Who here is also burned out from farming?

[Gilthas]

Four months is too little time? How long exactly do you want to go on without getting new gear?

Like I already mentioned, in FFXI we got an upgrade to one of our equipment slots twice per year if we were lucky. That was complete crap and I only endured it for 3 years because I didn't know any better.

Were relics a lot of work? Certainly. I personally hated the steps that shoved the market board down your throat. But my relic didn't last only 4 months, that was just Zeta.

You speak of getting an upgrade twice a year - but that's because it takes you at least that long to actually acquire the equipment.

It's hilarious that you actually think this is a good thing.

Like I mentioned already, I endured that crap for 3 years because I didn't know any better.

[LineageRazor]

Like I already mentioned, in FFXI we got an upgrade to one of our equipment slots twice per year if we were lucky.

FFXI may have had infrequent upgrades, but that was largely because they didn't NEED to be frequent. You speak of getting an upgrade twice a year - but that's because it takes you at least that long to actually acquire the equipment.

Dynamis gear was top-of-the-line for a long time. Why? Because specific pieces of gear dropped literally twice per year or less at times, even spamming Dynamis at every opportunity. Eventually, Dynamis gear was supplanted - at least some pieces - by Salvage gear, which required a similar level of dedication to acquire.

The point is, in FFXI, you had good equipment relatively easy to acquire. Then you had elite equipment which required months or even years of grinding to acquire. In fact, you usually needed to collect several pieces of elite gear per equipment slot, because there were very few equipment slots where a single piece of gear was best all around. You'd need a piece for doing weaponskills, a piece for regular auto-attacks, a piece for casting spells, and you'd swap between these pieces as needed during combat.

It was damn rare that anyone in FFXI would grind for months for absolutely nothing. The level cap was at 75 for most of FFXI's life, and there was always something else to try to get. At best, a handful of players could ever claim that they had optimized equipment for every situation - and even those who COULD claim that, it was generally only for one job. There were twenty-one other jobs to gear up, if they still wanted something to strive for.

One of the biggest problems I hear constantly on the FFXIV forums is that there's nothing to do. Every class has one specific set of gear to strive for at any given time, and compared to drop rates in FFXI, this gear is practically tossed into your lap. Once folks get Alexander Savage on farm mode, you'll be hearing the same song; Alex has the best gear, so there's nothing else to do with your week once you've gotten your weekly drop. Whatever else you say about FFXI, this was not a problem, there. Once you worked for months to get your specific gear slot drop, all that meant was it was time to do another activity which dropped a different piece of gear for the same slot, to be used in some other situation.

FFXI's horizontal progression system is likely impossible in FFXIV unless the game gets a significant overhaul. The presence of primary stats on every piece of gear, along with the ability to change equipment while in combat, pretty much ensures that. But FFXI showed very clearly that a game can still have a lot to offer even when it sits at a single level cap for the better part of a decade. A constant deluge of the same gear again and again, a little bit more powerful every month, is not the only way.