SE enough of the treadmill, please make the game more interesting!

[Ryel]

Sorry, but.. 1.0 XIV doesn't even remotely count. they had to rebuild everything. The current game has been out for 1 year. There have been no expansions yet. Pretty much every system has been redone and recoded from UI to GCD to skills, AI, graphics in general (landscape to character models), seemless world to instances, fates, DF, etc, etc and etc.

All XI had from US launch was grind and more party grind. I should know I played it for about 7 years from US release. Each expansion broken with promises of getting better with all anyone could do was simply grind away the hours. Which, I actually had no issues with I happily ground away hours days weeks and years. In fact the reason I quit was for people problems, not the game itself. Though, them closing my server and moving me to one that was not the same as my wife was in fact the death knell for me.

None of what you mentioned you could do in XI was there at US launch. None of it.. ell except for some NM's. You forgot the events, though. The events were really the only break with the grinding and even they could be a grind lol

At the same point now that ARR is as to 1 year from XI US release, XIV is hands down the better game with more to do. at year 1 XI we still hadn't even reached end game yet. Mostly because at that point there still wasn't an end game because for the most part US players had not reached it yet. They were still leveling up their characters due to the slower party grind system not unlike the old EQ days.

I believe in the very post you quoted i specifically mentioned that the variety of content i listed was added over a period of YEARS of expansions, actually yup just looked again it's even there in all caps.

And no sorry even if the game has been mostly reworked, quite a lot of the content we have is still stuff that was leftover or already in development from 1.0 (See: Most primals, reworked dungeons, jobs/classes etc) Those playing around 1.23 essentially tested many of the systems that got refined in the transition to 2.0 (Like positional combos and the basis of the battle system)

Nobody is asking for this game to match what other MMO's have had (and I'll say it again) YEARS to accomplish, However what they are saying is that they hope the trend changes in the future from the repetitive grind for Allagan Tomestones of Tradology each patch, tired and arbitrary lockouts, a completely vertical progression system devoid of stat choices (Choices we had in 1.0 mind you), and dungeons that are for most players already outdated (gear wise) the moment they are released.

Bring back unique stat choices, bring back relevant crafted gear that allows us to truly customize it with Materia and don't make it slightly better than the gear from the previous patch, bring back content like Skirmish, or something crafters / gatherers can get involved in like Hamlet, even chocobo caravans are MIA, just don't feed us the same thing every other patch and call it new.

Many that have posted in this thread already realize this stuff will take time, but we'd rather voice our opinions now so they know this going forward as opposed to saying nothing and them not knowing it's an issue.

[Ultimatecalibur]

Bring back unique stat choices, bring back relevant crafted gear that allows us to truly customize it with Materia and don't make it slightly better than the gear from the previous patch, bring back content like Skirmish, or something crafters / gatherers can get involved in like Hamlet, even chocobo caravans are MIA, just don't feed us the same thing every other patch and call it new.

Problem is many things people are asking for are general ideas and stuff, but do not get the implications and realities of those additions. Unique stats can cause balance problems, relevant customizable left-side* crafted gear risks making dungeon rewards non-relevant, Skirmish is just another type of dungeon/trail, 2.35 introduced the Ixali Beast Tribe Quests for Crafters and Gatherers, Chocobo Caravans are pretty much escort Fates, and both The Hunt and Frontlines were added in 2.3.

*Pentamelded i90 accessories are considered superior to tomestone/coil accessories by many hardcore players.

[Prototype909]

Problem is many things people are asking for are general ideas and stuff, but do not get the implications and realities of those additions. Unique stats can cause balance problems, relevant customizable left-side* crafted gear risks making dungeon rewards non-relevant, Skirmish is just another type of dungeon/trail, 2.35 introduced the Ixali Beast Tribe Quests for Crafters and Gatherers, Chocobo Caravans are pretty much escort Fates, and both The Hunt and Frontlines were added in 2.3.

*Pentamelded i09 accessories are considered superior to tomestone/coil accessories by many hardcore players.

Dungeon rewards are already non-relevant for everyone except those who have just recently started playing the game.

[Viridiana]

Problem is many things people are asking for are general ideas and stuff, but do not get the implications and realities of those additions. Unique stats can cause balance problems, relevant customizable left-side* crafted gear risks making dungeon rewards non-relevant, Skirmish is just another type of dungeon/trail, 2.35 introduced the Ixali Beast Tribe Quests for Crafters and Gatherers, Chocobo Caravans are pretty much escort Fates, and both The Hunt and Frontlines were added in 2.3.

