Problems with the strength of gear coming from easy mode Alexander

[Asmodai]

It only seems that way because FFXIV has short patch cycles.

And again, there's no point in having high end gear if you don't make use of it. Progression for the sake of progression has the least amount of value.

This is a theme park MMO. You have to keep players entertained for short bursts. Fast vertical progression is a result of that, and it's not going anywhere

I wouldst even be kind enough to give it that much credit, when all new content comes out based off of much lower level gear than what is available from faceroll content the previous patch cycle. Makes you overpowered for everything.

For your second point, there is zero reason to increase the power of tomestone gear because the content they release for non raiders doesn't require it. You dont need it for the content you're doing. Which is really the OP's original point, and mine.

For your third point, it will when enough people complain about it. Even casuals are getting sick of the repetitive nature of the game. I'm willing to wait it out for a bit and see what happens in 4.0. If it doesn't get better I think I may just focus my energy in real life things. I've always wanted to try tournament fishing.

[Ashelia_Ferron]

1. Because only like 1% of the community raids.

2. Why do you even care what the casual community gets in terms of gear level? Do you really have to stroke your internet ego and be like "all my gear is more powerful than yours because I RAID"?

3. Says who? The forums? Reddit? People are always more vocal about complaints than praise on the internet. If you're bored of the game that's a personal problem. You don't speak for everyone.

[Asmodai]

1. Because only like 1% of the community raids.

2. Why do you even care what the casual community gets in terms of gear level? Do you really have to stroke your internet ego and be like "all my gear is more powerful than yours because I RAID"?

3. Says who? The forums? Reddit? People are always more vocal about complaints than praise on the internet. If you're bored of the game that's a personal problem. You don't speak for everyone.

1. Because raiding in this game is bad.
2. Why do you care what raiders get? Why do casuals need raid level gear, its a point you just brought up, gear for gears sake is not worth anything.
3. A lot of people on the forums, on reddit and in game.

[Azrael]

1. Because only like 1% of the community raids.

Reason why only 1% of the community raids is because there is almost 0 incentive to do it, and most raiders are leaving/will leave this game for other MMOs with better endgame.
I raided hardcore in every MMO, I also raided on FFXIV, cleared T13 in 2.0 and bismarck/ravana in 3.0, then I just stopped, until recently where I cleared the last EXs (the weapon bismarck dropped was a joke compared to the huge dps check needed you beat him, it was only needed to unlock ravana).
I played outside of this one but I don't feel like doing it in FFXIV because I think it's just a waste of time considering the itemization that we get here, no need to put in so much effort and stress myself with raiding if I can achieve the same just by doing some experts and 1 24 man faceroll raid each week.

[MihaelB]

Reason why only 1% of the community raids is because there is almost 0 incentive to do it, and most raiders are leaving/will leave this game for other MMOs with better endgame.
I raided hardcore in every MMO, I also raided on FFXIV, cleared T13 in 2.0 and bismarck/ravana in 3.0, then I just stopped, until recently where I cleared the last EXs (the weapon bismarck dropped was a joke compared to the huge dps check needed you beat him, it was only needed to unlock ravana).
I played outside of this one but I don't feel like doing it in FFXIV because I think it's just a waste of time considering the itemization that we get here, no need to put in so much effort and stress myself with raiding if I can achieve the same just by doing some experts and 1 24 man faceroll raid each week.

It sounds like you play for the sake of gear and not for the sake of raiding. If you love raiding, you'll do it despite what incentives it provides.

The point of the expert roulette/ 24man face rolls is so casuals can attempt the raids. If you love raiding so much, you wouldn't need to bother and would attempt it before the gear progression even comes into play.
Personally I don't think it's 'hardcore' to get the easiest gear and then do the raids. The hardcore ones are the world firsts trying to do it with sub-par standard gear.

Everything in this game technically is a 'waste of time', it's just how much you enjoy wasting it. If you don't, then I don't know why you've subscribed since May 2011.

[Azrael]

It sounds like you play for the sake of gear and not for the sake of raiding. If you love raiding, you'll do it despite what incentives it provides.

The point of the expert roulette/ 24man face rolls is so casuals can attempt the raids. If you love raiding so much, you wouldn't need to bother and would attempt it before the gear progression even comes into play.
Personally I don't think it's 'hardcore' to get the easiest gear and then do the raids. The hardcore ones are the world firsts trying to do it with sub-par standard gear.

Everything in this game technically is a 'waste of time', it's just how much you enjoy wasting it. If you don't, then I don't know why you've subscribed since May 2011.

If you did read the other posts you would know that I took many breaks so i haven't been subscribed since May 2011, even if I started the game in 1.0.
I enjoyed the 2.0 and played this game until I figured out how it worked.
There are other aspects of the game that I enjoy so that's why I'm still here hoping for a change. Nobody is saying casual raids shouldn't be in place problem comes when they obtain the same gear as raiders with less much effort, which this topic is about.
Considering world first as the norm is just trying to hide the truth of this fact because we all know most guilds fully clear raids months after world first.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

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

The issue here is you now have to tailor new raid content around the old ilvl. Midas, for instance would be ilvl 210, and rendered borderline easy once you unlocked enough ilvl 240 gear. The current system keeps it raids remain challenging throughout their entire life cycle.

