XIV's loot system is so alt-unfriendly it's absurd.

[Astrus]

[...]
It's almost like timegating inconsequential bis gear doesn't actually hook most people in the first place.

True, I'd even argue making the game as a whole alt-friendlier could improve player retention.
Sometimes you're in the mood for something different and then you figure it's not worth all the hassle and lose motivation.
Or you've exhausted your weekly allotment of content you enjoy and getting another character to the point where you can do more of that content you enjoy just proves too much of a chore under the current system.
I'm just subbed because SE still hasn't made any clear announcement whether my payment method is still going to work if I don't keep the sub rolling and someone has to make sure we keep our FC house until 7.0 anyways.

Making the suits in charge see that is another matter.

[Mostly_Raxus]

its great till you get to the *cap weekly because its the only content see you in a year* part...

then it's not.

[Syln]

The fact that it's "alt" unfriendly, while being an issue, is probably the least important flaw of ff14 loot system, now i do think they should rethink their approach on player retention (because that's what it's all about, this system wouldn't be like that if it weren't to time gate gear acquisition and retain player.)

As far as I'm concerned, the main issue with the current loot system is that it is as boring and bland as a mmorpg loot system could be, stats are boring, no special effect on any gear, no rare/fun item you can loot on random mob, it's a perfect example of what is wrong with this game direction : Streamlining to the extreme, everything is on rail and devoid of any originality. That goes for the job design, the loot system and basically every single piece of content that is added.

[Sani2341]

Tbh, this whole topic would be a lot more relevant if party comp wasn't basicly set in stone role wise.
Sure you can argue picking up a second caster over a second melee but there's no reason to switch the group set up up once it's been established, especially in statics.

If there were a savage tier where say the third floor would be noteably easier to handle with 3 tanks, the timegate to getting an existing group member geared up on that new role would be a relevant point of discussion.

Having BiS is primarily a prestige thing as shown by week 1 savage clears. And a crutch for less good players second.

Both of which, imho, do actually justify a timegate. The length of this timegate can be debated though.

[CelestiCer]

Honestly disagree... Just keep it the way it is...

So I can... Join reclear runs on my alts and get paid for passing loot! Whahahauhua! Made quite the Coin in Endwalker mhm mhm x3 !! fork it over ;D

[DrWho2010]

gear is boring because ultimately higher level gear only exists to make things dead faster.

gear is boring because if you suck, better gear isn't going to make you get things dead faster either.

gear is boring because no one likes rng stacked on rng stacked on rng to get some mythical fantasy 0.0001% drop that will somehow make you super special. (even tho you say you want this)

Guess what. YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. NO ONE IS SPECIAL. NO ONE SHOULD BE SPECIAL.

Gear is boring because the only thing that matters is your gameplay. That is why you do not need it for all your alts and other classes that you want to play all at the same time.

If you are that concerned that you can't gear up your third role by the time x amount of weeks have passed.... BOO HOO.

There is the pull of giving players what they want faster so they will leave faster. But there is also the pull of this is a sub based game. They want to you on that drip for as long as possible. Because you are chasing the dragon of gear you *think* matters to you. But if you're good enough to play that third role as is, then you can wait x amount of weeks to get it, unless you want to cancel your sub until later.

[GoatOfWar]

And then people can rush through gearing everything and spend even more time complaining that they have nothing to do and the game is too casual.

I think it speaks to a larger issue that is the lack of an endgame in FF.
They have to dripfeed the player because there's little to give. And the only content these upgrades matter is where you get them from. The game needs more paths of progression.
They probably already acknowledged this issue seeing as they tried to make an attempt at endgame dungeon content but failed to deliver proper rewards in their fear of leaving people out.

[ReynTime]

I love how when the discussion is about making something easier or more realistic to grind out if someone wants to, the response is "but then people will leave because they'll get all their stuff and stop playing!" And somehow, at the same time, when the conversation is about returning a longer grind for something like the relic weapon, then the response suddenly changes to "but then no one will do it because no one wants to grind it!"

Make it make sense, people.

It's pretty typical XIV fanboyism behavior. What is, is basically the best that can be done and any different idea is bad... until it gets implemented by the devs, then it's a great idea. Funny that the only time issues are taken seriously by fanboys is when it comes to crap like glamour, portraits and gposing.

[strawberrycake]

It's sad to see that we keep coming to the same set on conclusions on a lot of these threads here on the forums and on xivdiscussions. The Core of the game is essentially, not doing well, we have no gear based progression outside of savage, we have no other forms of end game that require this gear outside ultimate, which not every raider cares to do, and we have no horizontal content. Our sync system is not used properly, Endsinger is one of the few bits of content that feels good to do due to how it is sync'd, and the lack of a dedicated grind and general midcore is a huge issues that's been rearing it's ugly head.

On top of this the two min meta is mathematically horrible for anyone who raids, mix that with the lack of content, and how little we get when we do get content, and you have our current issue. The devs need to stop being scared to take chances and not try to drop the onus on the players for their lack of further investigation on these issues in each region and how we all feel, and there are multiple ways to get this feed back.

And before you know it there will be another thread just like this one, where we all come to the same conclusions about why XIV isn't doing well, there has to be at least several threads where people have broken it down to where the core issues are, how to fix them, why this needs to change, So I wonder if they know how we feel about all of this. And before someone pulls the *people in NA always whine about this* I mean in china they're literally memeing the devs in their faces that these changes are useless and dumb, in JP they have no problem saying the Devs have no idea what they're doing with their own game, so now we see if they change up their tune.

[Astrus]

[...] Funny that the only time issues are taken seriously by fanboys is when it comes to crap like glamour, portraits and gposing.

That is likely because to a lot of people that "crap" is their (end)game and it's human nature to care about the things you value first and foremost.
Like, I wouldn't care if they shut down all the "venues" effective tomorrow but a significant portion of the playerbase enjoy those and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a significant overlap with people who wouldn't care if we never got another ultimate or savage tier.

The challenge is to get people to look at the whole picture and not just the parts that interest them.

edit:

[...] So I wonder if they know how we feel about all of this. [...]

The meme about the developers remaining blissfully unaware of the non-JP forums unless there's a fire hazard exists for a reason.
I'm not sure if any of the feedback really gets relayed to them unless it's really minor fixes, posts in specific Developer Question threads they do occasionally or there's major rioting on the forum.