Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Velhart]

" you stacked two stats instead of one and it's secondary stats were pretty much the same." What? What the hell are you even going on about? Did you even play XI? Just RDM had more stats and gears combinations than all the jobs in this game combined.

Played for 7+ years and yes, the stat system is nothing special. Just like almost every MMO, there was an optimal BiS setup and if you decided to go outside of the comfort zone in parties or didn't meet certain stat requirements, you were considered a gimp. Seen groups not invite a Samurai just because he had a NQ Haubergeon and not a +1.

Game was so well balanced with it's system that it took Puppetmaster and Beastmaster years to finally become relevant in the game.

~~~

Contrary to what some believe in here, and not criticizing horizontal progression, but it would not resolve the issue people are having in here. People griping over BiS and "have to do it this way to be relevant" will always be a thing no matter which way you take it. Vertical progression works for me because I don't feel like spending 7 years going to the same place trying to get certain gear....again. I understand that approach keeps content relevant the years to come. The major difference this time is, unlike FFXI, ARR is packing in new content at a heavy pace and no plans to slow down any time soon (has concept plans all the way to 4.0.) FFXI because of the PS2 limitations, did a lot to milk content for all it's worth. It certainly worked in that regard. ARR's with the amount they offer, keeping content relevant in that regard is more trouble than it is worth. The fact that a lot of the dungeons require going through for the story and mulitple jobs that come out that need to be leveled help keep previous content relevant to an extent. Not to mention, dungeons offer pretty awesome looking vanity that people are always after. Like I said, horizontal to me isn't bad, and if ARR's core was built to help cater to that style, it might work. However, it isn't set up like that and it just isn't going to happen. Color me impressed if it does however!

To SE's credit, they do a vertical progression with a somewhat horizontal approach to it. Like 2.2 released the new tier of gear, while 2.3 opened more options to obtain that tier of gear. Not many MMO's that do that.

You do realize that once everyone else gets sick of how shallow the game is and unsubs that they'll simply shut down the game and then you won't have anything, right? Telling people who are trying to give advice on how the game may be improved to simply "get out" is rude and unhelpful.

Criticism is fine, but people also have the right to agree with the direction SE takes. Heaven forbid people compliment the game or don't agree with the people who constantly cry in here for "change change change". I rather criticize and help improve systems that are currently in place, not tear down the wall and start over like a lot of people want in here. There is constructive criticism and destructive criticism. Dev's don't usually listen to destructive criticism unless it is in fact proven that an aspect of the game makes it completely broken.

KISS is mostly recognized as "Keep It Simple Stupid" - And it is meant to be applied in relation to over complicating things for no reason. Regardless, to apply KISS to a game is often really bad practice. It results in things like FFXIII where the game pretty much played itself and you watched cutscenes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle

Don't think that is how he meant it. Your example of FFXIII is called the "Press button to win" feature. I believe he was talking about keeping the gameplay simple and let the content itself be the difficult part. Like Mario, all you need to figure out is A is to jump, hold B to run, and direction pad takes you left/right and let the level design itself offer the challenge. If you let mechanics itself become to harder part of the game, you have to balance it with having the content around it eased up.