Variance in player skill is hurting FFXIV's itemization design.

[loreleidiangelo]

I'll be the filthy casual here and pretty much say that I'd only want these items with unique effects and niche uses so long as they aren't ball-bustingly difficult or grindy to obtain. But as several people commented, they wouldn't have their "special snowflake" appeal then, and that would apparently make them less fun or interesting to play around with to people, so idk.

I mean...what do the people who want these things actually want? More diverse gearing options, or a greater power gap between those who can clear difficult content/no-life grind for rare items, and those who can't/won't? I can dig the first choice, and would be totally in favor of unique, but ultimately accessible gameplay-altering gear. I can't say I (or SE, for that matter) would ever support the design philosophy of the second.

[Hayward]

I'll be the filthy casual here and pretty much say that I'd only want these items with unique effects and niche uses so long as they aren't ball-bustingly difficult or grindy to obtain. But as several people commented, they wouldn't have their "special snowflake" appeal then, and that would apparently make them less fun or interesting to play around with to people, so idk.

This is at the center of every thread like this, whether people want to admit it or not. Certain MMO players cannot abide "undeserving" non-raiders being able to acquire quality weapons/tools in ways other than doing static-only content, where they have to apply to groups like they're applying for some kind of job (anyone who denies this and played XI is a dirty liar) and can be rejected for not having the flavor-of-the-month class/weapon/gear. This is why Lore tomes and Anima weapon quests are present here.

[Granyala]

I mean...what do the people who want these things actually want? More diverse gearing options, or a greater power gap between those who can clear difficult content/no-life grind for rare items, and those who can't/won't?

Ding, ding, ding: we have a winner!
That is indeed what some (not all) want. Some even openly QQ'd about raiding not being "rewarding" enough, essentially translating to "I want my char to be (much) more powerful that the one of the dude slowly farming his tome gear".

Imho, the way to add spell customization would be materia.
These can be put into any item, various combinations could be possible and they could make them available over many avenues.

You can add modifying materia, hell you can even go as far and add special materia that grants new skills altogether (limited to 1-3 per set of gear or sth).
Seriously so much more can be done with materia than lame "+12 (you don't feel my anyway) secondary stat"!

You will be handed it on a silver platter when the fights are given echo and everyone can ignore every single mechanic and just tunnel through the fights.

Do you then think we should be kicking out the people that have lower weapons (our WAR is still running about with the i230 weapon, the lazy bum)

Stupid Forum ate post, so shorthand version:
1) Twintania and Nael say "hi". So much for "mindlessly tunneling". :X
2) Does the boss enrage despite perfect execution and DPS performing near the theoretical limit of the class/gear? If yes -> Encourage the WAR to upgrade. If not: Work on the larger issues first.

This is why Lore tomes and Anima weapon quests are present here.

And this is why I love FF. Great looking sets, powerful stats w/o having to bother with the hassle of scheduled play and "people" drama.

[Nalien]

Imho, the way to add spell customization would be materia.

Would such materia come from gear? My main concern is how utterly dull gear is in this game, someone commented earlier, you can essentially figure out BiS and focus solely on that before the servers even come back up... That's why I'd go for a IX style solution, over materia... That and IX > VII, IX > All... BiS would likely remain as it is, but something like the dungeon gear (which is entirely worthless as gear) could see value with such stats, I'd want to get that gear for stats rather than glamour/seals...

That 100 times.

But I fear that many just want to be the special snowflake thinking that SE should dedicate more time designing stuff for the top 1% players and less for the remaining 99% who spend the same $ to play this game.

I, at least, just want all gear to be more interesting... I don't want something like Nidhogg weapons to be specifically special while everything else remains as is, I want every piece of gear to have something extra... IXs system is really perfect for that, everyone would have some stats unlocked just by playing with whatever gear they already use, and with a limited amount of AP to set such stats, the "top 1%" would essentially simply be getting more options for optimization, something I honestly doubt the majority of players care about... If people cared about optimization being locked to the high end raiders, I'd see people actually using Food and Potions... All it does (for me, at least), is provide more value to all gear and give me a greater justification to do more content. I'd be more interested in content like Nidhogg, and when I do dungeons I'd actually be interested in the gear, rather than just wishing the chests rewarded 1,000 company seals instead to cut out the middle man...

[Venur]

I mean...what do the people who want these things actually want? More diverse gearing options, or a greater power gap between those who can clear difficult content/no-life grind for rare items, and those who can't/won't? I can dig the first choice, and would be totally in favor of unique, but ultimately accessible gameplay-altering gear. I can't say I (or SE, for that matter) would ever support the design philosophy of the second.

That 100 times.

But I fear that many just want to be the special snowflake thinking that SE should dedicate more time designing stuff for the top 1% players and less for the remaining 99% who spend the same $ to play this game.

[RobbieH]

I'd only want these items with unique effects and niche uses so long as they aren't ball-bustingly difficult or grindy to obtain.

And this is what's wrong with this game and we have what we have.

[loreleidiangelo]

And this is what's wrong with this game and we have what we have.

Care to elaborate on how my playstyle of this game is "wrong"? It'd feel pretty bait-and-switch honestly if Yoshi and Co turned this game from a casual game without huge amounts of time commitment required to stay relevant to "Only Hardcores Need Apply Fantasy XIV", y'know?

[RobbieH]

Care to elaborate on how my playstyle of this game is "wrong"? It'd feel pretty bait-and-switch honestly if Yoshi and Co turned this game from a casual game without huge amounts of time commitment required to stay relevant to "Only Hardcores Need Apply Fantasy XIV", y'know?

It's not about your play style, it's that people (including you based on what you said) want the best stuff without any effort.

Why would you be entitled to the best gear if you put no effort into it? I don't get it.

[loreleidiangelo]

It's not about your play style, it's that people (including you based on what you said) want the best stuff without any effort.

Why would you be entitled to the best gear if you put no effort into it? I don't get it.

I didn't say "no effort", that was your assumption. In my reply to Seraphix a few comments up I remarked that the relic grind to me is a suitable amount of effort for things (albeit boring as hell).

That aside, this thread is supposed to be more about how we can brainstorm ways to make gear more rewarding without playing into the devs' fears that it would alienate portions of the playerbase, no? Or am I misunderstanding something here?

[RobbieH]

I didn't say "no effort", that was your assumption. In my reply to Seraphix a few comments up I remarked that the relic grind to me is a suitable amount of effort for things (albeit boring as hell).

That aside, this thread is supposed to be more about how we can brainstorm ways to make gear more rewarding without playing into the devs' fears that it would alienate portions of the playerbase, no? Or am I misunderstanding something here?

You said without grind, grind requires effort, of course that was my assumption.

About the ways to make gear more rewarding i already talked about it here, not gonna write the same again sorry.

Diadem was fine, but the crybabies of casuals came to the internet complain about it because it would require effort to get decent gear, it was a grind fest, yes, but the only real grind there was, good job casuals, keep killing content, at this rate in one year there will be 10% of hardcores and raiders than there is now.