Gating the whole expansion

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Originally Posted by Kyonika

Slowly grinding out levels for every class - mostly. And when I'm not on, there's this place called IRL - where I spend most of my time.




I'm sorry, there might be a misunderstanding here. Translation (dejected): It feels like "oh well" ...really, "oh well"

It's in the opening part of a soliloquy from a tragic character in one of my favourite animés.

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Ah, forgive me for assuming otherwise. Just on the internet you almost have to. Without knowing the context that kanji can mean all kinds of things in regards to feeling. *gives a thumbs up* You keep on doing what you're doing then ^^ I appreciate you taking the time to answer too.

First time around here, don't eat me :D

So OP I kinda understand how you feel, but probably for different reasons. I just got past Castrum yesterday (we did it in undersized party with two friends, because we wanted to watch all the cutscenes), so I'm even further from Heavensward then you are. But I don't mind that the main story, the new areas, or hell, even the new jobs are locked from me, because it makes sense.
What I do mind is that my current job levels past 50 won't amount to anything, because the new job abilities are also gated behind "Before the Dawn". That is what doesn't make sense to me. The trainer is in 2.0 areas, I have the level.. so what? The Ishgardians have to make a run down to Gridania and tell my Summoner trainer what Painflare is?

On the bright side, at least we're having fun trying to catch up, Castrum was crazy with two DPS and a Healer xD

So I guess all I can say is keep at it OP, we'll be at the gates sooner or later.

The butthurt with many of you is strong.

What is the purpose of a game? To have fun.
Is this fun for someone to play fetch for several hours before they can zone into Ishgard? No.
Just because you did it doesn't mean everyone else should have to.

I've done savage coil and final coil out the woozah, but I don't think people should have to complete those before moving on to Alexander or Ishgard. Do you know why? Because it's a game and I want everyone who plays to enjoy it. Should the expansion be gated by 2.0 story? Yea, why not. It gets you to 50 anyway and the story up to 50 has been regarded as the "tutorial" for the game anyway. Can any of you give a good reason behind completing 2.55 before going to Ishgard without repeating the same, tired line which is "BUT BUT BUT STORY"?

Not everyone shares your point of view. Try to remember that it is a game and it should be enjoyable.

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Originally Posted by Madjames

The point here is that this is a big problem. How can someone be OK with paying for an expansion and being the required level only to find out that they have to run through tons of stupid Pre-expansion bullcrap quests in order to access the main content that they paid for? The answer to me is it is NOT ok and a total stupid move on SE's part. I paid for the expansion and am the required level. Yet I am STUCK doing pre-expansion bullcrap.

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If the main story of game of a series that has been story-focused ever since the very beginning is only "tons of stupid pre-expansions bullcrap quests" for you, you might just need another game to play.......

^ See what I mean?

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Originally Posted by Vangl

What is the purpose of a game? To have fun.
Is this fun for someone to play fetch for several hours before they can zone into Ishgard? No.
Just because you did it doesn't mean everyone else should have to.

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What's to measure fun? Is it possible for a game to always be 100% fun?
If the fun drops below 100% is it considered not fun anymore?
What's the minimum for something to be determined as fun?
If a game has even a single moment where the fun drops below that 100% does that make a game a failure?
Is that moment the same for everyone?
What if one moment is not fun for one person and then a different moment for another?

Oh man, I never thought of there being a measured unit for fun! What should it be? Funograms? Funsius? Funs per hour? With your questions we could make it like the movie Speed. "Don't let the game slow down to under 55 funs per hour or we all die!" Just have fun :)

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Originally Posted by Averax

The more time you spend bellyaching on the forums about a decision that was made long ago, the more you could actually be progressing.

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Whilst this is mostly true, I want to complete the MSQ but my progress has come to a screaching halt.

I am stuck behind the Chrysalis trial at the moment, I can't progress unless I get it completed, yet most groups seem to try a couple of attempts then give up. At this moment I feel like I'm stuck in an eternal cycle of duty finder queues and failed Chrysalis attempts.

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Originally Posted by Vangl

The butthurt with many of you is strong.

What is the purpose of a game? To have fun.
Is this fun for someone to play fetch for several hours before they can zone into Ishgard? No.
Just because you did it doesn't mean everyone else should have to.

