[ Dev's ] Gear Swaps Can I have It?

[Duelle]

gw2 also has a static job system, so changing weapon isnt that big a deal. It also doesnt use TP.

This. Massive difference given that resources are not so directly tied to weapons. Warriors in WoW could switch from a Two-hander to Sword and Board and retain their resource (rage). Rogues used to keep an offhand weapon with anesthetic poison (which basically removes any berserk effects when used on an enemy) that they would swap in at certain times and retained their combo points. That won't work here because everything you are capable of is tied to your weapon.

even with that though, making that type of system means there will be no minuses to gears like gear that slows you down etc.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. You begin to tread on that situational gear territory when you add conditions like that (or even worse, like the job-specific lv50 rings in XI) and negatives. I'm sure the item design guys can come up with something that works and is a real upgrade without having to rely on negatives and such. At least, I'd hope so.

Because Super Cosplay War Ultra would be a poor MMO.

I like you.

[Roll]

ok ok here something you should have learned in FFXI so it seems u joined after abyssea you can make cure macro's to a player

/ma "Cure IV" <p1> and so on and in alliance <a1> <a2> etc etc ... so blinking wouldnt effect in any way because the code would find player either blinking or not hehhehehehe nice try go back get brady games handbook LMAO

Ok homie i was saying it was an example now Amage or A mage as you say never played a mage hmmmmmmmmmmm

ohh here an example
90 PLD MNK WAR 75 BRD SAM w/ all different sets for these jobs + Dring
2nd character 75 BLm WHM RDM brD SMN MAIN WAS BLM ALL GeAR HQ AND endgame

all sets of gear swaps and everything not an elite by no means i just was schooled in the way of my jobs

You claim you leveled BLM, WHM, RDM, BRD, and SMN to 75 and yet you tell us to make 6-18 macros for a single Cure spell?
Problem solved! Everyone make 6-18 macros for Cure III and 6-18 more for Cure IV!
I like how you know so much about how mages are supposed to macro spells and yet your THM is 12 and your CON is 26 while your ARC is 50. I know that it's a different game but anyone can say they leveled everything to 75 in XI and have no proof either lol

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

No thank you. This sounds like a lot of pointless work and for people who level everything like I do I would need atleast 400 slots in my inventory for all situation, again no thx.

+1, but can we get a 400-slot inventory anyway?

That's not necessarily a bad thing. You begin to tread on that situational gear territory when you add conditions like that (or even worse, like the job-specific lv50 rings in XI) and negatives. I'm sure the item design guys can come up with something that works and is a real upgrade without having to rely on negatives and such. At least, I'd hope so.

Drawbacks on gear aren't necessarily bad. True, Hecatomb (Slow% gear) had a drawback so heavy you couldn't use it fulltime, but then there's stuff like the Rune Chopper (drains MP, Haste+ Acc+ Atk+) that was awesome. Rune Chopper's drawback took planning (need an MP pool) and effort (Refresh, from other gear or from juice) to surmount, but when you made your build around it it was pretty awesome.

I hope that the gear upgrade path in XIV is reminiscent of XI's at least in balance. Nothing's stupider than all your endgame gear being made obsolete by the common drops of the newest expansion.

You claim you leveled BLM, WHM, RDM, BRD, and SMN to 75 and yet you tell us to make 6-18 macros for a single Cure spell?
Problem solved! Everyone make 6-18 macros for Cure III and 6-18 more for Cure IV!
I like how you know so much about how mages are supposed to macro spells and yet your THM is 12 and your CON is 26 while your ARC is 50. I know that it's a different game but anyone can say they leveled everything to 75 in XI and have no proof either lol

Getting all jobs to 75 is nothing for someone claiming to have all the gear in the game, in HQ. Not using Cure V on an endgame WHM is fishy though.

[Duelle]

I hope that the gear upgrade path in XIV is reminiscent of XI's at least in balance. Nothing's stupider than all your endgame gear being made obsolete by the common drops of the newest expansion.

As someone who has done the gear grind twice, I don't see what the problem is. The sidegrades we saw while the cap was stuck at 75 for all those years didn't do much.

That being said, the problem with gear that has drawbacks is that it could possibly have very limited use. Rune chopper made no sense seeing how the game was designed, specially since Refresh was such a rare commodity before they started giving out refresh gear like candy post-TAU.

It'd be a different story if we were talking about pieces of gear with certain bonuses that were in effect in conjunction with other buffs/debuffs.

