Poll: Gear progression, horizontal or vertical?

If your needing to constantly switch out gear. Then that isn't horizontal. That ... is pretty much just vertical with needing different sets of gear.

Horizontal Progression means you can do content with any of the gear available, you just pick which one suits your play-style, trade-offs.

If you have to carry a set of gear for each content you do then its already just vertical progression with more sets of gear needed to do the job, for example gear that is better against skeletons. Now to take on the skeleton raid you need skeleton armor. That isn't horizontal. That is still vertical.

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Originally Posted by Sapphic

Which is vertical progression as you are replacing gear with higher level gear. Albeit not every piece initially.

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True, FFXI style "Horizontal" Progression isn't true Horizontal Progression.

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Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor

If your needing to constantly switch out gear. Then that isn't horizontal. That ... is pretty much just vertical with needing different sets of gear.

Horizontal Progression means you can do content with any of the gear available, you just pick which one suits your play-style, trade-offs.

If you have to carry a set of gear for each content you do then its already just vertical progression with more sets of gear needed to do the job, for example gear that is better against skeletons. Now to take on the skeleton raid you need skeleton armor. That isn't horizontal. That is still vertical.

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No, the swapping for the situation is true Horizontal Progression. Horizontal Progression is the term for increased situational capabilities from expanded equipment access without increasing the overall maximum capabilities in all situations.

The best example of a True Horizontal Progression occurs near the end of the World of Balance in FF6.
In the Magitek Research Facility you can find a total of 4 swords: Blizzard Blade (108 Atk, Ice element, 25% chance of casting Blizzard), Flametongue (108 Atk, Fire element, 25% chance of casting ), Thunder Blade (108 Atk, Lightning element, 25% chance of casting Thunder) and Stoneblade (117, Neutral, 25% chance of casting Break). All 4 weapons are roughly equal, but, depending on the fight, each can be better than the others.

Both, Honestly I thought materia system would have been an excellent option were crafters attach and detach materia and have some kind of progression and not just what we currently have stuff like ability modifiers, trait enhancement ect. They should have two materia systems the original for status like str, int, ect, but for future content after expansion they should introduce materia 3.0 adding traits,ability enhancement were it 2 slot for status effect and one or two depending on gear for traits/ability boost.

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Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

No, the swapping for the situation is true Horizontal Progression. Horizontal Progression is the term for increased situational capabilities from expanded equipment access without increasing the overall maximum capabilities in all situations.

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No, he's correct. If you ''need'' to swap equipment to fit the situation then its not longer horizontal since you dont actually have a choice in what to equip. Your example of elemental weapons is a good example of that.

Horizontal or Hybrid. Vertical is boring.

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Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor

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Saying Horizontal is when you can equip any gear-set and face-roll on skill alone is a ridiculous method of progression because in that situation every piece of gear will have the exact same stats and nothing else; no bonuses, no variation, no anything, just flat basic stats. You would never upgrade that gear or change your gear or progress your character beyond max level.

At least with the system we have now we have what is called "character growth". You can noticeably see your charterer become stronger as you get progressively better gear. Is it ideal? Nah, but it is far better than that idea of "horizontal".

If you added any variation to the gear, any unique bonuses or procs or resistances, anything that makes one piece of gear different than another piece than you end up with the situation I have described in previous pages.

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Originally Posted by SDaemon

Stuff.

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Not really. You can have horizontal vertical progression where gets gets better. However there are different pieces and skillsets on said gear that is better. You can have ilevels of gear, but with just different stats/effects. ilevel only determining how many stats can be on said item.

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Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor

You can have horizontal vertical progression

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So now you're wanting to talk about a hybrid of horizontal and vertical. Switching things but ok.

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Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor

However there are different pieces and skillsets on said gear that is better. You can have ilevels of gear, but with just different stats/effects. ilevel only determining how many stats can be on said item.

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This still leads to one gear piece being more ideal for one situation over another, hence swapping horizontally across the spectrum. All you are adding to the equation is when another tier of gear comes out you are upgrading to the next version up.

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Originally Posted by SDaemon

So now you're wanting to talk about a hybrid of horizontal and vertical. Switching things but ok.



This still leads to one gear piece being more ideal for one situation over another, hence swapping horizontally across the spectrum. All you are adding to the equation is when another tier of gear comes out you are upgrading to the next version up.

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No, here is a good example of how it works.

http://i.imgur.com/QWvGqRX.png

Some gear is better in certain situations but it depends on what your doing. However gear always has a % chance. Its more based on your play-style then anything else. The effects are just bonuses to the stats. Sure you can make your character specialized, however what if you need a faster burn? You have to adjust your raid to the playstyles of the players.

That doesn't mean you will need to carry 5 bags of gear. You will do fine using sets you like and you enjoy. Even maybe mixing it up.

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Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor

No, here is a good example of how it works.

http://i.imgur.com/KJzIGGM.png

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^ Which will lead to swapping out in different situations.

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Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor

That doesn't mean you will need to carry 5 bags of gear. You will do fine using sets you like and you enjoy. Even maybe mixing it up.

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For players doing only story dungeons and quests perhaps. But even a hybrid will bloat our inventory up and anyone wanting to do any difficult content will need to swap and adjust their gear pieces accordingly. Is that fine? Sure, not everyone plays difficult content. But saying it won't bloat inventories because people won't be carrying all the different pieces needs to counter an encounter is pretty much denial at its best.