(Suggestion) HQ Gear Overhaul

I posted this a few weeks ago in the Items & Synthesis forums and got a few good replies. But overall I think many people have not seen it. I believe it's a big issue so I'm going to re-post it in General Discussion. This is a copy & paste from my original post with some minor edits.

I'd like to suggest a complete overhaul to stats on HQ'd gear. Currently the only gear in the game that's really worth getting an HQ version of is weapons and tools. The problem is that the only stats that get a boost compared to their NQ counterparts are ATK/ACC/M-POT/M-ACC/CRIT% for weapons, Craft/M-Craft/Control/Gathering/Output/Scanning for tools and DEF/EVA/M-DEF for armor and jewelery. This makes a very large portion of HQ items effectively worthless, especially for DoL/DoH armor and jewelery which have absolutely no value whatsoever.

I'd like to see more than just those stats get a boost. This includes all parameters of stats and attributes. You don't have to boost every single stat on a single item just give us some more variety. With the way the system is now I find no real reason to buy HQ armor or jewelery except as a novelty. Crafters and gatherers don't want or need extra DEF so why even bother making their armor HQ-able? And I'm sure all the Goldsmiths in Eorzea agree, the current system is just giving them one big middle finger by making 90% of their synths useless.

I'm aware that attributes currently don't make much of a difference at all. However, I also understand that the whole system is being revamped, so in the future perhaps they will play a bigger part in how we equip our characters. As such, it would be a shame not to include attribute boosts on HQ items in the future. Things like HP/MP/STR/MND/DoH stats/DoL stats should be included in the formula for armor, why weren't they in the first place?

Last but not least, get rid of the star system. I'm all for hidden or latent effects on certain pieces of equipment, but for every single one? People want to know what they're buying and want to visually see the difference when they spend an extra sum of gil for an HQ. If you do in fact decide to redo the whole HQ system I don't see how the stars would work with it anyways. Show us the exact amount of stats that we're getting, both in the item's description and in our stat/attribute window. Leave the guesswork and number crunching for when we want to test how our stats and attributes affect our performance. (Although I would like a clearer explanation for DoH stats, but that's another story.)

In conclusion, I know and fully understand the extraordinary amount of work you are currently doing and for that I am truly grateful. I think you are doing a great job and I know these things take time. I don't expect this type of change to happen overnight, or even over the course of a few months. I wouldn't expect a change like this to even be discussed in your conference room(s) until you are nearly complete with the overhaul on game mechanics. Focus on the more important issues first, as you currently are. Just don't neglect this major flaw in the current system, a system that was supposedly designed to make crafting classes just as important as any other.

However, the sooner this is fixed, the better. As more gear is implemented into the game, the task of updating existing gear becomes larger and larger. Sometime before PS3 release seams reasonable to me.

Thank you for your time,
Meowy Wowie - Fabul

I agree the HQ of armor needs to be more then Defenses and Evasion.

XI did it right, the HQs had increases everything. Defense as well as things like Dex, Str, Vit, elemental resistance.

It made people work to get HQs as well as make them for the market. The HQ was really better then the NQ.

As the OP said right now HQ only matter for main hand/off hand (weapons and tools) and gear that tanks use. Every other non-tank class has no reason at all to wear HQ armor.

I think it was made the way it was because your tools/weapons are more importent then gear. Since you can change jobs on the fly. Plus currently with point Allocation there is a limit how much you can raise before it has no effect. So this was prob considered when making gear. This isn't ffxi either and the classes are nothing like ffxi jobs, nor anything like past mmo. It kinda getting old ppl keep saying "don't compare ffxi to ffxiv" but end up doing so. Personally speaking they are fine imo. Not all hq items in ffxi had huge increases from the base. Some didn't even have bonuses.

Some didn't have bonuses yes but example:

bone Ring and Bone Ring +3: No difference
Vintange Haub and VH +3: No Difference (unless you are tanking in it)
Silver Tricorn and Silver Tricorn +3: No Difference

It is mostly visible with accessories, but over 95% of the HQ armors in the game are worthless, with the 5% being the gear the Tanks are wearing...

Maby weapons where ment to be more important, but why make the majority of things worthless. ATM this is the only MMO where the HQ synths are not better then NQ.

Not asking for major improvements but something like this I think is needed.

Level 30ish str ring
Nq: What it is now
HQ1: More fire resist
HQ2: +1 to the Str and More Fire Resist
HQ3: +1 to the Str and even more Fire resist.

Make it mean something to HQ besides the meaningless +3 next to it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xatsh

rovements but something like this I think is needed.

Level 30ish str ring
Nq: What it is now
HQ1: More fire resist
HQ2: +1 to the Str and More Fire Resist
HQ3: +1 to the Str and even more Fire resist.

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As long as they're slight improvements like the above, I'll support this idea. What I don't want is a repeat of crap like the Alumine/Luisant Haubert, where you had gear with no stats and the HQ having pretty good stats for its level, making only the HQ matter and the NQ nothing more than vendor trash.

While I agree with some of your points, Kilta, I still don't see how you don't think the system is broken. For example: When I HQ a Dodore Doublet and opt to sell it instead of upgrading from my NQ then that's a real problem. Why should I ever consider keeping an NQ over an HQ? Again this brings up one of my points, why even make DoH/DoL armor HQable? It's utterly useless the way it is now. The same can be said for 90% of the armor in the game.

Yes, attributes barely do anything in this game right now. This becomes very obvious as your level/rank gets higher. But also keep in mind that they are changing this, hopefully making attributes much more influential to performance than they currently are. I originally voted to have Class specific attribute allotment, but lately I'm thinking we'd be better of with set attributes for each class if that's what it takes to make attributes actually matter. That would also make each Race unique as well, another plus in my book. But that is another story and I'd like to keep this thread on topic.

Like Xatsh said, even small improvements will do. I'm not asking for +20% on all stats per hq tier, just include more beneficial stats in the equation.

More importantly, where are my white and blue (and maybe red for +3?) borders?