Overreliance on cosmetics as a reward

As the title suggests, I want to hear and learn what is the opinion that you guys have on the game using cosmetics as the end reward for pretty much any new content we get in the game.
I like cosmetics, glam is nice, hairstyles are fun and such! But outside of the relic grind, what other content rewards you with game mechanical advantages for taking the time to do said content? It does really bring the new added content to "do I want this new glam"? If the answer is yes, you'll do it, if the answer is no then most likely you wouldn't engage with it unless you're a completionist or just wanting to experience it :(

I want to restate I don't want cosmetic rewards to go or disappear, I'm just considering if maybe we should get some more gameplay mechanical too (empower or change a certain ability on your job for example), get increased movement speed in towns for doing X content, anything that benefits the game mechanically than just appearance (I am aware Fashion Fantasy is a pretty popular end-game for most)


What do you guys think? Is there room for such rewards in the game? Would you even want them? What rewards would you like to see from future content? Or is the way it is now just fine for you? :D

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Originally Posted by XtremePrime

What do you guys think? Is there room for such rewards in the game? Would you even want them? What rewards would you like to see from future content? Or is the way it is now just fine for you? :D

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I like your ideas! I will begin by saying that I will 100% decide to engage in content based on the rewards most of the time. Unfortunately I just can't spare the time to do random content for the love of the game anymore, so that motivator is very important when time is my biggest frustration.
... With that said, I did ASSS because I wanted a singular earring, I'm doing the World-Class Troller achievement because I want the adventurer plate backing decor and I'm doing UCoB because I think the Legend title might be fitting for one of my alts. I would not say I am particularly sane when it comes to deciding what kind of content I get involved in lol.


Stuff I would go absolutely insane for, in no particular order (tons of ideas for more cosmetics but there's a little bit of everything in here hopefully):

• Different idle stances/animations/"personalities" for our basic idles or even job-specific ones. Could also be from different races, like midlander being able to use elezen idles, specially if you can mix and match. Lots of potential for roleplayers, GPose and final fashion XIV enjoyers!
• Different skill VFX, preferably inspired by the fight they're unlocked from
• Love your idea about movement speed in towns, so I'm absolutely stealing it and putting it in the list.
• Summon/faerie/avatar customization (animations, model, etc.)
• Mounts obtained from difficult content would be faster than others in the areas they belong to lore-wise (example: Pandaemonium mount rewards are faster in Elpis compared to other mounts. This should likely be added with a function to auto-equip the fastest mount for each area if you own any that meet the criteria) and/or the option to upgrade mounts to become faster in certain areas (Manacutter in Sea of Clouds, Magitek-related mounts in Garlemald, etc.) bonus points if they are multi seaters so people aren't left behind in hunts.
• More multi seater mounts. Love carrying my friends in multi seater mounts. Love being lazy in a multi seater mount. Gimme 8-player multi seater mounts where I can actually see the people in it!!
• Housing related upgrades and customization, specially for easily accessible housing such as apartments. Think alternative retainer/crystal bell designs, windows, doors, NPCs, etc. Stuff everyone can flex regardless of their home size.
• Alternative gearing up paths, if you hate the savage then maybe you could use Criterion to gear up or switch it up every week, etc.
• Emotes, especially looping ones!
• HUD skins (think Omega-themed, steampunk Alexander-style, moody and gothic Ishgard from DSR). You interact with your HUD all the time, so this could be huge.
• Something to breathe some life back into Companion Chocobos would be fun. Not sure what it could be though...
• Higher bicolor gemstone gain from expansion/lore-related areas.

I see a lot of cosmetic potential they're not exploiting yet. With gameplay rewards, I think it's very cool but you need to be careful about them since it can be very difficult to balance content around them, specially skill upgrades, but I like the idea!

