I don't see the grand picture. Help me understand.

[HoolieWho]

Class System

The armoury system we have now spawned the super-class monsters you see in Ifrit videos. Everyone using powerful skills cherry-picked from their full arsenal of level 50 classes. The announced class changes for 1.20 are more than I was expecting, but I like the bold move. These new versions of the classes have fewer actions and more identity. Those few actions can be leveraged into more effects (including debuffs) through self-combos. Once these changes have been out for a while, a new version of battle regimes can make a comeback allowing for even more effects (including more debuffs). I like the looks of this new direction better than I do the current armoury system.

It is strange to have no offensive water spell, especially considering the elemental wheel would make a logical foundation for future battle regime effects.

I am used to mages being the source of debuffs. A system where debuffs are the realm of self-combos and party-wide battle regimes sounds intriguing though. Maybe silence will come from using offensive wind magic as part of a battle regime.

Gear Value

There is a spectrum of materia-augmented gear and a spectrum of NM dropped gear. If Ifrit weapons are on par with double materia crafted weapons, that would seem about right to me. Are they? I don't know. I haven't looked at their stats closely aside from the lance. The NM drop will not gimp you in any way and will also have the looks/trophy value. Some people will find it easier to acquire the NM drop and some the crafted weapon and most will never see either. Looking at pre-materia NM drops, sure it looks bad for raiders, but all of that gear was put in before the stat adjustments. It might as well have the "dated" prefix. We'll see how future NM drops measure up.

[Bearforce]

you will get the grand picture after you experience the game and pay @ 1.20

[DaPhro]

this game needs some time to find itself

[Secret_Reeve]

SE made the huge mistake of giving us all these spells and abilities right off the bat.

conjurer had 3 levels of cure and raise. if they'd kept these spells, what the hell would conjurer have gained post cap increase?

SE has removed alot of spells, abilities and actions, but thats good because when the level cap rises, we have the chance to get them back with (hopefully) higher efficiency.

as for those thats been removed entirely, they'll be back on new classes/jobs

[Shaedhen]

I do agree with most of what Doctor said. Especially on the debuff thingy since i always wanted to be a debuffer. So thm was perfect back in the day, wasn't much anymore when he became the 2 spells spaming blm and won't be at all with the update coming. I guess i'll wait till 2.0 huh.

Regarding the crafted/raid gear there is a very simple solution (sorry if it has been mentionned before, didn't read the whole thing) and it was under Yoshi nose right from the start (maybe he would have seen it if he stopped talking so much about Rift, Aion and every other mmo): Copy FFXI, give us the ability to change gear while fighting and make the gears situational. So you'll have to get some of your stuff through raidswhile some other things you'll be able to get them crafted.
And of course keep some more standard and decent items into the game for those who doesn't want to change gear during combat. Or maybe materias could do the trick in this case.

Oh and please, don't give me the realism plea on this.

[tachikoma]

If crafted gear is better or equal to raid gear, why raid?
Sit in town, craft better gear, then don't raid because you have the best gear? Um.. k.

I think you were joking here but I'm not certain, either way you can spend the time needed as a DD to work toward your ifrit weapon of choice or you can craft an inferior version. In order to come close to the ifrit weapons you need a crafted +3 with double materia or more. I know hart+2 with double STR materia was a good margin behind the harpoon LNC's on countless parses. Is every piece of NM/coffer loot the best in slot? no but many have their places. Sipahee turban, sentinel set, some of the mage -emnity pieces (maybe more need for this in the future). Also I have a feeling the formula's behind the curtain are still getting adjusted as of right now INT has a greater impact then magic attack pot. 1:1 and this to me seems like a mistake. I'm sure there are other areas of adjustment needed.

[Destain]

SE is making it fair for everyone not just you idiots who played threw the broken release and have every class 50 now. game should not be based around lvling every class to 50. get over it.

Your face is an idiot. Don't insult people for finding enjoyment in the game you didn't.

It seems a majority of the gripes on her are temporary issues or anticipatory whining sans the good Dr's open question. No one can yet know our destination, so just try to enjoy the ride!

[viion]

The grand picture is turn this MMO into a typical MMO thus transitioning into a game with no identity.

[ChiefCurrahee]

We're essentially playing that wait game whether they give us info or not. What we're experiencing is the gradual changes to herald the coming of 2.0. Most everything we do in the game right now will be obsolete by next year so if you came back after a 10 month break you wouldn't miss out on much.

I think you missed my point.

SE can say "this is everything we're planning to do: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9"

Systems : ABCD will be implemented in the next 3 version updates. The rest will be ver 2.0 or later.

Whats the point of revealing anything past system "D"?

So we can hold our breath even longer and become disappointed when systems "TUV" get cut, and systems "567" get pushed back?


We already have the big picture. We don't have all the details. Those come when they are ready to presented.

[DoctorMog]

I think you missed my point.

SE can say "this is everything we're planning to do: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9"

Systems : ABCD will be implemented in the next 3 version updates. The rest will be ver 2.0 or later.

Whats the point of revealing anything past system "D"?

So we can hold our breath even longer and become disappointed when systems "TUV" get cut, and systems "567" get pushed back?


We already have the big picture. We don't have all the details. Those come when they are ready to presented.

Your example works if SE would even give us ABC.

But they don't until patch day for ABC. And they give us teasers for F and L