Idea to solve the low level gear problem.

[Satyr]

So after perusing this board for a while I see a lot of people asking for a solution to the low level gear problem. More often than not these threads turn in to flame wars about crafting and the fact that supplying low level players with gear is a waste of time. But...something must be done if we expect to get new players to stick with this game. Linking all the AHs in the upcoming version update is a good start; however, it is still a problem when the gear just isn't there.

Many of the solutions that have been proposed are more or less too complex or just a roundabout way of "sort of" solving the problem. The solution is not to try and come up with some way to get crafters to start making low level gear again...the solution is to come up with something new to address the problem.

I propose the following:

add Rare/EX gear sets that can be purchased with fields of valor tabs.

There would be a set various sets for different level brackets starting at 11:
11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70.
*the reason for this is that 1-11 gear can easily be found from vendors and beyond 70 the gear issue no longer exists. The progression would be that the 11-20 set would have half of the stats be +1 and the other half +2. The next bracket adds one to all of the lower stats bringing everything to +2 for the 21-30 bracket. The progression would continue to add +1 to half of the stats in each bracket thus making the final 61-70 set be +4 to all the attributes. An example of this would be that for the 1st 3rd and 5th brackets the Stats(STR AGI etc) get +1 and the 2nd 4th and 6th brackets would add +1 to skills or attributes(parry attack accuracy)

Within each bracket there would be three sets: Tanking, Damage, Caster.

For example:
Lv 21-30 Head pieces:
Tank Helm: +2 Enmity, +2 VIT, +2Evasion, +10HP
Jobs: All Jobs

DD Helm: +2 Accuracy, +2 Ranged Accuracy, +2 Attack, +2 Ranged Attack,
Jobs: All jobs

Caster Helm: +2 INT, +2 MND, MP Recovered while healing +2, +10MP

A Full example set would be:
LV21-30 Tank Set:
Tank Helm: +2 Enmity, +2 VIT, +2Evasion, +10HP
Tank Body: +2 Enmity, +2 AGI, +2 Parry, +10HP
Tank Gloves: +2 STR, +2 Guard, +2 Shield
Tank Legs: +2 Enmity, +2 VIT, +2 Evasion, +10HP
Tank Boots: +2 AGI, +2 Guard, +2 Shield

LV21-30 DD Set:
DD Helm: +2 Accuracy, +2 Ranged Accuracy, +2 Attack, +2 Ranged Attack
DD Body: +2 Accuracy, +2 Ranged Accuracy, +2 STR
DD Gloves: +2 STR +2 DEX +2 CHR
DD Legs: +2 Attack, +2 Ranged Attack, +2 AGI
DD Boots: +2 CHR, +2DEX, +2 AGI

LV21-30 Caster Set:
Caster Helm: +2 INT, +2 MND, MP Recovered while healing +2, +10MP
Caster Body: +2 INT, +2 CHR, MP Recovered while healing +2, +10MP
Caster Gloves: -2 Enmity, +2 Magic Attack, +2 Summoning Magic Skill
Caster Legs: +2 CHR, +2 MND, MP Recovered while healing +2, +10MP
Caster Boots: +2 Conserve MP, +2 Magic Accuracy, +2 Singing Skill

A System such as this adds a way for new or current players to obtain respectable gear that does not involve crafting or the economy. The gear itself is quite good, but it still allows for current NM drops and some crafted gear to be better than these Rare/EX pieces (such as Lizzy boots are still better than the DD boots until you get to the lv 41-50 set). The tab cost of the sets would be very reasonable such that gloves and boots would cost as many tabs as one equivalent level FOV page awards and the legs chest and helm would cost about as many tabs as two equivalent level FOV page awards.

Note: I think that these sets should be usable by all jobs due to the current state of the game. It is very common these days for people to low man XP or solo XP. It would be great if people had the option to use whatever gear they needed for what they were doing. For example: a WAR could use the tank set to tank in a group and then have the DD set for when they just wanted to solo; or a WHM could use the caster set in a group or sub WAR and use the DD set to solo.

Overall I think this would be a very simple way to solve the lower level gear issue and give lower level players a much more enjoyable leveling experience.

[Flunklesnarkin]

and they could all be the same model as perle , aurore , and teal gear~~~~`

[Emitremmus]

I like this idea. At the same time though, it's going to make a lot of the gear in the game more irrelevant than it already is. It's hard as crap to find some of that stuff that people have NEVER wanted to wear for the dumb little girl Brygid in Bastok.

But yeah, this is pretty cool.