I recently got into the monster hunter series and its a similar idea with glam as endgoal and im a huge glam lover but what sucks is that theres still job restrictions to glam and sometimes some dungeon glam arent dyable.. Id really like them to expand on this glam reward by fixing it up a little and letting us glam tank glam to like magical jobs.. etc.
I guess mounts also count as glam because I did chaotic ARaid grind for the mounts.
I know yoship said he wanted to incorporate less gil but like.. im broke n i need gil to buy glam..
More rewards like housing items, minions, adventure plate cosmetics.. not sure about stuff like gameplay mechanics as rewards because ppl will say its unfair or not accessible? So glam is kinda the easiest route

They also reward mounts from content as standard. This is because Yoshi-P obviously observed people collect mounts and minions in other MMOs and felt adding them as rewards successfully compelled people to do content.

I don't really care about power progression necessarily. But it would be fun to be able to customize your playstyle more significantly with what you can loot, or loot animation changes for your attacks.

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Originally Posted by XtremePrime

As the title suggests, I want to hear and learn what is the opinion that you guys have on the game using cosmetics as the end reward for pretty much any new content we get in the game.
I like cosmetics, glam is nice, hairstyles are fun and such! But outside of the relic grind, what other content rewards you with game mechanical advantages for taking the time to do said content? It does really bring the new added content to "do I want this new glam"? If the answer is yes, you'll do it, if the answer is no then most likely you wouldn't engage with it unless you're a completionist or just wanting to experience it :(

I want to restate I don't want cosmetic rewards to go or disappear, I'm just considering if maybe we should get some more gameplay mechanical too (empower or change a certain ability on your job for example), get increased movement speed in towns for doing X content, anything that benefits the game mechanically than just appearance (I am aware Fashion Fantasy is a pretty popular end-game for most)


What do you guys think? Is there room for such rewards in the game? Would you even want them? What rewards would you like to see from future content? Or is the way it is now just fine for you? :D

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Basically gear set bonuses like WoW's tier sets. I like that idea - doubt they would let we alter job actions based on equipment, though. They love their on-rails.

I feel that before that, they would need to look at something more dire: the stats, and how that customization is near meaningless in the current game. From that, they could expand to other bonuses, especially if they cut redundant stats out ( <cough> Direct Hit <cough>) and add meldables to utility stats like movement speed, leech or even maybe new niches like Brink of Death/Vuln/Damage Down reductions - if those aren't mutually exclusive with throughput melds, of course. Then they can explore those even further through item bonuses.

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Originally Posted by freshavocado

I know yoship said he wanted to incorporate less gil but like.. im broke n i need gil to buy glam..

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I think he simply meant he will hand you less raw gil (because people were upset by Occult Crescent coffers), but you can still make gil in plenty of ways. Though your biggest priority should be not getting scammed on the MB :'D consider investing in crafters, or at least sourcing as many things as possible yourself and getting a crafter friend to help you out!

Maybe let us use mounts in cities again, like inside of solution 9, then possibly I would be more motivated to get a mount.

I don't want mechanic power creep as rewards. I'd rather they expand gearing options. So people can get savage equivalent gear from a few sources. We have so many jobs but it's hard to gear them all.

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Originally Posted by XtremePrime

But outside of the relic grind, what other content rewards you with game mechanical advantages for taking the time to do said content? … … I'm just considering if maybe we should get some more gameplay mechanical too (empower or change a certain ability on your job for example)

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This content already exists: class quests and job quests, and the "mechanical advantages" you get from them are generally regarded as a requirement or must-have, not an optional reward.

I think we need more cosmetic rewards in many cases, since sometimes they aren't to everyone's tastes and don't justify clearing the content on their own (e.g. the M8S mount).

That said, mechanical rewards as well would be cool too. Eureka and Bozja kinda have this with their unique stats that have a noticeable effect on your strength in those zones. And unlike Occult Crescent, that content actually gives you some reason to acquire that strength and keep playing after you've done the story and the raid at the end. (duels and rare items)

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Originally Posted by AmiableApkallu

This content already exists: class quests and job quests, and the "mechanical advantages" you get from them are generally regarded as a requirement or must-have, not an optional reward.

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Not the content I am referring to. :( Class/Job Quests are considered mandatory due to the very presence they have for a new player (they literally appear under the MSQ prompt) and they unlock entire abilities which without, especially the early ones, you'd really be in trouble. (For example Paladin without Sheltron, Prominence which is the literal 2nd combo in the AoE rotation, or Hallowed Ground which is the invuln). They're not regarded as a must, they 100% are a must if it literally prevents you from doing a combo in the case of PLD.

