People sacrifice good gear for "fashion"

[Vahzl]

Honestly it's too much of a pain for me to navigate the menus in the market wards to compare stats and find out what is the most optimal piece of gear for my class anyway. I can't sort by rank or class, or group items I can wear in one list, so by the time I go through all the menus to compare several items I've already forgotten the stats on them. Not to mention that I have to close out of the menu entirely if I want to check the stats on my equipped gear to see if what I'm looking at is an upgrade.

Rather than wasting my time keeping an extensive paper log of everything, I just buy what I think looks nice that can be worn by my class and not worry about the stats. Like everyone else said, gear doesn't matter in this game anyway.

Or just have your pads profile open in your browser, with Yellow Gremlin open to show you your optimal upgrades.

[Jaide]

Or just have your pads profile open in your browser, with Yellow Gremlin open to show you your optimal upgrades.

Assuming I don't play in full screen. I should be able to search for class/rank appropriate gear and compare stats without needing to leave the game and have multiple browser windows open to work around a poor interface. This thread isn't about the interface though so I'm not going to say any more about it here. I was merely stating one reason why I personally don't care about gear stats when I'm buying equipment and I'm sure there are others that feel the same way.

The combination of the poor interface and the fact that gear doesn't matter leads me to favor fashion over optimal stats. I don't really care what anyone else is wearing unless I think it looks neat and gives me ideas for my own outfit.

EDIT: If gear mattered, I would begrudgingly research it online before making my purchases as I did in XI. Or, if the interface was convenient to use - I would buy whatever I could find with the best stats for my rank. I just don't want to put a ton of effort into finding the most optimal gear when it doesn't make a difference. Buying for fashion is currently easier, more fun, and doesn't have an impact on my performance.