Can we please

[Ephremjlm]

It's not an "arbitrary" barrier - it's set based on the strength of the enemies in the particular dungeon/raid/etc. so that some people aren't simply getting one-shot by everything while contributing nothing and relying on others to just carry them through.

Compared to other MMO's out there, FFXIV is extremely friendly to returning players. Catch-up crafted gear is updated every couple patches, and previous high-level tomestone gear that is still sufficient for doing the latest content is moved to the "middle" tier of tomestone that has no weekly farming cap. Compare that to other games where you have to do things like run the previous tier raid over and over as the only real source of gear needed to do the current content.

Other suggestion - if you've got all that dungeon gear lying around from just runs you've done...encourage your mates to just do a few dungeon runs of their own, and they should likewise get plenty of sufficient gear.

FFXIV is much easier than most games for "catching up" after taking a break, but you still need to catch up. It doesn't mean you can expect to come back and immediately hit the new level of content after a long break with absolutely no preparation whatsoever. You still need to put in a little time to catch up - it's just much easier and quicker to do here compared to other MMO's.

I think you misunderstood my point completely. I never said FFXIV had poor catch up mechanics. I never said FFXIV wasn't easier than most other games. Our FC spans from coast to coast and some of us like myself have to be up at 5am for work, and if they don't get off until 8pm my time and we want to play together, then the ability to simply trade otherwise useless dungeon gear (my only real point in all of this) is an unnecessary barrier, that made things far more complicated than it needed to be.

The ability to trade dungeon gear literally doesn't break anything in the game, and I used all the points I brought up as support for that.

[Striker44]

I think you misunderstood my point completely. I never said FFXIV had poor catch up mechanics. I never said FFXIV wasn't easier than most other games. Our FC spans from coast to coast and some of us like myself have to be up at 5am for work, and if they don't get off until 8pm my time and we want to play together, then the ability to simply trade otherwise useless dungeon gear (my only real point in all of this) is an unnecessary barrier, that made things far more complicated than it needed to be.

The ability to trade dungeon gear literally doesn't break anything in the game, and I used all the points I brought up as support for that.

I see where you're going now. It looks like you've had to respond to a bunch of people here who aren't quite understanding the point you're trying to make, so perhaps step back a moment and consider if the original post maybe wasn't as clear as it sounded in your mind. From reading through it initially, it sounds like your primary complaint is about not being able to get sufficient gear right away, and that the dungeon gear thing is just one little piece of your complaint rather than the main focus. I'd recommend mentioning dungeon gear in the title of the thread or at least in the very first paragraph - I think that would make it more likely for people to understand the point you're actually trying to make.

Also, when you spend an entire paragraph saying things like "I thought this game was supposed to be friendly to those who take breaks" and then detailing a series of hoops you feel you and your friends need to jump through, that's definitely at the very least implying if not directly claiming the game has poor catch-up mechanics. Just saying.