This also literally only up to Stormblood, after that you don't get anything mechanical like that from job quests (bar maybe 1 ability for semi-recent jobs like SGE, and nothing for recent ones like VPR) :/


I meant more akin to rewards that reinforce changes to existing abilities or even as Raikai pointed out gear that enhances specific abilities (A set for PLD that empowers just AoE at a cost maybe), or even better cosmetic options like animations as Shistar & Jeeqbit pointed out. :D

I like cosmetic rewards but the issue is their value is 100% subjective, there are some items in this game that are an absolute chore to get that look absolutely attrocious and I find that ends up being the case more often than not.

Some form of horizontal progression in this game would be nice.

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Originally Posted by XtremePrime

I meant more akin to rewards that reinforce changes to existing abilities or even as Raikai pointed out gear that enhances specific abilities (A set for PLD that empowers just AoE at a cost maybe),

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A reward that's basically the same as "gear, but with more ilvl" is hardly a compelling example -- nevermind that "more damage" is about as boring as you can get when it comes to effects.

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or even better cosmetic options like animations as Shistar & Jeeqbit pointed out.

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Cosmetics aren't "mechanical advantages." :confused::confused:

I could go for ability glam but the biggest problem I see with using cosmetics as rewards in this game is that so many "new" items are just recolours of existing items, getting your fifth recolour of that piece of gear from Cutters Cry (or whatever ARR/HW dungeon) isn't great.

This is why I loved FFXI's take on equipment. You focused primarily on useful stats or traits. And those could come from all different kinds of gear at all different levels regardless of whether you were max level or not. **This may have changed since I played FFXI** For example, there's a level 15 subligar with Attack +5/Ranged Attack +5 that was a critical piece of armor for many melee and ranged jobs that didnt get replaced for a very long while. Or elemental staves at level 30 that boosted your affinity with certain elements when casting spells, there were also items that you could equip that made you run faster in cities, or ones that reduced your weapon attack delay, etc.

That all said, FFXIV does not work this way, gear is a constant linear upgrade, rather than a mish mash of items that may be swapped in and out on the fly for better stats during casts or using certain actions. But even though gear in FFXIV is linear, If we have to stick to this method, I would much rather obtain interesting armor sets and weapons. Imagine if every EX fight had it own FULL armor set with cool gear affects that you could work towards that was actually level appropriate. It is so often that we have to rely on either tomes or crafted gear to gear up our alternate jobs. Imagine if Extremes could be another avenue to fill the gap and ease the constant need for tomes that you can only gather a certain amount of per day/week. I'd much rather have a full set of gear I can work towards rather than only a singular weapon or a tiny chance at a mount.. As it is I'm very demotivated to do extremes or other similar content because the sheer amount of minions and mounts available has cheapened their uniqueness for me over time.

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Originally Posted by Vespar

This is why I loved FFXI's take on equipment. You focused primarily on useful stats or traits. And those could come from all different kinds of gear at all different levels regardless of whether you were max level or not. **This may have changed since I played FFXI** For example, there's a level 15 subligar with Attack +5/Ranged Attack +5 that was a critical piece of armor for many melee and ranged jobs that didnt get replaced for a very long while. Or elemental staves at level 30 that boosted your affinity with certain elements when casting spells, there were also items that you could equip that made you run faster in cities, or ones that reduced your weapon attack delay, etc.

That all said, FFXIV does not work this way, gear is a constant linear upgrade, rather than a mish mash of items that may be swapped in and out on the fly for better stats during casts or using certain actions. But even though gear in FFXIV is linear, If we have to stick to this method, I would much rather obtain interesting armor sets and weapons. Imagine if every EX fight had it own FULL armor set with cool gear affects that you could work towards that was actually level appropriate. It is so often that we have to rely on either tomes or crafted gear to gear up our alternate jobs. Imagine if Extremes could be another avenue to fill the gap and ease the constant need for tomes that you can only gather a certain amount of per day/week. I'd much rather have a full set of gear I can work towards rather than only a singular weapon or a tiny chance at a mount.. As it is I'm very demotivated to do extremes or other similar content because the sheer amount of minions and mounts available has cheapened their uniqueness for me over time.