I've done savage coil and final coil out the woozah, but I don't think people should have to complete those before moving on to Alexander or Ishgard. Do you know why? Because it's a game and I want everyone who plays to enjoy it. Should the expansion be gated by 2.0 story? Yea, why not. It gets you to 50 anyway and the story up to 50 has been regarded as the "tutorial" for the game anyway. Can any of you give a good reason behind completing 2.55 before going to Ishgard without repeating the same, tired line which is "BUT BUT BUT STORY"?

Not everyone shares your point of view. Try to remember that it is a game and it should be enjoyable.

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Coil isn't required because it's a standalone story. If it was tied to the main scenario there would be an easy mode with high completion rates that could be done via Duty Finder just like the rest of story instances.

Let me exaggerate in turn. Since the point of any game is to be fun, shouldn't they just remove gil and leveling and make everything free? That's fun. Add some horror and gore effects for the lolz. Oh and put in open world forced pvp and make everyone have to eat food to stay alive like in Sims. Cause that's fun too. Do you see my point yet? One game cannot successfully cater to every possible type of gamer. What is fun to some people is not fun to others and the game developers have to choose who they want to make the game for. This MMO is not like other MMOs because there would be no point in just making a clone of some other game. FFXIV attracts a specific gamer crowd, the story loving MMO players. Making the story optional all of a sudden would change this game's foundation, make it less unique an MMO and alienate some of it's current player base.

What is the purpose of a story driven fantasy MMO? To deliver fun through a fantasy story. If new players can't even be bothered to read the big text next to the "purchase" button or visit a game's official website for info then they have some life lessons to learn. I don't know how else to put it. Don't buy a game if you don't want to play it how it's supposed to be played or if you can't be bothered to find out how it's supposed to be played. It's fine if people don't like the story but buying the expansion blindly and then asking for the game to be changed is not ok.

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Originally Posted by Vangl

Can anyone give me a good reason without saying "BUT BUT BUT STORY!!!!!!" And that's literally what you did was give the story as a reason. Nice exaggeration though.

The game is REALLY fun even without paying attention to the story. That's why not everyone cares.

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You missed the point I think. The story is the only valid reason needed because it's the basis of this game. It's what the developers use to pace content. I wasn't trying to give any other reason. Just because you are tired of hearing it doesn't make it any less valid. It's the same thing if someone said "Can anyone give me a good reason why we have to level up without saying BUT BUT BUT CHARACTER PROGRESSION!!!" or "Can anyone give me a good reason why we have to play with other players without saying BUT BUT BUT MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER!!!". Ignoring counterarguments you don't like to hear doesn't make your own argument stronger.

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Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor

Hate to say it, but I told you so. It seems you "veterans" don't know new players after all. ;)

Darn i'm tired!

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You didn't tell anyone so. There are more new players in this very thread saying they don't mind the requirement (including me), than those who say they do. I find it hilarious that you still claim to know what every new player wants :D

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Originally Posted by jazo

If you have invested the time wasted in this thread actually doing the MSQ you would be already flying in the new areas, just saying

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Not true, being trying to get passed Chrysalis since yesterday! I'm poking this thread BECAUSE I'm in a queue, not instead of trying to progress.

Can anyone give me a good reason without saying "BUT BUT BUT STORY!!!!!!" And that's literally what you did was give the story as a reason. Nice exaggeration though.

The game is REALLY fun even without paying attention to the story. That's why not everyone cares.

Only really good thing is it keeps the bots from gathering new materials easily. Meaning a ban hurts them much more by requiring them to level up and do the story all over again.

Star Wars as very story based as well. So "not all other mmo's let you skip the story" as far as I recall during "Rise of the Hutt Cartel" if you didn't finish the main story or your class quest story line, you weren't able to get into the new planet to get the new story for the new raid/trail thingy. If you were Sith, and you didn't do the opening quest to the planet, you didn't get to do anything.

Also, the reason that WoW probably let you do whatever you wanted is because you only could do 1 job per toon, therefor you'd have to do the story like 6 times, here you have to do it ONCE ... Yeah, could make an alt, but you can do everything on 1 toon, so doing the MSQ once and only once doesn't seem like a grave injustice.

Now, I think they shouldn't have gated the new jobs (Seeing as how the ASTRO job trainer is in Qarrymill FFS), but that is how they did it, people have been trying to get them to change it since they announced it, sadly, it probably won't happen for a long time.

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Originally Posted by Vangl

Can anyone give me a good reason without saying "BUT BUT BUT STORY!!!!!!" And that's literally what you did was give the story as a reason. Nice exaggeration though.

