Materia System

[origamikitsune]

Absolutely. Unnnfortunately Xenor then you're boned either way. Catalyst farming will create oversupply of every other stray material. All profits from gathering shunt to materia catalyst. We end up losing...again. Common town crafters make off like bandits with free gold walnut and flax.

Soooo....

Problem
If catalysts are made rare from gathering to give gatherers economic weight in the system, demand will drive overproduction of every other gathering material which is as big a problem as or a BIGGER problem than gear overproduction

Solutions
-Separate catalyst aquisition from primary material aquisition
-Reduce incidental material-gets
-Reduce gathering yields
-Put catalysts in ....*shudders* secondary tool gathering.


Effectively the gatherer's got to make a decision if they want to get crafting mats, or get materia catalyst. Not both. Or if both...that's going to have to be one HECK of a material production nerf.

THIS is why it is incredibly hard to get MMOs right the first time if you don't spend a ton of time playing your own product. No one thinks of these things but players. You almost can't think of everything vital to the decision alone.

Uhg. I totally spaced on on seeing the flood of gathered materials this going to create. The way I see it they can allow catalyst to be gained like crystals (automatic), they can be materials themselves that are harvested/mined/fished off of current nodes, or they can add three new types of nodes - one for each class (or I suppose one that is usable by any class of gatherer).

And yet, this is also an opportunity to add entirely new game-play mechanics to DoL jobs which are even more limited than DoH in variety. Use current tools, nodes, etc., but have an option added to DoL that lets you get catalyst instead of your raw mats and introduce a new and separate mini-game different than the hot-cold currently used.

Alternately use existing mechanics with new options like allow the option (occasionally) to turn the gathered materials into catalyst as they are collected (similar to touch up?). Or make it a skill that equips and does it automatically similar to the random proc'ing of the other gather skills.

There's a few ways SE could capitalize on this opportunity that help (or hinder) the DoL to varying degrees on multiple levels. I hope they have taken this into account and planned accordingly.

[Peregrine]

Uhg. I totally spaced on on seeing the flood of gathered materials this going to create.

I did too originally. This is too difficult for one, or ten players to think about. God help a set of devs who don't play the game as much as we do to think of these things before they torpedo their best intentions.

Ideally, THIS is what I think the players actually bring to the table. We can hammer these causes and effects out in like a day and give the devs a solid platform to make a safe, desired, and effective addition to the game without fear of missing something unintended or some massive quality flaw.

So far I've got 10 potential problems that already need solutions the FIRST time materia is implemented to save the devs time and face. We're probably missing like 5 more.

[Amineri]

I did too originally. This is too difficult for one, or ten players to think about. God help a set of devs who don't play the game as much as we do to think of these things before they torpedo their best intentions.

Ideally, THIS is what I think the players actually bring to the table. We can hammer these causes and effects out in like a day and give the devs a solid platform to make a safe, desired, and effective addition to the game without fear of missing something unintended or some massive quality flaw.

I'm concerned that these new Deaspected Crystals are the catalyst mentioned. If so, gatherers have been hung out to dry, unless the drops are changed. I have accumulated 15 such crystals so far, and only 2 from mining. Most of them I got by running around killing sheep as a rank 48 conjurer ...

[Peregrine]

I'm concerned that these new Deaspected Crystals are the catalyst mentioned. If so, gatherers have been hung out to dry, unless the drops are changed. I have accumulated 15 such crystals so far, and only 2 from mining. Most of them I got by running around killing sheep as a rank 48 conjurer ...

Yeah if deaspected crystals are the catalyst, gatherers should go on strike. It really burns me that gatherers have been taken advantage of and shortchanged in the game design thus far.

I have 18 deaspected. None from mining. Primarily because there's no point in mining any more.