Materia (Final Fantasy XIV)

Materia is a crafting system from Final Fantasy XIV, implemented with patch 1.19. It allows players to upgrade their weapons and armor by turning undesired pieces of equipment into materia, "crystallized memories of a piece of equipment that user possessed a spirit bond with", which can be melded to another piece of equipment to provide bonuses.

Origin
A strange goblin geomancer named Mutamix Bubblypots and his apprentices set up shop near the walls of Ul'dah, calling themselves the Carriers of the Cauldron, promoting a weird matter called 'materia', said to augment gear. Quickly, word about the new technology spread all over Ul'dah thanks to several adventurers who met the goblin. Merchants in town divided amongst those who welcome this new method, while others are vehemently against the presence of Mutamix near the city walls.

There are plenty of rumors about how Mutamix himself learned about materia. Some say that such advanced military technology could only have been developed within Garlemald, while others believe it was born of Near Eastern wisdom that had long slumbered within the ancient tomes of the Great Library. What all agree, however, is that at some point, a fraternity of goblin scholars called the Illuminati acquired the secrets of materia, governed by a code of secrecy until Mutamix betrayed the order and, believing that materia should be allowed to benefit all folk rather than a select few, spread the word over Eorzea.

Materia Creation
To turn items into materia, players must equip said item and do activities like battling or crafting, which in turn will increase his/her spiritbond with it. Once this value reaches 100%, the item can be turned into materia using a key item called "materia assimilator", an apparatus which can be obtained via the quest "Forging the Spirit"; this process cannot be reversed. It should be noted that selling or trading an item, as well as storing it inside the private room Armoire, will reset all spiritbond with it. Items that can be turned into materia have a small icon to the right of the spiritbond gauge, and are displayed as "Convertible".

Spiritbond speed can be increased by equipping gear with the Spiritbond+ ability, and will be reduced under the following circumstances:
 * The player does not meet the item’s affinity level - Ex: A level 30 player using a level 31 headpiece.
 * The player's level is not suited to the level of an enemy being fought, recipe being synthesized, or grade of a node being gathered - Ex: A level 40 disciple of the land gathering at a grade 2 node.

There are several types of materia, divided into four tiers ranging from I (lowest) to IV (highest), and the same gear does not necessarily convert into the same materia, but the process follow certain patterns (i.e. INT materia will not be produced from swords and axes, etc.). An equipment’s level will have an impact on what materia tier will be created, along with the chance of creating a higher tier materia. Materia of the same name and tier may possess slightly different bonuses.

When creating materia, the level of the item being converted determines the possible tier of the created materia:
 * Optimal level between 1 and 30: Always creates tier I Materia
 * Optimal level between 31 and 40: May create tier I or II Materia.
 * Optimal level between 41 and 50: May create tier II, III or IV Materia.

Sample Materia

 * Intelligence: Increases intelligence.
 * Ironman's Will: Increases strength and vitality.
 * Fire: Increases the power of fire-based attacks.
 * Sagacious Aim: Increases magic critical hit rate.
 * Vitality: Increases max HP.

Melding Materia
Materia can be melded on the following seven gear slots: Weapons(Main weapon / main tool / shield) / Head / Body / Hands / Legs / Feet / Belt; However, materia cannot be melded into most Unique / Untradeable gear. Multiple materia effects on the same item or different items stack, but each parameter has an upper limit set up (example: HP increase is capped at +280hp for all gear equipped).

Melding materia requires the "materia melder" key item, an apparatus which can be obtained via the quest "Waking the Spirit" available to Disciples of the Hand (excluding culinarians) of level 18 and above. The apparatus allows players to meld one piece of materia per item. Players must fulfill the class requirement for crafting / repairing the target item and must be of a higher level than the required to equip it to be able to meld materia on said piece.

A second requirement is using special items called catalysts, which can only be found via gathering with a Disciple of the Land who learned the "Fingerprints of the Gods" ability. When the ability is triggered during gathering, aiming at the correct spot will guarantee a chance of obtaining a catalyst. Fingerprints of the Gods can be learned via the quest "Joining the Spirit" offered to Disciples of the Land level 18 and above by Mutamix. Each materia type requires specific catalysts.

