Geomancer and Rune Fencer Artifact Equipment

[Kristal]

Then that's pretty much just an AF4.
And that's my point.... making these AFs 99 is dumb not really because AF1 should be 50-60 in level... but mainly because RUN and GEO can be played at any level outside of Adoulin areas... making their AF1 99... basically says: screw actually playing those jobs! grind to 99 now!
And I think that is bad.
If these were the beginnings of an "AAF" or AF4... then I (and probably everyone else) would have no problems with the design decision... In fact, it would even probably create a lot of hype: "level 120 gear that gives my job super boons that's better than empy/relic/VW/NNI/delve gear??? I want that now!!!"
But just having RUN and GEO's AF1 be this lv99-elv120 thing... is just bluh.
I recall someone pointing out how ludicrous it is to claim "Adoulin is 99 area, so AF is 99" by pointing out how ToAU jobs' AF1s aren't 75... (iirc they specifically mentioned BLU)
So why do this with Adoulin?
I really don't think anyone would be mad at "here's the start of new AFs, but you'll have to wait for the AF1s."
I mean, if there were new jobs with Abyssea... and the empy sets for those jobs went gold before the artifact and relic... I don't think anyone would have minded.
The people who burned RUN and GEO to 99 won't care about AF1 anyways, and the people who have held off leveling them clearly have demonstrated the patience to wait some more.
Sure, it sucks to wait... but having this as the beginings of an AAF (I'm liking that more and more) instead of a jank AF1 is just better.
Hell, SE could even make a big to do (contest thingy) about what abilities the former 20 jobs' AAF would have!
(use my ideas SE! they will make you money... probably. I'm no Seer, just a Maid.)

I understand your sentiment, but keep in mind that there isn't much active pre-99 content anymore. The important thing is that this AAF has quests which tell us more about the job, like the AF1 quests did. Relic and emp were merely level-relevant pieces of JSE gear that you collected, but AF1 had more meaning. If AAF catches that sentiment, but with lvl 99 attributes, so much the better!

[FaeQueenCory]

If AAF catches that sentiment, but with lvl 99 attributes, so much the better!

That's backwards thinking. There is no reason that AAF should not continue the "plot" of the job....
If anything, most of the AF1 questlines just kinda ended... without any real resolution.
To which an AF4/AAF quest chain could finish.

The main thing is: RUN and GEO are playable outside of Adoulin and at levels below 99.
The Devs should want NEW players... and new players can't afford to gear themselves steadily from 1-98.
Generally, (and this is more of a modern play) a new person will get help from an older player (if they can) and will often just go: w/e 1-20, RSE 20-30 (because it's free, cheap, and easy to get and decent enough), AF1 50-60... sometimes they might get relic gear (that's assuming they have REALLY nice friends who are willing to take them into dynamis for a bit of farming) and then they'll get to Abyssea and get to 99 and the empy set.

Why this is a bad idea is because this specifically targets and separates old from new players, dividing the community...
and worse... it tells new players to be "abysseanoobs" and burn their job to 99 before they can actually play the game.

Now of course, you're not gonna be going and doing the big fancy stuff before 99.... but YOU EXIST BEFORE 99.
The jobs are HELLA easy to unlock... why then should they demand 99 before AF1?


And just because on YOUR server there isn't any pre-99 content anymore... doesn't mean that Dynamis, Limbus, Salvage, and all the rest that I'm forgetting.... stopped existing and no one on any server ever does that.
There are also new players that might want to try that....
We don't want a game filled with lv99s that don't know what they are doing.
And this move advocates to "screw lv1-98 abyburn!"...

Which some people do... And that's fine.
But there are just as many (if not vastly MORE) who will join xp parties in Crawler's Nest till 60 and Bostaunieux Oubliette until 75 before going to Abyssea....
They might do it for skill levels... they might do it to learn their job better.... whatever the reason for it....

