Magitek Mount Unification (paint/decal, etc) - Cid's Garage (FFXV) / Workshop
tl;dr, long ago SE mentioned perhaps being able to equip/maybe do battle with magitek, also in FFXV (15, Noctis) you have your car that can be customized visually. This thread is on that vein of thought.
Edit:
https://img.finalfantasyxiv.com/t/57...26725e49_0.jpg
Recently SE teased this tank image. While there was a small section in the thread already I wanted to reiterate a concept into it's own bullet, so I've added the limited job section.
I know this isn't a particularly "needed now" feature so I'm not asking for it "now" but something I thought would be neat to see - as some aside feature to a patch off into the future somewhere (perhaps closer to the higher tech part of an expansion).
The Workshop:
The idea is some time in the future we, Cid and team, get a giant workshop/garage, perhaps via our help (either quests, deliveries, expansion, mix). Now we're able to bring our magitek to him to outfit a little bit like our chocobos.
So an easy example is we have the black magitek mount from the MSQ, the gold from achievement, the red from the mogshop, our Fenrir cash shop, or claw mount from achievement. When you earn the gold magitek (achievement) or buy the red one you earn a key to that type of mount and the paint as well (would consider adding decals too to the unlock, for extra desirability). Now you would be able to apply the gold paint to your Fenrir or claw, and whatever compatible decals or attachments (obviously some attachments or decals may need restrictions if they won't look good (like a visual or attachment that doesn't make sense)). So even unlocking some piece of magitek garage content may become interesting later if it wasn't now (as you might find a combination of new and old content interesting as your garage grows).
Basic recolor examples:
https://i.imgur.com/0Uaqure.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/2vTSCGt.png
This idea could (should, imo) be expanded beyond basics of paint and texture decals (basically patterns/textures/tattoos) such that you might get a rocket pack to equip to your walker magitek (MSQ like ones) that give you a new goof ability and visual aesthetic to the mount (able to add abilities to the mount, like the magitek cannon or Gauss guns). Also consider /long/ ago SE mentioned magitek battle content, PVP may be what they were thinking, but it may be neat to utilize this content for that or at least have some sort of Armored Core magitek Golden Saucer content (so like high octane arcade style combat perhaps). May consider some sort of open world Xenogear (Gear) thing as well, but we should be careful how complex things get (to keep it something that can be done). Luckily visual element doesn't rely on this section so you can have one without the other if SE or you determine it's a bit off.
I thought of this originally because there is sometimes murmur (CONFIRMED) of Noctic's car from people and I was thinking how sad it'd be that you couldn't customize it just like in FFXV. Then I thought how the red magitek cash shop purchase felt a bit silly (exact same, just red), but perhaps less silly if you could unlock the color permanently* and it was also a key to another customize mech. Such that you could own one more customize-able magitek, a bit like if you bought another chocobo companion that came with barding vs just buying barding. *I know it'll probably never happen because it likely makes them thousands a day lol.. but permanent dye for normal gear as well like a GW2 system would be nice.
So for the walker magitek you'd have a few slots like chocobo such as decal, paint color, and attachment(s?). Some unique colors could take up the slot of decal as well like in the FFXV car (some fancy paints come with decals).
If feeling generous can add some rare drops of the colors from the cash shop (such that like dye you can get something similar in game, except of course the key - which is mentioned further down below). Also a great time to add some decals and paints via crafting.
Some examples of Noctis's car customization:
Magitek walkers we have:
You can imagine seeing different color variations of the other magitek, like the claw for example.
Perhaps imagine when you unlock the Model O mount you get a special decal (the fancy engraved pattern) that you can use on other magitek (like Fenrir!), as well as being able to now color your Model O to your liking (golden Model O).
Keys, a way to avoid memory issues:
In order to reduce memory cost of the idea, so that not /every/ magitek mount is customize-able chocobo in essence (although if they can do that then great), they could make it so at cid's workshop you have X number of active keys which allow customize-able magitek. Adding another way SE can add progression to the system (upgrading Cid's workshop adds more active slots, and new customization options). So if you have 3 active slots in Cid's garage you can have 3 customized magitek, all the others will be standard when summoned (and so cash shop adds one key slot to Cid's workshop).
