Rank limits on gear

[Augury]

Saying that gear drops causes players to not be social is incredibly incorrect. FFXI was all about gear drops and people were more social in that game than 14 has ever been. Also, gear has always played a big role in almost every RPG. Demon's Souls? If you don't have the right gear, you'll die (faster). FF games? If you don't have the right elemental resistances, you'll get 1 shotted. Man even in FPS, if you don't have the right grenade at the right time or the right gun at the right time, you'll get owned hardcore. For gear to be essentially useless is more unrealistic than having a knight in full plate able to jump 10ft in the air.

The causation of XIV's lack of interaction has nothing to do with it's production based play. Having gear play a major role has become a design crutch and flaw of most modern RPGs. Take Ragnarok especially, with gear importance very similar to XI. In RO, only the largest guilds with the most resources are able to farm out the higher level dungeons, and only the highest level gear sells for high prices, perpetuating the concept that large guilds have to rule the game without exception because raid gear is what is important. This is also true of WoW, and consequently most other MMORPGs, and it doesn't permit real interactivity with smaller groups and the player market.

Ontop of that, let's be honest, we want to distinguish our characters, so why should most be gear be much more than aesthetics anyways? I'm not saying all gear shouldn't produce bonuses, but the simplest way to balance gear is to give different weight classes different absorption rates, trading element absorption for defense (or vise versa).

[Dubont]

The causation of XIV's lack of interaction has nothing to do with it's production based play. Having gear play a major role has become a design crutch and flaw of most modern RPGs. Take Ragnarok especially, with gear importance very similar to XI. In RO, only the largest guilds with the most resources are able to farm out the higher level dungeons, and only the highest level gear sells for high prices, perpetuating the concept that large guilds have to rule the game without exception because raid gear is what is important. This is also true of WoW, and consequently most other MMORPGs, and it doesn't permit real interactivity with smaller groups and the player market.

Ontop of that, let's be honest, we want to distinguish our characters, so why should most be gear be much more than aesthetics anyways? I'm not saying all gear shouldn't produce bonuses, but the simplest way to balance gear is to give different weight classes different absorption rates, trading element absorption for defense (or vise versa).

Honestly, I don't know how long you played other MMOs, but every MMO revolves around gear and every MMO has had a very large social environment. 14 does not. 14 is also the only MMO that relies this heavily on crafting and doesn't put any emphasis on ANYTHING regarding other players other than "I have this item that I found. Make it into this item for 200k." At least in 11, you could get gear off of higher level mobs that COULDN'T be bought from some price gauging low life. 14's downfall is that it has too many differences when it comes to every other MMO. The lack of limitations is one of these downfalls. A game without rules is a boring game.

[Augury]

Honestly, I don't know how long you played other MMOs, but every MMO revolves around gear and every MMO has had a very large social environment. 14 does not. 14 is also the only MMO that relies this heavily on crafting and doesn't put any emphasis on ANYTHING regarding other players other than "I have this item that I found. Make it into this item for 200k." At least in 11, you could get gear off of higher level mobs that COULDN'T be bought from some price gauging low life. 14's downfall is that it has too many differences when it comes to every other MMO. The lack of limitations is one of these downfalls. A game without rules is a boring game.

This is just the problem though! Games of the future should involve immersion, not convention. Gear systems are cute for games like FFIV where you raid dungeons and turn Cecil into a walking Abram's Tank that spouts of White Magic like it's nobody's business.

I have played a wide variety of social games, as well as RPGs and find that the only reason we cling to gear being a large portion of our play... IS BECAUSE DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS DID IT. But for me, super-awesome gear that only "top-tier" players can unlock lost it's novelty before WoW ever hit the shelves. My favorite example is Conquer Online, which at one point was an amazing Kung-Fu Diablo where I ultimately became a healer who carried a massive poleaxe. But in Conquer, gear was ALL that mattered, and that really took away from it's playability as the game was developed (and then turned into a cash cow).

If most gear serves for much more than DEF/RES and aesthetic choice, then it has a tendency to limit design potential. The old gear system is just something that XIV can do without

[Jinko]

This is just the problem though! Games of the future should involve immersion.

What about the immersion of doing you best in a make believe world.

