Legitimate reasons why many of you do NOT like Gear Swapping

[Molly_Millions]

25 pages? nope

You should, it's full of real reasons why people don't want gear swaps that contradict what you just said. It's pretty important that if you want to join in a conversation and not make a complete ass of yourself that you actually know what's being talked about.

[StateAlchemist]

I know your playing Devil's advocate here, but this scenario doesn't exist in the current game. If this sort of thing were more common in this game, I might be more inclined to support gear swapping.

In the above scenario strategy comes into play when deciding if it's more important to have more HP during the first 3/4 of the fight or more HP during the last 1/4. I would argue that if that dragon is not beatable without adding gear swaps, then SE didn't do their job balancing the battle. (This is with the battle mechanics 100% as the are in-game right now.)

Wouldn't it be impossible to add a fight with that kind of dynamic though without a gear swap possible or someone standing around useless part of the fight? I would think it would limit SE on the kind of fights that you could put in the game... Idk.

FOr that matter I am curious as to how garuda fight will work.

[Arcell]

This is a fair response.

What I am about to propose is purely theoretical, just FYI. I know, right now in FFXIV we have no events that would even come close to justifying gear swapping.

Lets say for example, that we have a dragon. This dragon deals purely physical damage + AoE, and Wind Damage for the first 75% of its health.

Now, when you get it to 25% it switches to heavy fire damage, and pure magical damage. In what sense would you wrap a strategy around that? I'm being completely serious. I would love to see true reasons why strategy would always be =/= gear. It just makes sense to me that if a Monster switches to magic damage, ill switch to gear that nullifies magic damage.

I mean, macro's are easy to make. And I only had 1 bar of Gear Swap macros. There were what, like 100 bars total to create?

I am genuinely interested in hearing about new systems though. But to me, just using one set of gear all the way through a raid, or boss seems like easy mode. Before anyone gets mad, this is only my opinion.

That would be a situation in a game created with the intent of gear swapping as a core mechanic, that would be a situation created almost exclusively because gear swapping exists. They wouldn't design any fight in FFXIV like that because the game is not created around gear swapping as a core mechanic. Since they've already said gear swapping isn't going to happen, fights in FFXIV would be designed around the existing mechanics.

A better example would be something that has one or two very strong attacks of certain elements/damage types that aren't its normal attack types, something that would exist in FFXIV. The way to get around that would be to prepare ahead of time and/or play smart. Is there a way to avoid it? Can you incap the monster to disable it? Is there a skill you can use to stun them or reduce incoming damage? Strategy that does not equal gear. Strategy that requires playing well.

Having just one set of gear through an entire fight isn't easier, it's actually harder. You can't just adjust the numbers in your favor on a whim, you have to live with the gear choice you made before the fight began. You have to use all of the other tools at your disposal to win (spells, weaponskills, abilities, items, positioning, combos). So you have to really think before the battle begins what the best gear is for that particular encounter. You can switch between battles so if there are different situations within a specific dungeon you can adapt to them.

[SwordCoheir]

How do you prepare for a fight that contains a boss that changes forms of damage mid fight. What if there are periods that the boss goes dormant so you can switch to heavier melee gear for those brief moments before he evolves back into his offensive state. it's hard to prepare for a boss that has many different battle characteristics, with one set of static gear.

Those kinds of mobs usually fall more towards what jobs to bring to counter those forms, due to the very limited capacity jobs have to swap between magical/physical damage. Given that situation in particular the only person that it would directly affect in the long run would probably be the tank, because DD's would naturally be going all out and mages can already change gear while passive anyways to adjust their casting performance.

Anyways, due to the very slow UI and the fact the game redraws the character every time you actually change gear, it already takes forever to swap sets, would stop you from moving, and probably reduce your overall DPS. (I can't verify if auto-attacks/casting would still happen while changing gear, but you are bound while changing which leaves you open to things like Eruption or direct DPS from mobs.) That's just my humble opinion on the matter however.

