Is SE really going to repeat the foruma from 2.0 and 3.0???

[Damona]

So this is my first time actually starting a new expansion, for 2.0, I started at release, quit, came back, quit, Then came back to HW with void ark ending beingcurrent while few weeks before The Weeping City of Mhach. I thought to myself hmm wouldn't it be something if it stopped at a 3rd one, be a weekly for that gear, only have about 2 months to pass by, have it uncapped while this causing to make it easier to get upgrades that lets you be even on the best gear in the game?

Then I am sure they are going to double the weekly limit, then drop it completely like they did in 2.0 for the tomestones.

So starting out on unlimited tomestones I though maybe SE will take a different approach, like yellow scripts for crafting and gathering (I am not sure if that happened in 2.0 or 3.0) so I thought maybe they where going to try something different.

Now that we have a weekly cap again, are we really going to have the 3-24 man zones again, where you get a weekly gear from, have 3 sets of delta scape, while throwing in more primal here and there that drop weapons? I mean I just do not get it, why repeat the same thing, reskining what was done in 2.0 and 3.0 only different level, while having all these weekly and daily things? isn't there a better way of handling progression and not have the same thing over and over again? What is the point?

What do these weekly caps really achieve? why are they there? Why not do the same effect though weekly and daily bonuses for quests and such (think of the cluster daily/weekly for HW relics) and for those that want to gear several jobs, they can grind it out? What if some patch makes someone's job unwanted spending all those weekly limits on that job? How are they supposed to gear something else with the limits?

As sad as it sounds, this is how the game is supposed to be. I am not here to defend the game for it, but what you are looking for is: "Why doesnt this game have more interesting gear?". I ranted about this many times and it simply isnt needed for the crowd that is playing the game.

As an example, why would you run omega normal for 320 drops when you could just get HQ 320 gear?
Because Omega stuff is free? Because you could just gather friends for it and still get said gear for free? Perhaps you dont have the crafters leveled to craft it? No gil to buy it? No contacts to hand the mats too?

What I am getting at is: If everyone would know their way around omega normal, it would be dead content in about a week, you would still need that weapon token from v4 but whats the point? If you arent doing savage then 310-320 will be fine until the next ilvl tier anyways. Its the game biggest positive point and the greatest flaw at the same time.
I could now quit until the next ilvl tier and be up to date on gear in about 1-2 weeks. So why do I tell a bunch of stuff that is very obvious anyways?

Because upping the creation tome to 900 or uncapping it, wouldnt matter in any bit for the great majority of the casual players. Since the way of quickly gearing other jobs already exists, even to a level where you are ready for almost any content in said ilvl tier, be it verity or crafted gear.

Upping the creation tome cap wont happen though since there is money involved, its the same reason why you need 7 tokens for a weapon from v4, the same reason why they havent changed the system and probably wont ever do. Why would they? The subs havent dropped enough to justify a change, new people always come in anyways and a large majority even is happy with the system because it gives them the illusion of progression - while their progression is facerolling the same ez mode dungeons for 330 gear.

I've been also subbing less and less and at times I am already thinking about subbing only when a new xpac launches for the story. Permasubbing ffxiv is the most soulless and boring grind you can do to yourself since the gear is so damn meaningless and will be always replaced anyways.

If you truly want something to change, then get everyone to quit for 2-3 months and you'll see how talkative the devs will be. Wont happen either though since one can still pretend that its "good" right? Or "hope" that it will get better eh? I mean each to his own, I cant dictate anyone how to be happy and what to do with their free time, but sometimes I am amazed how this game stays alive so well with gear progression thats as shallow as it gets.

Vote with your wallet! ;3

[YitharV2]

You didn't touch upon anything beyond your own playstyle preferences. The devs need to consider the majority. People will not run content unless essentially bribed.

I mean, I don't necessarily think having rewards is a bad thing as not everyone will enjoy a piece of content. But I think personally for me specifically having to be bribed means I don't really enjoy the content itself.

