Current End Game Doesn't Mesh Well With Multiple Jobs/Classes

[Fendred]

I think there needs to be some revisions done to how gear is designed if the intent is to keep with the current lockout model. It is very difficult to gear up multiple classes, even if they fulfill the same role, when we have a cap on the amount of currency to buy job specific equipment and the kind of stuff that we can roll on during a raid only appears once in a blue moon.

My original plan was to use Crystal Tower to gear up a damage dealer or tank while I use Coil to gear up my White Mage, since I already have an ilvl90 equipped scholar. I have not seen a single piece of allagan main body, gloves, boots, or circlet for healers drop in four weeks, which has now forced me, to my frustration, to give up on gearing up a bard to instead continue gearing up yet another healing class.

I think a different system for distributing end game equipment needs to be explored in order to find something more compatible for a game that encourages players to build up multiple jobs. No one wants to be stuck doing the same role at end game for months on end.

[Orophin]

I think a different system for distributing end game equipment needs to be explored in order to find something more compatible for a game that encourages players to build up multiple jobs. No one wants to be stuck doing the same role at end game for months on end.

They don't want you getting all the gear you want within a few weeks and unsubscribing though. Since content can be consumed at such a rapid pace from those that can play more often than others, loot lockouts are the only way they can pace people. The alternative would be to go back to game systems from 10 years ago where the time to accomplish anything was artificially extended and create 1% droprates for stuff.

[Fendred]

They don't want you getting all the gear you want within a few weeks and unsubscribing though. Since content can be consumed at such a rapid pace from those that can play more often than others, loot lockouts are the only way they can pace people. The alternative would be to go back to game systems from 10 years ago where the time to accomplish anything was artificially extended and create 1% droprates for stuff.

That is a lame cop out. The game supports multiple jobs per a single character. Your excuse only makes sense for a game like World of Warcraft where you only have one role per character. People are not going to jump out of the game when they can still gear up the 2-3 alt jobs they have available to them. Not to mention they still need to learn how to do the fight as the other jobs.

More importantly, why would you even care about the marketing reasons? We're talking about the game, and more important, that is some shitty game design if that is why they did it, because it has nothing to do with creating a fun or interesting game. Yes, I already assumed that is why they did it (you didn't even need to tell me... I played WoW for years before this...), but I find it mind boggling that people even bring it up. Whether they did it to artificially lengthen the game experience or not has nothing to do with whether it is a GOOD IDEA.

[Dotsusama]

I am all for any system that rewards time and effort spent with something tangible and not just a simple "oh well, you didn't get your drop this week, try again next week!" because I would probably burn out very quickly.

The game already gives you the option of gearing up alt jobs on a class other than the one you have at 50, or are even using in the dungeons at the time, so the only way to make this at all compatible would be to add tokens to fights, or make EVERYTHING purchasable with some kind of currency like Tomes and Marks. And even then they would just cap, to which point people would complain about the caps.

[Poosammich]

IMO currently its very easy to gear up toons.... Not quite sure what the issue is here. You want all of your alts i90 NOW!!?? Don't get me wrong I understand the want to gear up alts.... Its a very nice strength that FF has had in both MMO iterations. However, complaining that you have to run around in DL on your alt!? That's a bit jaded IMO. Now if you were speaking specifically of CT that loot system is a serious aggravation, and a token system in place there would work wonders in my eyes.

[Fendred]

Ok, I was a little overly aggressive in my last post. While I disagree with the idea that they must do what they are currently doing to get people to stay longer, I more so dislike it that people have begun considering it to be normal.

[Poosammich]

Its considered normal because its flat out RNG. Some WHM are getting the drop on their first run I assure you. In fact on my second coil run both T1, and T2 drops were healing pieces. I feel your pain. In a previous game that shall not be named I ran the same raid over, and over, and over for 7 weeks before getting any healing gear. On the 7th week however no one had enough DKP to even roll against me, and picked up 4 of the 7 pieces in one run. They may want to look at a token system, but every system has a short side. The short side to RNG is that some folks just have garbage luck.

[HaelseMikiro]

It seems a few months late in the game for this argument. Sure, I have 6 jobs at 50. I love gearing up my alts. But I think the current speed of gearing up is just fine. Ex Primals if anything just made things a ton easier. A person who puts their nose to the grindstone could reach ilvl 81 in 2 weeks after dinging 50. Assuming they get 1 i90 gear on their left side, either as a coil drop or from myth. Either will do. That is adequate for ALL current game content, with the possible exception of Turn 5. I'll admit that a group of 8 people all at exactly ilvl 81 might be able to do that also. I'm not sure, and I don't care enough to try it.
Yes SE is bottlenecking people from being able to BiS all of their jobs in between updates. But that's fine. You should still be able to manage the resources you've been given to have several jobs geared to conquer everything by the time new content comes out.

[Kabooa]

Being encouraged to choose a class you want to focus gear on to isn't bad game design.

[Orophin]

Being encouraged to choose a class you want to focus gear on to isn't bad game design.

It is when the game is marketed towards being able to play every class. They just leave out the fine print of "don't expect to have every job completely geared while that content is relevant though."

And Fendred, I wasn't trying to argue with you or condone how things are handled right now, I was simply making an observation. I've seen how things work in other games, and more recently what they did in 1.0 to keep people repeating the content and staying subscribed. I'm not saying what SE is doing is the right thing for players, but it does make sense from a business perspective. I'm pretty sure if most people had the ability to farm Coil everyday (which sounds like will be an option in 2.2, after it's no longer the cutting edge content) many people would have simply unsubscribed by now for a complete lack of anything to do. Right now, many people have stayed subscribed (which keeps SE paid) to do their weekly Primal/Coil runs and cap their Myth.