Players can also request materia melding by offering up in their bazaar, providing the materia and catalyst required, as well as a payment in gil if desired.

Should the player desire, it is possible to have equipment purged of materia by paying a fee in gil to certain NPCs. This destroys all materia melded to the target gear, leaving the item intact.

Forbidden Materia Craft
After melding materia a specific number of times, players will become eligible to obtain the more advanced "augmented materia melder," which allows the attachment of multiple pieces of materia per item by trading his regular melder with the goblin Mutamix, located in central Thanalan (29,20).

Players can never fail to meld the first piece of materia. However, only this first materia attached has a guaranteed success, as each subsequent attempt has reduced chances of working. This process is called forbidden materia craft. Upon failure, all items involved in the process are permanently lost, with the exception of the augmented materia melder.

Success rates for forbidden materia crafting changes based on whether two or more materia are already melder on the item and the tier of the materia (it is easier to meld two Tier I than it is to meld two Tier IV materia). Whether or not the item to be infused with materia is HQ or not also affects success rates.

The exact factors that affect forbidden materia chances are the following: The exact success chance is displayed when trying to meld extra materia to an item, before the confirmation window. Players cannot seek forbidden melding in their bazaars.
 * Gear quality - +1 gear have slightly higher melding success rate.
 * Materia tier - Higher tier materia have lower melding success rate.
 * Materia order - It is easier to meld weaker materia first then moving to stronger ones than starting with stronger materia (IE: III => IV has a higher success chance than IV => III). This rule also takes into consideration stat differences on the same tier (+2STR => +3STR is easier than +3STR => +2STR)
 * Number of materia attached - Melding becomes harder with each new materia attached.

Materia Types
Materia is divided into categories, shown by their color. Materia of the same category and tier use the same catalysts for melding.

Most materia has four possible stat values for each tier, meaning a total of 16 possible stats per materia; However, some materia have fewer stat variations.


 * Green: HP / MP materia.
 * White: Stat materia.
 * Red: Attack, accuracy and critical power materia.
 * Blue: Magic accuracy and power, magic evasion and specific magic empowering (ex: Healing magic) materia.
 * Yellow: Parry, evasion and defense materia.
 * Purple: Enmity materia.
 * Black: Elemental attack and resistance materia.
 * Orange: Negative status resistance materia.
 * Light Blue: Crafter and Gatherer stat materia.

Catalyst Types
Each catalyst is used to meld all materia of certain types. Catalysts can be found by disciplines of the Hand on specific areas of the world.

Tier I

 * Germinated Matter - Found by logging on Tranquil Paths. Used to meld Green, Orange and Blue materia. Sweet spot: +5.
 * Carbonized Matter - Found by mining on Horizon's Edge. Used to meld White, Light Blue and Yellow materia. Sweet spot: +5.
 * Calcified Matter - Found by fishing on Bloodshore. Used to meld Black, Purple and Red materia. Sweet spot: -5.

Tier II

 * Decayed Matter - Found by logging on Humblehearth. Used to meld Green, Orange and Blue materia. Sweet spot: +5.
 * Petrified Matter - Found by mining on Nophica's Wells. Used to meld White, Light Blue and Yellow materia. Sweet spot: +5.
 * Cultured Matter - Found by fishing on Cedarwood. Used to meld Black, Purple and Red materia. Sweet spot: -5.

Tier III & IV

 * Decomposed Matter - Found by logging on Iron Lake. Used to meld Green and Orange materia. Sweet spot: +5.
 * Liquefied Matter - Found by logging on Halatali. Used to meld Blue materia. Sweet spot: +5.
 * Fossilized Matter - Found by mining on Dragonhead. Used to meld White and Light Blue materia. Sweet spot: +5.
 * Crystallized Matter - Found by mining on Treespeak. Used to meld Yellow materia. Sweet spot: +5.
 * Ossified Matter - Found by fishing on Bald Knoll. Used to meld Black and Purple materia. Sweet spot: -5.
 * Cretified Matter - Found by fishing on Nine Ivies. Used to meld Red materia. Sweet spot: -5.

Trivia

 * The name of the goblin fraternity is a direct reference to the Illuminati.