Endgame Progression, Elitism and You

[Taemek]

It is a pure shame that the elitest argument always seems to rear its ugly head in online video games.

However, there is but one simple way to explain it.

Gear is simply not every thing and is not what always determines the fate of a fight. It does however make good players great and great players perfectionists. The great players tend to not need a hand up, where the good players need all the help they can get.

Gear score, item level, what ever you want to call it these days is not the end all be all that defines us or the outcome of a battle ingame, it is merely a way to determine someones dedication and time spent playing. The rest boils down to brain power, understanding a fight, the ability to adapt to "oh ^&%$" moments and the countless amount of other variables that always seem to plague us in this industry, BSoD's, lag, loss of connection, distractions etc etc.

At the end of the day, it boils down to what you are happy with and can it be done with a monumental amount of effort, after all, what feels better for you, trivializing a fight or being the under dog and rising to victory? I tend to choose the later, as I prefer my time spent playing feel some what rewarding, even if the virtual experience of it all is some what, pointless.

One last thing, just remember, on the other end of that screen is not a player, but a person. A little common courtesy can go a long way in to grooming someone to becoming that next perfectionist.

[texhnolyze]

Except the fact that....I dont know......every single mob in the game being designed like that. You call bugged, I call poor design. There are no rules being broken if mobs are poorly designed this way, as there is no bug in the game code that you are taking advantage of. Do you report everyone who runs behind mobs out in the world as they're questiong? Did you report every ninja in FFXI for tanking? Want to bitch about something? Bitch about SE fixing the way all mobs in the game behave.

of course not
even i do that too, who doesn't?
if the tank/leader want to skip them, i'll just follow them

i didin't know if all the mobs act like that
i just realized it in the level 50 dungeons, specially in castrum

[Zanther]

snip .

I can tell you havent read this thread at all.

Tell you what. You finish leveling to 50, and que for a Titan run with the gear you're currently wearing. Let me know how Titans heart phase and stomps go (which are timed). Also, make sure your raid is also wearing similar gear.

I'll bookmark this thread and await your reply.

[Fenwick]

I don't really understand the massive amount of negativity in this thread, he gave a pretty decent guide on what new players should roughly be doing once they hit the level cap. It isn't about "strategy vs. gear" because the need for gear is worked into the strategy. If you don't have the VIT to withstand hits, the ability to hold aggro or the heals to manage your team, you simply aren't ready for the content.

In the case of being in a FC, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to be an asset to your team. In the case of joining a pug group, you can't expect a bunch of complete strangers to be alright with carrying you, it isn't realistic and in most cases they will get angry and they will respond negatively.

If your party as a whole can get through Titan (I doubt it) with sub-par gear, that's great but the majority of people cannot, otherwise these topics wouldn't continue to exist. In any RPG there is a logical course of progression, you don't boot up your game for the first time and enter a level 20 area expecting to progress, it simply won't happen.

[XyleHarkyn]

Updated the guide with some insight on Titan as I am beginning to grind the fight. Hopefully I'll clear him soon.

[Alcyon_Densetsu]

It's a great effort, thank you Xyle Harkyn for all the good work and dedication to help players know how to progress logically (and dare I say efficiently) at level 50!

RPG FTW.

[WintersMoondancer]

Though I believe skill is greater than gears, gear progression does help and as stated before, the game pretty much leaves it up to you to figure out what to do once you hit 50. With no real in-game guidance and a over abundance of rude & inconsiderate players not willing to help newbies out (after all they had to learn once too), even though I don't agree with all the OP said, I can appreciate the OP's mini guide as a way to get a better idea of which way to go to progress in the game still and have content to enjoy. Just wish players can look past the gears and take in to account players skills too.

[Alwryn]

I want to comment but I know people will just scream elitist at me, haha.

But seriously, not a bad guide OP, good job.

[Varok899]

For some fights..

Gear IS needed.

Skill IS needed.

NEITHER are sufficient.

That is all.

[Seig345]

I personally just look at gearing up as a key-change in how I'm leveling up. Once you hit level 50 and finish your job quests, you aren't done progressing your character's power. Now instead of making your character stronger by leveling up through exp grinding, you're continuing on by grinding for better gear. When you're playing solo, it's not as detrimental; however, in phase 3 of beta, I was in a run of Toto-Rak as a Healer in my full AF from 1.0, and I'd forgotten to get my gear repaired. We were fine until all my gear broke, my cure potency dropped like a rock, and I literally did not have the ability to keep even just the tank alive during one of the mid-boss fights. I had to apologize and shamefully bow out (though, at least it was only beta and everything was going to be wiped for phase 4 anyway). After that, I was convinced that regardless of your 'skill' or your level, gear matters.