Thank you Hvinire, I'm very glad to hear the Echo buff will be optional.
Related, may you please look over this thread & politely ask them to reconsider having no current plans to award pre-Echo/Unlock contenders?
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...se#post1820725
I'm not one to reward elitists or 'hardcores over casuals', but you have to consider... the many, many hours and weeks spent over farming for pieces pre-Echo/Unlock, only to have everything homogenize post-2.2, it can be disheartening for many.
As a fair & equitable compromise, the "rewards" are very miniscule, especially the 'slightly different color palette' one.
Additionally, I know MMO's haven't ever historically done this in the past ("your reward is you get to do the next tier-content sooner than the rest!" or "you already have the gear, why do you care that others now have easy-access to it, get over it!")... I just don't think it 'has' to be done like that still.
Honestly, a slightly different coloration to the same armor items for pre-Echo/Unlock isn't much to ask to 'honor' the legacy of players that spent countless hours grinding away for those pieces while it was still tough & lockout still existed.