AF4

[SpankWustler]

I'm curious if the sets would be as focused piece-by-piece as the Empyrean sets, or a shotgun blast of random base stats along with enhancing a seemingly randomly chosen ability per piece in the post-modern style of Rune Fencer and Geomancer AF.

Stuff like the complete absence of Magic Attack Bonus, Magic Damage, etc. on the the piece of Geomancer AF that enhances "Cardinal Chant" gives me a case of the costernations. A real bad case. Similarly, I'm sure Rune Fencers often take advantage of Enhancing Magic skill while using Gambit or hitting things with things. It's not like things could have been moved around to put the +skill bonuses on a piece with tons of Haste and Fast Cast on it.

Contrast this with most Empyrean pieces, on which almost every generic and Job-specific bonus worked together. For example, the Estoqueur's Gantherots +2 that enhance Saboteur have generic bonuses dedicated to enfeebling magic accuracy or potency. The Ferine Quijotes +2 that enhance Stout Servant have ideal TP set stats for their time, thusly it wouldn't hurt a Beastmaster to well nigh full-time them for the benefit of his or her pet.

That isn't to say that the new sets are bad; they're great. I just can't help but imagine how much better Job-Specific armor of this level could be if more than one or two pieces per set actually seemed to have some sort of direction or purpose.

[Zhronne]

As long as we're getting job-specific enhancements (new ones and empowerment of the old ones) I don't care about the rest of the stats.
I don't expect to fulltime them for TPing or WSing or anything else, altough if I'll be able to of course I won't turn down such a nice possibility.

It's just that I don't *demand* that or expect that. The main thing I'm interested is in the job specific, unique enhancements. If I want raw stats SoA is already providing a wide array of choices, more than I could ever want.

[Rustic]

We've seen quite a few requests for ways to enhance artifact armor and other equipment.
You'll be happy to know that the development team is indeed looking into this, but their current priority is content related to the August version update.

As a matter of fact, Producer Matsui Akihiko commented on a couple different occasions already!

We'll let you know once there is any progress on this!

Thanks for the response. Inventory and the constant need for gearswap has been a quality of life issue for FFXI that's only gotten worse with expansions. If there's one thing that needs to be known, it's that we don't want to lose the special quirks our AF gives us in the process of upgrades. If we do, then we're often stuck keeping that piece of inventory from an older set around anyway...because otherwise, we sacrifice being able to do something we did before in order to do something else with another. More powerful isn't just it- gear should make more things possible, not merely trade one for another. AF especially, it's literally our "job gear".

[Tennotsukai]

Af4 could really save many jobs out there being neglected and not invited to end game. Can't imagine if they made an upgrade to all jse's like emp, relic, and af... but I would love to see something like that in the future.

[Karbuncle]

Af4 could really save many jobs out there being neglected and not invited to end game. Can't imagine if they made an upgrade to all jse's like emp, relic, and af... but I would love to see something like that in the future.

trying my hardest to avoid being a debby downer, but Unless those stats completely redesign the job from the ground up I'm going to lean towards ... it probably wont. BLU, SMN, jobs like those are still going to be neglected unless their AF4 has sh*t like "Blue Magic Damage +800%" or "Avatar Melee and Bloodpact Damage +800%", cause they just have nothing to bring to the table otherwise :x

[Daemon]

trying my hardest to avoid being a debby downer, but Unless those stats completely redesign the job from the ground up I'm going to lean towards ... it probably wont. BLU, SMN, jobs like those are still going to be neglected unless their AF4 has sh*t like "Blue Magic Damage +800%" or "Avatar Melee and Bloodpact Damage +800%", cause they just have nothing to bring to the table otherwise :x

I just hope they give us something that will replace all other AF in one so we don't have to dig through storage, slips, carry several pieces and have multiple macros etc.

Reason I suggested combining gear so people can't skip getting previous AF making all other content even more irrelevant than it already is.

So yeah I did put thought into my idea before I posted.

Rather than give us Enhancing +15 why not give us stats like the new Nakuul gears? I mean enfeebling +100, Magic Accuracy +120 wouldn't that solve a lot of issues?

Job traits could replace stuff like Enhance Enhancing spells, enhance enfeebling magic.

Point is if we spent all that time getting other AF pieces, combined them, it's a reward well deserved. Not like anyone can cheat their way to AF4.

[Motenten]

A means of combining the varied and sundry 'Enhances' gear (ie: the bazillion macro-only pieces) would be nice.

Mnk:
Enhance Boost
Enhance Focus
Enhance Dodge
Enhance Counterstance (I and II)
Enhance Chakra (I, II and III)
Enhance Perfect Counter
Enhance Impetus
Enhance Footwork
Enhance Penance
Enhance Mantra
Enhance Formless Strikes
Enhance Hundred Fists

Up to 13 pieces of gear (since Counterstance I/II and Chakra II/III are upgrades on AF2 pieces), each with its own enhancement, almost none of which are used for anything else.

If all the AF enhancements could be combined into one body piece, and all the AF2 enhancements combined into one hands piece (so you can still use both pieces for Chakra), my inventory would thank you. Not sure it's useful to combine the AF3 enhancements, though if you wanted to toss them into another piece I wouldn't argue about it.

A synergy recipe requiring all the individual pieces of AF or augmented AF2, along the lines of the Chatoyant Staff, would be perfectly fine.

Plus, for Karbuncle's objections, there's nothing that says you have to have all of the exact same traits on the gear. You can make a new trait that encompasses the others.

Examples:

Super Mnk body:
Def: xx, Vit: yy, Regen
Enhances the Body (ie: enhances Chakra, Focus, Dodge, Boost, Footwork(?))

