for trying to make Materia more interesting. Basically, by introducing a new type of materia, that can only be melded to the weapon (or soul crystal) so it's specific to each Job. Each of this new kind of Materia would have a special effect on one of your actions as that Job: For example, as WHM:

- Liturgy of the Bell now has only 3 stacks, but has no 'early detonation penalty' and a 90s CD (goes from 1000-2000p, to a guaranteed 1200p with half the CD)
- Plenary Indulgence now applies its 'bonus heal' effect as a Barrier, and said effect is 50% stronger (makes it a 300p Barrier effect)
- Divine Benison now leaves Regen on the target for 9s when it expires or breaks from damage

The key point is that none of the hypothetical bonus effects would grant damage, they'd all be utility-focused. No one effect would be 'BIS', because each of them (ideally) comes in useful at different parts of the same fight. For these example effects, take TOP. Each of the effects would be 'best' in a different phase of the fight.

Despite this, the overwhelming number of responses to the thread were 'pointless change, we would just use the one that gives the most damage'. The playerbase is too damage-focused to think about any change through any other lens, it's all just 'does this impact damage, and if so how can we get the most damage out of it'. So, I don't think SE could really do anything to change Materia as a system, even if they wanted to. The players would just try to minmax the hell out of it, even if it were entirely decoupled from damage

[Reginald_Cain]

Materia used to be much more complex and each job had different meld requirements and this was removed slowly to address people needing multiple caster and tank sets because warrior and black mage wanted different stats than their ilk. Materia as a reward sucks but replacing it as a reward would be preferable to making materia an inventory nightmare again.

[PyurBlue]

Reworking stats or materia in some capacity to actually make them interesting would mean that "wrong" choices would exist, even if it was only by a few percentage points, and we all know how averse the devs are to that concept.

This is already the case though isn't it? Having no materia melded at all is the wrong choice currently, but I don't see many complaints about this being possible.