Should Alexander hard drop highest item level gear?

[Gilraen]

I only want the MMO genre to retain some of what made it unique...

Okay, going to stop you there. What made MMOs unique isn't how they operate, it's in those three letters. "Massively Multiplayer Online" That is, more than a few people playing together in a persistent world. Raids were just smaller shared content in much bigger game. As such, raids are not the heart of the MMO experience, the MMO is. Secondly, Yoshida has never said anything that suggests that raiding is the focus of XIV. In fact, I don't remember any of the developers saying this. It's been rather the other way around with them announcing time and again the easing of raid difficulty, sometimes to booing from players (like at a recent event, sad really). You claim to want to retain some of MMO's uniqueness yet keep pushing the elitist line in wanting the best things locked away from those who can't devote the same amount of time as you... I don't think you care about anyone else at all, except yourself.

[Galdous]

Okay, going to stop you there. What made MMOs unique isn't how they operate, it's in those three letters. "Massively Multiplayer Online" That is, more than a few people playing together in a persistent world. Raids were just smaller shared content in much bigger game. As such, raids are not the heart of the MMO experience, the MMO is. Secondly, Yoshida has never said anything that suggests that raiding is the focus of XIV. In fact, I don't remember any of the developers saying this. It's been rather the other way around with them announcing time and again the easing of raid difficulty, sometimes to booing from players (like at a recent event, sad really). You claim to want to retain some of MMO's uniqueness yet keep pushing the elitist line in wanting the best things locked away from those who can't devote the same amount of time as you... I don't think you care about anyone else at all, except yourself.

You forget what kind of MMO this game is. This is a grind themepark mmo which at its core is the gear treadmill. Why should the same type of gear be easily had from doing a 30 minute queue with a dungeon of strangers over people who coordinate and work as a team towards the goal in raids. Your argument is actually invalid considering the gear is still quite achievable. It is just some people do not want to raid and nothing is wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with having gear that is one tier weaker below raid gear since you are not doing any content that requires said raid gear.

[SDaemon]

Shiva EX is not story. HM is 80, Steps and Chrysalis is 90.

Never said it was part of the main story. That period represents a separate thought. He argued that i90 was only needed because the story ends at i90. But there is content besides Coils that uses higher than i90, that was the point you missed.

[StouterTaru]

There is nothing wrong with having gear that is one tier weaker below raid gear since you are not doing any content that requires said raid gear.

Said raid gear isn't needed to do said raid either, or else you would never get it. It's the top gear for 3 months, then proportionate gear is available.