48 Things FFXIV Can’t Teach You
FFXIV tips don’t take too much effort to write. The makers of Final Fantasy don’t want you to know that the game has a lot more than it needs. After years of development, it would be difficult to not let some things slip through the cracks. We are here to help fill those gaps. This is not a complete list. This tips guide does not cover all the topics. We’ve tried to make something like a guide for where to start when searching for things that might be missing.
FFXIV was years in the making. We have been playing it for many years. In fact, it all started with A Realm Reborn. This means that the trick to this guide’s success is to distinguish what you feel is important or useful from trivia. Although this may seem a little more extensive than the usual articles on the same topic, it is still important. Technically, some games will tell you where and what to find. It doesn’t always show you where the information is. Most players will be able to follow the directions in a quest. But how can you find the correct quests? We try to highlight these elements in sections that contain the instructions.
Now let’s get to the core of the matter. We still have a lot of work ahead. Let’s look at the FFXIV guide that doesn’t tell us (or does a poor job of directing us towards).
Get your Materia
FFXIV is a very valuable resource. This is the most important way to personalize your character for combat. The best weapons and armor are almost always a given. You have the option to increase your skill speed, survival, damage, healing, and so forth. You can do as much or as little as you like. As long as you have the Gil, and/or “cracked Cluster”, necessary to purchase the Materia. The Market Board usually sells older grades of the stuff at a discount. However, the most recent stuff can be quite expensive. You don’t want it to be thrown away.
FFXIV doesn’t hold your hand in such a situation. Many actions that “destroy” or otherwise “delete” gear in the game do not warn you that your Materia is still available. One example is the quest for a relic weapon. Many of these missions require you to trade a lower-tier weapon for a higher one. That’s great! But the item and any Materia it was equipped with are lost. Desynthesis is the same. For zero reward, you can simply disassemble your gear and weapons and then lose all the precious Materia. It doesn’t happen, so be careful!
Also, ensure you are always checking your Spiritbond. This percentage is tied to all equipment you use, including armor, weapons, or accessories. You can “Extract Materia” an item if you have 100 percent Spiritbond. This is different than removing existing Materia, which is displayed as “Retrieve Mateeria” when you choose an item. Extracting new material from thin air actually creates them. You can make it very profitable by doing a lot of endgame content. This will increase your Spiritbond even faster. This is especially true for crafting and gathering gear.
You will be able to see when gear has reached 100 percent Spiritbond… The flashing light will be accompanied by a loud sound. This is the maximum bond. You should not do anything with the gear beyond that point. This will “overcapture” your Spiritbond.
More melting means more material
Spirit bond is a great way to speed up your process. Some of these are obvious. The appropriately named Spiritbond Potion is a good example. You can also get Free Company buffs or the “Better Crowned Pie,” a food item. There is a faster and more reliable way to increase your Spiritbond (and produce more Materia) than you might think. Simply equip more Materia
Each piece of Materia that is applied to an item increases its bond rate by 20%. This can be done up to five times with “pentamelding,” a community term that applies five pieces of Materia each to one item. Most gear has only one slot for Materia. You can still add up to five Materia pieces. It gets more costly. Because you can’t apply Materia beyond the number of available slots, which is known as “overmelding”, it has progressively lower success rates. If you fail to meld, you will lose the entire piece of Materia and have to try again. High-level gatherers, crafters, and raiders can throw thousands of Materia at each other to try to get a few more stats for their builds.
You should not attempt to over meld gear below the highest Item Level. It is possible to end up throwing away dozens of Materia, only to have that gear replaced anyway. This is a natural occurrence with major patches, which introduce new gear to replace the old. It is important to get the most value from your over-melded gear before this. You can do this through Extreme Trial drops or rare gathering materials. Or, you can sell endgame-crafted gear. Costs can be offset by consistently extracting new Materia. It can be hoarded for future melding, or you can flip it for profit at the Market Board.
