Future Plans for Equipment

[Secondplanet]

As long as item level is a thing, there can be no guarantee that anything that we're playing with now won't be obliterated (not just obsoleted) by the next version update. This is the main issue I take with the game as it is; this is why, in spite of my overeager excitement to explore the western continent, I have refused to use my money to purchase the Seekers of Adoulin expansion, where this madness all began; and this will certainly be the cause for the playerbase to plummet further if left unchecked.

Who's stopping you guys from creating Item Level 120 items on a lark? 139? 159? 9001? If Vana'diel intends to survive for another 11 years, we need stronger levies against such rampant, spiraling power creep between players and enemies both.

Its not just SE thats making it hard to enjoy the game with these iLvl gear its the player base with their i119 or GTFO.

[Jerbob]

(Insert obligatory rant about how awful the item level system is)

People are constantly concerned that their hard-earned equipment is going to be rendered obsolete within a couple of months of it being introduced. The work people put into augments that are going to be replaced almost immediately is a shining example of this issue. SE's future plans need to take this into account - vertical progression simply does NOT work properly in this game. If SE is so insistent on retaining the insanity of item levels, rather than a character-based level system (using an existing system like merits), then the cap has to stay at 119. Otherwise, zap us and our gear back to level 99 and sort out an alternative level representing system that actually works.

This game is built on a foundation of gear having various uses for various jobs. There's an (admittedly inadequate) macroing system and tons of stats spread across tons of jobs that cement this feature as a keystone upon which the game relies. It's something that I feel makes this game more appealing than some of the alternatives. As things stand, there are only a very limited number of item level appropriate equipment sets available, all conforming to SE's already lamentably short-sighted "mage/light DD/heavy DD" paradigm. This is not going to be enough to support the game's fundamental job and stat system when combined with item levels - yes, it's (unfortunately) the system they've always conformed to, but when there are ten sets of level-appropriate mage/light DD/heavy DD available, increasing all the time through horizontal progression, there's something to suit everyone somewhere. As thing stands, players have to wear otherwise useless gear with item level stat vomit just to stay alive - and for jobs with specific stat requirements, like SMN, that's not different to being forced to use pure DEF gear at 99. Some jobs - SMN being another prime example - have only just escaped from this gear pigeonholing.

There needs to be a horizontal spread or jobs are going to be left out. Horizontal spread is intrinsically incompatible with the vertical progression system.

SE's specific announcement here is fine, I guess. There's nothing particularly horrible in it, and some potentially interesting additions. However, these aren't really the kind of "future plans" that we need to be seeing. It's important for players to be able to understand what SE's long term intent is with regard to the item level and vertical progression paradigms as a whole - fundamental questions such as "Are things going to keep increasing?" have already been raised in this thread, and they are so important because they change the whole nature of the game. By not supplying us with this sort of information about long-term plans and general intent with regard to progression, SE is not answering the fundamental question that a lot of us would like clarified - where is this all going and, as a result, should we even be bothering..

Who's stopping you guys from creating Item Level 120 items on a lark? 139? 159? 9001? If Vana'diel intends to survive for another 11 years, we need stronger levies against such rampant, spiraling power creep between players and enemies both.

This Tarutaru presents the issue brilliantly.

[Karah]

All I can really add is iLevel is still iRetarded.

[Sapphires]

More skirmish armor upgrades really? That armor is so ugly, so generic, everyone has been super happy with the 109/119 AF reforged armor and getting out of that ugly skirmish junk.

You really need to consider doing a 109/119 of the AF2 (relic) or AF3 (empyrean set) , you really dont need to create more new different armor, just let us build on alot of our beloved pre existing pieces that we already carry around for JA/situational macro pieces.
We don't need item level higher than 119, seriously just let us 109/119 sidegrade for the next year AF2/AF3.

[Zhronne]

You really need to consider doing a 109/119 of the AF2 (relic) or AF3 (empyrean set)

While we don't know what ilevel they will have and if they will come in a single version or an upgradable one, they already said multiple times that new versions of Relic Armor and Empyreal Armor are indeed coming.