[Kingofgeeks]

not quite sure about how exactly to handle distributing this gear but i agree. If there was some way of making low level gear available independent of crafters then i believe it will help out anyone wishing to level up. I wouldn't mind seeing better gear available via NPC retailers, or even given us more RSE gear for different levels. RSE and AF gear makes things easier, adding more AF and RSE (for example) might alleviate our low level gear headaches.

[Karbuncle]

I'm thinking if the AH Merge doesn't work, We need to just literally say "Okay, Crafting/AH isn't working, F**k it." and Implement a system just like this. Its late enough in the game that Low Level armor is not profitable to make, So people don't cause there are too few new people. While new people are here, Theres just too few to make crafters consider a steady supply of i on AH.

This System Is not HANDING newbies gear, It'll be like Assault. a system where you work towards the goal of Armor. Except Fields of Valor is actually useful to low level players so it works out. This is actually the most well thought out solution I've seen on these boards. I know everyone wants the solution to involve the Auction house, But giving new players The Ability to get Armor through other means, Especially something like this, Is a brilliant idea.

Some armor like Leaping Boots, Empress Hairpin, Republic Subligar, Etc would clearly still be king for their slots low on, so it wouldn't completely obsolete everything.

Really Like it. Nice work.

[Eeek]

Wow, this is actually a pretty good idea. If, like Krabnuckle mentioned, the AH merge does little to solve the problem, then yeah, I could see the OP's proposal as a solid idea and good foundation upon which to design a solution. I think buying low-level gear with FoV tabs is a clever idea.

[Coephoros]

There's already a ton of freely available gear through your conquest vendors.

I don't understand why this is a "problem". People keep talking about how "you can't find crafters because low-level crafting isn't profitable", but that's the lazy way out. Low-level gear is (mostly) cheap to make; if it isn't on the AH, why don't you just buy the mats and shout for crafter? Tip them if you get a +1. Sell it back on the AH when you're done with it. Congratulations, you've just kickstarted the economy.

Adding a whole new stack of rare/ex gear is only going to make your "problem" worse.

[Karbuncle]

There's already a ton of freely available gear through your conquest vendors.

I don't understand why this is a "problem". People keep talking about how "you can't find crafters because low-level crafting isn't profitable", but that's the lazy way out. Low-level gear is (mostly) cheap to make; if it isn't on the AH, why don't you just buy the mats and shout for crafter? Tip them if you get a +1. Sell it back on the AH when you're done with it. Congratulations, you've just kickstarted the economy.

Adding a whole new stack of rare/ex gear is only going to make your "problem" worse.

The problem with Conquest gear is that its not always the best, And that its Nation Specific, and requires Rank (while i dont think the Rank thing is a problem at all, The Nation Specific is). Like say you're windurstian and you want Legionnare's Gear. Windurst has to be above Bastok in Conquest ranking, and its double points to purchase.

Hell in the last thread to suggest this, I was on the side of "Use the NPCs, Use the Conquest NPC, The armor is there". but the more i thought about it, Some new players won't immediately have the friends to Rank up to get the Conquest armor, Or get the Conquest points to purchase it. Especially from other nations. And the NPC-gear only goes so far, most of it is stat-less NQ junk. (a lot of low level armor is, albeit...). Us established players tank Nation-Rank and etc for granted. a New player is going to have -hell- finding people to help them rank up.

I think the AH merge will fix a lot of the problems, However, If the problems of New players being unable to find crafters, or find armor on the AH, I think something like this would be a good Solution. It erases the Randomness from the Equation (Conquest Ranking, Nation allegiance, Finding a Crafter, Etc) and allows new players to actively work towards the ability to equip themselves with Better armor.

Most new players (which is where the biggest problem is) Don't have access to places like Jeuno either, how many crafters do you think sit in Port Bastok, or Windurst Walls that Aren't afk? I'd be willing to be 0-1 per day. Those new players are then screwed. Plus in new cities theres also the problem that even Synth mats are rarely in stock unless they're easily gotten from surounding creatures.

There is a problem with New-new players finding armor, its not a huge problem obviously due to lack of new players, and i really think the Auction house-Merge will solve 99% of it, but if it doesn't, It might be time to consider moving away from AH and just letting new players work toward an "Assault" system-like Goal of Obtaining gear through FoV.

[azjazo]

Also, there should be more gear that has scalable stats you know the ones with the ~ symbol, that should solve not having to change gear every 5-8 levels and mantain the power balance as you level.

[Satyr]

Also, there should be more gear that has scalable stats you know the ones with the ~ symbol, that should solve not having to change gear every 5-8 levels and mantain the power balance as you level.

That would work except that getting new gear is a major part of this game and for the most part what the game itself revolves around. It doesn't seem too exciting to get some armor at level 10 that you will still be wearing at lv 70. Change is a good thing and it makes people still have to work to get the latest gear