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Also there's the matter of the limited usability of even EX weapons or most of the things you need to grind for. Why you farm Savage BIS? To do Ultimates? But what if there's no Ultimate in the following odd patch? Relic weapons should also be more useful outside of the very last patch.

I honestly want this Quantum thing to be a big success. Imagine if we can regulate further levels of difficulty in other high end duties, so we actually have a more short-term use for the itemization we farm. Got BIS for Savage Raids for everyone? Let's try making it harder with the Quantum criteria so we can push the limits of the encounter.

Would be cool to have that kind of challenge for something that doesn't require the Ultimate time commitment.

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Originally Posted by XtremePrime

Not the content I am referring to. :( Class/Job Quests are considered mandatory due to the very presence they have for a new player (they literally appear under the MSQ prompt) and they unlock entire abilities which without, especially the early ones, you'd really be in trouble. (For example Paladin without Sheltron, Prominence which is the literal 2nd combo in the AoE rotation, or Hallowed Ground which is the invuln). They're not regarded as a must, they 100% are a must if it literally prevents you from doing a combo in the case of PLD.

This also literally only up to Stormblood, after that you don't get anything mechanical like that from job quests (bar maybe 1 ability for semi-recent jobs like SGE, and nothing for recent ones like VPR) :/


I meant more akin to rewards that reinforce changes to existing abilities or even as Raikai pointed out gear that enhances specific abilities (A set for PLD that empowers just AoE at a cost maybe), or even better cosmetic options like animations as Shistar & Jeeqbit pointed out. :D

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Then this content empowering your jobs abilities becomes mandatory if you ever want to do savage/ultimate because otherwise you're objectively weaker than someone who did it.

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Originally Posted by Yeonhee

Then this content empowering your jobs abilities becomes mandatory if you ever want to do savage/ultimate because otherwise you're objectively weaker than someone who did it.

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Yeah, this is the main problem with offering mechanical advantages; the content essentially becomes mandatory among the player base if you want to join a PF for more difficult content. If you want to reward gear that enables some mechanical advantage while it's equipped, that may be more palatable because there'd be different advantages to other pieces of gear and eventually the ilvl would make it irrelevant, and so on. But a permanent enhancement to your character? Probably not.

relic is only a gain for like one patch at best, ever. also no. cosmetics are good and they already put way too little good glamour in the game vs the store

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Originally Posted by XtremePrime

As the title suggests, I want to hear and learn what is the opinion that you guys have on the game using cosmetics as the end reward for pretty much any new content we get in the game.
I like cosmetics, glam is nice, hairstyles are fun and such! But outside of the relic grind, what other content rewards you with game mechanical advantages for taking the time to do said content? It does really bring the new added content to "do I want this new glam"? If the answer is yes, you'll do it, if the answer is no then most likely you wouldn't engage with it unless you're a completionist or just wanting to experience it :(

I want to restate I don't want cosmetic rewards to go or disappear, I'm just considering if maybe we should get some more gameplay mechanical too (empower or change a certain ability on your job for example), get increased movement speed in towns for doing X content, anything that benefits the game mechanically than just appearance (I am aware Fashion Fantasy is a pretty popular end-game for most)


What do you guys think? Is there room for such rewards in the game? Would you even want them? What rewards would you like to see from future content? Or is the way it is now just fine for you? :D

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Personally I don't want housing rewards anymore. Its a disservice to the folks who can't get a housing plot because SE refuses to address the issue. Im sorry but telling people to move to dynamis isn't a solution to get a plot isn't a solution to throw that out there.

I am for like as someone else suggest possible new skill animations or effects and the such instead. I also don't they should be gated either it should be available to everyone with some what ease to get the community in it. That's one of the downsides of the game is almost everything is severely gated in some for another. Like for example, they could have a bounty of some sort, kill so manyh mobs, and be able to swap out a skill vfx for a different effect thats no longer used. Like DRK use to have a 2 sets of combos when it first launched. they easily use one of the VFX from the retired as reward.

