In what direction are armor, weapons, and other equipment heading in the future?

[Antarek]

I don't understand what's the purpose of this letter.

Where is the difficulty in letting people having the option to choose whatever appearance the want to have and having the best possible stats from equipment?

Many other MMORPG have answered to this question by introducing a second equipment panel that is used for displaying stuff. So you got your first equipment panel to put equipments with good stats in it and a second one to put equipemnt that have a design that you like. Resulting in having stats from equipments from the 1st panel and displaying stuff from equipments sloted in the second panel.

This is the way it works on LoTRO, AOC since a couple of weeks and WoW (not sure if this option has been released yet or if it's going to be released in the next update). So just do the same in FFXIV and we ll be happy. No need to write such a long letter for such a simple to solve problem...

[Lilith]

Concerning the example of a mage in full-plate gear: IMHO, if a mage is able to equip it, the armor must have high defensive adbilities still since it's full-plate gear after all, but should block the magic strength a lot, so that the mage becomes unable to put out effective magic.

[Coglin]

I have to agree with the others mentioning Aion, and DCUO and what not. Thos MMOs allowed you to customize the graphic of any item you possed to the attributes to any other item. Meaning once I wore an item its graphic was forever linked to my character, and I could take the stats off any gear I earned and add it to any of the graphics of items I have earned in the past.

Id I Dont like the look of Astaroth Cane (conj item from batraal) I could keep the stats on it but change its graphics to Bloodcry's graphics if I chose.

Now thats MMO appearance customizing.

[Nakiamiie]

Greetings! This thread seems like a good place to drop another major posts from Yoshida, as it deals heavily on the armor and equipment in FFXIV.

I see, now I understand better. Thank you Mr Yoshida!
I'll support that decision for restricted/relaxed gear, makes sense.

[Betelgeuzah]

And more crap drop rates? What is with SE and souless grinding? I'd rather be rewarded for my effort, not a random number generator having a 5-10% chance of landing in my favor. Doing an event months after you have it down to a science just for a rare item isn't fun, it's boring as hell.

This is rather dumb and ignorant comment any way you look at it. I'm very disappointed.

[AurelienRainier]

One of the best parts of this whole "growing alongside FFXIV's development" is getting a second-hand look into the thoughts developers have behind their game. Aspiring game developers, take note!

Anyway, I am very satisfied with the reasoning presented here. One of my most major gripes in MMOs is when a "costume" system is implemented. The first MMO I played that implemented this was Lord of the Rings: Online. The game would let you equip items that were specific to your class, but then let you equip practically ANY item in a "costume" slot. What it would appear you are wearing is the Costume item (so, like in Yoshi-P's example, a Black Mage could look as if he is in Full Plate armor), but the stats are from the item that is actually equipped.

I do not like this idea, and I am glad that (at this point) it seems the FFXIV development team is not going in this direction.

I have often argued with my friends that one of the best parts of FFXI in its early days was the concept of AF armor. Each class got a set of armor before end-game that not only differentiated their class from others (such as what earlier Tier armor did in Vanilla/TBC World of Warcraft), but had the iconic look of the classic Final Fantasy class. This aspect is what the armor in FFXIV is missing, imo, but I trust that it will be added once the classic Classes are implemented (and if Yoshi-P's concept art is any indication, this is being designed right under our noses!).

That is not to say that the current Jobs shouldn't get their own unique armor sets just because they aren't of Final Fantasy fame. All I am saying is that a costume system is a bad idea, and that I agree with Yoshi-P that we can't have everyone equip everything or all equipment be too restrictive to what class can use it (especially since this latter point will lead to the promulgation of a need for the armor/weapons of more common classes, making it harder to get armor/weapons for lesser-played classes since there just won't be the economy for it).

[Alcide]

I really can't understand the purpose of this post, for the first half he basically talks about nothing. Plate armors should be more efficient than a robe for a mage from an immersion point of view? o.O Talking about realism, isn't it reasonable that if someone spent his life studying and practicing spells he shouldn't have the strenght to put on an heavy armor, so he would feel uncomfortable and thus cast unefficient spells? o.O Strangest read I've ever read, it seemed like he was high.

And the second part... well I completely agree with Betelgeuzah. Overall reading this it seems like FFXIV is the first MMO of the history.

[Ashaylin]

Plate armors should be more efficient than a robe for a mage from an immersion point of view? o.O Talking about realism, isn't it reasonable that if someone spent his life studying and practicing spells he shouldn't have the strenght to put on an heavy armor, so he would feel uncomfortable and thus cast unefficient spells?

It was a hypothetical situation. Used as an example to explain his reasoning behind the changes.

[Holland]

I really can't understand the purpose of this post, for the first half he basically talks about nothing. Plate armors should be more efficient than a robe for a mage from an immersion point of view? o.O Talking about realism, isn't it reasonable that if someone spent his life studying and practicing spells he shouldn't have the strenght to put on an heavy armor, so he would feel uncomfortable and thus cast unefficient spells? o.O Strangest read I've ever read, it seemed like he was high.

And the second part... well I completely agree with Betelgeuzah. Overall reading this it seems like FFXIV is the first MMO of the history.

Well, it has always been associated the act for being a Mage/Wizard with heavy studying and no time to go outside. To practice spell casting you dont need to go outside and run around. Red mages are the exception to this because you see they can do both, but at the same time you see they are not completely proficient on both like a Black mage/White Mage or a Warrior. I dont think Yoshida he was high at all when he made that post ^^;.

[Alcide]

It was a hypothetical situation. Used as an example to explain his reasoning behind the changes.

mine was an hypothetical situation too, as an answer to his one, I just wanted to say that to me the whole thing seems like he's saying the obvious with a lot of words and usless speculations around it.