Super Mnk hands:
Def: xx, Vit: yy, HP
Enhances the Spirit (ie: enhances Chakra, Penance, Formless Strikes, Mantra, Hundred Fists)


The enhancements would be the same (or higher, if they're generous) 'tier' as the originals, so you couldn't combine enhancements. Enhance Focus from the Temple Crown combined with the body enhancement would produce the same accuracy increase as the body alone. It would be purely about inventory consolidation, so there's little need to preserve most 'normal' stats; can still have a few, like the HP/Vit/Regen for the mnk pieces, or Fast Cast for rdm pieces, etc.


I'll admit I'm not sure how to deal with AF+1 gear in this setup, in terms of a synergy recipe, though. Depends on if they need to be explicit in which pieces can be combined in their code, or if they can do And(Or(NQ, HQ), Or(NQ, HQ), Or(NQ, HQ), Or(NQ, HQ), Or(NQ, HQ)).

[Daemon]

A means of combining the varied and sundry 'Enhances' gear (ie: the bazillion macro-only pieces) would be nice.

Mnk:
Enhance Boost
Enhance Focus
Enhance Dodge
Enhance Counterstance (I and II)
Enhance Chakra (I, II and III)
Enhance Perfect Counter
Enhance Impetus
Enhance Footwork
Enhance Penance
Enhance Mantra
Enhance Formless Strikes
Enhance Hundred Fists

Up to 13 pieces of gear (since Counterstance I/II and Chakra II/III are upgrades on AF2 pieces), each with its own enhancement, almost none of which are used for anything else.

If all the AF enhancements could be combined into one body piece, and all the AF2 enhancements combined into one hands piece (so you can still use both pieces for Chakra), my inventory would thank you. Not sure it's useful to combine the AF3 enhancements, though if you wanted to toss them into another piece I wouldn't argue about it.

A synergy recipe requiring all the individual pieces of AF or augmented AF2, along the lines of the Chatoyant Staff, would be perfectly fine.

Plus, for Karbuncle's objections, there's nothing that says you have to have all of the exact same traits on the gear. You can make a new trait that encompasses the others.

Examples:

Super Mnk body:
Def: xx, Vit: yy, Regen
Enhances the Body (ie: enhances Chakra, Focus, Dodge, Boost, Footwork(?))

Super Mnk hands:
Def: xx, Vit: yy, HP
Enhances the Spirit (ie: enhances Chakra, Penance, Formless Strikes, Mantra, Hundred Fists)


The enhancements would be the same (or higher, if they're generous) 'tier' as the originals, so you couldn't combine enhancements. Enhance Focus from the Temple Crown combined with the body enhancement would produce the same accuracy increase as the body alone. It would be purely about inventory consolidation, so there's little need to preserve most 'normal' stats; can still have a few, like the HP/Vit/Regen for the mnk pieces, or Fast Cast for rdm pieces, etc.


I'll admit I'm not sure how to deal with AF+1 gear in this setup, in terms of a synergy recipe, though. Depends on if they need to be explicit in which pieces can be combined in their code, or if they can do And(Or(NQ, HQ), Or(NQ, HQ), Or(NQ, HQ), Or(NQ, HQ), Or(NQ, HQ)).

Nice to see you Motenten

I really hope more people can list more examples like this because this shows the DEV team how bad our inventory is and how they can solve our problems through the next AF.

[SpankWustler]

A means of combining the varied and sundry 'Enhances' gear (ie: the bazillion macro-only pieces) would be nice.

...

Examples:

Super Mnk body:
Def: xx, Vit: yy, Regen
Enhances the Body (ie: enhances Chakra, Focus, Dodge, Boost, Footwork(?))

Super Mnk hands:
Def: xx, Vit: yy, HP
Enhances the Spirit (ie: enhances Chakra, Penance, Formless Strikes, Mantra, Hundred Fists)

...

[Kristal]

You must not know what it's like to play Redmage and scholar.

Here I'll give you example of my Redmage gear sets.

Enhancing
Enfeebling
Fast cast
-PDT
-MDT
MDB
MND
INT
Stoneskin
Idle Refresh
Cure Potency
Elemental Magic
Dark Magic
Magic Attack Bonus
Magic Accuracy
AF2 Relic Body max upgrades for Chainspell +20 seconds
AF2 Relic Hat for Dia III and 4 tick refresh when combined with AF3 Body
AF2 Legs for Shock Spikes
AF3 Set for Enhancing, Composure, Refresh
Zamzummin & Kaikias Cape for Gravity & Addle

I don't think I'm carrying way too much gear. I think I'm not carrying enough gear. I don't even have Apamajas II yet for stun. Although I've been doing fine with INT, magic accuracy so far. Also got Chatoyant staff. Still working on AF2 Phalanx piece.

Then there is

Dalmatica +1 with Fastcast +6 Macc +6 Occquickspell +3%.
Blood Cuisses for Walkspeed 12% Fastcast +4, Evasion +7, Mag Evasion +4.

Voidwatch Gear
Hekas Kilasiris Set
Hyaline Hat
Sanus Ensis

SoA Gear
Orvail Set
Bokwus Robe
Bokwus Gloves
Soothsayer Staff

Lol I didn't even mention DD gear.. Haste/Store TP/ Belt & Gorget, Heartseeker Earring, Halachuinic Sword

Mission items like Brutal Earring, Rajas Ring, Suppa...

What room is there for Nakuual gear???

I kind of gave up on RDM during Abyssea, but back then I focussed on gear that could serve multiple roles. Not going to win a nuking contest with a BLM, so why gear for it when all you need is procs (and anything a RDM can proc, another job can proc better). I think my main set consisted of 40 pieces, with another 20 or so for rare occasions.
SoA hasn't done me much good on reinstating RDM either, PUP is miles ahead on pretty much all fields (and I can always sub RDM on the remainder).