What's the point of R50 Gear...

[Belial]

You are all missing the point here.
There should always be a better reason to "get stronger" than just to get new gear over and over again. For me it is a pointless system and the main reason i don't play WoW.

How do you play this game then? The point of getting gear isn't just simply "getting gear." to people, nor the purpose. It's a mark, an indicator, that you have completed this difficult portion of the game. On top of that, it also contributes to your character becoming better equipped for harder content.

Motivation could be different things. What about and interesting Location with tough enemys, a interesting storyline and so on. Basically that you're Gear or your rank helps you proceed in the world.
Getting Gear, just to be able to get better Gear is the most stupid thing in a video game history i witnessed. Especially if caps are raised every 1-2 years.
But don't get me wrong. Endgame content is a lot about that and there is nothing wrong with it. The problem starts when it becomes the only thing to do with your gear.
The perfect system would be, if you actually need the gear to unlock certain content or that obtaining the best gear is the only way to defeat the toughest enemy's in the game. There should always be some kind of meaning to it.

Endgame content where you get the better gear always has a place in the storyline of the game. At least as far as the MMOs I've played. And interesting locations & enveloping storylines are fine... but if there's no reward, the mass population simply isn't going to do it. Risk vs. Reward.

And if, as you propose, we were to adopt this system of "needing" the best gear for certain content, then you're segregating a large part of the community, causing grief amongst players for not being allowed, or invited to, certain events. The best gear shouldn't give you elite "only I can do this status," it should simply make your character more efficient.

As it is for FFXIV.
Being rank 45 or 50 makes very little difference and this is something Budi is trying to say.
You can enjoy the best gear and all the content with rank 45 and some players need more motivation than "getting a little stronger" to level to the highest rank and I also think getting Rank 50 should offer something special. Don't know exactly what, but certainly more than it is now.

This is actually false. There's a very large difference in your utility as a player between 45 - 50. Because of how physical levels currently work, your rank is one of the few things that determines your characters ability to perform. Gear, stats, etc. have yet to be tweaked properly for the new battle system. Maybe you can equip -certain- BiS (Best-in-Slot) pieces currently, but any of the rank 50 items that drop from the new 45-50 instance require rank 50 to wear. Also it's been known that they are implementing level & class restrictions to the newer gear coming out.

But I also think it is something that SE is working at the moment. This game needs still a lot of work and players need patients.
Especially content-wise.

That's the best thing you said in your post, though it goes against all the complaints you addressed earlier. Fact is, you're playing an incomplete game. People seem to have a really hard time wrapping their heads around this fact. The game has many more adjustments, tweaks, additions, removals, etc. ahead of it. Voicing complaints on aspects of an incomplete game which have not yet been fully addressed is silly.

[RabidSquirrel]

In every MMO, there's a ceiling. The ceiling is the hardest bit of content with the best gear available at the moment. Every MMO has one, and every MMO has its ceiling raised as new, more challenging content is introduced. This is MMO 101. Everyone should know this. Very few people will partake in content if there is no reward. So let's say for funsies, there is a raid instance harder than the current rank 50 one. But this raid instance drops no gear, no items. There is zero reward. Its only purpose is to give you some use for your new gear. Well, once players realize there is no reward for completing this super hard raid, they won't care to partake in this content.

One thing that always accounts for the best gear, is PvP. But we don't currently have PvP, so that isn't a valid use for the biggest, baddest pieces of equipment you can get.

[Jabo]

@Belial
The rank 50 raid items are far from "the best".
And between Rank 45 and Rank 50 is only the 5 Rank difference, which of course is something, but it should be more than that. Why not stop at Rank 49 than? The difference between rank 49 and 50 sure isn't significant.
We also have different opinions on how games should be designed. For me it's perfectly normal that the BEST Gear has something elitist to it.
I played FFXI for over a year and never reached the level cap and had still a lot of fun and i enjoyed it simply if a Level 75 player walked by on me, wearing a relic weapon or an AF2 set.

That's the best thing you said in your post, though it goes against all the complaints you addressed earlier

I really don't know how.
It's perfectly logical that there is something to complain about, if the game needs a lot of work and the players need patients.

btw
I had enough motivation to play till rank 50 and i don't feel the way Budi does, but he has a point. If you feel the same way is another thing, but being rank 50 has little to no benefits as it is now.
I have no problem with that, knowing that things will change, but it doesn't hurt to point it out or to simply share your thoughts.

[Jabo]

In every MMO, there's a ceiling. The ceiling is the hardest bit of content with the best gear available at the moment. Every MMO has one, and every MMO has its ceiling raised as new, more challenging content is introduced. This is MMO 101. Everyone should know this. Very few people will partake in content if there is no reward. So let's say for funsies, there is a raid instance harder than the current rank 50 one. But this raid instance drops no gear, no items. There is zero reward. Its only purpose is to give you some use for your new gear. Well, once players realize there is no reward for completing this super hard raid, they won't care to partake in this content.

One thing that always accounts for the best gear, is PvP. But we don't currently have PvP, so that isn't a valid use for the biggest, baddest pieces of equipment you can get.

