Suggestion to make it actually possible to get all BiS gear before it's obsolete

[Hiruke]

The biggest problem I have with the game currently is that it is terribly unlikely that you will be able to obtain all of the best in slot pieces for even a single job unless you are incredibly lucky with drops.

Some examples of how awful RNG is:

1) I have beaten Garuda Extreme some dozens of times. Never seen a casting ring (or a mount, for that matter). I've seen every other ring 3-7+ times. Seriously?

2) After months and months of Coil, we just saw caster body for the first time yesterday. For the first time. In months of beating that Turn. In fact, the past couple weeks we've seen like 2-3 drops that we have NEVER gotten before. Ever.

3) There's still several drops from Turns 1-4 that we have never seen. Not once. And it will all become obsolete in like a week. Great.

4) We have more MNK gear than any other job from Coil. Like 2-3 times more MNK gear than any other job. We have a MNK, sure. But he joined our group like a month ago, and already had all the MNK gear just about from before when he joined us. So, it's pretty much just a lot of wasted junk. Awesome.

5) One of the capital strengths of this game is the ability to play different jobs. But if you have such a hard time really gearing a single job, what's the point? You know we'll keep doing this stuff anyway, to gear out other jobs, right? The bottleneck on gear is TOO SEVERE.

So, my suggestion?

When you enter a dungeon or trial (and this can be limited to instances that drop "endgame" loot), allow players to cast a vote for what kind of gear they would like to see. Then the piece that drops is limited to those jobs voted on.

For example:

PLD/WAR/MNK/DRG/BLM/BRD/WHM/SCH enter Turn 5.

PLD votes for PLD gear.
WAR votes for WAR gear.
MNK votes for MNK gear.
DRG votes for DRG gear.
BLM votes for MNK gear (he already has Turn 5 items for BLM).
BRD votes for BRD gear.
WHM votes for WHM gear.
SCH votes for SCH gear.

So only the following items can drop: PLD/WAR/MNK/DRG/BRD/WHM/SCH.

There is NO possibility for BLM/SMN pieces to drop.

This would help the group actually get useful weapons (useful immediately, to the group). There could also be a "wildcard" vote, in case folks DO want to see literally any job's gear drop.

This would help to prevent nonsense like doing an instance 30, 50, 100 times and never seeing an item from a particular job.

I bring up this suggestion because I think beating content is fun. I do not think hoping against hope that you don't get your 15th ring of aiming instead of a ring of casting is any kind of fun, nor do I think the huge bottleneck on gear is much fun, either.

Thank you.

EDIT: If you think people shouldn't care about gear, I'm not sure why you are posting on this thread. Clearly you don't care about gear, so the inclusion or absence of a mechanic such as the one I suggest (the merit of which is undeniable by any logical standard) really has no effect on you, making your arguments against it seem petty. Please stop trolling the internet.

[Velox]

One could argue that BiS is already obsolete, because it's not mandatory to use. Seriously, this is supposed to be a casual game. BiS is something to maybe aim for when you're absolutely bored, but nothing in this game requires BiS perfection or you wipe. In fact, much of the so-called BiS combinations themselves are meaningless because, other than ACC, all other secondary stats have low enough returns that you can make any build you want and still be viable in end-game content. You can even go as far as arguing that there is no BiS in FFXIV because the game promotes equality amongst all builds by limiting them so that 1 build doesn't become the only.

This game is designed for casual players, and such a game design that would require specific gear sets would be too punishing since the casual player can't put as much time into obtaining that 1 set that maybe you and your friends can (but some casual players still want to be viable for end-game).

[void4ever]

You're acting like adding this simple option would radically change the game from casual to hardcore. I don't see how this would change the game for casual players in the least. In fact it would give them more stuff to play with in the long time.

Playing casually doesn't mean you don't want gear. Even a casual player is going to be disheartened after seeing mnk gear drop for the 20th time when he's leveled 1 single job, say a blm.

The suggestion makes all the sense in the world and would be a boon for "hardcore" and "casual" alike.

Void4ever

[SkyHighDN]

The suggestion makes alot of sense.

I LOVE going into crystal tower... spending the hour getting through the content, seeing 4 drops for the group, and the message "Unable to obtain x" pops up. I mean seriously... 8 people in the group, and ive been in groups where 0 gear were acquired by any one.. Now i am not one of those people that goes out of the way screaming the RNG GODS are spiting me!! but I will say, it kinda seems crappy when no one gets anything and we all leave. I mean seriously, wtf. I dont care if I dont get anything, but at least i can be happy that some one else got the loot they wanted.

And its like that often. Usually at least 2 or 3 pieces of CT gear is unacquired every raid... thats what is disheartening more so than seeing a caster ring pop 10 out of 22 runs

[Shauneh]

My god Velox, your post made me want to gouge my eyes out... The amount of times you claimed this game to be a "casual" game was enough for me to think you don't even play the game. When did your opinion of the game being "casual" become relevant to the OP? And for someone that has yet to even COMPLETE Binding of Coil, just makes your post that much more meaningless.

