Anybody think Item Levels should only increase once per year?

As opposed to every 6 months?

In my opinion (many will disagree) 6 months is too fast for an item-level upgrade. In just one year - we have seen Black Mages go from having high 3,000s HP to low 6,000s HP. The frequent item-level raises can have a huge impact on balance / growth of our characters. Worst of all - it transforms older content into super easy mode without enough new content that serves as a challenge.

If it were up to me - this is how it would work:

Start of a cycle: You get new raids and a higher item level (same as now)

3 months later you have a catch-up patch with something like CT (same as now)

3 months later you get harder raids but item level does not increase (instead you get new situational upgrades to gear and weapons with small percentage attributes such as haste, double-attack, resistance to X element, etc). The raids would be tuned to allow players to take advantage of the situational attributes. Older content won't be transformed into super easy mode without the raises to item-level and challenges are kept alive just a little longer to allow players who want to beat them the "true" way to get it done before it is handed to them.

3 months later you get another catch-up patch

3 months later you get new raids and a higher item-level.

It might cause people to play less often knowing there's no rush to reach the top or stop completely once they reach the cap at a reasonable pace.

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Originally Posted by MilesSaintboroguh

It might cause people to play less often knowing there's no rush to reach the top or stop completely once they reach the cap at a reasonable pace.

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I agree that's a concern. But I think those people who reach to the top are compelled to get BIS. That's why I think small attribute jumps (rather than full-on item level jumps) would be enough to keep players busy. This way it doesn't kill the previous content immediately.

It's tricky. I just feel that FFXIV upgrades item levels faster than other MMOs (maybe not Destiny if you can call that an MMO).

The problem is people blow through content so fast that you need some sort of means to simultaneously keep the hardcore players coming back while ensuring the less-than-hardcore players aren't completely intimidated by the power disparity.
This system is one of the most common systems in MMOs for a reason. You have to pace your content and can't spend 6 months on "catch-up patches" while you hemorrhage subscribers that run out of anything meaningful to do.
Remember, FCOB got beat within a week for the first time and has been beaten on pretty much every server at this point several times over. If they only added something for those players to do once a year, they'd have no motivation to return to the game.
On the other side of the coin, frequent iLevel "lifts" like replacing the various gear currencies lets lower tier players have a shot at content they wouldn't normally be able to do previously.
Remember that "harder raids" doesn't really mean much if you have no tangible rewards to motivate players. SSCOB is harder than SCOB, yet many groups don't bother with it because it just wasn't worth the effort for them.
A faster development cycle keeps subs and ensures that the power disparity between two given players is never insurmountable.

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Originally Posted by MasamuneBranford

It's tricky. I just feel that FFXIV upgrades item levels faster than other MMOs (maybe not Destiny if you can call that an MMO).

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Not really, it's actually pretty standard operating procedure across MANY MMOs. Hell, that-game-that-shall-not-be-named, DCUO, SWTOR, and TERA all do it. The only reason many don't is because they either increase it MORE often, don't have the budget to introduce major content as often, or don't even have an equivalent iLevel system.

I like it as it is right now really.

Quick story progression and at the same time, anyone can jump in and out whenever without falling too far behind in this MMO. Its the end of the year and I've been quite busy for the last 3 months but I know I can jump right back in and quickly catch up.

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Originally Posted by Xystic

Quick story progression and at the same time, anyone can jump in and out whenever without falling too far behind in this MMO.

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Unless you're a new player, then you're kind of getting the short end of the stick since the developers decided to axe old Tomestones for... I'm not sure why actually... To give new dungeons drops?

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Originally Posted by Nalien

Unless you're a new player, then you're kind of getting the short end of the stick since the developers decided to axe old Tomestones for... I'm not sure why actually... To give new dungeons drops?

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they axed them as a means to not confuse new players as to what is valuable and what isn't as well as to streamline progression for new players. Since you gain Soldiery at basically the same rate as the old stones, your gear will upgrade at a decent clip. It actually makes life a bit EASIER for new players since they don't have to struggle on old content due to gear limitations, which lets them catch up with the majority of the playerbase faster.

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Originally Posted by MasamuneBranford

I agree that's a concern. But I think those people who reach to the top are compelled to get BIS. That's why I think small attribute jumps (rather than full-on item level jumps) would be enough to keep players busy. This way it doesn't kill the previous content immediately.

It's tricky. I just feel that FFXIV upgrades item levels faster than other MMOs (maybe not Destiny if you can call that an MMO).

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Hmm
So first month highest weapon with ilevel 140 (as an example) with non-upgadeable stats not at the cap, after 6 months same ilevel but with stats at the cap and after again 6 months new weapon with higher ilevel but again with stats not at the cap?

As things have been standing so far, you're actually progressing 20 ilevels per 6 months. The intial poetics gear is i120, for the time being, only fcob can provide you with the means of rising it to 130 (we're talking strictly tomes gear); when World of Darkness aka Final Tower gets here, they'll probably add the carbon items to hunts and the gear will jump another 10 ilvls with people zerg rushing hunts for them.

I disagree because it would discourage people who play a lot from continuing to play once they get to their optimal gear setup. This game doesn't really support horizontal progression right now because there is only a handful of primary/secondary stats so there is always a clear best in slot if you know your role. In my opinion there isn't enough new content every 3 months to keep people coming on strictly for fun and most of the people I know aren't going to play for just vanity.

In order to support horizontal progression I think they would need to add some special stats, larger content updates and possibly gear swapping. Regardless of which direction they go, some people will never be happy.