Whats the point of AF and other drops if you can buy/craft better?

[Wynn]

Hmm no one fighting my post, although the OP did acknowledge its basically what they were trying to say. Do I sense some agreement but no one wants to show it?

I do agree that melded gear should be better than AF, but not the actual endgame gear.

This has gone on to an AF Vs melds only discussion, which is half of what was mentioned.

If the dropped gear has the same drop rate as darklight and/or is extremely hard to get because the content is difficult I would agree with it being ON PAR with triple or less-melded crafted gear. Not better. If you marginalize the materia gear, there will be literally no reason to spend money on or even attempt make it.

[hrdndv]

I totally agree. For power you are stuck with just a few designs. When you want to build a costume... you can't. This is really crummy. You should be able to dress-up however you want and still have all the power.

Need ability to improve any gear.

Need to remove appearance restrictions.

[Firon]

I hate the fact melded gear beats almost all dungeon gear, tell me why do AV/CC/Primals if you can just farm/gather/craft your whole playtime and get better gear? This is a gear driven MMO better gear = better stats therefore you do your job better (as long as you know how to play your job) therefore if the better gear is from the wards with a few materia melded there is no reason to do the content.

FFXI had a very good way of doing this, leveling took a while (pre-abyssea) you needed new gear as you leveled and crafters made a good income, especially from HQ gear. Then when you got to 75 you would buy the entry level gear from the AH, then after some endgame runs you would start to get the better gear.

The problem in FFXIV has been that leveling is extremely fast, and to level efficiently all you needed was a new weapon whenever you could (see the naked/santa/bikini Ifrit runs) so people didn't mind if their armour was outdated, couple this with fast leveling where changing gear every 10 levels isn't worth it and crafters made little to no money, which is why the materia system came in, so people were blowing up loads of gear, they might not have crafts leveled so they have to buy gear just to blow up making the crafters loads of money. The problem is current endgame (yes for now it is endgame) obsolete as soon as it comes out because the high end double melds and triple melds beat the "new" gear.

The exception is the slots that no decent materia can be melded to (see head for DDs) and whilst darklight does beat the most common melds, it really isn't that hard to beat it with melds, I ran the numbers on the corselet set a while ago and I worked out to beat the pure stats of darklight it only takes mid level triple melds (I think it was high end tier 3 materia mostly) and there was the occasional tier 4 needed.

In ARR if this isn't sorted people will be complaining that to get some of the best gear available all they need to do is farm, farm and farm some more and people will quit over it. This is the only game I have played where crafted gear > endgame gear.

So much fail in this post, most melds can only beat one stat in raid gear that's like saying my triple meld vit body for pld is better than HDL body cause it has a lot of vit on it.... Most people go on thinking that meld gear beats all raid stuff which is crap, it's just they can't beat the content or never got it cause of RNG(like me).

[Babydoll]

Hmm no one fighting my post, although the OP did acknowledge its basically what they were trying to say. Do I sense some agreement but no one wants to show it?

I do agree that melded gear should be better than AF, but not the actual endgame gear.

This has gone on to an AF Vs melds only discussion, which is half of what was mentioned.

i agree with your posts in here 100%. I have no interest in my endgame being farm crafted stuff/spiritbind. I want real end game content where it can be part crafted part hnm/boss drops. Xi back in the day did it nicely.

[Kluya15]

I honestly, I really dislike a lot of the AF sets. They don't mesh with the overall aesthetic at all. The PLD gear looks like cheap plastic, the BLM stuff looks like that shitty cloth that makes up the average last minute Halloween costume, the DRG set just looks...well, silly. I understand they're supposed to be iconic, but ugh

Pretty sure I couldn't possibly disagree with you more. The dragoon AF looks silly and doesn't fit with the Final Fantasy look of the game? Have you ever played a Final Fantasy game before?

[Arximiro]

Transmutation stones like Guild Wars 2. Let us apply the skin of one armor to the stats of another, problem solved. Restrict it to gear that the class can actually wear though so Wars aren't running around in WHM AF skinned DD gear.

[Elexia]

Just wait until they reintroduce the concept of "Relic" AF and "Empyrean AF" along with their upgrades (+1-+3) then you'll see the point of them.

For now, they're just a nice reward for a storyline regarding your job, the AF isn't bad and stats are being reworked for ARR regardless, but of course melded gear is better in the long run, but as proven people can do pretty much all content AF or not (Yes including Garuda) since in this game your skill does matter a lot more than your gear, gear on a skillful player is just that much better.

[odintius]

I just think every gear should be meldable including AF and somewhat better system in place then current and the prices is retarded on markets imo lol.

[Wynn]

Just wait until they reintroduce the concept of "Relic" AF and "Empyrean AF" along with their upgrades (+1-+3) then you'll see the point of them.

For now, they're just a nice reward for a storyline regarding your job, the AF isn't bad and stats are being reworked for ARR regardless, but of course melded gear is better in the long run, but as proven people can do pretty much all content AF or not (Yes including Garuda) since in this game your skill does matter a lot more than your gear, gear on a skillful player is just that much better.

Too true.

Also, in before instance farming elitists get their panties in a bunch over you suggesting their uber gear is not as important as they try to make it out to be.

[Elexia]

Too true.

Also, in before instance farming elitists get their panties in a bunch over you suggesting their uber gear is not as important as they try to make it out to be.

Yeah I'm expecting fusional to be "physical hurt" since his whole livelyhood rests in a video game. Honestly though I just can't wait till they start introducing more sets, that's why I liked the Empyrean set the most in XI, it was upgradable and exactly how I picture upgrades to AF to be rather than slapping on materia and blowing up your AF.