Alternative solution to "Unique Effects on Gear" debate - FFIX style

[axemtitanium]

The biggest problem with the suggestion to add unique gear effects, FFXI-style, is that it's incompatible with the current vertical gear progression. Make the effect too powerful and people will use the lower ilv gear for far longer than it was intended. Make it too weak and people will ignore it (see current elemental resistance gear). I think there's a cool solution to this problem and it can be found right within the FF series.



In FFIX, certain gear would have unique abilities and effects on them which would become active if you equipped them, but would be lost if you removed that piece of equipment. However, if you gained enough AP from fighting monsters, you could permanently learn that effect and equip it anytime using magic stones, which function roughly the same as cross-class ability slots in FFXIV.

I think a similar system would be very beneficial to FFXIV. Perhaps in conjunction with the first expansion and AF2 gear, if you spiritbonded certain rare equipment like AF2 or Raid gear to 100%, you could keep its unique effects. Effects could include some of the things featured on the old 1.0 AF gear like reduced Presence of Mind recast, enhanced Paeon, store TP, increased Jump damage, etc. Limit it to a certain number of equipped effects for balance.

Bring back unique gear effects but modernize them! No need for gear switching macros, just learn them permanently and expand the range of character customization at the same time!

[Renik]

I don't mind which kind of system they use as long as they add more depth to the gear system, i loved this system from ffix, but ppl will always find a down side to everything, so get ready to find some naysayers.

[Blackheart]

i'd have to admit i would find this interesting in terms of gear stats, but would hate having to get all the gear all over again just to get the right stats to master.

[Codek]

Hmmmm, on one side, I would love to see this implemented just for the self progression aspect.

On the other, it could really punish new players wanting to get into raiding.

[Alberel]

This would somewhat defeat the point though. If you can just 'learn' all the effects from your gear then it just turns into a grind to learn all the best ones from gear you otherwise wouldn't use and then go back to your normal gear with the newly learned effects slotted. It's not too dissimilar to the current materia system actually... just replace materia with these effects and spiritbonding with earning AP.

The only way a deeper stat system will work is if you have to make a tough choice between effects that aren't directly comparable (i.e. they affect things that don't have a direct statistical means of comparing them to min/max). Being able to access all of the effects defeats the point as there is no choice involved and no investment in your equipment.

[axemtitanium]

This would somewhat defeat the point though. If you can just 'learn' all the effects from your gear then it just turns into a grind to learn all the best ones from gear you otherwise wouldn't use and then go back to your normal gear with the newly learned effects slotted.

The only way a deeper stat system will work is if you have to make a tough choice between effects that aren't directly comparable (i.e. they affect things that don't have a direct statistical means of comparing them to min/max). Being able to access all of the effects defeats the point as there is no choice involved and no investment in your equipment.

You could solve/mitigate that by limiting the number of effects you can equip at once, as mentioned in the OP. As it stands, the principal roadblock to implementing unique effects on gear, as mentioned by Yoshi-P, is balancing the strength of the effect with increasing ilv and this proposal solves that issue.

[saeedaisspecial]

I'd be okay with this.
It'd add a little more depth into gear choices as well as following the vertical progression thing the dev team wants.

[Mcshiggs]

On the other, it could really punish new players wanting to get into raiding.

This is the mindset that the producers seem to have, and the mindset I think is holding the game back. Instead of looking at it as rewarding players for spending time playing, and money on subs, they are thinking it is punishing people that aren't even playing the game yet. They have said in the past, they want people to be able to level up, then use gear as progression, nothing else, this way once a new player hits max level, they can get to end game content really fast because each patch makes just under top tier gear extremely easy to get.

[axemtitanium]

They have said in the past, they want people to be able to level up, then use gear as progression, nothing else, this way once a new player hits max level, they can get to end game content really fast because each patch makes just under top tier gear extremely easy to get.

There are two ways around this.

1) Tune the (non-savage version) fights to not require them.

2) Introduce new tiers of effects with new gear to obsolete old effects. E.g. Store TP +30 obsoletes/replaces Store TP +20 and you can get Store TP +30 from new raid gear without getting +20 first.

On the other hand, the current relic quest makes it seem like the developers don't care how much extra work it takes for players to "catch up". Can you imagine being a fresh 50 today and discover what it takes to get a Novus from scratch? I'd tear my hair out.

[Mcshiggs]

On the other hand, the current relic quest makes it seem like the developers don't care how much extra work it takes for players to "catch up". Can you imagine being a fresh 50 today and discover what it takes to get a Novus from scratch? I'd tear my hair out.

There are other weapons besides the relic quest though, and they are a lot easier to get and easily comparable to them. If you were to introduce something that buffs the player outright, many players would start requiring certain things in order to join their group, why take a white mage fresh of the boat when you can get one that did the work already and has say enhanced regen or something. Individual people may not require it, but that's because individuals can think for themselves, the mob/horde/sheep are mindless and will take the easiest/fastest/least amount of work path they can get. I would love to see some type of individual progression outside of gear, but from everything the devs have said on the subject, I just don't see it happening anytime soon, if ever, because there will always be those that will refuse those that don't have it.