Just because YOU don't do the pre-99 stuff or your server isn't doing it... is not a valid argument for ignoring everyone else who does.

Furthermore: Do people still buy <lv99 equipment on the AH? They do on Odin. Quite a lot in fact. Because not everyone is 99. And we want more people playing... all MMOs do... and having this with no intention of adding a real AF1 at a future date... is like giving the middle finger to new-comers.

[Kristal]

That's backwards thinking. There is no reason that AAF should not continue the "plot" of the job....
If anything, most of the AF1 questlines just kinda ended... without any real resolution.
To which an AF4/AAF quest chain could finish.

Hmmm? Why are you suggesting that AAF should be nothing more then simple gather quests, instead of giving more background into RUN and GEO?

Why this is a bad idea is because this specifically targets and separates old from new players, dividing the community...
and worse... it tells new players to be "abysseanoobs" and burn their job to 99 before they can actually play the game.

Now of course, you're not gonna be going and doing the big fancy stuff before 99.... but YOU EXIST BEFORE 99.
The jobs are HELLA easy to unlock... why then should they demand 99 before AF1?


And just because on YOUR server there isn't any pre-99 content anymore... doesn't mean that Dynamis, Limbus, Salvage, and all the rest that I'm forgetting.... stopped existing and no one on any server ever does that.
There are also new players that might want to try that....
We don't want a game filled with lv99s that don't know what they are doing.
And this move advocates to "screw lv1-98 abyburn!"...

Which some people do... And that's fine.
But there are just as many (if not vastly MORE) who will join xp parties in Crawler's Nest till 60 and Bostaunieux Oubliette until 75 before going to Abyssea....
They might do it for skill levels... they might do it to learn their job better.... whatever the reason for it....

Just because YOU don't do the pre-99 stuff or your server isn't doing it... is not a valid argument for ignoring everyone else who does.

You might 'enjoy' fast-forwarding jobs from 30-99 in mere hours by leeching in Abyssea, but I don't. I leveled RUN to 99 without stepping foot in Abyssea, and I join level relevant parties on GEO to chase down new Geo-spells and keep the handbell and geomancy skills up to spec. I hope you enjoy sitting in Ceizak for days to level your magic skills.

Furthermore: Do people still buy <lv99 equipment on the AH? They do on Odin. Quite a lot in fact. Because not everyone is 99. And we want more people playing... all MMOs do... and having this with no intention of adding a real AF1 at a future date... is like giving the middle finger to new-comers.

I bought a few pieces of pre-99 gear, although I mostly got an entire mule with leveling gear for all level ranges and I craft what I can't buy.
But if you think that people would be standing in line to hand the handfull of new players their new armors AND upgrades, you are sorely mistaken.
AF takes a while, and it's going to be done by 99s. Some of those NMs took alliances of 50-60s, a good group at 75 and afk solo at 99. And then there's the months of doing limbus runs to get those illusive upgrade items... that everyone is after.
Relic can be solod. At 99. With emp gear if you want to solo, or a small party to hold your hand. And ofcourse, procs. Relic -1 gonna take a load of farming as well. At 99. Then more time to get the +2, AND their augments.
Empyrean going take ages, points need to be earned, chests not giving boots, NMs not dropping cards for +1s and stones/cards/etcs for +2s.

And then all but one or two pieces are dropped off at the closest porter moogle, never to see the light of day (other then screenshot contests.)

Instead, SE compresses the whole mess into one set of gear that isn't only relevant, it's going to replace or macro-swap with existing delve armor. All the stuff we want, without all the waits that pretty much everyone seems to hate.

Yeah, people are still doing older content for shyte and giggles, but you should see the pitchfork crowds when SE doesn't fast-forward stuff asap. And if they do, they are complaining that it's not important to update old content and the devs should just do whatever the complainers personal agenda is.

Look, you can go sit in your rocking chair and reminisce on the good old days, but SE has chosen to take AAF into a different level scheme direction and for good reason.