Problems with the strength of gear coming from easy mode Alexander

[Bourne_Endeavor]

If I'm reading this right, and do forgive it being 5am, but this system were already implemented, you would have it be like...

3.1: ilvl 210 Raid gear
3.2: ilvl 210 Craft/Extreme Primal gear
3.3: ilvl 240 Raid gear
3.4: ilvl 240 Craft/Extreme Primal gear

and etc.

[Brannigan]

If I'm reading this right, and do forgive it being 5am, but this system were already implemented, you would have it be like...

3.1: ilvl 210 Raid gear
3.2: ilvl 210 Craft/Extreme Primal gear
3.3: ilvl 240 Raid gear
3.4: ilvl 240 Craft/Extreme Primal gear

and etc.

Pretty much, yeah. In the 2.x series this is more or less how it was (as I recall).

2.0 i90 raid/i95 weapon
2.2 i90 crafted/i95 leviathan; i110 raid/i115 weapon
2.4 i110 crafted/i110 shiva (she also dropped 120 bracelets which were an upgrade - good system imo); 130 raid/135 weapon

I'm not exactly opposed to this, but...at the release of the new story-mode raid, it's not just Savage raiders who are max ilevel, it's pretty much everyone (due to upgrade items coming from the 24-mans, hunts, and whatnot). It seems like a pretty certain way to ensure that the raid is done once for story completion, then never touched again, which doesn't seem like something SE would want.

Well, non-raiders in the past still wanted to go for weapons usually, but you make a good point. In an ideal game, I think it'd be a good idea to ease up on how freely upgrade items are distributed during odd-numbered patches (in order to encourage people to get into raiding), but that ship has sailed and I'm not arguing for it here.

With that said, if they want people doing story mode they need to stick it in trial roulette and put a decent tomestone bounty on it. They should probably also change how its drops are handled. It's a bit dumb that it takes 4 freaking weeks to get a body from story mode but you can buy a higher item level body with 2 weeks of tomestones or craft an equal ilvl body in one day.

p.s. I realize I kinda havent addressed your point but it's 5 am and my mind is kinda fried. I might revisit this after sleep time.

[Aquaslash]

if they want people doing story mode they need to stick it in trial roulette

Yeah sure, if you want a Castrum Meridiandum situation again.

God, I'm STILL mad I didn't know to form a party on my first run of that. Who thought that was a good idea?

EDIT: I think what needs to be done is that there should be some kind of different reward from raiding instead of just high level gear. I actually like the system of upgraded tome gear being equal to raid gear simply because I like there being multiple paths to the goal of max level gear. This probably wouldn't be as desirable if Alexander wasn't such a god awful raid in general, but that's another topic.

For now, I'm liking the idea someone had earlier of material drops that give you special stat boosts and what not. Or perhaps some kind of permanent glowing effect, or maybe really powerful consumables that boost you far beyond the current available potions and foods. Mounts and minions are a step in the right direction at least.

I dunno, I just really dislike Alexander and its gear and really wish I didn't have to do it in order to be The Very Best Like No One Ever WasTM

The moral of the story is
MAKE BETTER RAIDS SE
and fix the relic system while you're at it

[Brannigan]

Yeah sure, if you want a Castrum Meridiandum situation again.

Nothing in normal Alexander is any harder than half of trial roulette. Pretty much everything exept Garuda and Ifrit are on par or harder.

Anyway, I've given up hope of raids having any real rewards - I just want to actually use my raid drops while progressing through the next raid tier. Crafted being so easy and so good makes this a stupid option right now, which means that raiding after you've killed the final boss once is stupid.