Okay I will admit to not reading every post, because, well, I didn't feel like it, lol. But, I figured I'd voice my opinion, since I feel SE is a little misguided in there attempt to find a happy medium. First off the loot system is still very flawed. How many times have you been in a dungeon and an item you "need" just never drops, the RNG in this game is horrible. SE is trying to mitigate RNG, but not that well. They need to go back to the 2.4 system, where you get an item to trade in for the item you need.this way I can get the gear for my job and not see another every time. They did mitigate RNG a little with then new token systems in the new Ex Primals and the Alex Raids, which is good, but could be better, maybe.

Okay now the issue I have with new gear. I have no issues with having Esoteric gear and Alex gear; the issue I have is how they "force" them to be connected. The items needed to upgarde the Esoteric gear are locked inside Alex Savage which isn't right. Basically, I can work towards getting esoteric gear but in order to upgrade it I'd need to do Alex Savage. Now I know they had a similar system when Second Coil and the Crystal tower came out, but people complained because these items were locked in content some people couldn't do. The sands and oil were accessible to everyone only after Syrcus Tower was released, and carbontwine/coat only after they were added to that weekly quest. And the only reason they became more accessible is because you could Duty Finder Syrcus Tower and the weekly quest. Having certain content locked for whatever reason is fine: new Ex Primals, Alex Savage; but it sorta punishes those who want to do the content but can't for whatever reason: time, friends, not enough members, etc.

The point I'm trying to make is, don't punish the casual players. Should we have access to gear comparible to the raid gear that Hardcore players can get, yes. Should it take us longer to get these items, maybe. But don't link the two. It's like you are forcing casuals to do the hardcore content. SE has already been adjusting the Crafter/Gatherer gear issues, and they should do the same for the regular content too.