The game is REALLY fun even without paying attention to the story. That's why not everyone cares.

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Yes, because it wouldn't make sense to be able to go to Ishgard without the events of the main quest. There's no reason they'd let you in.

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Originally Posted by Vangl

Can anyone give me a good reason without saying "BUT BUT BUT STORY!!!!!!" And that's literally what you did was give the story as a reason. Nice exaggeration though.

The game is REALLY fun even without paying attention to the story. That's why not everyone cares.

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Okay, let's be more clear about it then. The reason is because the people who made the game made it per their vision; how they wanted it to play out. They have a story to tell in a world they made to act more than just a place to walk around in and do stuff. They designed it all to have a reason to exist and be connected. They wanted to put life into pixels and code.

To you, it's just a game. It's a thing where you click buttons and make numbers and flashy thingies happen.

To them, it's a world they made gave life and purpose. Where pixels are people with stories to tell and decisions to make.

I have to kinda agree with this topic im currently on the quest The Path Of The Righteous and need better gear for the duty to advance I'm well aware you have to follow the story what I was miffed by is thinking ill grab the new classes and level them up when ive done all duty and tribe stuff for the day but find out they are in the new area that I cannot access due to the story on the brightside they have switched currency so I can get poetics easier now. Thought I have 3 characters so now having 1 character for all is going to make grabing the dps and tank on my alts a grind again before I can level them.

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Originally Posted by Natz89

I have to kinda agree with this topic im currently on the quest The Path Of The Righteous and need better gear for the duty to advance I'm well aware you have to follow the story what I was miffed by is thinking ill grab the new classes and level them up when ive done all duty and tribe stuff for the day but find out they are in the new area that I cannot access due to the story on the brightside they have switched currency so I can get poetics easier now. Thought I have 3 characters so now having 1 character for all is going to make grabing the dps and tank on my alts a grind again before I can level them.

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Just curious... why do you have 3 characters? I can understand as item mules, but I don't really understand the point of leveling other characters for different jobs in a game where you can level every job on one character.

Sorry, Lewtskie. You mentioned the story as your reason. Thanks for trying though. Honestly, if I made an awesome game I'd just be happy that people enjoyed it and I wouldn't be so worried as to how (you know outside of harrassing others and cheating).

Just weird iike that My main is a lalafell and my magic classes my 2nd is a Miqo'te and my dps classes and my alt is a Elezen and my tank classes (I've never been one for really playing tank classes) I was going to just have my cat girl as all but fell in love with my lil evil lalafell so kept to three characters... but like the look of the new race so might make one and make that a jack of all trades!

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Originally Posted by Vangl

Sorry, Lewtskie. You mentioned the story as your reason. Thanks for trying though. Honestly, if I made an awesome game I'd just be happy that people enjoyed it and I wouldn't be so worried as to how (you know outside of harrassing others and cheating).

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Yeah, no, see just because you don't want to accept the reason doesn't make it not exist. That's not how the world works. I gave you a better understanding as to why "but story!" and if you can't accept that, then you're just gonna have to learn to deal with it.

See where you're in error is that you are trying to directly appease people. You're not doing your thing, you'd just make what people tell you to make. Most folks who write, write about things they've imagined. Ideas that swim around in their head; of people and places, and events. Some of them want to share their ideas and publish their creations.

With as much as they've integrated into the game that is purely designed to appease, the story is theirs and they want to share it. And being that it's their game, they can sure as hell make it the focal point. Unpopular to you few as it may be, it's what the one part of the game that's purely theirs.

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Originally Posted by Vangl

You mentioned the story as your reason.

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Originally Posted by Reinha

You missed the point I think. The story is the only valid reason needed because it's the basis of this game. It's what the developers use to pace content. I wasn't trying to give any other reason. Just because you are tired of hearing it doesn't make it any less valid. It's the same thing if someone said "Can anyone give me a good reason why we have to level up without saying BUT BUT BUT CHARACTER PROGRESSION!!!" or "Can anyone give me a good reason why we have to play with other players without saying BUT BUT BUT MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER!!!". Ignoring counterarguments you don't like to hear doesn't make your own argument stronger.