As for housing items... it's honestly fine? Apartments exist for indoor furniture, Island Sanctuary exists for outdoor furniture.

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Originally Posted by Shistar

Stuff I would go absolutely insane for, in no particular order (tons of ideas for more cosmetics but there's a little bit of everything in here hopefully):

• Different idle stances/animations/"personalities" for our basic idles or even job-specific ones. Could also be from different races, like midlander being able to use elezen idles, specially if you can mix and match. Lots of potential for roleplayers, GPose and final fashion XIV enjoyers!
• Different skill VFX, preferably inspired by the fight they're unlocked from
• Summon/faerie/avatar customization (animations, model, etc.)
• Housing related upgrades and customization, specially for easily accessible housing such as apartments. Think alternative retainer/crystal bell designs, windows, doors, NPCs, etc. Stuff everyone can flex regardless of their home size.
• Emotes, especially looping ones!
• HUD skins (think Omega-themed, steampunk Alexander-style, moody and gothic Ishgard from DSR). You interact with your HUD all the time, so this could be huge.
• Something to breathe some life back into Companion Chocobos would be fun. Not sure what it could be though...
• Higher bicolor gemstone gain from expansion/lore-related areas.

I see a lot of cosmetic potential they're not exploiting yet. With gameplay rewards, I think it's very cool but you need to be careful about them since it can be very difficult to balance content around them, specially skill upgrades, but I like the idea!

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Just adding my +1 to most of your list. :)

I’m with you that I think that there’s more they could be doing cosmetically too, ie: removing class restrictions from older (not-current-expansion) gear like they used to, release hairstyles more often and from easily repeatable content, expand the character creator and/or aesthetician options, etc. But the things I quoted from your list are things I’d really like to see too. I guess some people would still see some of these things as cosmetic, but I really think they’d breath new life into the game.

Along with that, more framer’s kits and portrait/adventure plate options because I love those! (Although the ones they added to WT rewards are a bit painful to get… let people sell them on the mb if they’re lucky enough to get 2 lines every week!) I’d also like to see some sharing of functionality between gpose and the portrait system. Like I love the ability to freeze and still be able to change the expression, emote, eye/face direction, and the positioning of the body against the backdrop all independently, without having to do it the way gpose does and hope I can stop the emote just right while also facing and looking in the direction I want. “Glam is the true end game,” so give us more control over the screenshots we take.

yoshi-p give me actual long hair that goes past the shoulders and isnt a ponytail/braid and preferably has bangs and more of my free time is yours

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Originally Posted by Shistar

• Different idle stances/animations/"personalities" for our basic idles or even job-specific ones. Could also be from different races, like midlander being able to use elezen idles, specially if you can mix and match. Lots of potential for roleplayers, GPose and final fashion XIV enjoyers!
• Different skill VFX, preferably inspired by the fight they're unlocked from
• Love your idea about movement speed in towns, so I'm absolutely stealing it and putting it in the list.
• Summon/faerie/avatar customization (animations, model, etc.)
• Mounts obtained from difficult content would be faster than others in the areas they belong to lore-wise (example: Pandaemonium mount rewards are faster in Elpis compared to other mounts. This should likely be added with a function to auto-equip the fastest mount for each area if you own any that meet the criteria) and/or the option to upgrade mounts to become faster in certain areas (Manacutter in Sea of Clouds, Magitek-related mounts in Garlemald, etc.) bonus points if they are multi seaters so people aren't left behind in hunts.
• More multi seater mounts. Love carrying my friends in multi seater mounts. Love being lazy in a multi seater mount. Gimme 8-player multi seater mounts where I can actually see the people in it!!
• Housing related upgrades and customization, specially for easily accessible housing such as apartments. Think alternative retainer/crystal bell designs, windows, doors, NPCs, etc. Stuff everyone can flex regardless of their home size.
• Alternative gearing up paths, if you hate the savage then maybe you could use Criterion to gear up or switch it up every week, etc.
• Emotes, especially looping ones!
• HUD skins (think Omega-themed, steampunk Alexander-style, moody and gothic Ishgard from DSR). You interact with your HUD all the time, so this could be huge.
• Something to breathe some life back into Companion Chocobos would be fun. Not sure what it could be though...
• Higher bicolor gemstone gain from expansion/lore-related areas.

