More Waste

[azura84]

Why do you want the best gear? I would assume most people want it because it gives them the best advantage at playing. better dps, better protection, etc etc. Once you've done that part, why not take advantage of it? I don't understand this "once people get the gear they don't log in again" mentality - why would you bother getting it if you plan to log off immediately and never use it? There's just too much emphasis on THE GEAR.

Because what are you going to login to use that gear on, what challenge is there if you've already done the previous stuff? I myself dont even see a reason to get all the gear after I beat the savage and ex content, the gear serves little purpose in the next patches content but a minor edge and the prestige of it is gone with the arrival of new equipment.

I fail to understand the issue. Help me understand. Higher ilevels are brought in every patch, why would you not want this? I understand if you dislike or are against linear progression, but that is how this game is built. I personally would be upset if all my gear is BiS, and the next patch dropped and I could not progress or get stronger.I fail to understand the issue. Help me understand. Higher ilevels are brought in every patch, why would you not want this? I understand if you dislike or are against linear progression, but that is how this game is built. I personally would be upset if all my gear is BiS, and the next patch dropped and I could not progress or get stronger.

First of all it isn't a linear progression, it is called a vertical progression because like it or not ilvl is just the same as level, the only difference being that this way they can apply different scalings with these stats if they so choose, and have with SB (example: look at the HP increase from a level 50 character to level 60 and then to 70). Where as a Horizontal progression minimizes the amount of numbers being increased and focuses primarily on the changes in what those numbers do in fights (XI horizontal, XIV vertical). Why this matters is because the turnover for useful equipment is greater, the value of the equipment is deteriorated exponentially faster and most importantly the effort spent obtaining the equipment has massively diminishing returns. What this all means is the difference is the lasting feeling of accomplishment vs. "that guy who bought a jump potion, killed 12 dungeons and now has the same weapon that's stronger than the one I spent 7 weeks obtaining", this doesn't even take into effect the broken relic quest lines (which happens to be why I dont consider Eureka weapons relic weapons) and this harsh turnover has been never ending.

What this also provides is more narrow parameters for the developers to pump out content for, they dont have to try anything new they can just keep shelling out the same exact format of dungeons and raids over and over. To some that is fine but to many gamers we like to see new things besides shiney graphics. Mechanics beyond aoe targets and splashing donuts and duty actions. We want combos, weaknesses, strengths, adapting enemies, randomized mechanics, something that isn't rinse and repeat memorization.

[XiXiQ]

Because what are you going to login to use that gear on, what challenge is there if you've already done the previous stuff?

Thats' the exact point I was making. It's a self-sustaining mousewheel, and we end up never allowed to gear all classes because of the deliberate bottlenecks. relaxing/removing the caps on the gear, then giving you something to actually do once you have it. and seriously, if the only reason you play is just to get the best gear then un-sub, I'm struggling to see why the game should be catering to that sub-group. It holds everyone back who'd prefer to be doing more rather than being capped in 2 days.



something like the 380 gear does not need capping at all frankly, it's not the best gear, it never will be, and it has a lifespan of about a month. It's the exact thing they should be opening to those with multiple characters to gear while they limit the highest gear.

[azura84]

Thats' the exact point I was making. It's a self-sustaining mousewheel, and we end up never allowed to gear all classes because of the deliberate bottlenecks. relaxing/removing the caps on the gear, then giving you something to actually do once you have it. and seriously, if the only reason you play is just to get the best gear then un-sub, I'm struggling to see why the game should be catering to that sub-group. It holds everyone back who'd prefer to be doing more rather than being capped in 2 days. something like the 380 gear does not need capping at all frankly, it's not the best gear, it never will be, and it has a lifespan of about a month. It's the exact thing they should be opening to those with multiple characters to gear while they limit the highest gear.

I really dont want to make this about slinging crap around. I dont know what you're arguing if i'm stating your exact point, is the point i made WHY you play or is it why you want change because i was stating it's why I want change and your argument seems to be why it should remain the same. Second, the current system is designed around BiS, I happen to like getting BiS but it is in no way the only reason I play the game either. If it was it's still not a reason to try and make someone un-sub, there are plenty of people who enjoy being best, that's why SE makes ladders for PotD, HoH and PvP, and why there are whole groups committed being first at completion. Just because you and I dont prefer that type of gameplay doesn't mean they should be criticized and told to un-sub. I'm not saying the game should cater to a sub group, but the way gear is progressed right now there is zero longevity to any accomplishment. All I'm asking is they straighten out the drastic difficulty spike so there is more ways and places to obtain gear and apply more quests that support gear progression or find another way to make it seem like putting that 405 weapon on the ground after the first dungeon of 5.0 doesn't feel like a complete waste.

[Lumis_Arvalo]

All I'm asking is they straighten out the drastic difficulty spike so there is more ways and places to obtain gear and apply more quests that support gear progression or find another way to make it seem like putting that 405 weapon on the ground after the first dungeon of 5.0 doesn't feel like a complete waste.

Honestly, I agree with adding in more methods of gearing as one of the primary selling points of this game is that you can be everything on one character, except you really can't because of how the gear gating works.

But if you're expecting them to change the power creep between expansions so that your raid weapon from a year ago is still good, that's a hard no from me. Catch-up mechanics exist for a reason; to allow new players to get into the game easier, as that is where all the money is nowadays, like it or not. Players are not going to want to play this game if they have to play through 5 years of back content to gear themselves up enough to do the current stuff, and forcing players to wade through that is a dumb idea, which is precisely why those power level resets exist at certain points.

[azura84]

Catch-up mechanics exist for a reason

I get that, and I agree, for any new player coming into XIV it's much easier to get caught up and to play with friends earlier than it ever was in XI, but there are still many ways to balance this as well. I know people hate XI players for referencing it so much but in my case it really can't be helped, it's just what I know more about than any other mmo. XI did quests that took what you made from previous generations of equipment and applied some amount of progress into the next, exactly as how the relic from ARR was brought into HW, they gave you a quicker start into the quest for it. This type of quest system could be done more universally, with tomes gear, they already kind-of did it with the crafting gear by letting you swap from the 350 pieces to 360. Allow us to have some return on the effort we made, something that makes the effort of obtaining these pieces (that we got for their stats) and not just make it an overqualified piece of glamour or miniscule bits of GC seals. That's another way they could afford them value is apply new uses for GC seals, it's well past time they overhauled the GC's to be more meaningful anyways. The difference being that you don't make it exactly like XI where you have to grind through every stage to get the gear, you just offer some amount of return on your invested time beyond the minor advantages the stats provide in the next patch.

Also, they sort of already do expect players to play through 5 years of content by making a single unbreaking main story quest line instead of branching it at all, forcing people who want to play with friends to grind hard for a few months before they can play with their friends or pay a premium to skip over content they should be able to enjoy at pace.