There would be a reward, but the reward wouldn't be items.
We are still playing a Role Playing Game, were taking a roll in an fantasy world should be the most important thing.
This is the reason why the final goal of every RPG is to beat the last boss and not to get the best piece of equipment.

And i'm not talking about a lot of content, which should be like that, but it has to be more than just the "getting better gear, to get better gear cycle."
Just something more than that. Thats all I want.

[Belial]

@Belial
The rank 50 raid items are far from "the best".
And between Rank 45 and Rank 50 is only the 5 Rank difference, which of course is something, but it should be more than that. Why not stop at Rank 49 than? The difference between rank 49 and 50 sure isn't significant.

I never said they were the best. However, certain ones are certainly better than other options available, you can argue that if you want, but I'd suggest we go to battle mechanics and talk about parsing certain gear types to see what is actually more efficient. Why should it be more than that? Nowhere, ever, once, did SE state that the 50 cap would involve any endgame content. This game was never designed for people to sit at 50, so expecting something that was never promised is asinine. Whether or not you have no drive to rank to 50 is moot, your argument stated that there was no point, and there is, efficieny, skills, etc.

We also have different opinions on how games should be designed. For me it's perfectly normal that the BEST Gear has something elitist to it.
I played FFXI for over a year and never reached the level cap and had still a lot of fun and i enjoyed it simply if a Level 75 player walked by on me, wearing a relic weapon or an AF2 set.

But... that doesn't explain why gear should have elite properties to it? You're just saying you had fun playing a game casually. I have fun playing Team Fortress 2 casually, but that has nothing to do with the subject. And again, the issue of gear being everywhere is being addressed, as has been stated, over and over.

Having gear only certain classes & levels can wear? <- Fine.
"You must have this specific piece of gear to do this specific content/raid/event/instance" <- Not fine.

I really don't know how.
It's perfectly logical that there is something to complain about, if the game needs a lot of work and the players need patients.

I'm all for player complaints. They are helping to adjust certain systems in place. However, griping about aspects of the game known to be under-going tweaks and changes to the overall set-up serves absolutely no purpose.

"I hate this part of the game, QQ"
"It's being changed."
"I don't care, I still hate it. /whine"

How does that fix the game, or better the game, or suggest improvements of any sort? It doesn't.

btw
I had enough motivation to play till rank 50 and i don't feel the way Budi does, but he has a point. If you feel the same way is another thing, but being rank 50 has little to no benefits as it is now.
I have no problem with that, knowing that things will change, but it doesn't hurt to point it out or to simply share your thoughts.

So, complaining about something that has been known (since January, mind you) to be undergoing changes makes a point? What point is that? That you're impatient and refuse to read? If the OP has to find "motivation" to play a video game, perhaps he should re-examine his life choices.

[Naylia]

If the OP has to find "motivation" to play a video game, perhaps he should re-examine his life choices.

Or maybe the video game should be improved.

There are lots of people who rush to cap and try to grind there way there as quickly as possible. But in FFXIV, there is almost nothing to do once you get there. As you rank along the way, there are new areas unlocked, new skills learned, story, etc. Once you are at 50 - all that comes to an end and the only existing content in the game is - Grind this content for gear, so that you can be better at grinding this same piece of content.

And yes...we all know new content is coming. But there is not this magical world of content that suddenly becomes available at 50. Instead it's actually the end of most of the content in the game (or super easy mode because there aren't lots of r50 quest lines or anything being released to play, anything else is lower rank). I can easily see reluctance to get to 50 because that ends the progression and story for your main class. And if it is a class you ranked up, and enjoy playing...well that's

[zaviermhigo]

This thread assumes 50 is the end all level cap also, and that the average person only wanted to level up one job to 50. 80% of FFXI for a while was leveling. Idk how long this playerbase *super pretentious* can take it though.

[Abriael]

...when there is no use for it other then to get more R50 gear?

Adding to that: What's the point of reaching rank 50 when you can do ALL of the late-game "content" with rank 45+?

Have you tried?

[RabidSquirrel]

There would be a reward, but the reward wouldn't be items.
We are still playing a Role Playing Game, were taking a roll in an fantasy world should be the most important thing.
This is the reason why the final goal of every RPG is to beat the last boss and not to get the best piece of equipment.

And i'm not talking about a lot of content, which should be like that, but it has to be more than just the "getting better gear, to get better gear cycle."
Just something more than that. Thats all I want.

We are playing, first and foremost, an MMO. MMORPG is just a subset of that. In an RPG that has an end, you beat the final boss to see the story close and the game end. MMOs don't have an end. At least not until the servers go offline.

And what reward are you talking about that does not involve items? In games, the end must justify the means. Players won't do something for nothing or for something that isn't worth it. The only time they'll do that is if the game is just pure fun that doesn't get old. I'm not saying that the only rewards worth obtaining are items, because it's not. You can have rewards that are skills, access to new classes, and so on. Equipment and items are merely the simplest way of motivating players to do something. But to throw your argument back at you. What would be the point of any reward obtained from the hardest piece of content in the game? What are you going to use it on? Other content? What other content? Easier content? To get what? And where will what you get from that be used?

[Thanos]

I just think the OP of this thread is retarded as it is...