[Pistolere]

gear swapping is so gross. even in a fictional world i can't think of a way it would fit. who changes pants with a monster breathing down your neck?

[Molly_Millions]

Wouldn't it be impossible to add a fight with that kind of dynamic though without a gear swap possible or someone standing around useless part of the fight? I would think it would limit SE on the kind of fights that you could put in the game... Idk.

FOr that matter I am curious as to how garuda fight will work.

Without proper balancing it would be difficult, I'm not denying that. In the end I think the work should be done in balancing, not by adding an unneeded mechanic to justify a lack of balancing.

[ThePatriarch]

That would be a situation in a game created with the intent of gear swapping as a core mechanic, that would be a situation created almost exclusively because gear swapping exists. They wouldn't design any fight in FFXIV like that because the game is not created around gear swapping as a core mechanic. Since they've already said gear swapping isn't going to happen, fights in FFXIV would be designed around the existing mechanics.

A better example would be something that has one or two very strong attacks of certain elements/damage types that aren't its normal attack types, something that would exist in FFXIV. The way to get around that would be to prepare ahead of time and/or play smart. Is there a way to avoid it? Can you incap the monster to disable it? Is there a skill you can use to stun them or reduce incoming damage? Strategy that does not equal gear. Strategy that requires playing well.

Having just one set of gear through an entire fight isn't easier, it's actually harder. You can't just adjust the numbers in your favor on a whim, you have to live with the gear choice you made before the fight began. You have to use all of the other tools at your disposal to win (spells, weaponskills, abilities, items, positioning, combos). So you have to really think before the battle begins what the best gear is for that particular encounter. You can switch between battles so if there are different situations within a specific dungeon you can adapt to them.

Although I love gear-swapping, your point is quite valid, and very well put.

[RemnantWolf]

It kills the purpose of Materia.

With materia they can make it possible for gear to do the Minor things they did in FFXI. Add to stun from Shield bash, boost the effectiveness of evasion boosts etc (I mean they could add things like this, not that they are currently implemented)

With time materia could unlock endless play styles. Evasion or defense, more attack or longer status effect times, upfront damage or bleed damage. These are the small things players could someday use materia to define. Use to make their characters unique (and if these sorts of things are balanced right, they could all be legitimate strategies therefor leading to the rise of player preference and identity over standardization).

But if you add mid battle swapping, you create a optimum as opposed to many preferences. Suddenly we can have it all, and will be expected to have it all. No longer can a player choose what they think is important for their play style, because everyone else would already have chosen it for them.

I don't speak for everyone, but I would much rather define myself. I would much rather say what matters to me. It gives me a unique value, best for certain situations "That boss doesn't give us enough time to heal our party, go find that Monk with the crazy stuns, that would buy us enough time to heal".

[ThePatriarch]

I don't speak for everyone, but I would much rather define myself. I would much rather say what matters to me. It gives me a unique value, best for certain situations "That boss doesn't give us enough time to heal our party, go find that Monk with the crazy stuns, that would buy us enough time to heal".

I feel closed-minded for never even thinking of this. This is wonderful.

As a faithful gear-swapping advocater, this post alone made me re-think my position on the matter.

[StateAlchemist]

"That boss doesn't give us enough time to heal our party, go find that Monk with the crazy stuns, that would buy us enough time to heal".

That statements says to me "A MNK with reliable stuns is a necessity. If you don't have reliable stuns gtfo." Therefore the only acceptable build is one in which Stun is priority (Recast/Procing/Duration). How does that allow for individuality? Let's face it. Individuality is a myth. A streamlined strategy for every fight will be made and 90% of players will use it. The other 10% who "refuse" or prefer to not conform will do what they always do. Whatever they want. Gear swapping will not change this to a degree that will make the current normality of the game any different then it already is. All it does is give the people who want/care about stuff like that, something else to do.