I've been also subbing less and less and at times I am already thinking about subbing only when a new xpac launches for the story. Permasubbing ffxiv is the most soulless and boring grind you can do to yourself since the gear is so damn meaningless and will be always replaced anyways.

If you truly want something to change, then get everyone to quit for 2-3 months and you'll see how talkative the devs will be. Wont happen either though since one can still pretend that its "good" right? Or "hope" that it will get better eh? I mean each to his own, I cant dictate anyone how to be happy and what to do with their free time, but sometimes I am amazed how this game stays alive so well with gear progression thats as shallow as it gets.

Vote with your wallet! ;3

IMO it isn't just the gear grind that's the problem. I've played korean MMOs so I actually think the way FFXIV does it is better (but not perfect). The problem for me I think is just I don't enjoy the way FFXIV is designed. Because combat is so simple, "The current end-game battle system in FFXIV can be summarized in one word: mechanics. In a boss fight, you often feel like you're not actually fighting the boss but rather the fight-specifc mechanics (aka “gimmicks”)." (That link also talks about weekly lockouts.) Like when I got Titan Hard in Trials roulette once, I used healer LB3 once and Titan hit me. We killed it anyways but the fact that you can die so easily (especially if you get a lag spike or something) and can't be resurrected seems like such an annoying gimmick. I mean, I definitely think mechanics have a place in fights, but sometimes I feel like it's too mechanic-driven.

But meh, it's working for FFXIV so what can I say.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

I mean, I don't necessarily think having rewards is a bad thing as not everyone will enjoy a piece of content. But I think personally for me specifically having to be bribed means I don't really enjoy the content itself.

Let's be honest. Who does enjoy running the same content repeatedly? The devs even acknowledged when they decided to allocate dungeons resources elsewhere for odd numbered patches. Unfortunately, developers as a whole, not simply FFXIV, cannot produce enough content relatively to have fast we consume it. I wager Omega-- both Normal and Savage-- took months of development and proper testing only for the hardcore players to down it in a day and the midcore gradually push through in the space of a month or so. Perhaps bribe is the wrong term, but any MMOs has to incentivize content players otherwise wouldn't bother with again lest new players be unable to progress or said veterans have nothing else to do.

And this isn't mean necessarily defending the system. I would love to be able to have all the jobs I enjoy playing geared and ready to tackle Savage, but it just isn't feasible on a long term basis from a business perspective. Personally, I don't mind the system. My current gear is a hodgepodge of 310-320 stuff barely melded and I manage. You can absolutely go into any content and clear.

[YitharV2]

Let's be honest. Who does enjoy running the same content repeatedly? The devs even acknowledged when they decided to allocate dungeons resources elsewhere for odd numbered patches. Unfortunately, developers as a whole, not simply FFXIV, cannot produce enough content relatively to have fast we consume it. I wager Omega-- both Normal and Savage-- took months of development and proper testing only for the hardcore players to down it in a day and the midcore gradually push through in the space of a month or so. Perhaps bribe is the wrong term, but any MMOs has to incentivize content players otherwise wouldn't bother with again lest new players be unable to progress or said veterans have nothing else to do.

And this isn't mean necessarily defending the system. I would love to be able to have all the jobs I enjoy playing geared and ready to tackle Savage, but it just isn't feasible on a long term basis from a business perspective. Personally, I don't mind the system. My current gear is a hodgepodge of 310-320 stuff barely melded and I manage. You can absolutely go into any content and clear.

Yes, I understand this. So I'm not blaming them for not being able to produce unlimited content. I used to play TERA, and I think the difference is, the combat was fun enough that I didn't mind repeatedly doing the same dungeon over and over, although DPS usually got bored before I did. It's kind of interesting because it's the exact opposite here. Here DPS is equivalent or greater in terms of fun and engagement than tanking. Basically what I'm blaming them for is the design of the combat system itself. I would call it a bribe, and I do understand their reasoning. I don't think it's necessarily bad in itself to provide rewards for content (as most players wouldn't go into content without rewards). I just think the content itself can be improved.