Finally tried WoW

[Shurrikhan]

The "borrowed power" thing in WoW isn't just about item level, it's the actual extra abilities and the like that become a core part of each expansion, and then disappear the next one....

So... like our secondary stat percentages and job distinction, which is literally all of the customization available to us... except that agency also gets less and less with each expansion while borrowed powers instead refine themselves and generally become (between themselves and whatever is made part of the "general" experience) more and more customizable.

Here in XIV, we start each expansion with less agency, less customization. Over time we gradually get back to what we had. And then we reset back to very little.

It just happens to be the bare minimum version of that, instead of attempting anything experimental (and learnable from) or thematic to the given expansion.

Keep in mind, the Reshii Wraps cloak comes with that there will be no other cloak drops for that patch content - Making it the ONLY choice by design.

With the ring and belt you were able to out-do its performance by high end drops, but the wraps are basically forced upon you with no alternative.

As with the ring and belt before, you get to choose exactly the secondaries/bonuses you want, same as if you had the luck enough to loot every cloak in the game at the highest possible upgrade tier and then choose between them... You're not losing any customization there. It's just an RNG-less catch-up drop that makes crafting more important.

It's more deterministic gearing with more social/economical interaction. And this is what we choose to demonize?