More interesting loot please! Here are some ideas!

[StouterTaru]

And do you remember how people would devise macros for switching gear mid-battle, going so far as to switch gear between attacks?

I would use 3 macros to cast a nuke as a BLM in FFXI, a few of the slots I changed in the first macro and again later to get my HP down for the ring latent effect.

We don't need to go to that extreme, but you already have many people that have alternate gear sets for the same job, to meet accuracy/HP needs at higher content or do more damage at easier content.

I would like at least a couple pieces of gear that don't get replaced every other major patch.

[Callinon]

We don't need to go to that extreme, but you already have many people that have alternate gear sets for the same job, to meet accuracy/HP needs at higher content or do more damage at easier content.

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

FFXI went overboard on this kind of gear, most likely due to the level cap not increasing for .. what? 7 years? Something like that?

FFXIV need not have this problem. If the special effects were limited to a particular gear slot, maybe job-specific rings, or your job-specific body and leg pieces or something like that, it'd be fine. The effects would have to not be outrageous, but ok that's fine. If an effect ends up being too good, you nerf it back into line. It's very simple.

The assumption that X gear will be required to perform Y piece of content pre-supposes that overpowered gear will stay overpowered.

Some random guy stating outrageous gear requirements to do a particular piece of content will NEVER go away. Ever. This guy exists whether gear is interesting or not, so let's make gear interesting.

[Iromi]

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

FFXI went overboard on this kind of gear, most likely due to the level cap not increasing for .. what? 7 years? Something like that?

FFXIV need not have this problem. If the special effects were limited to a particular gear slot, maybe job-specific rings, or your job-specific body and leg pieces or something like that, it'd be fine. The effects would have to not be outrageous, but ok that's fine. If an effect ends up being too good, you nerf it back into line. It's very simple.

The assumption that X gear will be required to perform Y piece of content pre-supposes that overpowered gear will stay overpowered.

Some random guy stating outrageous gear requirements to do a particular piece of content will NEVER go away. Ever. This guy exists whether gear is interesting or not, so let's make gear interesting.

Exactly. This game does not have gear swapping so none of that is relevant in the least. The devs already said this game won't have gear swapping.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

I try to make the effects balanced, for example you have to pick and choose what you want to use however a lot of the things have a big penalty on them. Fights (none) should be balanced around using any of these abilities. They are gimmicks, but they are fun and are meant to change the way you play your character. However they do have risks using, lowering your movement speed is huge in most fights.

I have edited some of the jewelry again to make them a bit more balanced.

The idea of these pieces isn't to make them something you need to have, but to make your character more-so the way you want to.

Some random guy stating outrageous gear requirements to do a particular piece of content will NEVER go away. Ever. This guy exists whether gear is interesting or not, so let's make gear interesting.

Nope, that will always be there. =)

[LineageRazor]

Gear in 1.0 had special effects like what the first post described. Not exactly like it, but they had special effects. White Mage AF pieces had boosts to healing potency, regen duration... in fact, all but one piece of AF was desirable over crafted because these special effects. Yoshida, though, didn't want players to be locked to a specific few pieces of gear like they were in 1.0, and what is normal in XI. So, he had the gear benefits reduced to just stat boosts, so people could wear whatever and still be viable in their roles. Whether this is the case or not is open to debate (the iL people versus the stats people) but there is no one gear set to rule them all. Would I like to see the return of special gear effects... sort of, but only if it's done in a way that it doesn't invalidate what we have now. Otherwise, no thank you.

But there already IS one gear to rule them all! Or, two, rather: Augmented Ironworks, and Dreadwyrm. Two ilvl 130 options - if you're wearing ANY other equipment at all, it is inferior gear on the way to obtaining Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm. If anything, the vertical equipment progression has left us with even LESS options. If players are going to deny you because of your gear, it's VERY easy for them to identify whether you meet their standards or not. ilvl 130? No? Then gtfo u gimp scrub.

If Yoshida wanted to avoid us being locked to one piece of gear (or two), he sure had a funny way of going about it. At least if we had these pieces of gear with special stats, the minmaxers would at least have to crunch some numbers before pulling out the snobbery.

[Cutie_McSnuggles]

Gear currently has a 6 month lifespan. It would be nice to have a few pieces that are strong enough to survive a year, and be better than something 20 ilvls higher or more.

This would be terrible! Personally I find the 6 moth cycle to be on the long side. I'd prefer if gear lasted about 3 months and then it was time to farm up the next level. But the current balance is good enough I suppose.

But I really have nothing to worry about. Yoshi talked about this issue before and already said he's nervous about doing anything like this.

[Gilraen]

...the minmaxers would at least have to crunch some numbers before pulling out the snobbery.

For me iL means jack all, it's about the stats they have. In this end crafted is superior given melding. I don't look at iL when I look for new gear, I look at the stats they have. iL doesn't make you better, it gives you tunnel vision.

[Mugiawara]

These aren't bad idea's actually.
Current gear is very 1 way street and at the end of the day, we nearly play the EXACT same
as any one else. I like variety.

[Zaft]

Personally I'll be very disappointed if we don't see unique stats and set pieces in the expansion. Just got my Mage Mythic 4set yesterday on WoW and it's extremely fun. As Arcane it periodically turns my Arcane Missiles into a bloody machine gun, and as Fire it sometimes gives me instant cast, 100% crit chance Pyroblasts for 4 seconds. Not only does it change my playstyle a bit, but it's super fun and really gives me a feeling of becoming far more powerful than I was before.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

I added more cool items. =)