How to make gear progression non-linear

[Edellis]

Isn't that essentially power creeping for mmo? Rendering old content (in this case gear) obsolete...
Also isn't mmo suppose supply a ton of replay value?...

Well, FFXIV is a game that's all about forward progression and really doesn't do much to stop you from obtaining powerful gear by simply playing the game. A good bit of the other content has to do with completing difficult boss fights, and to do so requires being geared sufficently enough to first accept the duty and then survive it.

As it is now, gear only adds a boost or multiplier to your output, but does not change the way you approach your fights....

Why just add new abilities instead of the cumbersome load of holding multiple gear sets around?
Could make trials to drop random scrolls that teaches new skills, and limited how many you can equip at once. Save everyone the hassle of an inventory nightmare again, while still providing the player with option to micro-manage battle stances or whatever non-sense that comes along with gear swapping.

I agree, which is why I suggested Materia be the culprit in creating endgame content that doesn't powercreep itself. I was mostly just thinking of how FF7 handled Materia, but there's really no reason why it shouldn't be similar in XIV because it's an MMO.

There's really no reason to create new skills when you can just create equippable items that alter the functionality of your current ones enough to make them feel like new abilities altogether. If endgame Materia functioned that way, it would essentially equate to every new drop becoming a new skill for your character, or a possible alteration to your rotation. The only MMO i've ever played that successfully implemented this concept was Phantasy Star Online ep1&2...and it is literally the only one. (Even the sequels to the franchise failed at it.)

An even more interesting application for Materia that enhanced abilities would be Cross-Class abilities. There are plenty of abilities that are cross-class though completely useless on jobs because they lack a combo ability or are eclipsed by your natural skills. This type of system could open up all sorts of possibilities concerning that.



I don't really know what to call it. I use the term "emergent gameplay design", or "non-linear design". Horizontal/vertical progression sounds more like what we're already doing, which is A > B > C