Sorry Yoshi, but if you award the best weapon in the game by winning the lottery...

[Neophyte]

Then what's the complaint if you don't want it? I didn't suggest you had to like the weapon or want it; I offered a hypothesis as to another reason they included the 280 weapon, to keep raiders interested. If you're not interested then they failed if that was their intent - however, given that you traded in that 280 weapon to the spoils collector it actually looks like they succeeded in their intent.

Well, the 280 was just a byproduct of obtaining the mount I think. It's not like we're farming the weapon to trade the in, lol.

For a lot of other people, they also appear to have succeeded in their intent and that is to keep them subscribed and interested through the end of the HW content and into SB by giving them a carrot; which because of the drop rates - it really is a carrot on a stick. I still fail to see how that invalidates - as so many have said - any work done in obtaining a creator weapon or anima weapon. I personally won't even try for the 280 weapon because I just despise the content itself. I hated Diadem 1 and, even though I haven't tried D2, that content just doesn't appeal to me.

I'm subscribed and stay subscribed, but to use a unexpected and absolutly unbalanced weapon as an incentive is just the most lame attemp to get people into a content.
Yes, savage had his "unique" weapon, too. But that one was in balance, only having a slight higher value than a good 270 one (+1 WD, 10ish more substats, 2 substats) and therefore competing on almost even ground with other ways to obtain high weapons.

It will be annoying that my farm groups (as soon as the lockout is removed) is competing for players with the lame diadem, just because they slapped a 280 weapon onto it.

Instead of making such a content, they could have made a supplementary content, like the scripture/savage gear, which are both used to complete a desired gear set. Some imagined their desired gear with a relic, some with an upgraded weapon, some with a 275 savage weapon, some gear from there, some gear from here, update from hunts, some materia slapped on it, etc...
Diadem is not supplementary, it's replacing. The proto ultima gear was well recieved, why do you think people were pleased with those (not talking about the Encounter, just about the rewards)?
Do you think a 280 right side would have recieved even better feedback and people would've been even more satisfied compared to the new 270 stuff we got? Maybe if only on out of the 24 man get a random one (not for their class) with 0,001% chance? Would that be cool?
No. It would've killed A9S in an instant and everyone would run Dun Scath and bail after Ultima. Wow, great.

And people complain because they feel the current decision is euqally bad.

Imagine PotD was not just only the fastest way of leveling, but with PotD you could also reach Level 61 (with additional stat boosts). Would this be bad and an unfair incentive towards the other level opportunites (not only difference in speed, but also value of the reward much higher)? Why? In Stormblood (only 3 months!!!) the Level cap is raised anyway. /shrug

[Llus]

Well, the 280 was just a byproduct of obtaining the mount I think. It's not like we're farming the weapon to trade the in, lol.

Mount, minion, gear or weapon it's still content that attracts players even if the 280 is thrown in the trash.

I'm subscribed and stay subscribed, but to use a unexpected and absolutly unbalanced weapon as an incentive is just the most lame attemp to get people into a content.
Yes, savage had his "unique" weapon, too. But that one was in balance, only having a slight higher value than a good 270 one (+1 WD, 10ish more substats, 2 substats) and therefore competing on almost even ground with other ways to obtain high weapons.

From a strictly business perspective though, it's a great move. People that have never touched savage raids or don't have the patience for the anima weapon can try to farm for a BiS weapon just by zerging fates over and over. Gimmicky? absolutely; unbalanced? yea, I'd have to agree with that 100% - but so is giving an ever increasing echo (and even auto-echo). This just happens to be unique to the individual vs applied to the entire group. Unless you're trying to hit top parse numbers on fflogs though; it really doesn't do a whole lot for or against you individually (assuming you have an i270/i275 weapon already)

It will be annoying that my farm groups (as soon as the lockout is removed) is competing for players with the lame diadem, just because they slapped a 280 weapon onto it.

Now, this is probably the best argument against the weapon I've seen. Because it prematurely ends A12S for mid-core raiders still farming for the creator weapon.

Instead of making such a content, they could have made a supplementary content, like the scripture/savage gear, which are both used to complete a desired gear set. Some imagined their desired gear with a relic, some with an upgraded weapon, some with a 275 savage weapon, some gear from there, some gear from here, update from hunts, some materia slapped on it, etc...
Diadem is not supplementary, it's replacing. The proto ultima gear was well recieved, why do you think people were pleased with those (not talking about the Encounter, just about the rewards)?
Do you think a 280 right side would have recieved even better feedback and people would've been even more satisfied compared to the new 270 stuff we got? Maybe if only on out of the 24 man get a random one (not for their class) with 0,001% chance? Would that be cool?
No. It would've killed A9S in an instant and everyone would run Dun Scath and bail after Ultima. Wow, great.

And people complain because they feel the current decision is euqally bad.

Imagine PotD was not just only the fastest way of leveling, but with PotD you could also reach Level 61 (with additional stat boosts). Would this be bad and an unfair incentive towards the other level opportunites (not only difference in speed, but also value of the reward much higher)? Why? In Stormblood (only 3 months!!!) the Level cap is raised anyway. /shrug

I think the PotD argument is stretching a bit, but I understand where you're coming from.

As far as the i270 gear from the weekly DS raid, you're right it was much better received and if they'd given a 280 ultra-rare drop there would have been as much if not more complaints; but DS would be popping non-stop if they had and A9S would be completely dead (still, pretty much dead now except for late comers - I rarely see A9S parties other than learn in PF anymore).

The best argument against the 280 weapon is that it may prematurely shorten the lifespan of A12S for those that haven't gotten their first clear yet (for those that are doing it for gear only) and I agree a 275 weapon would have been better (or better yet, whatever the drop is that's needed to upgrade the shire weapon). But how long would that content run? You see how quickly other casual content dies - look at any casual PvP content, 24-man raids when there's no incentive to run it and you'd have the same drop-off on diadem - a month or two and then it'd be dead and people would beg for new content. We'll have to see, but I'm guessing that Diadem will hold attention through the end of HW for a LOT of people. I just hope the 280 weapon drop rate doesn't get nerfed (it likely will though - either that or it'll get tokenized).