"Perks" would do soooo much for this game

[MasamuneBranford]

Think about it. We do weekly tomestone caps for stat gear, raid drops for stat gear, hunts for stat gear, crafting for stat gear, pvp for stat gear, relic quests for stat gear, misc. for stat gear. So many different branches - but little incentive to play them all. Imagine how fun this game would be if there were greater incentives to branch out?

Imagine this scenario for BLM:

I play PvP because there's a way for me to earn a head piece that can provide an auto-raise every 15 minutes (great for raids).

I craft because there's a way for me to craft a belt (non-tradeable) that provides me 5% haste. The belt requires rare drops from dungeon chests which provides incentive to do dungeon runs outside of tomestone caps.

I grind for Tomestones because I can purchase gloves that add a new PvP ability that allows me to teleport to anyone in my party every 5 minutes on the battlefield. This will help me get that head piece I wanted (above).

I do hunts because there's a chance that one will drop a crafting gear that would help increase the success rate to make the above mentioned belt.

I do raids because the weapons have the highest stats and gives me an extra weapon skill that that puts all enemies around my target asleep when I use the weapon skill,

I do relics because the stats are equal to (or close) to relic but provide an extra weapon skill that hits all enemies around my target with a poison mist.

The above probably aren't the best examples (I came up with them within under a minute) but you get the point. Countless scenarios and countless ways the developers could create situational gear that we would strive to obtain. Gear that not only offers "perks" but unique abilities to go on our action bars that are only available when such gear is equipped.

Currently I don't craft. Currently I don't do PvP. Currently I don't do relics. But if there were incentives for me to earn perks that I could not obtain elsewhere - it might be worthwhile to go after additional gear that has the same stats that I already have.

[Atoli]

People would still figure out which is considered BiS, and pretty much everyone would only do the required things and ignore all other "branches".

Also, I personally don't like the game forcing me into content I dislike. The nice thing about FFXIV is that it is built like a theme park - whichever ride I enjoy, I can only ride on that and still get a great experience out of it.
I don't want to be forced to have to do hunts/crafting to obtain vastly better gear ("better" as in "considered better by those people who learn through mathematical testing which skills, stats, etc. are best for each and every situation"). I wouldn't consider a game enjoyable that forces me into content I hate.
If the difference in what you get from each "branch" is marginal, I'm fine with it, but that's basically what we have right now already, with all gear providing pretty much the same functionality and only slight differences in stats that can be outweight by how good the player is.

[MasamuneBranford]

People would still figure out which is considered BiS, and pretty much everyone would only do the required things and ignore all other "branches".

Also, I personally don't like the game forcing me into content I dislike. The nice thing about FFXIV is that it is built like a theme park - whichever ride I enjoy, I can only ride on that and still get a great experience out of it.
I don't want to be forced to have to do hunts/crafting to obtain vastly better gear ("better" as in "considered better by those people who learn through mathematical testing which skills, stats, etc. are best for each and every situation"). I wouldn't consider a game enjoyable that forces me into content I hate.

Regarding your first comment - there can be BIS depending on the situation. Maybe gear earned from PvP would be better suited for a second raid boss and gear from tomestones would be better suited for the first raid boss. Your remaining comments (the themepark aspect) are definitely valid and something any developer would need to pay attention to.

[Devils_Lawyer]

People would still figure out which is considered BiS, and pretty much everyone would only do the required things and ignore all other "branches".

And this sort of thinking is the reason why this game has one of the most boring gear progress ever.

The only thing in this game that would require BiS is endgame raiding, a content that is obsolete for the majority of players in this game (regardless of reason).

If you don't like doing something then no one is forcing you, there's certain raid gear pieces i would love to have as glamour but I'm not raiding so i don't get to acquire them.

[SchalaZeal]

Some vocal people have been against crafted gear that is untradeable (after getting some rare drop, or some raid drop) being worth much except a stepping stone, saying it would "force them" to craft. They simply can't ignore it, like an itch. It has to be inferior to what they do (top raids).

Atoli's comment reminded me of those vocal people, regardless of them holding or not that opinion.

[NovaLevossida]

I would support the following two things:

1. Merit points from FFXI / Alternate Advancement from EverQuest: customize your character by giving them unique traits and abilities. You can't have everything either; you have to pick and choose.

2. Special abilities and bonuses on gear in an ability slot. Let it be ability materia with a chance to drop in any content. Make it extremely rare. Other players cannot view the ability on your gear or see the slot for it at all. This keeps the elitism in check.

[Slappah]

Regarding your first comment - there can be BIS depending on the situation. Maybe gear earned from PvP would be better suited for a second raid boss and gear from tomestones would be better suited for the first raid boss. Your remaining comments (the themepark aspect) are definitely valid and something any developer would need to pay attention to.

I would rather not have PvP gear be bis for a certain raid boss

PvP gear should be PvP and pve gear should be pve

[Saccharin]

Then they become must haves for whatever they benefit from. You should not have to do PvP to get PvE gear ans vice versa.

If anything give an advantage then it becomes 'compulsory.' It's very bad game design.

[Delily]

And this sort of thinking is the reason why this game has one of the most boring gear progress ever.

The only thing in this game that would require BiS is endgame raiding, a content that is obsolete for the majority of players in this game (regardless of reason).

If you don't like doing something then no one is forcing you, there's certain raid gear pieces i would love to have as glamour but I'm not raiding so i don't get to acquire them.

First, glamour is not the same as BiS. Second, that sort of thinking has been proven out in every game that any sort of decision regarding gear or skills. The overwhelming majority of players will go with the setup that sims the highest, regardless of what level of content they are at. WoW went from that type of model to a reduce model for that reason.

[Delily]

Regarding your first comment - there can be BIS depending on the situation. Maybe gear earned from PvP would be better suited for a second raid boss and gear from tomestones would be better suited for the first raid boss. Your remaining comments (the themepark aspect) are definitely valid and something any developer would need to pay attention to.

Never make PvP dependent on PvP, that's a setup for a disaster. Also, we already have an inventory crunch, this would just make it worse.