I have very little to say about Skirmish sets. Aside from the augments and the PDT aspect, the usefulness of these sets for me is in the fact it's "shared" among multiple jobs, and as such it can be an useful inventory saver.
Sadly, in that regard, it's not as useful as the 3 Delve sets.
For instance mage jobs are split between Gendewitha and Hagondes. Which means for example my SMN cannot use my cure-pot augmented Gendewitha items, and so on.
Or that my RUN and DNC cannot use my PUP/SAM/NIN/MNK's Otronif gear (whereas with Manibozho they could).

At the beginning of SoA it was awesome how much inventory space I managed to get when jumping from old gear to Delve one, in the slots where I could.
Now I'm starting to have an insane amount of specific gear. Skirmish sets, Delve Sets, Delve MB drops, Naakuals 115 drops, 109/119 AFs... and my inventory is crying.
I had to go back using Porter Moogle again which is a nice addition but it's not as comfortable/fast to use as to take gear out directly from one of your main inventory repositories...

[Puck]

You really need to consider doing a 109/119 of the AF2 (relic) or AF3 (empyrean set) , you really dont need to create more new different armor, just let us build on alot of our beloved pre existing pieces that we already carry around for JA/situational macro pieces.
We don't need item level higher than 119, seriously just let us 109/119 sidegrade for the next year AF2/AF3.

I could've sworn I heard the dev team was considering relic/empyrean armor ilevel upgrades. Was I just imagining that? Well, for sure I know they said this:

Rune fencer and geomancer job-specific equipment
We'll introduce relic and empyrean armor for rune fencer and geomancer in the future.

Which would be COMPLETELY useless if they weren't ilvl gear. So I'm hoping that means they're going to give relic and empyrean gear the same treatment they gave AF. If not, then WTF are they thinking??

[FaeQueenCory]

More skirmish armor upgrades really? That armor is so ugly, so generic, everyone has been super happy with the 109/119 AF reforged armor and getting out of that ugly skirmish junk.

You really need to consider doing a 109/119 of the AF2 (relic) or AF3 (empyrean set) , you really dont need to create more new different armor, just let us build on alot of our beloved pre existing pieces that we already carry around for JA/situational macro pieces.
We don't need item level higher than 119, seriously just let us 109/119 sidegrade for the next year AF2/AF3.

Good News!
Matsui already said that the Relic and Empyrean sets will be iLvficated....
AND that they will be 119!
...
I'd also bet that it requires 0 effort to have RUN and GEO's AF2 and 3 be 119... betting they'll be that "out of the box"... just like their RF1/AF1 is.
And while they might start at 109... that would mean that the 119 is "+4" for relic and empy pieces.... and chances are it'll just be 1 upgrade... no data to support that, just a feeling that 90ish gear will get an upgrade to 119 instead of a half upgrade.
(cause 50-60 to 109 was only to match the iLv of RUN and GEO's AF1... basically whatever the base iLv for RUN and GEO's relic and empy pieces will be will be the iLv step for everyone else...)
BUT he DID say that the method will be entirely different... which I suppose makes me suspect the straight-to-119 upgrade... cause... if not... why not just use the same pages?
Basically, in light of this new 119 skirmish sets... there will be 4 full 119 armor sets to pick and choose from, and then the random pieces here and there from Delve and the Ark Angels/Divine Might 2. (RF1+1, RF2, RF3, 119Skirmish)


And I like the skirmish sets pieces.... though if the 119 upgrade allowed to change the color of the model to either the pre-existing white or black version.... I'd REALLY like the skirmish sets more.

[Draylo]

Please don't let skirmish 3 be a snooze fest like the previous one ><

[Sapphires]

Please don't let skirmish 3 be a snooze fest like the previous one ><

totally agree, waiting for the next monster 'wave' to spawn had to be the most agonizing boring thing ever. Best cure for insomnia ever

All they really had to do was add some trigger you could hit at the tent that would force the next wave to spawn (and possibly improve the spoils by doing so) and it would have improved the event 10x

[Demonjustin]

Agreed, Skirmish for Yorcia was nice but at the same time it was horrible, the fact it went so slowly, made it just so boring. Also, please improve Skirmish by increasing the number of Fragments obtained, you currently need an obscene amount to buy +2 stones and NQ/+1 fall from the sky anyways so no real point in buying those anyways. Getting as few as we do per kill makes it so our only reliable way of getting fragments are from the rifts, and those are only once a run, and with those included, it would be around 25 runs with fully T5 pops for a single V.Stone +2, which is absolutely insane in my opinion.