A select few pieces of left side are already considered BiS by some, nevermind the right side stuff. And dungeon gear is already irrelevant. The highest thing dropped in a dungeon is i90 gear that's nearly a year and a half old at this point. Now, dungeons also give tomes, which lead to i120/130 gear, but that's not really dungeon gear. Then you have ST gear, which is at this point only really worth it for alts. Dungeon gear is only really relevant for, like, third or fourth classes. And they keep adding in new gear that's 40 ilvl below the current max, which may as well be irrelevant gear.

[Ryel]

Problem is many things people are asking for are general ideas and stuff, but do not get the implications and realities of those additions. Unique stats can cause balance problems, relevant customizable left-side* crafted gear risks making dungeon rewards non-relevant, Skirmish is just another type of dungeon/trail, 2.35 introduced the Ixali Beast Tribe Quests for Crafters and Gatherers, Chocobo Caravans are pretty much escort Fates, and both The Hunt and Frontlines were added in 2.3.

*Pentamelded i09 accessories are considered superior to tomestone/coil accessories by many hardcore players.

Dungeon gear is obsolete for most players the second it's released, due to often being 20-30 ilvls under current tomestone / ST gear, however they very well could keep it relevant by allowing it to be converted into Materia, i mean they could even take it a step further and make dungeon drops convert into unique Materia with stats that crafted gear doesn't convert into which would make it more desirable to collect.

This wouldn't screw over dungeons OR crafted gear and would allow for a better balance of both.

[Ultimatecalibur]

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By dungeon gear I was referring to the fixed stat gear acquired from dungeons, raids, and purchased with currency such at Tomestones/Wolfmarks.

Consider the stats of a HQ pentamelded i110 crafted piece now compare it to the stats of the 3 other i110 pieces available for that slot. The HQ pentamelded crafted piece is obviously superior considering it has 2 capped Secondaries and a third at 2/3 cap. If i130 crafted gear had been introduced in 2.4 there would be very little mechanical reason to go after the Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm gear.

[whoopeeragon]

Consider the stats of a HQ pentamelded i110 crafted piece now compare it to the stats of the 3 other i110 pieces available for that slot. The HQ pentamelded crafted piece is obviously superior considering it has 2 capped Secondaries and a third at 2/3 cap. If i130 crafted gear had been introduced in 2.4 there would be very little mechanical reason to go after the Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm gear.

I always thought they could just implement crafted gear 10 ilvls lower than the max (i.e. a crafted set at ilvl 120 for 2.4) that only has the main stats and VIT (and acc for healers) on it with no secondary stats. Instead let the secondaries be melded on, kinda like how Novus works. That way, the Tomestone gear will still eclipse the crafted gear when it is made, but the crafted gear has the potential to rival ilvl130 gear depending on what materia is melded on given player opinion.

[Viridiana]

By dungeon gear I was referring to the fixed stat gear acquired from dungeons, raids, and purchased with currency such at Tomestones/Wolfmarks.

Consider the stats of a HQ pentamelded i110 crafted piece now compare it to the stats of the 3 other i110 pieces available for that slot. The HQ pentamelded crafted piece is obviously superior considering it has 2 capped Secondaries and a third at 2/3 cap. If i130 crafted gear had been introduced in 2.4 there would be very little mechanical reason to go after the Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm gear.

The problem that this game has had for a long, long time is that Yoshi likes to introduce new level 50 gear drops that are weaker than what's already in the game, which leaves players who've been even remotely keeping up with no real reason to do the content that drops the new stuff. HQ crafted gear has always been something of a subversion with him, where melded gear is frequently more powerful than end-game dungeon/trial/raid gear for certain classes. The only reason you don't see more people using crafted gear at endgame is because it's expensive as all hell. Well, that, and it's a bit counter intuitive that it should be stronger.

[Ryel]

By dungeon gear I was referring to the fixed stat gear acquired from dungeons, raids, and purchased with currency such at Tomestones/Wolfmarks.

Consider the stats of a HQ pentamelded i110 crafted piece now compare it to the stats of the 3 other i110 pieces available for that slot. The HQ pentamelded crafted piece is obviously superior considering it has 2 capped Secondaries and a third at 2/3 cap. If i130 crafted gear had been introduced in 2.4 there would be very little mechanical reason to go after the Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm gear.

And this is an issue in itself, It shouldn't be the case that the gear with the highest stats / ilvl in the game comes from quite literally ONE location each patch cycle. I have already said earlier in this thread that we need a variety of content to offer up that sort of gear, not just one type of content at a time, whether it be multiple types of raids or even a raid that works in tandem with crafting, a system like this one would work quite well.

This isn't a solution that needs to be one or the other, there are tons of ways to make various methods of high level gear acquisition desirable without sticking the best of the bunch in one raid for 6 months and calling it at that.