Patch 2.2: Let's Copy the Worst Practice of MMOs From the Last 10 Years...

[Fendred]

Hmm, repeated reference to "status symbols." Interesting. I don't know if it was your intent but this really makes it seem like you just want to have items that other players don't have, so you can lord it over them.

If that's the case, you still can. New Coil Turns.

As for gear being obsoleted, it's not that hard to get now and this is kind of expected in MMOs. I personally would expect that the harder gear is to obtain the longer it would remain viable. SE said from the get go that they would make content easier over time as new content comes out anyway meaning that the players who are on the cutting edge, beating the hardest content, will still have the best gear first, thus preserving their status symbols (which is not my personal reason for wanting the best gear but to each their own).

I'm glad there is new gear to grind for but I hope they add some horizontal gear sets and not all vertical progression. Bigger numbers are great and all but it's far more interesting to have gear that does something different. I want to see more depth and customization. I suppose they might do that as early as 2.2 (I doubt it though, they also might not do it at all, ever). If they do, then the Turn 1-5 gear might not be obsolete, who knows.

Status symbol is probably the wrong word. The item has merit to the player because it reminds him of what he managed to overcome. It also happens to let others know that he is a capable player who can handle the roughest content in the game. That item no longer has that value because they are going to nerf the boss. Even Blizzard didn't do this as quickly as FFXIV is doing it.

[SanjuroXI]

He said it was on par with 1-5 when it was first released not now when everyone runs it with ilvl 90. It took several months before coil 1-5 became easy enough to finish in an hour. That was because people were geared in all ilvl 90 making it a breeze to run through. Since ilvl 90 will be the entry point for turn 6-9 its going to be really hard at first like 1-5 was when it first came out. We most likly won't be seeing people have a easy run through 6-9 until they are decked out in new gear which will take 2-3 months.

1-5 had a gear gap for most people because of the delay on CT. People still got it down being under geared fairly fast aside from T5. Now 6-9 this gear gap won't be there so everyone will clear it more easy than 1-5 release.

[Lyrinn]

I think you have a dead end situation regardless. You know how people complain about Titan HM being a roadblock to the rest of "content?" If they continue to expand on Binding Coil without changing anything, the majority of players won't ever access the new content. Not saying that's an excuse for invalidating your achievements, but I can understand why SE is doing it. Keep in mind that they have access to far more data and statistics than we could ever hope to get our hands on, so maybe they felt too many people were "stuck." This is what happens when you try to cater to two vastly different - mutually exclusive even - groups of players.

With all that said, what do you propose SE should do? Regardless or whether you believe players should "get good" and beat content on their own, it's clearly not in SE's best interests to roadblock the majority of their players, even at the cost of losing a few thousand players on the other end of the spectrum. Would you be happy with an achievement or special reward or a bonus effect to your Allagan weapons or what have you to signify you beat Twintania at original difficulty? It's easy to say, "SE needs to stop doing this and start doing that" but I'm not seeing any concrete examples or ideas here.

[Espon]

1-5 had a gear gap for most people because of the delay on CT. People still got it down being under geared fairly fast aside from T5. Now 6-9 this gear gap won't be there so everyone will clear it more easy than 1-5 release.

Very few people to this day have cleared Coil, and a lot of them are now decked out in ilvl 90 stuff. Just because some of the best players in the world finish it quickly, doesn't mean that the majority of the population will. Gear can only take you so far, the rest requires skill.

[Dark-Saviour]

Linear progression sucks and gear treadmills suck.

Not because they take away from the 'prestige' of the high-tier items (which, in most such games are uninteresting crap with little personality), but because it continually focuses everyone's efforts on one particular 'thing'.
Just one (or in this game's case, two) piece(s) of gear per slot really matter in the end and it's just a grind through intermediary stuff you're not actually interested in until you can get those.

Collecting unique gear is far more fun, IMO. :-(

[Fendred]

If you're THAT attached to your gear, they ARE making the Glamour(Vanity) System available!

Won't save it. They're copying the WoW transmogrification system instead of vanity slots from what I hear. You will need a craftsman to make a specific piece of gear look like another one and it will probably use up the item in the process. Why bother going back to grab old stuff if the new stuff is going to get invalidated in a matter of months? The rate at which he is doing this is already pissing off a lot of people. It also surprises me how many people seem to lack the human empathy to see why these people are getting upset about it.

[Purrfectstorm]

Status symbol is probably the wrong word. The item has merit to the player because it reminds him of what he managed to overcome. It also happens to let others know that he is a capable player who can handle the roughest content in the game. That item no longer has that value because they are going to nerf the boss. Even Blizzard didn't do this as quickly as FFXIV is doing it.

Fair enough. Won't the new items fill this purpose though?

A lot of players are complaining they don't have more to do or to strive for already. Doesn't this new content give those players that? If they added content that did not have better gear, people would complain about that (like they did with CT last patch).

I have a lot of issues with SE and this game but honestly in this case, it seems like there's nothing they could do "right." They don't release new content, people don't have enough to do and are bored. They do release new content, but the gear is worse or equal to current gear, and people complain there's no reason to do it. They release new content with better gear and people are disappointed that their old gear is obsolete.

At least the i90 gear is relatively easy to get (for a lot of people). If it was harder to get then yeah, it'd be nice if it stayed the best for a while longer. That's why some horizontal progression is an elegant solution. Give new content a purpose without necessarily having to obsolete recent gear people have acquired. On the other hand, players shouldn't need 8 different gear sets to be effective so a balance has to be struck.

Anyway, I hope you wind up enjoying 2.2. For that matter, I hope that I do too. I'm willing to wait and see for now. I'm not too interested in other MMOs right now, though that might change when ESO comes out. I don't know yet.

[Zumi]

1-5 had a gear gap for most people because of the delay on CT. People still got it down being under geared fairly fast aside from T5. Now 6-9 this gear gap won't be there so everyone will clear it more easy than 1-5 release.

They will release CT2 in 2.3 which will drop gear worse then Coil2 but better then Coil 1. Its the same thing again.

[Dalavon]

Complains about no progression, gets new content, complains it's to much.

This is the current logic of the FF community.
Congrats guys.

[Lyrinn]

which will drop gear worse then Coil2 but better then Coil 1

I hope that won't be the case because then it really would invalidate Coil 1, unless the difficulty is scaled so that it's expected for players to have full Allagan and struggle through while still being easier than Coil 2 - but I don't see that happening, especially with how easy Labyrinth of the Ancients is.