Artifact Armor 4 idea

[Creelo]

No matter what, I'd vote for Static since I just can't stand random augments.

But I mean, why doesn't SE just make it Static AND allow for the upgrade to AF2+2 to be truly worthwhile?

It's lame that the whole "random" process would be the ONLY way to get the best stats for the AF2+2, why not just have awesome stats and make the process Static? <.> Wouldn't this please... everyone?

If they were to make AF2+2 to be equipped at lvl 90+ and give the stat upgrades from AF2+1 -> AF2+2 a pretty big boost or just dramatically change some of the stats that are pretty much useless (Evasion+5 on Bard's Cuffs +1, Parrying Skill+4 on Bard's Slippers +1, SE? <.< Thanks, but no thanks. X.X)

As it's been stated, SE's gonna HAVE to make stats on AF2+2 very nice if people are ever gonna want to upgrade useless pieces like the Brd AF2 Hands/Feet I mentioned above. :/

The Dev. Team should really give us some examples to better inform us of their direction on AF2+2 Stats.

[MarkovChain]

why not just have awesome stats and make the process Static? .

Because good gear should not be available to anyone. Why ? Game balance.

If it's not random or doesn't require 18 people or more then it's not earned. If it's gear you get from a questline (including non-empyrean magian) or points/tokens or lowmanable NMs, then it's just free gear and required no work whatsoever. That's the vibe I'm getting from some folks in this thread.

Correct, because it means anyone can get anything w/o implying themselves, as in, build parties, makes friends, build linkshell, and such. If every good gear in the game becomes available without "effort" like teamwork and randomness the game implodes. AH becomes worthless, food worthless, crafting worthless etc.

[Arcon]

Because good gear should not be available to anyone. Why ? Game balance.

So, relics don't fit that description? Static approach and awesome stats. That doesn't mean it's available to everyone.

[MarkovChain]

Relics are (now) available to anyone, however, as you know, they suck. You can enter everyday and even solo on BST you'll rack a nice amount of coins. However static does not make sense in this case as you don't have any choice between a way to quickly get it with luck and difficulty and the current way. Beside soloing a relic would take years still.

[Byrth]

Risk aversion, people want static. Human nature. The end~!

[Karbuncle]

Risk aversion, people want static. Human nature. The end~!

Pretty much, as if it was ever any contest

[DebbieGibson]

Risk aversion, people want static. Human nature. The end~!

Unfortunately

[Karbuncle]

IDK though, Something tells me if people were handed 2 things to eat, one of them labeled "Poo Flavored" and the other "Mystery Flavored", More people would bite into Mystery flavored.

Problem is, SE just gave us "Mystery Flavored Bacon" and "Mystery Flavored food", and with no real consequences for either shown, people pick the safest route and chose the bacon (static)

[Byrth]

Yeah, psychologists have also done series of experiments where they present 2 options, some variation of:
Option 1: You get $0.10 every time
Option 2: You get $1.00 a certain percentage of the time

Then they vary the probability of receiving $1.00 and see how high it has to get before Option 2 is preferred over Option 1. The basic answer is that it has to be very frequent in order for randomness to be preferred, even if it would average out to more money if you took Option 2 whenever the probability was over 10%.

[Francisco]

Because good gear should not be available to anyone. Why ? Game balance.

Your opinion, but I think at this point SE disagrees with you.

This game is a business, and as such requires keeping customers happy.

Stuff like Fafhogg/KB was "bad content" because it excluded 95% of the player base from some of the best gear at the time... not because they were horrendously difficult, but because those NMs typically belonged to 1-2 linkshells per server - and the only way to realistically participate in that content was blatant cheating.

Stuff like Salvage, Limbus, Einherjar and yes, Abyssea, was great content as it added (varying degrees of) great gear obtained through varying degrees of difficulty... and was reasonably accessible to everyone... (Einherjar being the least accessible as it usually required an alliance).

Correct, because it means anyone can get anything w/o implying themselves, as in, build parties, makes friends, build linkshell, and such. If every good gear in the game becomes available without "effort" like teamwork and randomness the game implodes. AH becomes worthless, food worthless, crafting worthless etc.

Thing is, so far any event that has given random augments does not require much effort in building parties, making friends... definitely does not require much of a linkshell (if at all)... AH and crafting have already been worthless for years mostly... a few AH items were still popular before abyssea, but people usually just put them on bazaar to avoid taxes.

Stuff that requires teamwork = good + challenge... bearing in mind there's not going to be many 18 person alliances now... it's the nature of the game which is going on 10 years old... most people have a core group of friends they play with now

Randomness = artificial difficulty increase

Relics are (now) available to anyone, however, as you know, they suck. You can enter everyday and even solo on BST you'll rack a nice amount of coins. However static does not make sense in this case as you don't have any choice between a way to quickly get it with luck and difficulty and the current way. Beside soloing a relic would take years still.

Again, game age... I can't see anyone starting a relic (no matter how good it is) at this point unless they have the means to finish within a few months or so.

Say it takes three years to solo a relic. What will FFXI be like in three years? We really don't know - but I'm thinking it's not worth the effort to sink "years" into a relic weapon... even if they beat out Empyreans eventually.

Yeah, psychologists have also done series of experiments where they present 2 options, some variation of:
Option 1: You get $0.10 every time
Option 2: You get $1.00 a certain percentage of the time

Option 3: Take part in a clinical study not done in Mexico.