This should be on a custom FF14 T-shirt.
Printable View
https://media.giphy.com/media/HLfnqgCyglJMk/giphy.gif
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-MMO glamour in a nutshell
It's not just about looking good.
It's also about taking as many screenshots as you can of your character looking good.
This is why I consider mods to be "cheating", in some respects. You didn't earn that glam, you just hacked it into the game! /s
That’s not what I said at all.
I believe I specifically said “ It more or less boils down to having little constructive to do at endgame.” which, I believe, does not comment on what people are doing pre endgame.
The op question is “why is glamour the endgame?” It’s pretty obvious that many people focus on the story or leveling up or whatever, but once that is gone those players either quit for a while or try niche content. Or alternatively, collect glamour more than they would otherwise.
Just like only a subset of players care about competitive, only a subset really care about 'showing off' with their glams. Many just glam for the 'look' they want, which many times is not flashy, just coordinated enough to not look patchy as you get new gear.
Different people like and do things for different reasons.
I’m not sure you understand the meaning of the word “constructive”. It means “having or intended to have a useful or beneficial purpose”, or alternatively “helping to improve; promoting further development or advancement”.
It does not mean “something I like or enjoy doing” and also does not imply non constructive things are a waste of time.
I don't really have an issue with mods, but for me knowing that my character looks differently on everyone else's screen if I were to use them has always been a deterrent. Sure it might be nice to have a better model for X piece of gear display on my end but the disconnect of everyone else seeing something different unless they have the same mod just kind of pushes me away from wanting to use them. Esecially if it's some sort of outfit that will look goofy without the mods on.
Glamour is endgame if glamour is a thing you want to focus on. It doesn't require the absence of other endgame content for people to choose to focus on it.
I don't tackle most of the high-level content that other people consider endgame, but glamour is what keeps me here and playing around with my characters. It's not that I'm bored and have run out of things to do but feel obliged to hang around. If I didn't have anything to do here, I'd be off and playing other games until the next story patch. But glamour is a thing I actively want to spend time on in the game.
And I think at least a good number of people who use the "true endgame" phrase aren't just talking about what you do at the end of the game inbetween patches. It's what you're always working towards, long before you actually hit endgame. Got all the things you wanted and made your character look fabulous? Congrats, you won.
So then which things are endgame are and aren't "constructive"?
Doesn't everything give you some kind of benefit, depending on your goal?
And what isn't constructive about making your character look better? Exercising some creativity? Taking artistic screenshots? I think that's a lot more beneficial and productive than running something over and over just for a few more skill points that are going to be irrelevant in a few months.