[Dekken]

I have to admit, I did enjoy making builds for different situations and abilities. Doing the research and making the effort to get the gear was rewarding, but in XIV I would prefer something a little less complex and more realistic. I don't want to have a separate mile long macro of gear swaps just to do a weaponskill. I shouldn't have to download 3rd party software just to simplify the act of gear swapping while using an ability. Also the unrealistic aspect of changing your wardrobe every 3 seconds, as many have already stated above, is annoying. The act of blinking through gear sets takes away from the visual effects of the game. Especially when you switch into a mismatched set of gear that makes you look like a colorblind dullard who got lost in a renaissance fair.

The only thing that I could think of that might satisfy both sides of this debate would be the ability to change out gear augmentations. Something along the lines of runes, crystals or materia that fit into slotted gear that can be changed at will. It would be something that would not cause blinking and the slot items could have their own inventory window much like crystals already do. It could also add a sense of customization to preferred armor sets and maybe even the ability to level up the slotted items while they are equipped. Gaining these items could create the same kind of competitive or cooperative environments people enjoyed in XI's endgame. This isn't really something I would like to be implemented, but just a thought.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

As someone who has done the gear grind twice, I don't see what the problem is. The sidegrades we saw while the cap was stuck at 75 for all those years didn't do much.

That being said, the problem with gear that has drawbacks is that it could possibly have very limited use. Rune chopper made no sense seeing how the game was designed, specially since Refresh was such a rare commodity before they started giving out refresh gear like candy post-TAU.

It'd be a different story if we were talking about pieces of gear with certain bonuses that were in effect in conjunction with other buffs/debuffs.

At 75cap, there were really two things holding sidegrades back:

1. The first "endgame" gear was really really good all around, so sidegrades were pretty much impossible. Osode, Haidate, and abjuration: how do you top that?
2. Post-Zilart, stats on gear were apparently determined by random generators.

I agree that a lot of those sidegrades didn't help, and the few that did were a little too helpful, such as Homam giving Haste to PLD and changing the game entirely.

When it comes to gear and sidegrades, S-E really needs to take a page from Valve's book and set up a test server. Not an internal test server, but something that actually puts equipment in the hands of the most ruthlessly efficient people you can find: the players. We have years of experience in breaking games and finding exploits, so let us try out your new equipment and break it for you.

Rune Chopper required a supply of yag juice to be used effectively, but even Sanction in ToAU was enough to keep it going 50%. You are right though that its effective period really only came much later in the game when Refresh was common, but it was still a very effective weapon if you were prepared to keep Refresh on.

So let's change the subject. Ares' Flanchard. Decent pants for WAR, with +DA%, STR/DEX, and Set Bonus: +DA. The drawback is that they're not Byakko's Haidate. Obviously if you have both you'd TP in Haidate and WS in Ares, but if you couldn't gear swap then what are you going to wear?

[Duelle]

So let's change the subject. Ares' Flanchard. Decent pants for WAR, with +DA%, STR/DEX, and Set Bonus: +DA. The drawback is that they're not Byakko's Haidate. Obviously if you have both you'd TP in Haidate and WS in Ares, but if you couldn't gear swap then what are you going to wear?

Depends on what the rest of the gear on you is like, what the hit cap you're trying to meet is and so on. Granted, you'd have to stick to WS that scale with STR/DEX to get the most out of it, which is also good and dandy with me. That sort of thing encourages proper balancing rather than the insane stat stacking that I am against.

[_C-a-e-r-i-t-h_]

Depends on what the rest of the gear on you is like, what the hit cap you're trying to meet is and so on. Granted, you'd have to stick to WS that scale with STR/DEX to get the most out of it, which is also good and dandy with me. That sort of thing encourages proper balancing rather than the insane stat stacking that I am against.

Exactly. When you select your gear your thought process is, "This set gives me better damage on WS and better per-hit damage, but the other set has haste and slightly better accuracy, hmm...." Then you have to consider who your party has, and what mobs you're going up against, what food you're going to use, etc. You can still do insane stat stacking if you want to, but a properly-balanced adventurer should always outperform.

[Synfrag]

Everyone hates on Equip macros but honestly it added additional complexity to the game which was good. Most of the people who don't like it either did not have the gear to do it or had issues with the fundamental realism of it. Mind you I said most not all.

As long as that complexity is there and we don't end up with another skill mashing game then it would be best to run without it.

lol @ WS equip macros, I'm sure a lot of melee people played BLM or RDM too. Setting up macros for a BLM with Staves, Obis and ENF/MAB/MACC/INT/+HMP sets was a pain in the ass. Especially before you learned to upload your macros to the server...

[Skeloton]

had issues with the fundamental realism of it.

ok so what's fundamentally realistic about it? because this doesnt:

"Hold on guess I need to get completely undressed and then put on this new outfit to cast one spell!"