Item Levels, and proper 18 vs 6 man setup.

[OmnysValefor]

We're 99 now, and seemingly stuck here, but as SE recently said, we're going to be getting better gear that's effectively 110 or 120 as the game continues on.

We may, at some point, be 99s wearing gear that are effectively for level 200. This should show in item information somehow. SE has said that each tier will effectively be a gear-check, being noticeably or substantially harder if you try to skip to the next tier too soon. The days of macroing in any still-worthwhile 75 gear, or the rare piece of AF, are probably gone.

I would suggest we see this in items. Even if the level said 99.01, which would be Adoulin Tier 1's drops, 99.02 being second tier, 99.05 being 5th tier.

Some players will tolerate a bunch of players they may not like in order to achieve better gear. For years, players tolerated a little bit of loot-jacking that occasionally happened because this new guy, for some reason, deserved ridill or haidate or an abjuration or whatever before someone truly more deserving.

SE's loot systems now are largely an improvement. They could do well to allow us to trade recently obtained gear (to players present for the kill), or at least to pass a piece to treasure (like the gold boxes in aby will permit).

Some players prefer the smaller ls. They like 5 or 10 others, and feel they have more fun. I can see an argument both ways for whether or not 6 man or 18/36 man groups should be able to obtain the same loot.

If skirmish and delve had the same entrance reqs, which isn't unreasonable, and dropped gear that was tiered so the alliance(s) version was a direct upgrade from the party version, all players could have the same fun. I killed the orobon last night with the egls I'm in, and there's nothing about that fight that couldn't be scaled to 6 man. There's nothing about delve that couldn't be scaled to 6 man. There's nothing about anything in this game that couldn't be scaled to six man.

In an 18 man fight, perhaps you need boss tanks, and add/supertanking tanks. 18 man has enough room, if they can beat the time reqs to spare that. A 6 man might require 1 tank and 2 healers, 2 tanks and 1, or perhaps the adds would be sleepable and a competent sch or brd could handle the adds.

In such a model, drops from the 6 man version, could be identical, except that it would be the end of EGLS, and the triumph that comes with 18-36 people pulling together.

Drops could also be identical but lesser quality, a -1 version if you will. SE could do exactly that, actually. 6 man drops NQ, and 18 drops +1 version.

I won't lie, a good bit of this is inspired by WoW, but that's because it worked. wow's normal/heroic model worked.

[Kaisha]

How are you going to item-level check the other 50 pieces of gear you swap in for all your macros on a regular basis....

It isn't possible to do this like other MMOs have, and the system for gauging an item levels 'worth' is pretty retarded from what I've played of WoW/TERA at times.

[OmnysValefor]

Well.

Apparently, from SE's ideas, TP and WS would be the bigger idea for melee.

iLvls in wow work but only because the next tier is a huge upgrade, there's no contest in most cases. If it's a full ilvl higher (13 points over there), it's a better piece most of the time. Some set bonuses made 2pc sets last a little longer than intended, and jewelry was a little more flexible.

However, I'd imagine that if FFXI wants us to be completing gear in definitive tiers now, in tears, we'll probably start seeing substantial upgrades frequently, which hasn't been the design before.

But yeah, jobs will still use pieces in their DT, Fastcast, etc sets that may still be from af/relic days.

[Kaisha]

iLvls 'sorta' work in other MMOs because you can't change gear midcombat, so what you got equipped is what you're stuck using.

Unless SE wants to throw 25% haste sets on gear loaded with DA/TA/QA%, along with the typical WS stat mods, we'll be swapping gear like madmen during our fights.

[Duelle]

iLvls 'sorta' work in other MMOs because you can't change gear midcombat, so what you got equipped is what you're stuck using.

Unless SE wants to throw 25% haste sets on gear loaded with DA/TA/QA%, along with the typical WS stat mods, we'll be swapping gear like madmen during our fights.

*Duelle's eyes glaze over as he is hit with a vision*

Battle System

- Players and party members that are on a monster's enmity table cannot change gear until that monster is killed
- Players in a party that take action against a monster place their entire party on the monster's enmity table, even if the other party members have not taken any action against the monster
- Monsters of the Merrow Family no longer have Rising Swell (AKA Stripga)
- Certain monsters and Named Monsters that have abilities that remove players' equipment have been modified to no longer have those abilities
- Monster stats have been adjusted in accordance to the changes to equipment and expected power level of player characters

Job-related

- Stat gains and scaling for all jobs have been revised in accordance to the changes to equipment

Items

- Numerous gear and rewards have been revised and redesigned

*Duelle snaps out of his trance*

I just had the greatest dream...

Wishful thinking aside, I think what's more likely to happen is just more powerful macro pieces. Sure, with the stat jump seen with weapons, it may be possible to have gear with item budgets that could eliminate swaps, but I seriously doubt it'll happen.

[Theytak]

Battle System

- Players and party members that are on a monster's enmity table cannot change gear until that monster is killed
- Players in a party that take action against a monster place their entire party on the monster's enmity table, even if the other party members have not taken any action against the monster
- Monsters of the Merrow Family no longer have Rising Swell (AKA Stripga)
- Certain monsters and Named Monsters that have abilities that remove players' equipment have been modified to no longer have those abilities
- Monster stats have been adjusted in accordance to the changes to equipment and expected power level of player characters

Job-related

- Stat gains and scaling for all jobs have been revised in accordance to the changes to equipment

Items

- Numerous gear and rewards have been revised and redesigned

I just had the greatest dream...

Wishful thinking aside, I think what's more likely to happen is just more powerful macro pieces. Sure, with the stat jump seen with weapons, it may be possible to have gear with item budgets that could eliminate swaps, but I seriously doubt it'll happen.

That's not a great dream, that's a nightmare. If SE did that, FFXI would die. End of story. Gearswapping has become fundamental to FFXI, and remains one of its... interesting if a bit nonsensical perks. The time it would take for them to rebalance the entire game around the sudden lack of ability to gear swap would make it impossible to do in a single update.

If they removed the ability before finishing the rebalancing, suddenly 90% of the game would become unplayable for weeks, if not months, as people scramble to completely rewrite everything we understand about how game mechanics work, how to gear ourselves, and what gear is good, while also suddenly finding themselves unable to make use of 90% of their equipment, to handle nearly any content that hadn't been rebalanced, and most aggravating of all, writing basically every single macro they have.

If they waited to remove it until they completely rebalanced, then the scramble would take place differently, as everyone desperately tries to use their last moments of godhood to grab hold of the gear they would need to function in the new system, by abusing the mobs now balanced for the soon to be significantly weaker players.

Either way, a huge portion of the playerbase would want no part in it, and would probably just quit.

I don't see how that's a good thing.

[OmnysValefor]

I love gearswapping. It makes it unique. It's unlikely that say, a full tp set for any job would be 99.2 or 99.any_same_tier, but I would imagine that they intend for our tp sets to be mostly from [this] and [last] tier in order to fight [next] tier.

Same for ws sets. Healers and mages it's a bit harder, more refresh perhaps on mage gear, and maybe tanks will see more acc/haste+dt- on the same gear, so they can take less damage and do more damage.