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These ones are the ones I think the game really needs. We're inundated with 'more of the thing we already have loads of'. What we need is new things that could make people's experiences more unique.

Personally, I think they should allow fashion accessories in combat. Get rid of the handheld ones since they'd conflict but allow the ones that don't. People like their wings. It would allow them more flexibility and opportunity with what they're adding too since they could consider adding 'effects', like a fire trail where you walk (just off the top of my head).

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Originally Posted by Khryseis_Astra

Along with that, more framer’s kits and portrait/adventure plate options because I love those! (Although the ones they added to WT rewards are a bit painful to get… let people sell them on the mb if they’re lucky enough to get 2 lines every week!) I’d also like to see some sharing of functionality between gpose and the portrait system. Like I love the ability to freeze and still be able to change the expression, emote, eye/face direction, and the positioning of the body against the backdrop all independently, without having to do it the way gpose does and hope I can stop the emote just right while also facing and looking in the direction I want. “Glam is the true end game,” so give us more control over the screenshots we take.

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Omg you're right, I forgot about framer's kits! I love them. And agree about being able to sell them. I want some for my alts but going all the way to Phaenna for them and getting 2 lines on Khloe's books of lies has me rolling my eyes already (I'll get it done, I'm just going to complain every step of the way LOL)


+1 about the portrait/GPose functionality, I'd specially love to see a "slider" of sorts to let us fine tune the speed or spot in the animation we're in, because portraits have this awkward button lag for pausing and unpausing that make it so difficult for no reason. GPose doesn't suffer from this, at least, but oof. It's so bad.

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Originally Posted by Shistar

• Summon/faerie/avatar customization (animations, model, etc.)

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This would be a huge one for me, like unlock various Voidsent we fought as Avatars, like we could get Scathach, Diabolos, Scathach, Ferdiad, Scathach, Barbariccia, Scathach, Rubicante, Scathach, and even Golbez and Scathach!

...give me Scathach as my Avatar, YoshiP.

I want more Adventurer Plate rewards.

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Originally Posted by VeyaAkemi

This would be a huge one for me, like unlock various Voidsent we fought as Avatars, like we could get Scathach, Diabolos, Scathach, Ferdiad, Scathach, Barbariccia, Scathach, Rubicante, Scathach, and even Golbez and Scathach!

...give me Scathach as my Avatar, YoshiP.

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You forgot Scathach.

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Originally Posted by XtremePrime

I meant more akin to rewards that reinforce changes to existing abilities or even as Raikai pointed out gear that enhances specific abilities (A set for PLD that empowers just AoE at a cost maybe)

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So what you are asking is a strong meta. PLD with "a set that empowers AoE at a cost" might be useless in fight A because the cost is power of single target but mandatory in fight B it will be mandatory to have a paladin or even two because the fight is AoE heavy and GNB/WAR/DRK's special sets would enhance other things making them not needed in the fight.

The game simply lacks chase items

This is something eureka did extremely well. No matter who you are or why you go into eureka you want the speed belt and Cassie earring

The entire rest of the game INCLUDING Bozja and OC simply lack these kinds of chase items. There is nothing to aim for and little reason to go for anything. It’s strange that the current crafter/gatherer relics are arguably the best designed “chase” items we have gotten since eureka

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

The game simply lacks chase items

This is something eureka did extremely well. No matter who you are or why you go into eureka you want the speed belt and Cassie earring

The entire rest of the game INCLUDING Bozja and OC simply lack these kinds of chase items. There is nothing to aim for and little reason to go for anything. It’s strange that the current crafter/gatherer relics are arguably the best designed “chase” items we have gotten since eureka

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At least Bozja has a really unique mount as a reward for a long grind between both zones. I think I spent around 6 months farming those field notes, especially the CLL ones. Could've done the Duel? Yeah, but learning those fights was a major pain when you could do it only once every hour or so, and still luck based entry.

At least I made around 20million gil in the meantime, selling essences in the MB.