A Variant of a Problem: Gearing

[LeCorbeaux]

My go-to solution for the tomestone cap wouldn't be to get rid of it, or raise it, but to add crafted gear of the same level. That gear would require tradable materials which come from a variety of top-level sources - dungeons, raids, PvP, gathering instances, Golden Saucer - all combined. And that together with materials from all the previous expansions, so that lower-level characters and alts have the means and reason to meaningfully contribute to the economy. So if you have the money, you can buy the gear, and if you don't (or don't want to spend it), you have multiple ways to grind for them.

[Valence]

My go-to solution for the tomestone cap wouldn't be to get rid of it, or raise it, but to add crafted gear of the same level. That gear would require tradable materials which come from a variety of top-level sources - dungeons, raids, PvP, gathering instances, Golden Saucer - all combined. And that together with materials from all the previous expansions, so that lower-level characters and alts have the means and reason to meaningfully contribute to the economy. So if you have the money, you can buy the gear, and if you don't (or don't want to spend it), you have multiple ways to grind for them.

I really dig the idea but you'd need more restraints else you're just removing the whole point of gearing up and progressing if you can just buy/craft it just like that and get all your jobs to max ilvl instantly.

[HyperiusUltima]

My go-to solution for the tomestone cap wouldn't be to get rid of it, or raise it, but to add crafted gear of the same level. That gear would require tradable materials which come from a variety of top-level sources - dungeons, raids, PvP, gathering instances, Golden Saucer - all combined. And that together with materials from all the previous expansions, so that lower-level characters and alts have the means and reason to meaningfully contribute to the economy. So if you have the money, you can buy the gear, and if you don't (or don't want to spend it), you have multiple ways to grind for them.

Crafted Gear is already a thing that drives economy, if not glamour items, so it doesn't make sense to add more to it when the economy is rolling along just fine. I think it's more important to note that if you were to add crafted gear of the same level, you'd have the problem of the system generating trash gear. Piety and Tenacity aren't really used for Tanks and Healers unless absolutely necessary, and Skill/Spell Speed is avoided like the plague for majority of jobs unless again, absolutely necessary.

There's a lot of clean-up they'd have to do to fix gear stats on the backend looking at it because I still remember hearing about how they gen their stats on gear. In general, gear choice should also point to a playstyle - whether it be a mix of gear or simply just a set of gear that pushes you in a direction. BLM wanting high Spell Speed? Then put a set of Casting Gear with Spell Speed on it. Don't want Spell Speed? Have a second set of gear that has Crit/Direct Hit on it. There needs to be more playstyles for each job to be able to expand the catalogue so to speak because otherwise, we'll wind up with one set winning overall and the masses merely following the "Best Gear" put out from the Balance.