Instead of gear loss how about a less harsh outcome?

[Aeyis]

What is this, a free-to-play game?
Oh, wait...

Pay money, attempt to upgrade your gear, lose it all, pay more money...
I hate this renowned mechanic with great passion.

I'm not of the gambler mindset.
Time is valuable.
I like my work to actually count for something.

I don't know what's up with you people saying "I'd like all my time and effort to get washed down the river because it'll stimulate the game's economy!"
You've either got a screwed up sense of fun or a desire to wreck others'. (Or bad judgment.)
How 'bout you discard your entire inventory and start buying?
That'll stimulate the economy in perfectly similar fashion. You'll be so pleased!

You must be new to the mmo life then. Ragnarok Online was already mentioned above (twice) and there were other games as well that used it quite succesfully. None of those were free to play either.

It actually did make one feel like one achieved something in even posses an item with a higher upgrade level.~

[Jynx]

Loosing just the materia would be an acceptable compromise for all the people who are upset that there is a chance they may loose that +3 crab bow.

Personally I don't mind how the new system sounds, great rewards require great risk. people just want the rewards without the risk.

[Soulfire]

You must be new to the mmo life then. Ragnarok Online was already mentioned above (twice) and there were other games as well that used it quite succesfully. None of those were free to play either.

It actually did make one feel like one achieved something in even posses an item with a higher upgrade level.~

New to MMO life? I've been doing this for over six years. Granted I did not play many pay-to-play games, so I'll give you that.

When I said it was the epitome of free-to-play I meant it summed up the mechanics I personally would not expect from a pay-to-play game. To my dismay, it appears my expectations have been betrayed, and a number of pay-to-play games are using such systems.

Let me say that again in a way easier to understand. It's not about what's in free-to-play or pay-to-play games. It's about quality. When I have to pay monthly fees to play a game, I expect quality.

Currently this game is free-to-play because it did not meet that bar - that bar of expectation of quality held by so many.

You know what I hate to see?

Tears.
People crying over losing something important.
And especially the jerks who say stuff like "Quit your QQing."

This will become what you see. Over, and over, and over again.

That is NOT an enjoyable environment. That is NOT quality. It makes me so very, very FURIOUS at the people responsible for implementing that system. I do not want to hear how Square Enix caused my dear friends to suffer.

All of it for what? One guy to feel like he accomplished something, you say?

Many others fall into depression and shed actual tears, all so that one guy can have a coveted item and feel accomplished? Feel accomplished because of LUCK?!

Last I checked this game was gonna be based on skill and strategic planning.
Last I checked the aim was to make this game as enjoyable as possible for everyone.
I must've missed the memo that said otherwise.

[Arcell]

The part you're forgetting though is that crafting recipes are being simplified and HQ finished items are being guaranteed with all HQ parts. At first people were thinking this would make things too easy but consider this with the new materia information and it seems almost necessary. Gear itself will be much easier to come by and will much more frequently leave the system.

People can't compare it to other games like PSU because in that game especially success rates for rare gear was god awful and the materials weren't easy to come by in the slightest. Just making the NQ gear was an obnoxious undertaking in its own right. Because of that the sting of losing the item was much worse, not so in FFXIV.

[Pyrix]

This system is going to 100% suck.

[Endemerrin]

I'm all for the idea of losing everything, personally. If you want to have the best of the best, you're going to have to risk it all. I like that. If you don't want to risk losing an item, simply place a single materia in it. Problem solved.

If you want to +5 (or whatever it is) your gear, you'll just have to be prepared to actually put some effort into the game instead of having it handed to you on a silver platter. Keep in mind it also doesn't have to be entirely on your shoulders. It's going to make linkshells work together.

Hypothetically, if you are going for +5 gear, chances are you participate in endgame. Why else would you want to +5 your gear unless you wanted to be on the top of your game, right?

Now, chances are you're in a linkshell. Your linkshell probably will have crafters. You'll be able to work with those crafters in unison to create gear to use in your endgame. Maybe your DoWs and DoMs will be farming materials from mobs that can be farmed (All the while creating materia by bonding with gear while they farm), and your DoLs will be gathering up both materials and catalysts for your crafters. Your crafters will craft your gear, and subsequently be able to socket it with materia. It might take a few attempts to get a +5 set going, but it will be a team effort.

Maybe you want to socket some rare/ex gear? Well, it'l just give linkshells a reason to keep going into dungeons and getting loot as people break their equipment trying to +5 it.

[Kamaru]

How about we let the damn system get implemented before you talk about how it should be nerfed.

Impatient bastards.

/closethread

This forum has bad short term memory. How long ago was "the crafting thread" started?

[Madruk]

Going to be alot of people runnin around in trash/suboptimal gear to turn into materia. Brilliant concept.

Just let us disenchant our gear via the catalysts the gatherers provide.

[Pyrix]

If they're gonna put in this stupid *** system they should have protection items.

[mysterytaru]

New to MMO life? I've been doing this for over six years. Granted I did not play many pay-to-play games, so I'll give you that.

When I said it was the epitome of free-to-play I meant it summed up the mechanics I personally would not expect from a pay-to-play game. To my dismay, it appears my expectations have been betrayed, and a number of pay-to-play games are using such systems.

Let me say that again in a way easier to understand. It's not about what's in free-to-play or pay-to-play games. It's about quality. When I have to pay monthly fees to play a game, I expect quality.

Currently this game is free-to-play because it did not meet that bar - that bar of expectation of quality held by so many.

You know what I hate to see?

Tears.
People crying over losing something important.
And especially the jerks who say stuff like "Quit your QQing."

This will become what you see. Over, and over, and over again.

That is NOT an enjoyable environment. That is NOT quality. It makes me so very, very FURIOUS at the people responsible for implementing that system. I do not want to hear how Square Enix caused my dear friends to suffer.

All of it for what? One guy to feel like he accomplished something, you say?

Many others fall into depression and shed actual tears, all so that one guy can have a coveted item and feel accomplished? Feel accomplished because of LUCK?!

Last I checked this game was gonna be based on skill and strategic planning.
Last I checked the aim was to make this game as enjoyable as possible for everyone.
I must've missed the memo that said otherwise.

Really? You realize none of these things are real right? It's make believe. 1s and 0s. Pretend. If having an item in a game break and force someone to get a new one makes them literally break down in a torrent of real tears, they need to step away from the keyboard and reevaluate the things that matter.