[Rockabye]

I don't think giving them more stats is the way to go. More abilities is more reasonable, as it's easier to balance out, and leaves more room for strategy than "have better stats." That said, I agree with Ryu in the fact that cores are usually absolutely useless. Sometimes I get the urge to destroy massive cores the moment I get them, if only to remove their weight from my inventory, because I know the rewards will not be anything interesting. And all too often I'm completely right. Not everyone even has the time to complete a long dungeon, so the rare occasions when they're able to shouldn't be so thoroughly demotivating. Buff their EXP and guarantee at least one decent reward (such as always getting one completely random enchant catalyst, for example), and then we'll talk.