Reason why only 1% of the community raids is because there is almost 0 incentive to do it, and most raiders are leaving/will leave this game for other MMOs with better endgame.
I raided hardcore in every MMO, I also raided on FFXIV, cleared T13 in 2.0 and bismarck/ravana in 3.0, then I just stopped, until recently where I cleared the last EXs (the weapon bismarck dropped was a joke compared to the huge dps check needed you beat him, it was only needed to unlock ravana).
I played outside of this one but I don't feel like doing it in FFXIV because I think it's just a waste of time considering the itemization that we get here, no need to put in so much effort and stress myself with raiding if I can achieve the same just by doing some experts and 1 24 man faceroll raid each week.

Incorrect. You can go to any game and the hardcore playerbase will always be a distinct minority. Most players aren't interested in extremely difficult content, thus why games in general are relatively easy. Making the gear rewards from Savage vastly outpace any other weapon in its patch cycle isn't going to suddenly bring in more raiders. They aren't raiding for gear, but the fun and challenge of doing so. And what would that accomplish, really? Now you have gear so good, you'll push multiple phases and Savage won't be a challenge anymore.

[Thoro39]

1. Because only like 1% of the community raids.

Not going to delve into the whole topic argument too much, but I always take issue with statements like these, especially if they are spoken with confidence.
It's true that there were many statistics and researching pinpointing the clear rate of final raiding turns to 10%, 5% or lower, even in final coil, but that's really all it says, final turns. It does not take into account any people that are still progressing,were progressing but are taking a break, are starting to progress, or are interested in starting. In short, a big amount of people.
It's an invisible number that only SE knows, but surely is much bigger than the amount of people that have actually cleared everything.
Afterall, the soccer community is not limited to only 207 teams because that's the number of national soccer teams, but much bigger, to pull a comparison.

On the topic, it would be nice to have a8s gear relevant for a9s+, but crafted gear having the power currently it has, has its advantages too. A member of our raid static that cleared A8S actually just rejoined the game in 3.3 after a year break. Crafted gear being i220 really helped him boosting up to a raid-ready ilvl really quick and we couldnt have done it without it. Personally, I wouldnt mind delaying crafted gear and alex normal to 3.45 or something like that to make a8s gear not completely worthless, but still offer a quick catch up option for any returnees later
I would like more lasting incentive for clearing final turns tho, I still dont know why raiding and clearing savage does not bestow you any special titles anymore, I'd really like that for my personal epeen and it wouldnt hurt anyone :^)

[KeluBehemoth]

I wouldst even be kind enough to give it that much credit, when all new content comes out based off of much lower level gear than what is available from faceroll content the previous patch cycle. Makes you overpowered for everything.

For your second point, there is zero reason to increase the power of tomestone gear because the content they release for non raiders doesn't require it. You dont need it for the content you're doing. Which is really the OP's original point, and mine.

For your third point, it will when enough people complain about it. Even casuals are getting sick of the repetitive nature of the game. I'm willing to wait it out for a bit and see what happens in 4.0. If it doesn't get better I think I may just focus my energy in real life things. I've always wanted to try tournament fishing.

Yup. I gotta agree with this. The "catch up" patches they release, make the casual content absolutely faceroll. I mean I don't raid any more because of the same reasons you list. Day 1 of patch cycle and I'm facerolling-leeroy jenkins the new dungeons. Casuals do not need gear that OP for the dungeons its ridiculous.

I was just pointing out that crafted gear won't make A8S gear (specifically weapons) completely worthless. Even then, a 5 iLvl means it won't be as big of a deal as it was in 3.2, when the Sephirot weapon was 10 iLvls above the Gordias weapon.



Capable raiders can still ignore normal mode rather easily. If 3.2 is any indication, it won't be all that difficult to obtain the crafted gear, while still being on par with the normal mode gear.

Also, raiding being less popular now has nothing to do with the gear rewards, but more with SE's mistake of making Gordias Savage ridiculously difficult. A3S killed off a lot of statics.

Yeah... no... yeah... I don't care how hard it is, I'm not doing it if the rewards are pointless.

[Nezerius]

Yup. I gotta agree with this. The "catch up" patches they release, make the casual content absolutely faceroll. I mean I don't raid any more because of the same reasons you list. Day 1 of patch cycle and I'm facerolling-leeroy jenkins the new dungeons. Casuals do not need gear that OP for the dungeons its ridiculous.

Both you and the person you quoted seem to be misunderstanding the point of tomestone gear. It's designed for raiders who end up being unlucky with raid drops, an alternative way for them to get an upgrade outside of the RNG ones, so they don't end up with the possibility of getting nothing for several weeks. The fact that non-raiders can get this gear is a simple side-effect that also keeps plenty of non-raiders busy. (Which is the point of a P2P MMO, keeping your playerbase busy so they keep paying.)

Yeah... no... yeah... I don't care how hard it is, I'm not doing it if the rewards are pointless.

The 8-man raid rewards gear that's the absolute best for at least 3 months, following another 3 months where non-raiders can slowly upgrade their tomestone gear to the same iLvl (with the exception of the weapon).

If you think half a year of having the best gear in the game is pointless, then that's fine. Perhaps raiding in this game isn't the thing for you.
When I still raided, I didn't really care much for the gear upgrades, it was just a means to progress further. I just enjoyed raiding with a group of friends, because running content with them was fun to me. (Unfortunately, A3S killed that static)