Anyways, back to the issue at hand. First off, I would like to mention I am the monk from the group. A feature like this is needed for a game like FFXIV considering how bad the loot rng is; I have been running BCoB turns 1-4 on my monk for at least 4+ months now and I have yet to get my MNK boots(my BiS) yes BiS does exist for people that actually want to play the game properly, and test their skill/dps while perfecting their class. This is just a small example of how bad the RNG is considering we get 3x more mnk loot than any other class.

Since the forums only allow 1000 characters, multi post inc lol... cont'd

[Shauneh]

Furthermore, whether you're a "Casual" or a Hardcore gamer (dumb titles imo) You play a game with some sort of goal; Even for a casual player you could have a goal of BiS, and when you can not even accomplish that for a single class before the gear becomes obsolete, then what is the point of playing? you will forever have that feeling of being behind everything.

Now lets consider the facts. With new content coming out, one can only assume that the now obsolete gear will be the equipment that will help you achieve the new gear. But wait, how will I ever complete the new content without the old gear? (Unless of course the new content is so easy I could run it naked, but then why would we ever play ffxiv right?) Well soon we can run a dungeon a 100 times a day if you so please; but with the rng, you can run that place for the next couple months and still not have the "Old" gear required to complete the new content. Maybe even before the new becomes the old. cont'd

[Shauneh]

Now with all that said, I can honestly say that when my friend mentioned this in TS, I thought to myself 'a feature like this would be absolutely amazing.' For a game like FFXIV, where they promote multi-class progression it would only make sense to have a feature like this in the game. Then maybe, just maybe we will actually complete a full gear set for a single class before they become obsolete. Please consider a feature such as this, it would help improve the gaming experience in FFXIV for many.

TL;DR
Must be unfortunate not being able to read less than a page of text.

Shauneh

[Hiruke]

The suggestion makes alot of sense.

I LOVE going into crystal tower... spending the hour getting through the content, seeing 4 drops for the group, and the message "Unable to obtain x" pops up. I mean seriously... 8 people in the group, and ive been in groups where 0 gear were acquired by any one.. Now i am not one of those people that goes out of the way screaming the RNG GODS are spiting me!! but I will say, it kinda seems crappy when no one gets anything and we all leave. I mean seriously, wtf. I dont care if I dont get anything, but at least i can be happy that some one else got the loot they wanted.

And its like that often. Usually at least 2 or 3 pieces of CT gear is unacquired every raid... thats what is disheartening more so than seeing a caster ring pop 10 out of 22 runs

Yeah, this kind of thing just makes CT even worse. CT is pretty bad just on its own. Like, if I want gear there, I have to deal with DF folks, I can only get one piece a week, so every time I lot it better be the thing I want. If it's not the thing I want, I could lot it, but if I get it, I have to wait until next week to try for the thing I actually want. Getting a full set for any class in CT must be exceptionally painful. It's just even more ridiculous when stuff drops that no one wanted to begin with, which compounds the problem exponentially.

CT look is the epitome of the bad loot design that haunts this game.

[Sessurea]

With the amount of white knights on the forum stating titan EX is clearable at ilvl 67.....and now I see this?! >8D

BIS is more of an achievement/obsession, and hardly needed. Is it really the end of the world if one has a +1 relic instead of an allagan weap?

[Hiruke]

One could argue that BiS is already obsolete, because it's not mandatory to use. Seriously, this is supposed to be a casual game. BiS is something to maybe aim for when you're absolutely bored, but nothing in this game requires BiS perfection or you wipe. In fact, much of the so-called BiS combinations themselves are meaningless because, other than ACC, all other secondary stats have low enough returns that you can make any build you want and still be viable in end-game content. You can even go as far as arguing that there is no BiS in FFXIV because the game promotes equality amongst all builds by limiting them so that 1 build doesn't become the only.

This game is designed for casual players, and such a game design that would require specific gear sets would be too punishing since the casual player can't put as much time into obtaining that 1 set that maybe you and your friends can (but some casual players still want to be viable for end-game).

I feel like you're trolling me. Are you trolling me, bro?

Were I to respond seriously, I would ask: So, the only point of the game is beating content, then? No need to get specific gear? In that case, I guess I should quit, since Turn 5 is the hardest fight in the game, and I've already cleared it. Of course, I would also argue that's poor design, and a great way to get a lot of people to unsub from your game. No legit, attainable goals = massive failure.

And yes, there are clear BiS sets in most/all cases because math, not multiple different ones because reasons.

It is obviously true that BiS is unnecessary, because content can be cleared with less than BiS, but having BiS makes your life easier as you continue to clear the content hoping for yet more loot. People get gear not to do things period, but to do them BETTER. Like, sure you can beat Titan Extreme with 2 tank, 2 healer, 4 dps. But isn't it more fun to beat it with 1 tank, 1 healer, and 6 dps!?