Materia System

[Peregrine]

I wouldn't agree 100% with "equipping low-grade equipment to battle". Another way to characterize this is "gives incentives to players to wear gear appropriate to the challenge". It's saying the same thing, just another way to characterize it.

For example, your proposed solution leads to "everyone always wearing the same best gear". And this is just my own bias, but carrying around gear and not using it, in order to power it up to turn it into materia ... just seems kind of weird.

If you bring your materia crap out to get sp on, there are players out there who will not tolerate that. Thus would you rather carry around the gear with you to attach to it, or be forced to skill it up on marmots on your own time?

I'd rather keep the 5 pieces I'm attaching to on me, while having the option to perform at my best at all times.

OR you don't even technically have to have it on you. Maybe you trade gear you attach to to a moogle, and it atherite links it to you so that any actions you perform attach directly to the gear. Thus you trade a NPC the gear. It disappears. You go do some stuff. You come back. You get your materia with a chance of HQ.

Thus, you can always put your best foot forward, while cooking a better foot on the backburner.