why am i so gimped now?

[Jennestia]

TL;DR version:

Materia needs to be done. Stats are rebalanced, gear matters and targets matter.

[Ava]

TL;DR version:

Materia needs to be done. Stats are rebalanced, gear matters and targets matter.

No offense, but you're not doing your community over at FFXIVCore.com any good by posting your terrible, and in some cases insulting comments over here.

@ Everyone else: I've been playing with gear to try and help a friend out. I haven't had a chance to buy new gear or try leveling myself yet because it's late and the wards are down, but I was able to confirm a few things... which might already be obvious to most, but since people are being dicks I'll just throw it out there.

- Dated gear, in most cases, has better stats than non Dated gear. The only difference is you can't apply Materia to Dated gear, but the increased stats make up for it.

- Dated gear does in fact work, applying all stats; however, if the stats are greyed out you do not get any of them at all, not even a portion of them like you previously did. An example, I equip a L29 Canvas Acton on my L22 Archer, I get neither the HP or the MP, not even some of it.

- Gear that does not favor the class you're on also does not apply any of the stats at all outside of Defense. I confirmed Defense does apply though, even if it's not favored.

So before you go throwing out all of your "dated" gear because you're assuming it's trash, think again. Dated gear has better stats, so I would hold onto them and convert them into materia to use on your next set of gear.

[Jennestia]

No offense, but you're not doing your community over at FFXIVCore.com any good by posting your terrible, and in some cases insulting comments over here.

No offense, but instead of an elaborate post the short version of the matter is they're clearly forcing us into making use of Materia to enhance our stats.

They also rebalanced the algorithms, as people noticed.

Gear has more of a purpose than it used to.

Targets you're fighting matters much more now (5+ over level will destroy a lot of classes now, if not all solo.)

What's the problem?

[Ava]

No offense, but instead of an elaborate post the short version of the matter is they're clearly forcing us into making use of Materia to enhance our stats.

They also rebalanced the algorithms, as people noticed.

Gear has more of a purpose than it used to.

Targets you're fighting matters much more now (5+ over level will destroy a lot of classes now, if not all solo.)

What's the problem?

Dated gear has increased stats to make up for their inability to have materia attached to them. You're imposing your personal beliefs on people stating that they MUST use materia and care about their gear. You don't bother supporting your claims, or try to actually constructively help people having trouble, you just toss out your personal opinion and shove it off like it's something factual you're trying to support. It's not.

And if it is, then support it. Because so far it's BS. This whole thing happened at 1.18 too, and telling people to L2P didn't fix it. Trying new things and helping each other did. So, if you don't have anything to contribute to people having trouble, then go post in a different thread. Or preferably a different forum, maybe the one you're a "senior moderator" for over at Core, they'll probably put up with it.

[Jennestia]

Dated gear has increased stats to make up for their inability to have materia attached to them. You're imposing your personal beliefs on people stating that they MUST use materia

Actually, it comes from the fact I've played their previous MMORPGs for 9+ years total that whenever they introduce a new system, they want people to use it. Doesn't mean I like that fact, but it's a very common trend with SE in terms of MMOs.

Unless you care to tell me why they introduced the Materia system which they stated would create powerful gear and not want people to have a reason to want it? It doesn't mean everything they do is a good decision -- just look at the initial launch of FFXIV.

[Ava]

Actually, it comes from the fact I've played their previous MMORPGs for 9+ years total that whenever they introduce a new system, they want people to use it. Doesn't mean I like that fact, but it's a very common trend with SE in terms of MMOs.

Unless you care to tell me why they introduced the Materia system which they stated would create powerful gear and not want people to have a reason to want it? It doesn't mean everything they do is a good decision -- just look at the initial launch of FFXIV.

Of course they want you to use materia. But I don't think you're understanding what I'm saying. People are using Dated gear. Dated gear has increased stats to make up for no materia (for the third time). If one is wearing dated gear, and you tell them to get materia + new gear (with decreased stats), then how exactly does that solve the problem? I am sure this would apply at level cap with end game gear and tier 4 materia, but most of the people expressing their problems aren't level 50, so that doesn't really apply, does it?

Take FFXI for example (yeah, I played it too). Of course SE wanted you to use augments, they were really great for high level gear. Did you go augmenting all your gear you used while you leveled up? Didn't think so. While materia is certainly going to be that end game tool to push your character ahead of your peers, leveling should not be that finely tuned. If it is, then SE made a huge mistake. If it's not, then we need to put our heads together and figure out the new system, because we're clearly missing something.

A glorified "L2P" helps nobody.