Dark Matter should be returned to gathering points.

[Catharsis]

Currently, we're having a problem with burgeoning repair costs. Unlike in 1.0, monsters in high level content don't drop dark matter anymore, and harvesting/gathering nodes do not in fact produce dark matter.

This is contrary to what is written under "Repairing Gear" in "Active Help", which clearly states "Dark Matter can be purchased in stores, as well as gathered in the field". It can not.

I think one solution is simply to return Dark Matter to harvesting nodes or dungeon drops - make the Dark Matter vendor for 1 gil, and people who only want to run dungeon content and have no interest in harvesting/crafting might be happier without having to injure their wallets (although they will have to find a friend to help them repair their gear).

Please consider this request, as I believe it will lead to a more healthy gameplay mood without having to worry about bills (something which I think should be best left to real life).

Edit: I am aware that it can also be purchased with grand company seals, but the current cost of over 2k for 5 pieces of rank 5 dark matter (insufficient to even mend a full set of gear) seems a bit unreasonable, personally.

[Felis]

You are right.
SE should fix the Active Help text.

In every city, in every camp there is a NPC selling Dark Matter for cheap.

[Catharsis]

You are right.
SE should fix the Active Help text.

In every city, in every camp there is a NPC selling Dark Matter for cheap.

Grade V Dark Matter is 350 gil per piece. It is often cheaper just to use the Repair NPC than to purchase Grade V. We have 11 or 12 gear slots (depending on the use of the offhand) and repairing all of those would cost 3850 or 4200 gil, which I do not think qualifies as "cheap".

Well, it's not so much a problem for Legacy players such as ourselves, with large gil reserves and Dark Matter stacks to fall back on; but I can see this being a great issue for people on new servers.

[tuseroni]

i agree with this. i have every DoH leveled so i can repair my own stuff and i have my DoL leveled to support those DoH, but i can't collect dark matter i have to buy it...if i have to buy dark mater why the frick would anyone repair anyones stuff? not just me repairing my stuff why would i repair someone else's stuff? if it costs more to do repairs than to just have an NPC repair the item, why wouldn't you just go to an NPC?

making dark mater not gettable makes self repair useless.

[Catharsis]

Thank you for the support, I understand that many people will be too distracted (and perhaps new players don't know what Dark Matter does) to understand the importance of the issue - It seems the Japanese Harvesting forums have a thread about the topic located here., but the English forums don't appear to acknowledge the issue of Dark Matter availability at all (I think it has serious ramifications).

I would really be glad if other people would also voice their opinions on repair costs and Dark Matter. I don't even mind if you have a dissenting opinion, because I think the issue is important and worth discussing candidly.

Could anyone tell me what the situation is like on a non-Legacy server? (Repair bills and end-game finances and such)

[Quesse]

I agree.

Dark Matter should still come from Gathering points.

Repairing a set of gear costing 4200gil is also a big issue. That would have been 42,000 gil in 1.0 money - a ridiculous sum.

The economy is pretty screwed up as it is anyway - I just sold a stack of cotton yarn for 10,000 gil. That would be 100,000gil in 1.0 Can you even imagine!!! 100k gil for a stack of cotton yarn??? Just one example of 100's. Some of this will be fixed with time but SE really gotta do something about repair costs.

[Sir_Rexus]

So far I havent had to really repair much, most of my gear gets full spirit bond before its even close to breaking so then it gets converted and then I make some new gear. But higher level when you have AF or a certain set of dungeon gear that you wont turn into materia then I can see this being an issue. Hopefully it will get added back in the gathering jobs.

[Griffster]

I concur, we should have the ability to gather Dark Matter. Without this ability, repairs become another gil sink. Player repairs was a great ability in 1.0, it allowed us to stand and seek repairs and quite often they were performed in a few moments.

This is not game breaking but, lowers the enjoyment and reduces keeping gear in top shape. Now I will wait until gear is almost at zero before repairing.

[Catharsis]

@Sir Rexus: Frankly speaking, repair costs will not affect you much until you hit level 50. This is more of a late-game concern, so I'm not too surprised if it hasn't started to affect you, since you will probably be replacing your gear faster than you need to repair it. I'm not dismissing your opinion, by the way (I think level is an important consideration), and I'd love to hear from you again once you hit 50 and start doing dungeon runs!

@Griffster: I actually had problems with some people who would join Amdapor with their gear at 50% or 25% durability, and after a few learning-wipes, they'd have everything broken and be unable to repair it since we can't change jobs in the dungeon! That's one of the bad side-effects to waiting to repair gear, but the current game system encourages it! (I'm not accusing you of anything though, I'm pretty sure you'd repair your gear before you did a dungeon)

[Vaer]

Indeed it should. Put Grade 5 on unspoiled points if you want.

That said, always carry an extra comparable weapon to your main weapon on you for dungeons.