Skill-Specific Gear

[Eagleheart]

No, it's entirely linear. I guess, lemme take another shot at this though.
EDIT: I feel like I near-literally repeated myself like three separate times during this @_@

And it is precisely because of the tightly-controlled environment that Dev Team is now doing a bit of backpedaling and saying "okay, so we're going to look at this."

Basically, if the Devs cannot think of a way to provide varied skill conditioning and tuning in their battle system, they are simply not spending enough time on it. Yes, I say this as an armchair general. I've played many MMOs. Balance was always difficult, and required tuning and re-tuning, and more re-tuning. Balance was never fully achieved, but neither was the attempt at diversification completely abandoned. Dev Team may be coming around on this, and I do hope so, because, at the end of the day, the stuff they have given out already simply isn't enough to keep the hardcore people at it. O.o Subs will come in waves with primary patches, and that's a danger that Yoshida has already remarked upon as well.

With regards to Coil Gear, it is largely unobtainable by the playerbase, so the illusion of choice, false or not, is even further dispelled. o_O The way Coil is structured prevents people from helping their friends along with it, unless they are part of a regular crew going once per week. The entry limitations mean that lots of people, a solid half-dozen from my own small LS, simply quit because they are weary of attempting to get through Coil with bickering, back-biting pickups. I realize that your point here is that the Coil gear is largely unimportant, because the choice is, again, minute in scope, but it is there. It's something. It is insufficient, but it is a start; a start that is screwed over by entry limitations, which is an (unrelated) social issue as well. @_@ So lacking Coil gear, having only Soldiery to do for the week, and (fairly or not) lots of people turning their nose up at Atma farming (which, honestly, I do not think is that bad - having spent many hours at it myself, make no mistake) the playerbase goes o.o "Eh. I'll be back for the next story missions, I guess" and books it.

They can't even work at spendy, high-end crafted stuff, because the crafted stuff is kept weak. o_O Also, there was not a single weapon for i90 in the "New Crafting Recipes." Yeah, thanks, Dev Team, I leveled Blacksmith so I could craft retainer bells. That is exactly what I had in mind when you showed me the shiny smithy, full of giant furnaces and smelted ingots, and spoke of crafting exquisite weapons. Unless I get to take that damn retainer bell into battle, I'm going to have to write this one down as poppycock.

...My little trip through the Valley of Embitterment aside, the situation with itemization is untenable. >.> Heavy-handed supervision is an understandable instinct, but as .38 Special once remarked, "if you cling too tightly, you're gonna lose control."

Also, the removal of the elemental wheel was the single most annoying thing Yoshida's ever done. O_o Now I must gnaw my desk in anger at the bitter memory.

[Malamasala]

I'm scarred for life from FF11 skill based bonuses.

Pick SMN, get your endgame gear bonuses as "Enhanced cures", "MAB", "Conserve MP", "Fast cast". Not to mention the best classic of -BP timer (btw we cap you at -15 (25%), while we cap haste at 60% cutoff).

I'd consider balance restored if they added some PLD and WAR and WHM armors with "Enhanced carbuncle power" or something else ridiculous.

[Renik]

Tell me something Garlyle (and other ppl against specialized stats) this is what the playerbase want, they have feedback, it has been asked, and Yoshi said they will implement it keeping the balance, yes it may be useless, but it adds more fun and customization, even if it's an illusion, the only reason i see to reject it is to avoid thinking which piece or gear is better, in other words, only players who want to play the hallway game and be always railed safety rejects this system.

The actual system is destined to change, because there are no epic pieces of gear, there's no emotion, most ppl ignores coil, not because it's hard, it's just not worth the effort, put a piece with an awesome specific stat, and even if it doesn't make any big difference the players will want it, because that's what attracts the playersbase, not a different stat nor a higher number.

We are giving feedback and asking for changes to improve the game because it's not perfect, and a gear system based on pure stats, it's a poor, bad and lazy design, and the "balance" is just a excuse.

[Eagleheart]

Also, I still want to scream from the rooftops that there needs to be a damned reason for gear to have rarity labels.

I mean, really.

C'MON NOW!

[Garlyle]

Tell me something Garlyle (and other ppl against specialized stats)

Where'd you get the idea I was against it, because I specifically went out of my way at the end of both posts to say I want to see more done with it, and would be happier even if (maybe especially if) it wasn't actually significant, because yes, it does 'feel' better and more interesting. I just, at the end of the day, agree with Yoshida's decision that this shouldn't come at the penalty of overwhelming players with false choice.

Because, at the end of the day, the stuff they have given out already simply isn't enough to keep the hardcore people at it.

The matter of coil damaging player interest and the lack of variety in endgame content is a somewhat different discussion than the potential impacts of gear. If anything, it's kind of a point - it's already enough of a frustration point for the playerbase that the highest tier of gear is Coil-locked. Imagine if, in the long run, you still had to do it because unique effects on it were just too good to ignore even when we hit 2.4 and another 20 item levels of content are added. I can't speak for others, but personally, I'd find that situation irritating, and I enjoy the challenge of coil.

But that's my stance. Live letter's up, I've been going too long here.

[NovaUltimatum]

Your potential problems are just laziness, not real issues.

- The large description issue is probably not that major but is more of a system display one, rather than a user not bothering to read one.

- The inventory issue is actually very much a possibility and is actually caused not from being lazy but rather the opposite. Players would actually have to go out of their way to have a full deck of gear/items to accommodate for each situational battle.

[Renik]

- The large description issue is probably not that major but is more of a system display one, rather than a user not bothering to read one.

- The inventory issue is actually very much a possibility and is actually caused not from being lazy but rather the opposite. Players would actually have to go out of their way to have a full deck of gear/items to accommodate for each situational battle.

Yeah and that's what we had to do in previous MMOs, QoL is important but we are getting it to an extreme to the point you're asking for more inventory so you don't have to go back to your home to change your inventory, this may seem normal to you, but these small details will turn this game into an arcade with a big lobby.

Where'd you get the idea I was against it, because I specifically went out of my way at the end of both posts to say I want to see more done with it, and would be happier even if (maybe especially if) it wasn't actually significant, because yes, it does 'feel' better and more interesting. I just, at the end of the day, agree with Yoshida's decision that this shouldn't come at the penalty of overwhelming players with false choice.

Yeah sorry i was reading too fast, wanted to watch the LL, and Yoshi may be right, but in the end it's just another excuse. It will only be a false choice if they make it that way.

Let's say they make a stat that is "shield bash +10" the meaning of that +10 is 1 more second of stun(i assume you know how it works, 4>3>2>1>resist, this would add 1s to every hit with a cap of +15=1.5s), it will be a minor advantage but a skilled pld could use that second to cast a SS or stop a boss after losing hate, or may save his life giving the healer a chance to heal him.

It's just a second, but it can be useful w/o being gamebreaking, and none will expect every pld to have this, and more important i'll fell good.

[Taaku]

There was an idea on these fourms awhile back, it was something along the lines of having the trait's on armors (such as Enhances fists of wind or whatever) , and allowing you to spiritbond it (or maybe some other kind of bar) once you did that you could "learn" the trait. and using a menu you'd be able to set a certain number of traits on your character. (i think they also said something about certain traits having different costs and you could not exceed a certain amount.)

Sort of like a Trait version of how BLU worked in XI i guess, though it was inspired by FFIX.

I personally enjoyed the general concept though it could probably use some tweaking and whatnot.