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.

[Jinrya-Geki]

There's a fine line of having ok gear and looking decent vs gear that is slightly better and looking like a complete moron.

Seriously I wouldn't wear Harlequin gear it looks so stupid. Jester outfit no thanks. I'll take regular gear any day.

[Molly_Millions]

Seriously I wouldn't wear Harlequin gear it looks so stupid. Jester outfit no thanks. I'll take regular gear any day.

Same, I prefer wearing a cloak to that stuff. The vintage robe is all faded and ugly looking too.

...damn I hope we get some decent (looking) mage gear in the patch.

[Hei]

As far as the game is now, gear makes little difference in combat besides hp. Besides, part of an MMO is playing "dress up" with your character. That said, I'll dress my girl as lady or ho'ish as I please.

[Krausus]

As far as the game is now, gear makes little difference in combat besides hp. Besides, part of an MMO is playing "dress up" with your character. That said, I'll dress my girl as lady or ho'ish as I please.

lol funny sig great anime

[Jinrya-Geki]

What anime is that

[TirionCrey]

All I'm saying is that if one player in my party is complaining about another player's gear, guess who's getting kicked? It's not the one getting complained about, I'll tell you that for sure. Stuff like that makes the party no fun, and that's my goal, to have fun.

Easy to say something like this. But what if that person plays a major role in your party and you die a lot, waste time standing around only cause of that one person not being able to fill the role, cause he rather wants to wear this shiny Wooden shield with a nice little relief on it, rather than the plate shield which actually prevents him from dieing.

Will you have fun in such a party?

I will tell you this and that's based on my experience. The most fun I ever had in MMOs was when I played with people who actually cared about performing well in a group. That doesn't imply good gears only, just the fact that people actually cared about maintaining a base performance in the group so it does well. With groups like these, you are able to chat in between, cause it won't do much. With groups like these you are able to laugh about someone dieing rather than being grudgy about someones lack of whatever made him die. With groups like these you will remember the "good" times in groups once you will be part of a group that I set as an example at the beginning.

Fun comes from doing something that feels nice to do and is even better if your with other people that have fun as well.

Now tell me...which would be your prefered scenario.

1. Playing in a group where everybody is aware of what hes doing and tries to perform well for the sake of the group.

2. Playing in a group that looks all fashionable but dies frequently, cause they rather look good, than play a game.

If you tell me now, you prefer second choice, you are either lieing, or one of those stated persons who rather look good than play a game. If you prefer the first choice, which is the only reasonable choice IN MY OPINION(thats MY opinion, I'm not telling anybody to think the same way) that makes it the choice that is more fun to you, cause why would you choose something willingly, if it's not the one that implies fun with it?

@charliesheen: What are you trying to achieve with that post quoting me? I'm well aware that there are people out there who ignore everything else, as long as people wear gear they should wear. My statement is about you pointing at those players being selfish that think other party members should wear gear thats useful for their class, when in fact those not wearing gear thats useful for their class ON PURPOSE(I'm not talking about the best HQ+3 whatever crap Bullshit) are the selfish persons. I don't think people who don't wear gear thats not useful for their class are the devil or such crap lmao. I don't attack those players out of the blue just cause they wear something that's not useful for their class. But if those players don't wear gear thats useful for their class ON PURPOSE and join parties and expect everybody else to drag them along, then I will either ask them to change to something that's useful and if they won't(this implies they COULD) to leave the group. I'm not playing this game to drag other people along, we're playing for the same reasons(to have fun), if you think your fun is more important than the fun of the others in the group you're not even selfish anymore, you're just being an ignorant and arrogant prick. If we're playing together it should be out of question to do things that will help the group for everyones benefit, cause that's what I will do as well and that's what I expect of everyone else as well. This is in fact a dream scenario, cause there are people who are not likeminded, but if everybody would think of the benefit of ALL instead of just their own, this world would be a better place.

And before this argument even comes up....I know this is just a game...but you are playing with real people, and just cause you're anonymous this shouldn't excempt you from basic etiquette.

[Molly_Millions]

When stats have little to no effect, that situation can't really happen. Who cares about hypothetical situations, the fact of he matter is gear doesn't matter a whole lot in this game, and for that matter neither does death.

[Akubikumo]

I think the distinction should be between saying 'Hey you can't wear that!' and 'You shouldn't be wearing that if you can't do you job'. the latter seems more reasonable and fair.