A suggestion to keep normal raids relevant for longer:

[Aco505]

They could make the gear dyeable, then it would have at least some kind of value.

Agreed. Savage could have different dye patterns or colors as a result or (toggleable?) effects as was the case for Abyssos and Anabaseios.

[Valence]

Dyable has always been savage treat since the beginning of the normal/savage tiers in 2015, that's not going to change. It's just one encouragement to do the content, just like how they won't give you two same tome level rings, you will need the savage ring until the midway patch when more options open.

Raiders do actually raid for dyable equipment? I can't say I've heard a single one say they were after this, but maybe your mileage may vary I guess.

[DarkOmegaGod]

If you don't do savage/ultimate then iLvl does absolutely nothing for you. It's a fake reward. Gearing up as a casual is an absolute waste of time.

[Kaurhz]

If you don't do savage/ultimate then iLvl does absolutely nothing for you. It's a fake reward. Gearing up as a casual is an absolute waste of time.

Necessary no?

But beneficial, yes.. On multiple levels. So the whole "If you don't do savage or ultimate, then it does nothing for you" is frankly irrelevant.

Besides, pretty ridiculous to have the normal raid gear be equivalent item level to crafted gear with how accessible crafted gear is, whilst the former is locked behind a weekly loot lockout.

[Ankhira]

If you don't do savage/ultimate then iLvl does absolutely nothing for you. It's a fake reward. Gearing up as a casual is an absolute waste of time.

Except, it's still an MMO/JRPG. Gearing is kind of important in those games. I'm not advocating to give people max ilv for no effort but to have multiple avenues where people can work towards getting better gear instead of just having savage.

That or they could loosen the tome cap.

[Nyastra]

I had to buy gear to be a high enough ilvl to do the raids (tbh, my own fault cause I wasn't gearing up as I should have been but...) now that I have my main jobs sorted (by buying gear) I was like wait why am I doing the raids :/ so generally just start upgrading other jobs with raid gear which doesn't really have a sense of urgency. On the off chance that we get a music scroll drop that's nice at least.

[Nyastra]

If you don't do savage/ultimate then iLvl does absolutely nothing for you. It's a fake reward. Gearing up as a casual is an absolute waste of time.

I disagree. Because ultimately, everything is locked behind iLvl eventually. Yes, normal raids, alliance raids, dungeons. Albeit on different levels.

[Valence]

If you don't do savage/ultimate then iLvl does absolutely nothing for you. It's a fake reward. Gearing up as a casual is an absolute waste of time.

Technically gearing up does nothing for you in savage either since it's clearable with basic ilvl from the tier - normal raid, crafted, you name it. All gearing up is going to do is making it easier for reclears. Same for casual content, makes it even more brainless to reclear once you gear up.

The only content that requires gearing up is Ultimates, at least at release.

( yes I fully agree that gearing and itemization in this game has reached rock bottom )

[Uzephi]

I agree and I'd like them to have a way to get dumbed down versions of the savage weapons as well. Weapons suffer from the same problem that outside of savage, it's only tomes, tomes tomes and more tomes and no other alternative or choice. It's boring, it doesn't offer incentives beyond spamming roulettes and be done with it.

Having something equal to unaugmented tomes for the even patches would go a great way for casual players to things to chase after or just customize their gear.
They could then raise alliance raid gear to augmented tome level as well, because savage is already old and past its time when odd patches come up anyway - and augmented tomes are accessible to casual players there as well.

As another stated: you have relics. You also have EX weapons. Let's also not forget the crafted (770) and augmented crafted that will be 780 (similar to non-augmented tome gear ilvl) when they release a bit later.

[ShadowyZero]

->Make it Dyeable
-> Give the Savage Mode version 5 or 6 materia slots
->Add the Mounts to casuals for 99tokens same as Extreme Trials or have be a 5% limited drop for last fight of the tier

if they do those 3 things it will make the normal raids last many times longer then they would have because then they have actual reason and incentive to want to run the same raids over and over for these pieces of gear if they feel like they are getting something good out of it. and with the savage mode just being better over all in terms of stats and functionality it wouldn't encroach on the players rewards for savage.
as for the weapons i think what they should do is offer players a replica version for glamours like allow for people to trade the tomestone item thats supposed to be for an upgraded tomestone weapon also be used to obtain a replica weapon of the savage tier weapons this i feel like would make a good balance without ruining any of the savage core players experience in obtaining the gear sets or pieces from savage.