Is this where it begins?

[Dazusu]

When Neo Nyzul was announced, there was an air of caution and apprehension from the player base about the quality of rewards to be forthcoming. I think I speak for the majority of us when I say that we were perhaps surprised as the calibre of armor that came our way.

However, there seems to be a running habit with the development team, that they've referred to lightly in several official texts that they've released. It happened at level 75, and I'm wondering if it's about to start happening again with the release of Salvage II.

Is every reward in future end-game, including Adoulin, to be considered majority Sidegrade? Is this where actual vertical gear progress stops, and we end up with a horizontal spread of situational gear - most of it taking many weeks or months to obtain? (I have no problem with the weeks/months, so long as the end result is worth it).

Not sure I'm going to enjoy looking forward to "meh" rewards from otherwise fun events for the rest of the games life.

[Yambo99]

^^^ So true!

[Rustic]

Is every reward in future end-game, including Adoulin, to be considered majority Sidegrade? Is this where actual vertical gear progress stops, and we end up with a horizontal spread of situational gear - most of it taking many weeks or months to obtain? (I have no problem with the weeks/months, so long as the end result is worth it).

Not sure I'm going to enjoy looking forward to "meh" rewards from otherwise fun events for the rest of the games life.

It's a habit I wouldn't be surprised to see them slip into. Then again, we managed it for the duration of the L75 era as improvements were gradual rather than radical. Similar results at L99? Wouldn't shock me.

[Aethon]

In defense of the dev team, there really isn't much room for drastically more awesome equipment. Look at a lot of the AF3+3 pieces, voidwatch, or legion gear. some of that can really get a job a bit op. Everything has to be a marginal upgrade or sidegrade.
As to situational pieces. people have used situational gear for years, it's just becoming prevalent and common instead of only for hardcore players. there have always been TP sets, WS sets, and what have you. SE if just taking a more official part in bringing them to the front.
I would love to have some new super-awesome-must have gear... but i don't honestly think it'll happen... or really that it should.

[Dazusu]

As to situational pieces. people have used situational gear for years, it's just becoming prevalent and common instead of only for hardcore players.

What? That's backwards. Situational gear was prevalent and common at level 75, for both casual and hardcore players alike. With the advent of Abyssea, players stopped bothering with situational gear - and most still don't.

That's not my point though. Almost every piece of gear in Salvage II is plain useless and sub-par to Legion/Nyzul gear. "new content" shouldn't have gear that's a few classes below existing gear, else the new content isn't worth doing. I give you Limbus II and how active that event is(n't).

The idea in an MMO is to keep moving forward and progressing, sidegrading isn't progressing. At this point, they might as well add HNMs back with a 0.1% drop rate and let us chase them for another 5 years rather than reinvent the wheel with subpar sidegrades.

[detlef]

When Matsui says this:

"In regards to item stats, this is a crucial growth element as you cannot level up past level 99. It's necessary to release items with stronger and really good stats in the future."

And Neo-Salvage gear is what we get, it makes you wonder.

[Rustic]

When Matsui says this:

"In regards to item stats, this is a crucial growth element as you cannot level up past level 99. It's necessary to release items with stronger and really good stats in the future."

And Neo-Salvage gear is what we get, it makes you wonder.

Then again. if there's a space between which earlier gear and next expansion's gear stat budget, perhaps that's why Neo-Salvage is where it is.

[Mayoyama]

While I definately agree that new content should have at least some gear thats better than what they gave us... they do have to draw the line somewhere, otherwise you will quickly end up with gear thats so ridiculously OP that they would have to stack whacking around the nerf-hammer to "balance" things again. It is a fine line between good and OP, and its tough to know where to draw it.

[Kincard]

I dunno, what exactly are you looking for, Dazusu (Not trying to antagonize if that's what it sounds like, honest question). I am not really a fan of power creeps myself.

I don't think sidegrades themselves are a problem, but they have a serious issue with figuring out how to balance investment/reward. NNI might be randomly generated bullcrap, but you can significantly push up your odds of winning as you get better at it, and you get the armor immediately when you win. Neo Salvage you need to do like 10 runs dedicated to a single person to get enough papers for 1 +1 armor. The Alex along the way will be nice, but that's still pretty dumb.