[SUGGESTION] Severe weekly gating is destroying my love of this game

[Bilky]

You've really narrowed the issue to the core problem, and made a very valid point I didn't realise about the way I play games (hardcore =P) compared to the way SE designed it; trying to balance hardcore with casual retention, all while keeping everyone engaged in all the content so no one gets left behind. I just wish there were some middle-ground between the two ideas. I know it exists, I've played more than enough MMOs to know there's more than one way of doing this, but I'm too weary and unmotivated to hypothesise what that might be and how it might fit into the FFXIV framework.

Thanks again for your response.

[Deliciou5]

You've really narrowed the issue to the core problem, and made . a very valid point I didn't realise about the way I play games (hardcore =P) compared to the way SE designed it; trying to balance hardcore with casual retention, all while keeping everyone engaged in all the content so no one gets left behind. I just wish there were some middle-ground between the two ideas. I know it exists, I've played more than enough MMOs to know there's more than one way of doing this, but I'm too weary and unmotivated to hypothesise what that might be and how it might fit into the FFXIV framework.

Thanks again for your response.

Maybe they could also introduce a system where gear item level gets experience and level up, so you could get lower level pieces, but they would still be worth something if you have the time to grind them to level up, otherwise just do savage to get higher pieces to avoid the grind. Also have each piece still have limits to how much you can level them up(by maybe just 10 or 20 ilvls?) to not make other content obsolete. You can obtain more pieces at once, but you would have to grind them still to get them in full form still making you wait to achieve your full potential. However it would be more controlled by how much you play and not arbitrary time-based gates.

I believe gear leveling up would allow SE to add more types of content that was relevant to end game,making it more horizontal with choices without stepping on the toes of each other and it might speed things up for people who join late who can just get more gear then grind it up. Not that there shouldn't be limits on how many pieces you could get from each content, but it will allow them to still make people EARN their gear, forcing them to make the same choices of efficiency that they did before weighing which one is more worth their time. Skilled players go for savage for the alts instead of grinding, and the hardworking late comers can catch up quickly just takes a lot grinding which will take a bit, but won't be as bad as being forced to wait.

[Ignnis]

They might lift the gate in Dun closer to SB release BUT until then here's a little help from me: if you accidentally greed something you can reopen the loot window and click pass to change it. Note, this doesn't work if you are the last to roll (ofc) but it's something you can do if it's not too late.

[Acidblood]

So, what would you suggest as an alternative? I get that it can be frustrating that you can't get a full set of 260/270 gear in less than about 7-10 weeks (under normal progression conditions), but personally I much prefer the time-gated approach of tomestones / weekly drops to the time-sink approach of pure RNG (or requiring masses of resources).

Also, and there are reasons to disagree, but I like the effect that time-gating has on the community generally, in as much as it makes people stick around and continue to run content over the medium to long term. Without time gating most players would just grind the hell out of each new gear level and then leave… basically, if you miss the wave, you miss out.

I guess one thing they could do, but it would require a bit of a systems change, is to make some of the weekly caps into more of a per week system with a multi-week cap ...
For example, using a system that allows +450 tomes per week, with a maximum cap of 900, you could have:
Player A: 450 in week 1; 0 + 450 = 450 in week 2; total of 900 over 2 weeks.
Player B: 300 in week 1; 150 + 450 = 600 in week 2; total of 900 over 2 weeks.
Player C: 0 in weeks 1 to 3, 450 + 450 = 900 in week 4; maximum of 900 until the next weekly reset.

This would still leave player C a few weeks behind players A and B (depending on the maximum cap), but it would at least leave them less behind than the current system. Also, it allows player B, who can’t always play consistently each week, a bit more flexibility and opportunity to catch up when they can play.