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

[Maxthunder]

exactly this. AF is meant as just a starter set for the job. it's easy to get and takes very little work to get a full set of gear. sure, the set has some pieces that are good to use regardless of the crafted gear you have. the way the system is setup you have crafted gear with no melds, af that's a step up from regular crafted gear to start doing raids, then you go to multiple melded crafted gear, and finally you have dungeon drops. to get the best set for your class you need some of each.

look at white mage for example. for the best set of gear for your class you need a few crafted and melded gear, a few af pieces, and a few dungeon drops. this is the same for most jobs in that you need a few from each to be the best at your job. the best set that i have found is a melded wand, melded shield, af body, melded belt, dungeon dropped pants, af boots, dungeon dropped hands, af head, a few crafted accessories, a few dungeon dropped accessories, and some militia accessories.

the op comes off more of a complaint that you spent an hour getting a complete af set and you shouldn't have to put in the time to continue upgrading your gear beyond that. in a game that's constantly changing and will be for years there will always be upgrades over the current gear. i've spent millions getting the correct gear for each class and i know i will need to upgrade again and still have gear i am after that can upgrade my current gear even farther. this is the way it should be because when you get everything and have nothing to strive for this is when a game gets boring and people start looking for other games to play.

as far as war is concerned multi melded crafted gear is only a step towards the gear set you actually want for that class. it is a step up from af, but is nowhere near the use of a darklight set.

the only way the af body on blm is beaten is is you are using the militia from the hamlets.

Nicely put poet. The fact is it seems that some players if not 80% of the current player base want everything easy mode. A game is meant to challenge a player and if everything is EASY MODE than whats the point in playing? It also seems players want things handed to them instead of putting work into what ever it is they want and gear is the very best example of players not wanting to put effort into there avatars. I constantly see players running around in full af and low level jewlery and they expect to do the current endgame content (not to forget broken gear).

[RudyFails]

Nicely put poet. The fact is it seems that some players if not 80% of the current player base want everything easy mode. A game is meant to challenge a player and if everything is EASY MODE than whats the point in playing? It also seems players want things handed to them instead of putting work into what ever it is they want and gear is the very best example of players not wanting to put effort into there avatars. I constantly see players running around in full af and low level jewlery and they expect to do the current endgame content (not to forget broken gear).

Yes, yes and more yes.

I'm a casual player and even I'll say this game has already arrived at the lowest common denominator. If people's idea of endgame gear is running 15 minutes to western thanalan to open a chest then honestly, shut this shit down now and let's just go play candy land.

[Darkillumina]

The materia system is ass. This isn't a case of the game being easy mode or not, it boils down to bad design.

Let's break it down. Currently, anyone can get materia if they are patient enough to bind something. All they require after this point is some luck in melding it 3x. (RNG again) What this does is make it one of the most important sources of income for crafters but in turn puts the player-base at the mercy of melded gear and thus the crafters. If you theoretically have a LS of friends that hates crafting you have no recourse but to submit to the crafters. High end dungeon gear should never be outshone by melded gear. Ever.

Materia is a cool concept but it should be done differently. Currently, it is all based on RNG and heavily favors crafters (I know because I constantly pump out double and triple cobalts and sell them for outrageous prices). What SE needs to do is allow each piece of gear obtained in ANY way to come equipped with a set number of slots.[B] High end gear from dungeons has more slots than other stuff. In addition unique materia should drop from high end dungeons as well that is rare/ex as well as mats to produced unique gear.

When a materia is obtained, people can then slot it into their weapon or armor without fear of breakage (take it to a NPC who does it for a fee, or flag it to be slotted by a crafter for a fee as well. This adds customization and with the diminishing returns of materia that has been confirmed for 2.0, offers a chance for people to experiment and customize things to their own liking.

This system is equitable for everybody. Crafter's are utilized to make high end gear using rare drops obtained in dungeons, people aren't at the mercy of over-inflated every-day items by crafters just because they have a meld or two, and dungeon gear is kept important due to customization instead of being one-upped by cobalt that takes 2 minutes to make with a few materia stuck on. In addition crafter's can still make regular items slotted with materia to sell as well which would be fine alternatives to those who cannot do the Crystal Tower or whatever end-game they throw at us at 2.0 launch. The difference being of course, that this regular gear won't outshine the high end stuff due to the slotting system.