Limited Job/content, Engineer / Magitek Pilot:
When discussing some disappointment I had over blue mage, I had thought that they could have made a group combat content that had a smoother upgrade and combat curve path while also meeting a lot of what blue mage did (vaguely solo, mostly PF content). Of course a main reason I brought this up was because I felt Blue Mage deserved more than what it is but this post is not for that- and ultimately I did think the idea itself had a lot of interesting potential (which is why it's suggested lol).
People can imagine the whole combat side of installing certain weapons, programs, and general mods (wheels vs walkers, launchers vs charge up beams, overloading/clocking, heat and processor management, etc- with a focus on it being fun over overly realistic).
Perhaps to make it less insane free form building when you earn a magitek in game you unlock some cosmetics and some parts, making sure any cash shop item is purely cosmetic unlocks (red paint for example). In this way you don't have like 15 different magiteks that should all be upgrade-able with different parts (though that would be cool), rather if you get say the claw mount it unlocks a grappling hook for your magitek side, one walker gets you legs instead of wheels (slower but much better turn and can actually jump), another walker gets you the charge up cannon, and all these parts combine onto a doll / scaffolding piece (rather than each part being used between each magitek interchangeably, which would have been a lot more work). Also it would work like the key system then, the doll being the 'mount' / data that needs to be saved- so if they want to let you build multiple magitek mechs you'd own multiple chassis / cores that act as the scaffold. In this example you can imagine the tank image above being one potential scaffolding (spider tank being another potential, the skeletons that determine some options and form of the magitek).
A thought that might make the content more diverse in use cases (pf, solo, etc) yet still keep that PF content was that perhaps the mechs fuel is from materia and your soul bound points; although if there is any content meant to be spammed like pvp content the fuel will be provided to you then (like the GC procures it on your behalf), but say for example materia of any type approximately adds a similar amount (can be a slight bonus for tier but in this way people will buy the cheapest materia and make it more expensive- allowing lower level people a faster access to more gil, and adding a minor balancing effect to the market for the less desirable materia stats). The soul bound part will be for solo content and allows you to super charge your mech by leaking your personal built up energy into the machine- the solo part means that PF content is not begging for super charge (super charge or kick, would be lame) and also means those who want to solo go through the ranks can likely do so (just quite a bit slower as they have to build up their soul bound first). Any instanced content will confirm your soul fueled magitek before entry and grant status for the entire time (reducing some of the potential frustrations), in the open world it will slowly drain your points though. I like the concept because it gives me vibes of building your summon's limit in FFX or the xeno (gears/saga) series where bringing it out was kind of a big deal and also means it wont be something people think to regularly replace their normal combat with (say non-soul fueled magitek is respectably strong but doesn't rofl stomp your stats- probably a bit better but it costs you materia to use, while the fueled one could be quite impressive). Also I like the idea as it makes pretty much all the beast tribe token materia valuable, and even materia that isn't valuable that sold cheap might be bought up for fuel. This fuel concept doesn't have to exist though, could have a different better one, or none at all- I just had the shower thought it might spin the materia market a bit, add more value to beast tribe tokens, and add potential that players could take part in the content occasionally even if they don't want to do it the standard way.
Also on a personal level I just really enjoy the idea /imagery that you're fueling the magitek with your energy to make it go further beyond, especially if the imagery was present visually too (like you might see in some mech animes, where the connection of machine and person is more than just a joystick)- which would also explain why we might be able to give the country that mastered in them a run for their money.
Aside, semi-related:
Long shot aside (will probably dedicate a thread to airships): Was hoping especially to see this garage upgraded over time into a hangar bay where we might be able to own a personal airship (akin or literally an upgraded apartment system). For FC it has potential to be a great way to become an insane gil sink (via dreadnought class size ships).
Airships Garage Content Addon: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-All-%28-FC%29
Chocobo Update (upgrade customization to chocobos): http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...t-Tribe-etc%29
Thanks for reading :)
