Future Plans for Equipment

[Glamdring]

the biggest problem I see with this is what amongst the gear we've gotten in the last few end-game pools of gear can safely be tossed as never relevant again. even with the porter system there is a large quantity of gear that is not porterable or muleable that is R/EX. I don't want to toss a piece that took alot of effort to make, is now irrelevant and then have you make it upgradeable down the road. An example would be all those elemental and TP axes I made for beast with Magian trials. I would be infuriated if I was told they are forever useless, toss them, then 6 months later get a "Good news, in the next version update your elemental magian gear will be upgradeable through a new..."

[Zhronne]

In regards to instruments, we are currently looking into adding an instrument that will add another song, but I can’t promise a time frame just yet.

Seeing as how "necessary" (or should I say "expected"?) having at least 3 songs has become as of lately, this is a very welcome addition for everybody willing to play BRD.

Still, if you want to go this way (which I personally approve) it becomes even more necessary than it is now that you guys do "something" about making the 90>99 Daurdabla upgrade more reasonable.
I'm not talking about giving a free one to the current lv90 Daurdabla owners of course, but something has to be done to make it more realistically possible with the current state of the game.

Several actions could be taken concerning this, and I feel this should be addressed in multiple ways.
Giving slightly more reasons for people to be doing Voidwatch, slightly increasing the droprates of Heavy Metal Plates and Riftcinders, and making them available from other sources as well.
Records of Eminence could be the right answer to many of these points.

[Demonjustin]

Well really I would say lower the amounts needed to 150 Heavy Metal Plates and 10 Riftcinder/Riftdross, and/or change the drops so that when you get anything besides a piece of armor you do not already have, in your top slot of your box, you automatically get a Heavy Metal Plate, and for Cinder/Dross increase the drop rate to around 25% and 10% for the respective NMs, since it seems to be something like Cinder 5% on Morta but 1% on Bismarck or some such.

[Zhronne]

Well really I would say lower the amounts needed to 150 Heavy Metal Plates and 10 Riftcinder/Riftdross

Now I wouldn't complain for that, but it's not realistical and honestly too extreme of a reduction.
Also, increasing drop rates usually feels "better" than just reducing the number required. The result is the same, but it has a better placebo effect on both the players who already completed the trials and those who still have to.

[Luscia]

SE... why would you add another instrument that adds a 3rd song? You technically "fixed" that problem with Clarion Call more or less. If you do add an instrument that has a 3rd song than you NEED to do something about upgrading the Daurdabla. This is the exact problem I had with the ilvl gear in the first place; players go out of their way to make themselves special and stand out so they would be wanted in events and then you come out and trash the items we worked so hard for. I upgraded my Gungnir to 119 because I love my DRG and that was my special piece for it, but Upukirex still craps all over it without even mentioning that the DEF Down from Gungnir overrides Angon (yeah, look into that people). I have both GHorn and Daurdabla; both incomplete due to the ridiculousness to upgrade them and now some random Aby burned BRD can have 3 songs? You also mention a new shield will be coming along too; so should I just tell my BF to hold off on making his Ochain and Aegis because why bother when this will be way better and easier to get? You said before you didn't want old content to be forgotten yet you are making it so we don't have to do them at all. I sneeze and oh look there's a new polearm for DRG. You used to speak of balance and I think you have to look up what that word means, because this crap isn't it. I have played this game for almost 10 years and seeing the way you started out and going to what it is now; you had more of a harmonic balance back when we were 75. Even with the intro to the Emp weapons, it didn't break the game; RMEs didn't mean your job didn't function without them. All weapons were close in power more or less and you weren't looked down upon if you didn't have them (unless you were COR cause WF was actually OP). So think about this aspect before you add these items.

[Secondplanet]

SE... why would you add another instrument that adds a 3rd song? You technically "fixed" that problem with Clarion Call more or less. If you do add an instrument that has a 3rd song than you NEED to do something about upgrading the Daurdabla. This is the exact problem I had with the ilvl gear in the first place; players go out of their way to make themselves special and stand out so they would be wanted in events and then you come out and trash the items we worked so hard for. I upgraded my Gungnir to 119 because I love my DRG and that was my special piece for it, but Upukirex still craps all over it without even mentioning that the DEF Down from Gungnir overrides Angon (yeah, look into that people). I have both GHorn and Daurdabla; both incomplete due to the ridiculousness to upgrade them and now some random Aby burned BRD can have 3 songs? You also mention a new shield will be coming along too; so should I just tell my BF to hold off on making his Ochain and Aegis because why bother when this will be way better and easier to get? You said before you didn't want old content to be forgotten yet you are making it so we don't have to do them at all. I sneeze and oh look there's a new polearm for DRG. You used to speak of balance and I think you have to look up what that word means, because this crap isn't it. I have played this game for almost 10 years and seeing the way you started out and going to what it is now; you had more of a harmonic balance back when we were 75. Even with the intro to the Emp weapons, it didn't break the game; RMEs didn't mean your job didn't function without them. All weapons were close in power more or less and you weren't looked down upon if you didn't have them (unless you were COR cause WF was actually OP). So think about this aspect before you add these items.

