Legitimate reasons why many of you do NOT like Gear Swapping

[StateAlchemist]

You might be on to something...

Hell yes it could! They could allow all materia to be melded to all slots with say a reduced effect except on its primary slot. But SE can't seem to think that far out of the box. It might not make the problem go away but it would allow a lot more fine tuning to gear.

[Jinko]

Being an elitist doesn't mean your a bad person. I am an elitist. I want the best of the best of the best. I am the one who tries to penta-socket perfect tier IV materia because nothing else is as good. HOWEVER. That doesn't mean I am a bad person. It just means I am determined to be the best and I won't settle for second place.

Do you act a similar way in real life just out of curiosity ?

I can't wrap my head around the need to be the best, isn't that a bit stressful ?

[Klive]

Gear swapping is a relic of FF11. Other MMOs have had it but normally they put in a way to stop it. Even WoW had gear swapping. Warrior, in vanilla WoW, would dual wield weapons for fast rage generation and abuse of miss mechanics so they could use an ability called overpower. Then swap to the slowest hardest hitting axe to use overpower and attack skills, making tthem hit hard and fast at the same time.

This is called min/maxing. This is abusing game mechanics to minimize weakness while maximizing strengths. This makes gear impossible to balance. For example, Devs make a weapon to hit hard but really slow, so we use a high speed weapon to build TP and then swap to heavy hitting weapon to do a weapon skill for max damage. This removes the weakness of the slow weapon and the weakness of the fast weapon, you get the best of both worlds. You can get you cake and eat it too! This is not a great game 'mechanic' nor should it be encouraged.

I'm glad many FF11 people enjoyed being able to min/max with gear swapping before, but that doesn't mean we should have it now. The key arguments for gear swapping are it was in FF11 and was fun, add new elements to gear. Really it just makes you have all strengths and no weakness. You get to have a perfect character. The strength of fast weapons and hard hitting weapon at the same time. You can have the strengths of maxed healing gear and maxed enhancement gear. High physical and magical defense! All hard choices are non-existent, because you can have BOTH!!

In short, you want a system where you can have everything.

[Molly_Millions]

It's the solution to having to choose between damage and enfeebles on BLM. Better cures or better Enhancement Magic on CNJ. Faster TP Gain + More Weaponskills vs. Higher auto-attack damage/less but slightly more powerful weaponskills on MNK...etc etc... Being able to swap on the fly efficiently in battle as a blm to go from dealing damage to needing to land a sleep/bind/heavy (guarenteed) to save parties ass from sure defeat... being able to make a stoneskin last a lot longer midfight to help mitigate pulling too much hate from cures while still being able to cure at full potential... there is a lot of things there. (Gear swapping may even allow some fights to be done with ONE WHM instead of the standard TWO.)

And of course I am sure you can come up with some whatever comment to make it seem like none of this matters. But the point is it matters to some people. Adding it to the game will not be saying "Do this or gtfo." Since obviously enough people don't like it.

So what you're saying is, that gear swapping keeps us from having to make a strategic decision on how to gear our characters before battle. Why do you think that is a benefit?

[StateAlchemist]

Do you act a similar way in real life just out of curiosity ?

I can't wrap my head around the need to be the best, isn't that a bit stressful ?

Ambition is hard to understand?

In short, you want a system where you can have everything.

No. I want a system where I can THINK I can have everything because they don't flat out say: "No." Slight difference.

[Zantetsuken]

Mages can gear swap, melee can't.

I do think something needs to be done about this particular issue.

Perhaps a good fix would be that mages lose all casting-related gear bonuses and casting time is increased by ~100% while passive. It seems a bit stupid that a mage can gear-swap and regain MP while engaged in a battle.

I haven't noticed recently, but is the damage multiplier still in effect for a player in passive mode? I remember back in the day, you took a lot more damage if you weren't active.


Still, the OP (and others) will not accept any reason against gear-swapping as being 'legitimate', so there is no point in trying to convince them.

[StateAlchemist]

So what you're saying is, that gear swapping keeps us from having to make a strategic decision on how to gear our characters before battle. Why do you think that is a benefit?

No I am saying that lack of gear swapping keeps us from ever using certain aspects of the game because they are too situational. Look at incapacitations... How many people go into Ifrit and use them? How many people go into Chimera and use them? Some? Probably...but very few. You know why? Because SE makes it so easy just to ignore it. I would rather not just 'ignore' something my job can do just because there will never be a situation where I need it full time in a battle. Or are you saying I should just pipe down and wait god knows how long before they release a fight where BLM sleep is more important then BLM damage? Important enough that I charge into battle in nothing but PIE/Enfeebling Magic Potency/Magic Accuracy gear?

[Kiote]

I think the Main reason I am opposed to bringing in gear swapping is that I like to build my character with the stats that suit my specific play style. Gear swapping re-enforces the You have to have this gear to participate mentality.

Secondly, I find it highly aesthetically displeasing. It really does look like crap when people are constantly swapping gear.

[Molly_Millions]

No I am saying that lack of gear swapping keeps us from ever using certain aspects of the game because they are too situational. Look at incapacitations... How many people go into Ifrit and use them? How many people go into Chimera and use them? Some? Probably...but very few. You know why? Because SE makes it so easy just to ignore it. I would rather not just 'ignore' something my job can do just because there will never be a situation where I need it full time in a battle. Or are you saying I should just pipe down and wait god knows how long before they release a fight where BLM sleep is more important then BLM damage? Important enough that I charge into battle in nothing but PIE/Enfeebling Magic Potency/Magic Accuracy gear?

I think if you are trying to sleep the chimera or Ifrit you're doing it wrong. As far as your example, I think reforming incaps is the correct way to go, not breaking the current gear system.

[Gidonoidon_Sur]

So what you're saying is, that gear swapping keeps us from having to make a strategic decision on how to gear our characters before battle. Why do you think that is a benefit?

It adds another layer of complexity. During the thick of battle you have to properly manage your gear and actions in response to whatever it is your fighting. Not only is it a measure of your skill but also your achievements (the variety of gear you have).

Gear swaps add another layer that interacts with skill to allow people to really achieve amazing results. If you played FFXI you should know of Avesta the Red Mage who could solo HNMs because he was so skilled and adept at managing his gear swaps.