Horizontal progression? In MY theme park?!

[PyurBlue]

Once you have the top gear what exactly would you be doing in game? You would literally be waiting for the next major expansion or next update that has a gearset that becomes the new meta.

My own opinion of course, but that makes me think there is a problem with the game. I don't see the draw of getting gear for the sake of getting gear. It might be the least desirable thing in the game for me.

If there is a way to keep older gear relevant for longer, I'm all for it. Either that or make it take longer to get the current best gear and make ilvl updates more spread out.

[LineageRazor]

I don't want gear that will last me for years. Then I'd have nothing to work toward, no goal. I don't want a static character that can't grow anymore. I'd have no reason to play the game.

That certainly wasn't a problem in FFXI. Gear there lasted for years AND there was always plenty of other gear to work toward.

That said, this was largely because gear could be swapped mid-combat in that game, meaning a given slot could have three or more useful pieces of gear in a single fight (for example, haste gear to build TP, STR gear for the actual weaponskill, defensive turtle build to weather unavoidable damage, etc).

Horizontal progression CAN be done in such a way that there's always something to work toward - but I'm not sure that it would work in THIS game, given that pretty much all a player does is try to max out one, single stat. They COULD have left room for horizontal progression if they had left Primary Stat off of the accessories. This would have left room to put interesting stats, or even special abilities onto the accessories. Alas, it was not to be; accessories are just as important for maxing out Primary Stat as any other piece of gear.

[Sebazy]

Ooops, I probably should have saved this one for when I had more time so I could explain it clearer.

My idea is to actually have the set bonus based off the main raiding sets aka Tome and Savage gear.

This would offer a set bonus when used in tandem with other sets within the same tier as well as offering a stat boost to bring the lower ilvl piece up to par with the main set.

So for example:

Lets take the Diamond set of healing.

It could have the following set bonus as a very rough example:

0.5 second cast time reduction on Stone IV when used with 2 pieces of PvP gear.
+100 VIT when used with 2 pieces of crafted gear.
+10% Movement speed when used with Hunt gear.

This could be further played along by adding a slightly juicier bonus with odd numbered patch content (Basically, extra crafted and 24 man stuff).

The idea isn't to make people not want to upgrade their gear, but rather reward players for earning a wider variety of equipment (and thus dabbling in more content that they otherwise might not. The crafted bonus will be king during progression, whereas it'd be easy enough to include interesting perks on other sets to take over as people get geared and don't need the VIT anymore.

Is it a perfect example of horizontal progression? No. But it spices up a recipe that's been getting awfully stale over the last few years.

[Adeacia]

That certainly wasn't a problem in FFXI. Gear there lasted for years AND there was always plenty of other gear to work toward.

That said, this was largely because gear could be swapped mid-combat in that game, meaning a given slot could have three or more useful pieces of gear in a single fight (for example, haste gear to build TP, STR gear for the actual weaponskill, defensive turtle build to weather unavoidable damage, etc).

That's moving sideways. Not anything I would call growth. We also don't have the inventory space for a bunch of sets for one job.

[SendohJin]

That certainly wasn't a problem in FFXI. Gear there lasted for years AND there was always plenty of other gear to work toward.

yes, it was. people used Haubergeon+1, Byakko's Haidate for years with nothing to upgrade.

it didn't get replaced with AdaBerk only because they never got to claim the mob or it never dropped for them. neither of which you wish on this game, insanely low drop rates or rare spawns that less than 1% of the playerbase get to even participate in the fight for an entire week.

instance all those things so everyone can fight them with weekly tokens like Savage and FFXI expansions are all completely done in a 3 months.

[Dzian]

I dont think so. Horizontal progression like how ESO has it is can be very very boring. Horizontal progression would devalue alot of things in the game. Once you have the top gear what exactly would you be doing in game? You would literally be waiting for the next major expansion or next update that has a gearset that becomes the new meta.

You can't really devalue anything in this game because nothing has value to begin with. That's why these topics keep coming up.

As for a theme park mmo it really isn't. Or it's a tiny that has like 3 rides...

If hells lid was the nemesis rollercoaster at Alton towers. Then kugane castle is the nemesis rollercoaster at Alton towers only painted yellow. And drowned city is the nemesis painted green. Basically its all the exact same ride.... Which is why there's never really anything to do in the game. It's all the same rides you've been on 10,000 times before.

[LeoLupinos]

Maybe when we finally hit Lv 99. Until then, no.

[CreinCrein]

Just spitting out ideas but instead of implementing horizontal progression in the gear itself why don't we implement it into our skill sets and substats? Encourage more varied gearing instead of the single BiS system we have right now.

For example: Adloquium: If determination exceeds critical hit rate, shields for 150% of hp restored. If critical hit exceeds determination, adloquium's critical hit rate is increased by 20%.

Broil 2: If critical hit rate exceeds spellspeed, broil's potency is increased by 10. If spellspeed exceeds critical hit rate, broil's base cast time is reduced to 1.5 seconds , 2.5 second recast.

Could be a fun way to handle the dry system we have right now; thoughts?

[Elamys]

Which is why there's never really anything to do in the game. It's all the same rides you've been on 10,000 times before.

While there is something to be said about the static dungeon design they've been following I really disagree with the idea that there's nothing to do in this game. There is a lot of stuff to do. Just because it doesn't interest you doesn't mean it isn't there.

[Sebazy]

Just spitting out ideas but instead of implementing horizontal progression in the gear itself why don't we implement it into our skill sets and substats? Encourage more varied gearing instead of the single BiS system we have right now.

For example: Adloquium: If determination exceeds critical hit rate, shields for 150% of hp restored. If critical hit exceeds determination, adloquium's critical hit rate is increased by 20%.

Broil 2: If critical hit rate exceeds spellspeed, broil's potency is increased by 10. If spellspeed exceeds critical hit rate, broil's base cast time is reduced to 1.5 seconds , 2.5 second recast.

Could be a fun way to handle the dry system we have right now; thoughts?

I like it a lot. That adds a nice extra 'not entirely in your hands' element that JRPGs like so much.