To join a pick up group in FFXI people expect you have a relic or empyrean weapon now. But that only cause the game has been out so long and they aren't exactly hard to get anymore.
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@OP you're right that people don't ask in shouts for a minimum gear requirement but they do ask in other ways. None of the top shells would take someone as a member if all they had was AF. So in that way it's not really going to change anything. In another sense it's a way to measure someone's progress in the game. I agree with you though that it isn't a positive thing.
Maybe only you can see your gearscore...
This is the first time I have heard of "Gear Score" as opposed to just making sure everyone is at stat cap. I find the idea interesting as it will expedite the process of finding suitable players in which to do runs with. While I admit stats play a major role in damage output. Nothing can ever replace player skill. I'll accept Gear Score. Even if I didn't, it would be foolish not to understand why it exists.
The "community" is still trivialized regardless of whether gearscore is there or not. As is RP.
Stuff like appearance tabs/vanity slots/transmogrification support RP. Hell, it also supports player individuality because we're choosing our own look.
Preferences only work when everyone performs at the same level, which some here seem to be adverse to. Yes, to get people to respect your playing a MNK, you and BLM and RNG and DRG and all the damage dealers have to be for the most part interchangable. Same thing with tanks, and same thing with healers.
So if you want player individuality and RP, do all of us a favor and support transmog/vanity slots/appearance tabs. If you want preferences and personality of the player to be respected, then ask the devs to ensure that the jobs all perform comparably to each other and ensure raid design doesn't favor melee or range for every fight. Don't blame that on gear score, because it has NOTHING to do with those issues.
Gear score or not, it won't change the fact that I won't refer to it anyway.
In my opinion it's only an elitist tool and the harder for them to exercise their "elistism" on me, the better.
I'm a casual player, I can afford the best gear simply because of the stupid random drops. I don't want to be penalized because of that.
If gear score is used only for the player to recognize better gear and can't be viewed by others, sure, why not. I still won't use it anyway (I'm not that dumb that I can't figure out what is best for my play style).