A case of chronic gear imbalance

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There are three different ways to obtain equipment in FFXIV.
1. Obtaining items via difficult raids
2. Obtaining items through tokens that have weekly limitations
3. Obtaining items by spending a long period of time

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—Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXVI Digest

Is that right?

By choosing to grind your way to the Shire set (#2 above) you are bound to be stuck, indefinitely and by design, at -10 item levels than raiders (#1).

To make things even "better", the i270 Shire set is already available exclusively to raiders, but not to those who put considerably more time in grinding for their equipment on a weekly basis.

I do see an imperative to reward raiders in the MMO-ish sense, but the only way I have seen this being executed so far is conveniently and artificially crippling the RPG/grinding player-base.

Would the suggestion by the dev team be to simply unsubscribe till the artificial lockouts expire?

Seeing as the only part not limited by weekly caps is relic grinding, there's not much for you to "put considerably more time in grinding for [] equipment on a weekly basis".
Are they clearing Savage so fast that they're farming the latest weekly currency more quickly in progression raiding than you are by running Expert roulette once per day?

If you are not tackling harder content there is no real reason to have gear for harder content outside glamour and because you simply want it for no other reason than to have it.

If you want it that bad you are going to work for it. And raiding is a different kind of grind in and of itself, just not one you can generally watch Netflix during as you can with lolexpert roulette. You need to give incentive to raid and since Alex is horrid when it comes to story, music or anything vaguely resembling something interesting, gear is all that's left.

If they offer the same level or kind of gear from doing laughably simple content for 15 minutes a day a few times a week endgame raiding would be dead on arrival.

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

Are they clearing Savage so fast that they're farming the latest weekly currency more quickly in progression raiding than you are by running Expert roulette once per day?

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Not as much farming for the weekly currency through Alex. Savage, as obtaining the equipment right away.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

If you are not tackling harder content there is no real reason to have gear for harder content outside glamour and because you simply want it for no other reason than to have it..

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Whereas there is substantial reason to have it for content that was cleared at i250 or less?

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Originally Posted by Cordie

Not as much farming for the weekly currency through Alex. Savage, as obtaining the equipment right away.

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Nope that's why there are tomes that drop which you need multiples of to get pieces and since not every piece drops every run some raiders spend more time grinding than tome runners. Think of it like Crystal Tower or Mhach, you don't just walk in get your drop and are done for the week. Sometimes you need to run it 5, 6, 7, 10 times to get that one piece. It's fairly balanced imo

Excluding the item level crippling in tomestone gear, that would be balanced, indeed.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

If you are not tackling harder content there is no real reason to have gear for harder content outside glamour and because you simply want it for no other reason than to have it.

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Those are the only two reasons for anybody to want the top gear. Raiders obviously don't need it. If the hardest content provides a gear upgrade, then obviously anyone who gets it was already able to complete the hardest content without that upgrade. (In fact, the best raiders are often the ones asking for harder content. That would imply they'd be better off with weaker gear. It's the people who want to simplify the content and make it more accessible to everyone who need stronger gear, since that's the effect that stronger gear tends to have.)

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Originally Posted by Cordie

Would the suggestion by the dev team be to simply unsubscribe till the artificial lockouts expire?

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The irony is that the artificial lockout exists to keep item level junkies such as yourself subscribed.
If there aren't lockouts some people will just hardcore grind them then just unsub.
I have seen plenty of raiders who unsub after they beat the current savage content, the rest just do it for glamor.

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Originally Posted by Cordie

but not to those who put considerably more time in grinding for their equipment on a weekly basis.

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How so, exactly? Both raider and casual players only need to do expert roulette for 12-15 mins a day for only 5 days a week.

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Originally Posted by Cordie

Whereas there is substantial reason to have it for content that was cleared at i250 or less?

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What's the point of having higher item level when every other contents bar savage can be clear in i210 or less?

Again, to keep people who think item level is end all reason to their satisfaction in their mmo experience satisfied.



Also balance implies competition, what kind of competition are there between raiders and casual players? What exactly IS imbalance about some people having higher item level than other people?

That's only true for the very top tier raiders. Yes they can clear the toughest raid with i250 crafted gear, which is moot considering you get the strongest gear as a reward for completing content you used weaker gear to complete, I agree. This would be remedied by adding a third harder difficulty that requires max ilevel gear and rewards you with other things, but that's a different discussion altogether.

For the rest of us mortals, we need to get the higher ilevel equipment to take on the higher tier raids.

I consider myself a casual raider. I raid 2 nights a week, and my group has got as far as a11s. We need to be able to improve our gear in order to increase our chances of beating the next fight; that's the system as intended. Raid progression for casual players. You clear a floor, get better gear, and then tackle the next fight. Also I still need to grind tomestones to buy the shire gear to upgrade in the first place, you can't rely on getting lucky drops from savage and that gear takes 4-8 weeks worth of tokens anyway to buy, which is both methods #1 and #2.

The reason why you have scrip caps and weekly Alex tokens is to make sure people don't gear up and clear the content too quickly. People who don't attempt creator savage don't need i270 gear as the current content (Sophia, expert roulette) doesn't require it for players to clear. Ater all, ffxiv is a product, and a business that relies on people coming back to play in order for it to make money.

Come 3.5 everyone will be able to upgrade their shire gear with hunts and the weekly drop from the next 24-man raid, and higher ilevel weapons presumably will be available from the next primal fight.