AF gear - handed to you for dinging 45/50

[Khalette]

Why is there absolutely no effort or work in obtaining the class defining AF armor? At level45, you basically just have to talk to NPC's, loot bags on the floor, or open random chests in a zone that's of no danger to you. There is no effort involved, it's extremely easy.
...

I admit to missing the prismatic-type quests from EQ2 where you had to pretty much sell your soul to obtain the weapon.

I just think it would make most kids commit suicide these days, lol.

[Apricoth]

At times even in 1.0 triple/quaded melded gear was better than the AF.

[Neasa]

At times even in 1.0 triple/quaded melded gear was better than the AF.

At times, single-melded gear was better than AF in 1.0. >.> They got a pretty massive buff in ARR, and the major nerf to materia only made it more significant.
Of course, once people start running dungeons, the AF is going back in the armoire.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

Hey, I don't see anyone complaining that we could obtain free Relic Weapons by checking under our beds in the Inn after the Final Save in 1.0... That was a big F.U. to us because of the long quest line to obtain a Relic that took hours, only to have an easy-to-obtain gift after the Final Save that we WOULD NOT be able to keep for ARR.

[Pariah]

I haven't had a non-instance quest that i couldn't complete myself. I miss bugging people in my Linkshell for help.

[Tiraelina]

I was actually disappointed when I saw Mammon as the quest reward for hitting 50 on my miner. I also had darksteel sitting on my retainer since the first few months of 1.0, so it was as simple as retrieving it to get it.

[Marxam]

It is the reward for beating the 1017 boss and his 2002, 10102, and 90000 adds

Damn I hate that boos especially that one move that knocks you out of the game randomly.

[Neasa]

Hey, I don't see anyone complaining that we could obtain free Relic Weapons by checking under our beds in the Inn after the Final Save in 1.0... That was a big F.U. to us because of the long quest line to obtain a Relic that took hours, only to have an easy-to-obtain gift after the Final Save that we WOULD NOT be able to keep for ARR.

A lot of silly people did complain... Over something that did not warrant any complaints. Getting to play around with a temporary item with no progress being saved was never a "big F.U." to anyone.

[Loxley]

I don't know about you guys, but the idea of "stealing" my Monk AF gear back from bandits and shady dealers was exciting.
Was it hard? Not really. A piece of it was surrounded by level 49 spell casters and bombs but was still able to get it with little problem because I cheesed their sight aggro and was able to sneak in only having to kill a few bombs and a mob at the entrance of the location, and another surrounded by a huge pack of mobs of similar level that you could die to if not managed properly. But exciting? Definitely. I guess everyone doesn't have the same idea of imagination that I do though who was able to immerse oneself into really feeling like it was robbing the robbers.

[SKYeXile]

im pretty sure there is several reasons for this:

1 to close the gap between new players and legacy players gear.
2 so you have the iconic class gear when you do your final class quest.
3 so everybody isn't running the 50 dungeons in terrible gear.