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There's my edit in case you missed it. But I'll humor you and won't use the word story. :)

It's a themepark MMO and removing different gating systems (for example level requirements, dungeon and raid completion requirements, reputation requirements) would make it more like a sandbox MMO. You assume sandbox is more fun because it offers more freedom, but your assumption is wrong. There are people who prefer completely linear themepark games like FFXIV and changing it into a sandbox game would ruin their fun. The thing is, sandbox games already exist so those who prefer that style have enough options outside of this game.

WoW made too many changes in their recent expansion and lost a third of their players in only 3 months after 10 years of success. Changing the core of a game is risky and I would hate to see FFXIV go down that same shameful way. The lead developer of this game has also stated that they design their game with existing customers in mind and a change of this magnitude would violate that decision.

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Originally Posted by Vangl

Can anyone give me a good reason without saying "BUT BUT BUT STORY!!!!!!" And that's literally what you did was give the story as a reason. Nice exaggeration though.

The game is REALLY fun even without paying attention to the story. That's why not everyone cares.

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The NPCs in Ishgard sell iLvl 115 gear and they don't want you to have access to the areas unless you've already gotten to ilvl 95 through other means.

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Originally Posted by Vangl

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You know.. you are the literal definition of a Strawman logical fallacy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

However, I'll bite: You cannot access the content unless you complete the prerequisites, just like any other advanced content. Heavensward was never intended to be an expansion to *Basic* content. It doesn't matter what the prerequisites are, whether they be the main scenario or something else entirely.

Story is a good enough reason to justify it. Not to mention content longevity so that people don't just ignore all the previous work the developers did as soon as they hit 50. Back when I played WoW I would have LOVED if they locked me in each expansion and forced everyone to do the older expansion raids and dungeons. People need to know it exists or existed.

No thanks, I don't want gil sellers in my heavensward thank you.

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Originally Posted by Madjames

How can someone be OK with paying for an expansion and being the required level only to find out that they have to run through tons of stupid Pre-expansion bullcrap quests in order to access the main content that they paid for?

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But all those "pre-expansion bullcrap quests" are also a bulk of the content from A Realm Reborn, which is a game you bought and subscribe to. How can somebody be OK with paying for a game and wanting to skip over all the content to play an expansion to a game they paid for?

The expansion is a continuation of the story, in a new setting. If you don't like the story perhaps you shouldn't be playing, or paying for, anything.

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Originally Posted by Lilyanna

Star Wars as very story based as well. So "not all other mmo's let you skip the story" as far as I recall during "Rise of the Hutt Cartel" if you didn't finish the main story or your class quest story line, you weren't able to get into the new planet to get the new story for the new raid/trail thingy. If you were Sith, and you didn't do the opening quest to the planet, you didn't get to do anything.

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That's comparing apples and oranges here. SWTOR's MSQ stuff was all entirely, without exception, single-player content. Meaning, no group finder or duty finder stuff needed to progress. Every expansion can be worked on solo: they didn't lock you out b'cuz you didn't complete x,y,z 8-person operations and a-thru-e 4-person hard modes and stuff.

This game, on the other hand, does.


I'm currently stuck behind a DF quest until I can get a healer or a ranged dps at a high enough level to continue, and then pray - when the time comes - that that DF is still relevant enough for ppl to click DF. But what I'm really dreading is the post 2.0 stuff. Endgame stuff. The stuff that many had done or will only do only once and hope never to touch again (cuz it's hard af).

Any one know if there is a way to throw money at SE to make the problem go away?

If not I'm seriously considering hiring a friend for $1000 with too much time on their hands to power level & grind out all the stuff in the way to Ishgard, and record all the cutscenes and boss fights for me. I'm not even joking. A minimum two-year lockout just to play content that I just purchased seems a little cruel and unusual.

Personally, I really only care about getting the 3 new jobs from this expansion. Everything else is secondary.

I agree with Kyonika. I also agree with people saying that its story based and it wouldn't make sense to just waltz into the new areas. But you know what else doesn't make sense? Forcing people to do content that the vast majority isn't interested in doing now, which means the wait times for trials and dungeons are longer now (even as a tank) because everyone is playing the new content....nobody sees a problem with this?

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Originally Posted by Madjames

The point here is that this is a big problem. How can someone be OK with paying for an expansion and being the required level only to find out that they have to run through tons of stupid Pre-expansion bullcrap quests in order to access the main content that they paid for? The answer to me is it is NOT ok and a total stupid move on SE's part. I paid for the expansion and am the required level. Yet I am STUCK doing pre-expansion bullcrap.

