Allowing Gear Change in Active Mode

[Inaaca]

Whats the difference between choosing a gearset on a specific move, instead of choosing a gearset on a specific battle.

Situation A: Without gear swaps. Select your gear before battle, forcing you to weigh some stats or effects over others depending on the situation you plan on facing. This approach creates the need to strategize before battle, requiring you to weigh the pros and cons of your decisions and equipping only the gear you feel you really need for each encounter.

Situation B: With gear swaps. Carry around several sets of equipment that you can repeatedly swap in and out during battle for every move you do. You don't have to choose or strategize about what gear to equip over other gear for a battle because you're just going to use it all anyways. This completely removes the equipment strategy of an encounter in exchange for maxing out every needed stat for every move.

In short, equipment isn't meant to do everything, which is why every piece has pros and cons depending on the situation. If gear swapping is allowed it opens the ability to wear the best for every situation all the time and removes those pros and cons, which destroys the balance and cuts out the strategy that would normally be necessary when equipping gear. Strategy creates depth, being able to have everything all the time makes things stale.

[Isaaru]

Gear swap macros are dumb.



What does it offer, besides itself as a mechanic?



It promotes MORE elitism than normal. That is never a good thing.



Because it naturally is? It's not difficult for you or I to understand how it works or why it's a necessary thing because we've already used it in FFXI.



Those exact same set ups are also present with in-combat gear swapping. Cookie cutter builds are unavoidable. Except unlike now, where you have to make a conscious decision to bring appropriate gear to an encounter, to remember to equip it before the encounter, or to do min-maxing with whatever gear you do have for the best set up... gear swapping makes for the simplest non-choice of them all: bring everything, because you can just swap it in whenever you want and there is no drawback to anything.

1. That's your opinion.
2. It offers higher potential damage output and a higher variety of gear.
3. Don't play with elitists if you don't like them.
4. I had zero trouble understanding gear swapping in FFXI, it's actually very simple.
5. This logic only applies for the first time fighting something. Once you realize after the first fight what is optimal to bring you only need to bring that gear.

[Firon]

While i don't want gear swaps back, if people notice it or not, gear swaps was the sole reason FFXI content lasted so long.

[Wolfie]

1. That's your opinion.

And of the majority.

2. It offers higher potential damage output.

And? Why does this matter? Why not ask for better stats on gear, lower monster defense, or higher skill damage instead?

3. Don't play with elitists if you don't like them.

Elitism is the norm. It's not avoidable.

4. I had zero trouble understanding gear swapping in FFXI, it's actually very simple.

Neither did I, but that does not make it any less obtuse and annoying.

5. This logic only applies for the first time fighting something. Once you realize after the first fight what is optimal to bring you only need to bring that gear.

Well if you want to have a philosophical debate about what choices are then the same logic then also extends to gear swapping. Everything becomes a routine. Start with MP gear, blow off excess MP, switch to normal/damage gear, use MP, switch to conservative gear when low on MP or need to recover. Fire spell? Fire damage gear. Healing spell? Healing gear. Those are not choices.

[Denmark]

With full honesty how many times have you had to weigh one peice of gear to another for any given fight in XIV? There is no real strategy to gear in this game, you can literally get by on one set each job and no one will ever notice. That to me a huge problem, the main goal of any event is gear rewards. If gear rewards are not worth the effort the the event dies and becomes worthless. A flip side of this is crafting gear, it's a rather large effort to take a craft to 50 and if R/E gear is always going to be better then what's the point? XI was great about this since gear swaps allowed some gear to good for niche things so we had a ton of options so there was a balance in gear that dropped from events and gear that needed to be crafted

[Isaaru]

And of the majority.



And? Why does this matter? Why not ask for better stats on gear, lower monster defense, or higher skill damage instead?



Elitism is the norm. It's not avoidable.



Neither did I, but that does not make it any less obtuse and annoying.



Well if you want to have a philosophical debate about what choices are then the same logic then also extends to gear swapping. Everything becomes a routine. Start with MP gear, blow off excess MP, switch to normal/damage gear, use MP, switch to conservative gear when low on MP or need to recover. Fire spell? Fire damage gear. Healing spell? Healing gear. Those are not choices.

1. These forums tend to have a loud, illogical majority.
2. Because all of those things would be universal to everyone rather than an individual would put in the time and effort to obtain the best gear.
3. If it's the norm then that means you're the minority contradicting your first statement.
4. I like how people think making a macro, which is in almost every single MMO, is annoying. Especially when it allows you to do multiple things with a click of a button.
5. Ok, if it applies to both then I fail to see a problem. And doing those gear swaps is just as much as a choice as not having gear swaps and choosing the optimal gear for the situation as a whole. The only argument I see anyone have is that inventory space would become an issue I am sure SE is balancing that aspect as we speak. Also, I don't know if you read, but gear swapping exists currently on mages. I carry multiple potency chokers to swap on my BLM depending on the spell.

[Rydin]

1. These forums tend to have a loud, illogical majority.

Majority is majority.. ignorant or not... our society is set up so majority rules

[Wolfie]

1. These forums tend to have a loud, illogical majority.

[citation needed]

2. Because all of those things would be universal to everyone rather than an individual would put in the time and effort to obtain the best gear.

To get the higher damage out of a gear swapping system, you have to put in the time and effort to get the best gear swap setups.

3. If it's the norm then that means you're the minority contradicting your first statement.

That's not how elitism works.

4. I like how people think making a macro, which is in almost every single MMO, is annoying. Especially when it allows you to do multiple things with a click of a button.

It's not the macro, it's the gear swap mechanic that is obtuse and annoying.

5. Ok, if it applies to both then I fail to see a problem. And doing those gear swaps is just as much as a choice as not having gear swaps and choosing the optimal gear for the situation as a whole. The only argument I see anyone have is that inventory space would become an issue I am sure SE is balancing that aspect as we speak. Also, I don't know if you read, but gear swapping exists currently on mages. I carry multiple potency chokers to swap on my BLM depending on the spell.

So if it's no better than what we have now, then why change? Just for the sake of changing?

[Denmark]

Majority is majority.. ignorant or not... our society is set up so majority rules

That only works if everyone playing was voicing an opinion here, but sadly the ignorant are just loudest.

[Rydin]

That only works if everyone playing was voicing an opinion here, but sadly the ignorant are just loudest.

Short of the players poll.. the forum really is the only representation of the player base... End of the day.. Yoshi needs to just follow his vision of the game...
let the forums and players inspire you... but in no way should it dictate in game policy...
Even my opinion (Which I am obviously very fond of) shouldn't be a determining factor in Yoshi's decisions