More interesting loot please! Here are some ideas!

[Teuciont]

This game is seriously lacking in fun effects on equipment. Yes please to the OP. Devs need to worry less about being so anal about balancing and worry more about having a fun game.

[KisaiTenshi]

This game is seriously lacking in fun effects on equipment. Yes please to the OP. Devs need to worry less about being so anal about balancing and worry more about having a fun game.

That's just the thing, this game is balanced, sometimes too balanced. They can't put anything really cool as a passive effect on dungeon drops otherwise as a previous poster said, the gear becomes mandatory. Then you see everyone wearing exactly the same thing.

I'd rather "anything cool" as a passive effect be something that can be melded to gear rather than change the nature of the dungeon drops. That's kinda how FF7 did it anyway. I'd kinda prefer that some of the "Materia provides a cool effect/rare skill" be something, not just stat buffs.

But that would again mess with the balance in a way where someone melds w-cast + ultima to one BiS gear and just wipes the floor in FCoB or something.

[Zaft]

Then you see everyone wearing exactly the same thing.

Are you implying that isn't the case right now? Every class has one set of BiS and everyone (who can obtain it) is wearing it. There is zero customization right now.

[kyuven]

Her point is moot anyway since FFXIV doesn't include in-battle gear swapping.

Not exactly. You may not be able to swap in combat, but if you have items with certain effects you will be expected to have these items for the specific situations, and have them equipped during those situations.
For example, the aforementioned proc'ing fire bracelet would be REQUIRED for dungeon runs where defensive stats are less important than DPS, meanwhile anything that futzes with defenses will be REQUIRED for the bosses.
And once again I must bring up the point that FFXI never really addressed with sincerity and that this game is, by the dev's own admission, suffering from: Item storage space.
Starting next expansion, there will be 23 classes in this game. There are currently 25 slots in the armoury. Having "more options" for gear sounds "great" on paper, but we simply do not have the space for all those gear sets. Even if SE does expand the inventory, we will NOT have the room for as many sets as adding "fun n crazy" items would require.
As mentioned in my EQ1 example, this created a LOT of problems.

Materia should be just stats, some crafted gear already has an advantage a bit.

However, there can be other ways to do it!

They can be items you equip on your character to give them unique procs and such.

This would be a more practical solution, so long as these items are balanced. Things like "Decreases MP consumption of Foe Requiem" or "Decrease recast time of Benediction" or "Increase Mana Regen of Shroud of the Saints by X%"
Stuff like that.

Are you implying that isn't the case right now? Every class has one set of BiS and everyone (who can obtain it) is wearing it. There is zero customization right now.

Not every class has a "fixed" BiS. There is some wiggle room to better fit personal playstyles, and the fact that there are plenty of options to attain those builds. It's not as robust as a lot of other games, but it doesn't NEED to be. This isn't Champions Online or Rift, after all. For some class certain stats just aren't worthwhile, rather than lacking options.

[Zaft]

Not every class has a "fixed" BiS. There is some wiggle room to better fit personal playstyles, and the fact that there are plenty of options to attain those builds. It's not as robust as a lot of other games, but it doesn't NEED to be. This isn't Champions Online or Rift, after all. For some class certain stats just aren't worthwhile, rather than lacking options.

Not really. Some slightly differ from fight to fight (for example, I wouldn't wear all STR jewelry as a WAR to T13 like I do T10-12), but there are specific, BiS sets that obtain the highest numbers.

You can choose to wear something else, but your performance will not be as high as the person who wears his BiS. Personal playstyle has nothing to do with BiS and min/maxing.

[kyuven]

Personal playstyle has nothing to do with BiS and min/maxing.

Depends. There are enough situational differences and arguing as to what IS BIS for different jobs that there IS some flexibility. For example, the debate about how much skill speed is enough, and the BLM debate over crit and det.
Everyone has something they're comfortable or not comfortable with.

[Zaft]

Depends. There are enough situational differences and arguing as to what IS BIS for different jobs that there IS some flexibility. For example, the debate about how much skill speed is enough, and the BLM debate over crit and det.
Everyone has something they're comfortable or not comfortable with.

Again, you can be more comfortable with one than the other, but one is going to give you higher throughput than the other. It may differ based on the fight, but one WILL be superior to the other, and that's not something that can be changed unless stats/skills are changed. For example, let's pretend that, for fight X, set #1 gives 500 DPS and set #2 gives 520 DPS. Set #2 is clearly better. You might prefer set #1 because you're more comfortable with that stat allocation, but you are not maximizing your potential.

It's similar to Fire and Arcane Mages right now on WoW. As you can see below, both Fire and Arcane are very good choices, and are only a few percent apart. However, in a Patchwerk style boss fight, it is clear that Arcane is the superior choice. There's no debate, it's just math.