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Why on earth are you even playing this game if you just want to skip everything?

Do you not know how to read? Did you do NO research on this before spending your money? They have stated multiple times that everything in the expansion is story gated, just like everything in 2.0 was story gated, just like I assume everything in 1.0 was story gated.

Why do people keep doing this?

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* Players must progress through the main scenario quests introduced in patch 3.0 to access new areas.
* Players who log out in these new areas cannot log back in using a platform that has not registered Heavensward.

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This is one of the first things they mention in the patch notes for heavensward. I don't get the whining from people who refuse to read or do any research on stuff, nor do i understand the logic behind buying a game like this one just to literally skip all the content.

This is what the trial period was for, the first thing you should have noticed is that the scenario quests are paramount for progression.

Well tbh im new only started a few days ago and only got to level 30 been exploring the crafting system and everything first im going to try focus on my leveling now they added the double exp for the story quests but im also quite happy about the expansion been gated least this was i can actualy see all of the original game instead of just getting to 50 and skipping all content

i know that more than likely i probably wont get to see the 50 raids played as they do now but at least ill still get to see them

im new to FF but i have played alot of MMO and seeing as how enix have told you all that the expansion can only be accessed if you have done all current story quests i kinda see its your only fault if you cant go into the expansion why should you be rewarded for lazyness

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Originally Posted by Madjames

The point here is that this is a big problem. How can someone be OK with paying for an expansion and being the required level only to find out that they have to run through tons of stupid Pre-expansion bullcrap quests in order to access the main content that they paid for? The answer to me is it is NOT ok and a total stupid move on SE's part. I paid for the expansion and am the required level. Yet I am STUCK doing pre-expansion bullcrap.

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WoW sounds like the kind of game you'd like to play. Everything on a silverplatter.

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Originally Posted by Madjames

The point here is that this is a big problem. How can someone be OK with paying for an expansion and being the required level only to find out that they have to run through tons of stupid Pre-expansion bullcrap quests in order to access the main content that they paid for? The answer to me is it is NOT ok and a total stupid move on SE's part. I paid for the expansion and am the required level. Yet I am STUCK doing pre-expansion bullcrap.

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You're playing a story driven game. If you can't deal with that this may not be the MMO for you.

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Originally Posted by Madjames

I pre-ordered the expansion and am currently playing. However, I am sad to find out that there was No point in doing so.

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Wait. So you're telling me that that one user constantly complaining about 'house eviction' not being a thing didn't even get past Leviathan? And yet such a person seems to talk with authority about what he KNOWS is best for the game?

I can't....I just....I don't have enough facepalms for this.

I for one am glad they did it this way. At the least, it helps even out the load and spread the population during launch time. At the best, it helps make this game a final fantasy game, and not generic MMO X.

I also realized this after buying the xpac. Just completing the 2.0 main story was torture. After that, I got as far as unlocking the Moogle King fight and called it quits. The MSQ in this game is just painful from start to finish. All I do in this game is fish/craft/gather and now I'm punished for having a noncombat play style.

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Originally Posted by Kyonika

That's comparing apples and oranges here. SWTOR's MSQ stuff was all entirely, without exception, single-player content. Meaning, no group finder or duty finder stuff needed to progress. Every expansion can be worked on solo: they didn't lock you out b'cuz you didn't complete x,y,z 8-person operations and a-thru-e 4-person hard modes and stuff.

This game, on the other hand, does.


I'm currently stuck behind a DF quest until I can get a healer or a ranged dps at a high enough level to continue, and then pray - when the time comes - that that DF is still relevant enough for ppl to click DF. But what I'm really dreading is the post 2.0 stuff. Endgame stuff. The stuff that many had done or will only do only once and hope never to touch again (cuz it's hard af).



Any one know if there is a way to throw money at SE to make the problem go away?

If not I'm seriously considering hiring a friend for $1000 with too much time on their hands to power level & grind out all the stuff in the way to Ishgard, and record all the cutscenes and boss fights for me. I'm not even joking. A minimum two-year lockout just to play content that I just purchased seems a little cruel and unusual.

Personally, I really only care about getting the 3 new jobs from this expansion. Everything else is secondary.

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DF is still relevant, trust me. I just did Lowbie Roulette this morning. Gives the level 50+s a really big chunk of exp to do the roulettes, and they also get dungeon exp in the 15-49 dungeons (but not the 50 capped ones.)