The problem is that now if you don't have Daurdabla you go without a party, i use to love playing bard, but being a family man and poor health to boot i don't have much time to play the game, so now a job i use to love to play i can't and even though i know every song, have every skill capped i'm called a noob cause i don't have something that just myself am unable to obtain within a reasonable time. You made the point of the time you sunk into the game making your harp/horn/polearm but look at all the time you spent leveling a job back in the day, now someone can do it in one day. The game has changed to a faster more rewarding (sometimes) game.

I welcome a chance at easier to get shields and Harps/Horns since there seems to be a huge demand for Brd and pld. SE is trying to get more people back into this game and at some points pushing others away. I have played summoner since i started playing back in 2005, i love the job and played it non stop both being a whm or solo'ing to get my levels which took months upon months to complete. I see some of the gear out now that just !@#$'s all over the stuff i've obtained over the years including my favorite YYR. Its just how the game is becoming which is a rather sad state but its the path the SE has chosen.

[Luscia]

The problem is that now if you don't have Daurdabla you go without a party, i use to love playing bard, but being a family man and poor health to boot i don't have much time to play the game, so now a job i use to love to play i can't and even though i know every song, have every skill capped i'm called a noob cause i don't have something that just myself am unable to obtain within a reasonable time.

I really don't know of any BRD who has been turned away. Granted I can only really speak of Delve now, but most BRDs I have seen in my parties that I would be rotating with are what you are more or less saying an "NQ" BRD; no Ghorn or Emp harp. What are you considering a reasonable time frame? My Gungnir took 2 years to make to 75, my Ghorn and harp 1 year because I work, hang with my friends and have interests outside of this game.

[Sapphires]

Now I wouldn't complain for that, but it's not realistical and honestly too extreme of a reduction.
Also, increasing drop rates usually feels "better" than just reducing the number required. The result is the same, but it has a better placebo effect on both the players who already completed the trials and those who still have to.

I'd rather see more people doing voidwatch and see drop rates increased than reducing the number of materials needed for an upgrade.
In iLevel gear and halfway intelligent job distribution people are doing Qilin, Uptala etc with only 6 people.

Too many people are sitting on hundred of voidstones but are just scared/lazy to participate, or want everything easymode and handed to them through records of eminence by grinding trashmobs.

The only voidwatch monsters that have balance/difficulty issues in the era of low manning voidwatch are ones like Kalasutrax/Ig Alima if staggers/temps run out to save you from their doom moves.
It would be far better to have voidwatch content made more appealing with a revamp than to have it never used.

[Demonjustin]

Too many people are sitting on hundred of voidstones but are just scared/lazy to participate

I'm not exactly sure I would call it laziness. At 1500 plates even at a 18 person party and a 33%~ish drop rate on singles as we have now you are looking at roughly 500 fights average. Going by pouch mobs it would be something more like a 5% drop with an average of 10 plates inside puts you at an average of roughly 170 fights. This is all assuming 18 player parties as well, if you are talking about 6-maning these fights then your looking at triple the rates, so 500~1500 fights.

As I said, I do not think laziness is exactly what I would call it, in a day and age when people did VW a lot and most people did not need plates, these trials still sucked, but they were more realistic because there was at very least some amount of supply, but today, when no one does VW really and the plate supply is near non-existent? 1500 plates is ludicrous.

[Sapphires]

I'm not exactly sure I would call it laziness. At 1500 plates even at a 18 person party and a 33%~ish drop rate on singles as we have now you are looking at roughly 500 fights average. Going by pouch mobs it would be something more like a 5% drop with an average of 10 plates inside puts you at an average of roughly 170 fights. This is all assuming 18 player parties as well, if you are talking about 6-maning these fights then your looking at triple the rates, so 500~1500 fights.

As I said, I do not think laziness is exactly what I would call it, in a day and age when people did VW a lot and most people did not need plates, these trials still sucked, but they were more realistic because there was at very least some amount of supply, but today, when no one does VW really and the plate supply is near non-existent? 1500 plates is ludicrous.

If people want plates, start paying more to create incentive for more supply and stop clinging to paying the old 70-100k rate.
I know of 2 Ukons that did their plate stages completely in a few weeks recently because word got out they were paying 150k a plate.

I play on JP time and they do alot of VW and most of the plates they get sell out before NA/EU time, this same thing is happening for dynamis money in regards to supply, theres a huge demand spike right now, lot of people have gil to burn from farming RME cases/reforge mats from AAs and other things. This game is throwing gil at people right now doing certain activities.

Its really not as dire as people make it out to be, anyone in RoE gear can solo farm other content (salvage+dynamis) easily to make a couple million a day and bankroll the cost of rift/cinder/dross if they really want to make a 119 empyrean.