How would you feel about end-game gear only being useful for 3 months?

[MeowyWowie]

@OP
No I dont like the idea, but side grades dont work as well for a game that doesnt let you swap gear durring battle. Otherwise I am a fan of side grades.

However, I think we are asking the wrong question. The question I want to ask is are players ok with crafted with forbidden materia gear outclassing the dungeon/NM dropped gear? The offcial dev post makes it clear that dungeon/NM U/U gear balance will be based off of of crafted gear with 1 materia junctioned to it. So forget about dungeon/NM gear being obsolete after 3 months. It will be more like its obsolete the second someone junctions their 2nd materia to a piece of gear.

If this information is correct, then Im done. And SE has ruined any motivation for me to go after gear in dungeons and what not. Congrats crafters, you won!>.>

It just means that future content will be balanced to players with gear that has 1 materia in each slot, 7 materia total, 8 with a shield. Nothing to do with r/ex gear.

[Amsai]

It just means that future content will be balanced to players with gear that has 1 materia in each slot, 7 materia total, 8 with a shield. Nothing to do with r/ex gear.

I think youre missing what I am concerned about. I know r/ex gear has nothing to do with materia craft. The point is that its equivalent is gear crafted with 1 materia. After that 2-5 materia slotted to gear will always and forever be better than NM/dungeon dropped gear. If you are suggesting that I am gettinh the wrong idea, I beg you to prove me wrong. I want to be wrong, but I can only read the dev post one way.

[MeowyWowie]

I think youre missing what I am concerned about. I know r/ex gear has nothing to do with materia craft. The point is that its equivalent is gear crafted with 1 materia. After that 2-5 materia slotted to gear will always and forever be better than NM/dungeon dropped gear. If you are suggesting that I am gettinh the wrong idea, I beg you to prove me wrong. I want to be wrong, but I can only read the dev post one way.

I'm assuming you were referring to this quote from Yoshida:

Upcoming battle content will be balanced based on regular materia craft. The forbidden materia craft will not be involved in balance considerations, so there is no need to worry. By using the forbidden materia craft, it may result in the emergence of incredibly strong players, but we think that this is well deserved considering the level of risks involved.

The bold part was the reason for my reply.

As far as crafted gear outclassing r/ex gear, trust me, we are both in the same boat. This is currently being discussed here:

[Wolfie]

Prefer it. Allows developers to keep content fresh. And I don't get attached to numbers on my character, but rather the experiences I have with it and the people I have them with.

[Amsai]

I'm assuming you were referring to this quote from Yoshida:



The bold part was the reason for my reply.

As far as crafted gear outclassing r/ex gear, trust me, we are both in the same boat. This is currently being discussed here:

Ahhh, tyvm. I was wondering why more people were not expressing my same concerns. Thanks for the link Meowy.

[Jennestia]

So much mad.

Why is everyone acting like gear is "obsolete" once more people have that gear? It doesn't lower the stats at all. Nor does it make the gear look any different. Stop worrying about who else has that Solid Scale Mail -- you still have it, isn't that all that should matter?

If you replace gear every x months simply because you release a new recipe or raid it does become obsolete, which is what people seem to like about MMOs for reasons unknown. Gear that takes any amount of challenge to get should not be thrown out the window the next update.

But it is what people like about MMOs now.

[Griss]

I think the materia system will address this.

True, though with dropped gear all being out of the materia loop. I am thinking that dungeon gear is going to become less and less relevant with the bleeding edge crowd as time goes on. In time the same problem's will crop up, At any rate it will be interesting to see how this ends up playing out.

[Ilean]

But it is what people like about MMOs now.

Yup, it's a byproduct of having a life and not depending on a game for 99% of your sense of self worth and accomplishment.


But please give us the industry insider view, since you are a game developer and all.

[Konachibi]

I'm pretty sure they'll add something that'll give us 'long term gear' to go with the 'short term gear'. 3 month gear would be for casual gamers that don't have time to prepare for big raids or spends hours a week/month trying to do something to get one item. Long term gear would be for the more hardcore players and would last them like... at least a year if not way longer. Yoshi was only providing a scenario though for how 3 month gear would work though, he hasn't said anything about the huge raids yet, so we only wait and see what pops up.

Basically, short term gear is nice for hardcore players 'cos it gives them a fun dungeon to run whilst they wait for the next raid content too, so everyone's a winner as long as the long term gear is also added.

Cater for both playing styles, that's the way forward (b'.')b

[Melian]

I think you can reasonably add a subset of endgame gear that gets replaced every three months and is either limited to certain slots (feet/hands/accessories/helm, but not body for instance) or limited as a subpar set of endgame gear that people can do/get.

That way you let casual players continue to advance themselves in a meaningful way (a way that's meaningful to them, at least), but you don't eliminate hard to get achievement items either. Eliminating those entirely would be an awful idea, I think, but having assault type rewards (from xi) and allowing those rewards to improve every 3 or 4 or 5 months so casual players can progress seems perfectly reasonable.

Otherwise, casual players have nothing left to go for once they hit the level cap. Some are casual enough they won't care, and will keep using the game as a fancy chat program. But others will get pretty frustrated by the lack of options to move their characters forwards at all. And that problem gets worse as time goes on, because if there's /only/ hard to get gear, eventually casual players get so left behind gear-wise that they couldn't start on more serious content even if they wanted to.

I think it's entirely possible to keep everyone pleased, and don't see why it has to be an either/or situation.