Post 2.0 stuff is not hard. People will do their daily trials for exp as well, and just blitz through. Titan HM was a road block a year and a half ago - now it's just a yawn. As much as we whine about things like Chrysalis or Steps of Faith, even a bad group will clear on the 2nd try.

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Originally Posted by Madjames

The point here is that this is a big problem. How can someone be OK with paying for an expansion and being the required level only to find out that they have to run through tons of stupid Pre-expansion bullcrap quests in order to access the main content that they paid for? The answer to me is it is NOT ok and a total stupid move on SE's part. I paid for the expansion and am the required level. Yet I am STUCK doing pre-expansion bullcrap.

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That's the thing though. It was repeatedly stated for the last few months that you needed completion of the MSQ through 2.55 to access the new content. You have no one to blame but yourself for pre-ordering. And please stop comparing this to other MMOs. The story is obviously a central part of the experience, especially for leveling.

As a returning player who only played a month during patch 2.4, I'm ok with content gating. Wish more games would take a similar philosophy, though FF XIV's class/job system does give it flexibility on main scenario quests (and gating) that most other MMOs don't.

However, as a "fresh" level 50 prior to taking a break, I am woefully undergeared (ilvl 54). After spending six hours since EA started, unless I'm missing something really obvious, I'm seeing a really long slog on the gearing side....not necessarily the main scenario side. My ilvl started at ilvl 53, and now is at ivl 54.

Am I missing something incredibly obvious here? :D The guides on reddit, etc, don't seem very relevant.

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Originally Posted by Aethaeryn

...... Even if they hadn't locked entering Ishgard behind full completion of 2.x story, you wouldn't be able to do anything but run around the town anyway. :(

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A least that would have been something. It would've justified my CE pre-order purchase. But right now, I feel disappointed and cheated.

I'd have been happy to just wander the streets, take in the sights, fly around in circles on my new lion-bird...oh and pick up the three new jobs while I'm at it ... and then gtfo and continue on with my MSQ. Yeah, that would've been awesome, and fully worth it to me. And then, in like two more years from now, I can enjoy Heavensward's content in full and have it all make sense.


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As it stands right now, this new expansion that I had bought (and read on these forums from the devs months ago, promised at least getting into Ishgard and picking up the new jobs) offers absolutely zero benefits. So um...how is that even fair? And, I'm not saying that I want it all. I just want a very small part of a premium version of an expansion that I paid for in good faith.

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Originally Posted by TohruHonda

I also realized this after buying the xpac. Just completing the 2.0 main story was torture. After that, I got as far as unlocking the Moogle King fight and called it quits. The MSQ in this game is just painful from start to finish. All I do in this game is fish/craft/gather and now I'm punished for having a noncombat play style.

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QFT. Did the dev team even consider the feelings or standpoints of crafters/gatherers?

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Originally Posted by Catwho

DF is still relevant, trust me. ...

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Thank you for that. That gives me hope for the near future of questing in DF:)

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Originally Posted by smilingtolerantly

As a returning player who only played a month during patch 2.4, I'm ok with content gating. Wish more games would take a similar philosophy, though FF XIV's class/job system does give it flexibility on main scenario quests (and gating) that most other MMOs don't.

However, as a "fresh" level 50 prior to taking a break, I am woefully undergeared (ilvl 54). After spending six hours since EA started, unless I'm missing something really obvious, I'm seeing a really long slog on the gearing side....not necessarily the main scenario side. My ilvl started at ilvl 53, and now is at ivl 54.

Am I missing something incredibly obvious here? :D The guides on reddit, etc, don't seem very relevant.

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It's been a while for me, although I'm getting close to the same point on my secondary character, but gearing up is a combination of running the highest dungeon you meet the requirements on, and using tomes you earn from them. At some point you get a Tome reward just for completing, while also having a chance of higher ilvl gear for your job to drop. Gearing up is a combination of luck on the drops, while supplementing that luck with the tomes by trading them in for the gear that hasn't dropped for you yet.

If you try to approach it purely with drops or purely grinding for tomes, it may feel a little worse than it is. At the same time, the luck half of it is that RNG business people tend to complain about on the forums, but that really only gets bad for people wanting to complete a whole set, since the set you buy with the tomes isn't technically the same set that drops in the dungeons, but they serve your ilvl the same way. Throw in the glamour system so your gear doesn't look like patchwork and it smooths out in the end.