Say for example someone levels their CON to 50 and finally gets to wear the currently crafted end game gear, hes just made progress and feels good about it, he then turns around there is a lvl 1 noob CON wearing exactly the same thing, doesn't this spoil his immersion and sense of achievement ?

[Augury]

What about the immersion of doing you best in a make believe world.

Say for example someone levels their CON to 50 and finally gets to wear the currently crafted end game gear, hes just made progress and feels good about it, he then turns around there is a lvl 1 noob CON wearing exactly the same thing, doesn't this spoil his immersion and sense of achievement ?

That's kind of jumping the shark- I'm not saying to give new players access to all of the gear available, or that no gear should supply purely bonuses, but I think those gears should be invisible. Ontop of that, there would be no "endgame gear" to identify new or salted players by, just similar choice in appearance. I don't think this would ruin immersion either because the separation of being powerful and looking powerful allows for more dynamic in player choice

[Physic]

That's kind of jumping the shark- I'm not saying to give new players access to all of the gear available, or that no gear should supply purely bonuses, but I think those gears should be invisible. Ontop of that, there would be no "endgame gear" to identify new or salted players by, just similar choice in appearance. I don't think this would ruin immersion either because the separation of being powerful and looking powerful allows for more dynamic in player choice

I really dont think having no visual gratification for getting high level is immersive, to the high levels, or the low levels. I think its a good option to be able to control your look based on what you like, but this option should also be level related, give people a reason to want to get high level, give them something to do. Making strong people look strong is part of a fantasy setting imo. The knight with who stole the sword of the gods should have a sword that looks like he stole it from the gods, and the guy who did not, should probably not visually look like he stole the sword of the gods, when he is getting owned by level 1 rarabs.

to jinko, na i didnt see anything mentioning macroing gear change into jobs, i did see the skill thing, of course that was something they claimed to be working on from even before release, so i dunno when we ll see that.

[Augury]

I really dont think having no visual gratification for getting high level is immersive, to the high levels, or the low levels. I think its a good option to be able to control your look based on what you like, but this option should also be level related, give people a reason to want to get high level, give them something to do. Making strong people look strong is part of a fantasy setting imo. The knight with who stole the sword of the gods should have a sword that looks like he stole it from the gods, and the guy who did not, should probably not visually look like he stole the sword of the gods, when he is getting owned by level 1 rarabs.

to jinko, na i didnt see anything mentioning macroing gear change into jobs, i did see the skill thing, of course that was something they claimed to be working on from even before release, so i dunno when we ll see that.

This is also assuming there will BE a high level. But a new player would be unable to craft or trade for the crafts of many different gears- so a newer player would be stuck in the beginning gears. A good example of this would be either Monster Hunter or Guild Wars, where there is some effect to gear, but the choices are mainly aesthetic.

In Monster Hunter Tri, for example, in "High Rank", the only glass floor is that you need High Rank gear to survive. No High Rank equipment outclasses another, and all HR equipment supplies useful skills. Ontop of that, you can upgrade low-rank equipment (with different skillsets), so that it has the same DEF as their high rank counterparts, but they supply an "alternative" version which sometimes compliments a set of gear BETTER than full High Rank.

In Guild Wars, they made it to where high leveled gear can be reskinned to look like any of the available gears they outclass.

To me, this is an important factor in both games, because it doesn't give visual cues to how "powerful" a player is, forcing players to rely on one another and trust that the other is as skilled as they claim to be. THAT is immersive.

I also don't get why so many people are worried about alienating noobies from people who have been playing the game for a while, that makes it difficult to get immersed to begin with, and just causes social stress.

[Felis]

Making strong people look strong is part of a fantasy setting imo. The knight with who stole the sword of the gods should have a sword that looks like he stole it from the gods, and the guy who did not, should probably not visually look like he stole the sword of the gods, when he is getting owned by level 1 rarabs.

There shouldn't be a problem to make restrictions with weapons, because the class can only use 1 weapon type anyway. But say there is a gladiator and he stealed the eyeglasses from a god. Later he put his sword away and take a fishing rod. Should he now forget how to wear the godly eyeglasses because he is fishing? He is still the same person who stealed the eyeglasses.
What you mean is maybe to make the godly equip untradable.