Why are elite hunts so valuable? What are the devs thoughts?

[SendohJin]

It's not me that thinks that. It's the rest of the players in the game that insist you need the best gear at all times. Please read next time, thanks!

why would you expect people not to strive for better gear when they know it exists?

[Iriadysa]

I don't know if it's "broken" from a systemic point of view. Perhaps it's intended so that people simply gear up to 110 and make gear irrelevant for the 2.4 patch, who knows. I can, however, tell you one thing: it has made gearing a pointless activity for me, to the level where I don't even bother doing it anymore.

At least I enjoy frontlines, so there's that.

[kyuven]

One other thing: New players. The game has quite a large discrepancy between someone who is a fresh level 50 (who usually has an iLvl of around 48) and someone whose been in the endgame for quite a while (iLvl probably twice that).
This creates a rather irritating catch 22 for the new player that is STRONGLY alleviated by hunts: They need gear to qualify for dungeons, but for a time they're dead weight to any team they join. This is ESPECIALLY awful for healers and tanks, which are higher gear dependent. Can you imagine doing Brayflox HM with a "fresh" healer/tank and having the same expectations you would have for an experienced one?
And this is a problem that will only get worse as the game goes forward. Having a means to alleviate the process now makes it easier to deal with further down the line. It still takes time to earn the soldiery gear, it just takes LESS time to upgrade it.

[Dude]

Lets remember CT2 also gives Ilvl 100 gear. So hunts aren't the only easy way to gear up. This whole patch is about catching people up, which i guess upsets some people.

[ChiefCurrahee]

Lets remember CT2 also gives Ilvl 100 gear. So hunts aren't the only easy way to gear up. This whole patch is about catching people up, which i guess upsets some people.

Why do CT when hunts gives soldiery to buy iLvl 100, then directly upgrade it to iLvl 110. Plus there is a weekly lock out 1 piece of iLvl 100 from CT which by comparison doesn't make sense with the free for all that is Hunts.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be able to progress by doing hunts, I'm saying that the rewards from hunts should be balanced around other existing content in the game. Which it presently is not.

I'm genuinely interested in a dev response to explain how they feel it's balanced in the grand aspect of the game in it's current form.

[Roris]

Why do CT when hunts gives soldiery to buy iLvl 100, then directly upgrade it to iLvl 110. Plus there is a weekly lock out 1 piece of iLvl 100 from CT which by comparison doesn't make sense with the free for all that is Hunts

Welcome to the CT conundrum that has existed since the very first CT, mostly due to the fact that it was promised to be at launch then got delayed 4 months. By the time it was finally implemented a lot of people already had mostly full i90 on their main and even secondaries thus no real reason to get its inferior i80 gear, that's why it was advertised as "vanity" or a way to gear up other classes. The same exact thing applies to ST and doesn't really have anything to do with Hunts themselves, it's an issue with the entire game's itemization and design really.

[Giantbane]

Welcome to the CT conundrum that has existed since the very first CT, mostly due to the fact that it was promised to be at launch then got delayed 4 months. By the time it was finally implemented a lot of people already had mostly full i90 on their main and even secondaries thus no real reason to get its inferior i80 gear, that's why it was advertised as "vanity" or a way to gear up other classes. The same exact thing applies to ST and doesn't really have anything to do with Hunts themselves, it's an issue with the entire game's itemization and design really.

It would be awesome if there was another path to i110 for ST & Primal gear. Doesn't have to be sands, and it doesn't even have to be right now. But *something* before 2.4 hits so that getting the ST & primal gear didn't feel so "useless" because you'd be able to upgrade it later, same as the weathered gear.

[Black91CRX]

Why do CT when hunts gives soldiery to buy iLvl 100, then directly upgrade it to iLvl 110. Plus there is a weekly lock out 1 piece of iLvl 100 from CT which by comparison doesn't make sense with the free for all that is Hunts.

I realize a lot of people already have their soldiery gear but it is weekly capped. So for newer players, CT is still viable.

[Roris]

All the other content is still there, people who avoided Coil or can't get into a static and don't like PFing still won't go into Coil, if you're already doing Coil you can beat it in less than an hour or two and potentially get sands and oils faster than running around maps. If you're already doing Coil you either already have all the best things from there or if you're unlucky and haven't gotten anything in weeks then Hunts can complement your weekly Coil loot. People are still doing ST, other dungeons, primals, Frontlines and what not, I really see no issue. In 3 months none of this gear will be relevant anymore anyway, if anything all this just shows the flaws of vertical progression, relying too much on instanced content and the best gear being found only in dungeons.

[Luvbunny]

The problem is that reward ratio does not scale up. Hunting party has become the FATE party of 2013. If they advertise this as casual activities then it should have the least amount of rewards compared to dungeon. All they need to do is revamp the dungeon rewards of the lower level dungeons so that it's easier for you to play catch up gear wise to at least level 90. Look, it's a grind, we all know it, Hunting Grind is much faster reward in comparison to the actual dungeon grinds. All they have to do is give us Allied Seals reward on dungeons, and for every mini boss you clear before the big boss, you get multiplier, so if you clear them all, your reward is far greater than doing hunts.