Is this the road they will continue to take with items?

[Xatsh]

This is one part of FFXI I don't miss at all.

That said, horizontal progression would be cool. Can't gear swap while under aggro in this game so you wouldn't see the FFXI problem here.

That problem is why FFXI had more relevant content then any other mmo ever made with literally hundreds of hours of week of relevant (non-vanity) content at endgame.

That is a problem that everyone in the genre should of picked up on. It was unintended when XI was made, but then again some of the worlds greatest achievements were mistakes.

[DoubleT]

horizontal progression all the way... armor in xi may have lasted forever, but at least all those gear sets you carried had use an value, unlike this game were I have a completly full inventory of armor just collecting dust that even my retainer is starting to outgear alot of it. But... I understand that if they were to do horizontal now with an already known lv cap on the way it would jsut piss alot of people off like it did when they raised lv cap in xi, an like when people get pissed on this game every 6 months. But when we are going to be at a certain lv for a long time i am all for horizontal gearing.

[Zumi]

horizontal progression is an oxymoron. What you are actually looking for is item progression where better items come out but the difference is so very small and not noticeable to most players except the hardcore. Like for example in FFXI you had sky gear that was good you had king gear that was good as well, then along came salvage gear, which had some pieces of gear that were slightly better then sky and king gear, but if you choose not to do salvage at all you were fine with your old gear because the degree to which it was better was very small.

I never really liked this about FFXI. People were happy using their 5 year old gear just to stand around in white gate didn't want to do stuff like salvage because their sky gear was good enough. Had to go out and find other people to do stuff with. FFXI became just a chat room for a lot of people until the overhaul with the level cap raise it actually felt like we were doing stuff again getting new level cap gear. But until then the game felt stagnant.

I like the getting new gear conquering new harder bosses each patch keeps me wanting to play the game more.

[rwyan]

The problem with the current item progression... there isn't any flavor, any texture or any sense of choice to it. As it stands, a player simply makes the choice whether or not he or she will continue the ilvl grind. If they do so, the options is either coil drops or tome gear. Whoop-dee-doo!

I think the foundation for FF14 is great. Great artwork, great Final Fantasy inspired designs, good mechanics, etc... However, some form of horizontal progression will need to be utilized in order to maintain interest for the long term.

Yes, the min maxers will ALWAYS find the best-in-slot... they always do... but that aspect of choice and the idea of having options provides a layer of depth that vertical progression simply cannot provide. This helps keep content relevant.

However, in order to create that horizontal progression, they will need to make changes to the current class/job system. There needs to be valid reasons why a job would want to have stats outside their job's usual. Obviously, vertical progression needs to stay, but providing a variety of ways to attain a large variety of iLvl 110 gear would be best.

As it stands, there is very little to differentiate multiple players of the same jobs. They have the same abilities, will have pretty much the same stats and play identically for the most part. We need ways to further expand our jobs on an individual level and that needs to be reflected in the gear variety.

By focusing on the powercreep, there needs to be new content with each jump to facilitate the powercreep. Things like roulettes and making quests rely on old end-game content does work... but how long will that strategy work? What happens when tomes change? Essentially, what happens... parts of the game effectively die. The only thing preventing that here are roulettes and the constant reliance on quests to visit old instances.

No, FFXI's horizontal progression didn't always pan out well, but it kept all forms of content relevant for a VERY VERY LONG TIME. Once they upped the level cap... a bulk of the end-game essentially died. There is a reason FFXI is Square Enix's most profitable MMO. There is a reason FFXI pretty much maintained its subs even through WoW and most every modern MMO release where others declined.

[Morningstar1337]

However, in order to create that horizontal progression, they will need to make changes to the current class/job system. There needs to be valid reasons why a job would want to have stats outside their job's usual...

I think that there should be a way to allow those jobs to take additional roles beyond thir main one. Take Paladin for example. they have access to some of the Conjurer's spells, like Cure, but their mind stat too low to consider using it other than desperation and flavor, they also have Raise but can't use it in battle. ditto for Black mages who can use the Arcansist's version of Cure, Psysick, but again have little mind to use it with.

If we can tweak these classes to be better off healers then we can add horizontal progression that in creases Mind.

Likewise if White Mages have more offensive magics (Aero and Stone III for starters) then they can have a choice of MND or INT increasing gear (though Cleric Stance might mess with that)

As for SUM/SCH I suppose the idea is to compensate for them sharing attributes is to have books that increase one of these stats for the other class (sicne they can use Cleric Stance) having Summoner books that increase MND and Scholar books for INT

Like Paladin, Warrior can also have a subrole. allowing it access to gear that either increases only VIT or STR (or boost both stats, but one will get the better boost) would allow it to better specialize in DPS or tanking.

However part of this will also mean that future gear must be specialized towards one primary stat (plus some secondaries, any other primary stats must be at most half of the first or else it might as well be the same vertical progression again, as the other weapon wouldn't be as good or will be exactly the same, making it redundant and skippable).

[rwyan]

snip

I have a hope that Yoshida will either surprise us with a job and class revamp or a new take on sub-jobbing (cross class skills simply don't cut it).

[myahele]

I think materia would be a great start. Right now they only offer boosts in stats. But what if they start adding abilities?

Ex: Free Cure/Psyick Materia has a chance the next cure will be free. Etc. nothing game breaking since its all a matter of chance.

[rwyan]

I think materia would be a great start. Right now they only offer boosts in stats. But what if they start adding abilities?

Ex: Free Cure/Psyick Materia has a chance the next cure will be free. Etc. nothing game breaking since its all a matter of chance.

Stuff like this was used in 1.0 and it would definitely help for sure. In keeping with the current class/job structure, stats that enhance abilities would be a way to go.

[SevValen]

I actually like the vertical progression system better than the horizontal one. I do not want to have the same gear for a long time that to me is boring, now if I like the look of old sets of gear then.they would have to add something.that let me keep the look but since they added glamours im.happy. android phone puting periods instead of spaces

[SevValen]

I also cant understand the need for unique stats