[Anakhu]

The gear you get for completing job quest 45-50.

ah I see, Thank you

[Cthulhu]

Well, I re-read your original post and subsequent ones and it became clear you want the AF buffed simply because you like the aesthetics of it. I thought I looked pretty sweet in that dodoskin subligar I had, but I out grew it. As far as crafted gear being better then drops from level 50 content, as I tried to point out in my post, it's not (with some exceptions). I see that you only have BLM and WAR at 50, so maybe that is what is forming your perception of this. BLM is probably the job that benefits most from multi-melds. WAR is a different story though. Go find the main tank from a high endgame linkshell on your server and check their gear. I'm guessing very little of it is multi-melded craft gear.

I sometimes feel like hitting my head on the wall after being on these forums.

Trust me, your not alone there.

[Medura]

everyone say melded gear shouldnt be outshone by dungeon gear etc. ok, cant we do this then? to get 2 materia into an item, you must also add the corresponding materia crystal (items dropped from dungeon bosses, specific materia crystals for specific items, sword, chest etc) this way you must do dungeons to get it, and its still a point of being crafter. Crafter is its own class, so it should be able to make BOS, BUT it should be combined with dungeons to do it

[Pyretta_Blaze]

everyone say melded gear shouldnt be outshone by dungeon gear etc. ok, cant we do this then? to get 2 materia into an item, you must also add the corresponding materia crystal (items dropped from dungeon bosses, specific materia crystals for specific items, sword, chest etc) this way you must do dungeons to get it, and its still a point of being crafter. Crafter is its own class, so it should be able to make BOS, BUT it should be combined with dungeons to do it

I would support something like this. I want crafting to be an important element in the game but not to outshine my adventuring accomplishments. If there was a way to let the 2 exist in harmony and support each other rather than one being inherently better and making the other obsolete it would be really cool.

Also, I actually looked at the AF armor and quests as the beginning of the Job system and not the end... Hopefully they will expand on what we currently have.

[Loony_BoB]

everyone say melded gear shouldnt be outshone by dungeon gear etc. ok, cant we do this then? to get 2 materia into an item, you must also add the corresponding materia crystal (items dropped from dungeon bosses, specific materia crystals for specific items, sword, chest etc) this way you must do dungeons to get it, and its still a point of being crafter. Crafter is its own class, so it should be able to make BOS, BUT it should be combined with dungeons to do it

This would leave one issue: Gatherers. If everyone gets their gear through dungeons, that's a significant chunk of gathering work you're throwing away. I genuinely think that SE have it right at the moment.

Put it this way: I'm a crafter, as is my girlfriend. We both really want darklight gear. Yes, some triple and quadruple melds are better, but with the price of the materia and the likelihood of losing untold amounts of gil being lost blowing things up, can we afford to triple/quadruple meld? No. So dungeon gear still has it's place. Maybe people with 50,000,000 gil to throw about can afford the effective triple or more melded gear, and perhaps those people will complain that it's too easy to get good crafted gear instead of darklight gear. But for most people, this is an unrealistic amount to pay for gear. They're better off finding a good group of people and having fun trying to get the drop that will make their gear that little bit better.

Crafters should have their endgame, too. This can be making triple or quad melds. The odds of getting darklight drops may be poor, but the time taken to not only make high level melded crafts but also to get the gil to buy the materia/mats for a hundred attempts may take a crafter longer than it takes you to get that drop.

[Ricky]

Double melds are about as "difficult" as full AF but I wish they would make the materia system better
For example, limiting materia by item, I know why they do this but then you get the new "AF helms" for DOL with materia slots, but no materia worth putting in because its too limited

[Loony_BoB]

Double melds are about as "difficult" as full AF but I wish they would make the materia system better
For example, limiting materia by item, I know why they do this but then you get the new "AF helms" for DOL with materia slots, but no materia worth putting in because its too limited

How many double melds are better than darklight/militia gear, out of curiosity?