SE enough of the treadmill, please make the game more interesting!

[whoopeeragon]

Consider the stats of a HQ pentamelded i110 crafted piece now compare it to the stats of the 3 other i110 pieces available for that slot. The HQ pentamelded crafted piece is obviously superior considering it has 2 capped Secondaries and a third at 2/3 cap. If i130 crafted gear had been introduced in 2.4 there would be very little mechanical reason to go after the Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm gear.

I always thought they could just implement crafted gear 10 ilvls lower than the max (i.e. a crafted set at ilvl 120 for 2.4) that only has the main stats and VIT (and acc for healers) on it with no secondary stats. Instead let the secondaries be melded on, kinda like how Novus works. That way, the Tomestone gear will still eclipse the crafted gear when it is made, but the crafted gear has the potential to rival ilvl130 gear depending on what materia is melded on given player opinion.

[Viridiana]

By dungeon gear I was referring to the fixed stat gear acquired from dungeons, raids, and purchased with currency such at Tomestones/Wolfmarks.

Consider the stats of a HQ pentamelded i110 crafted piece now compare it to the stats of the 3 other i110 pieces available for that slot. The HQ pentamelded crafted piece is obviously superior considering it has 2 capped Secondaries and a third at 2/3 cap. If i130 crafted gear had been introduced in 2.4 there would be very little mechanical reason to go after the Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm gear.

The problem that this game has had for a long, long time is that Yoshi likes to introduce new level 50 gear drops that are weaker than what's already in the game, which leaves players who've been even remotely keeping up with no real reason to do the content that drops the new stuff. HQ crafted gear has always been something of a subversion with him, where melded gear is frequently more powerful than end-game dungeon/trial/raid gear for certain classes. The only reason you don't see more people using crafted gear at endgame is because it's expensive as all hell. Well, that, and it's a bit counter intuitive that it should be stronger.

[warren-ragnarok]

Hmm it's been long said that Yoshi wants to reboot FFXIV with 2.x being a simple foundation to support more complex ideas that could be implemented in the future. Yea I get that it's been over a year and the treadmilling is getting a bit stale but it's been confirmed that they plan to factor in user feedback to add unique gear stats/abilities (during the fanfest). Yoshi is just playing a very safe first year for FFXIV relaunch and don't want to break the balance when he and his team can't afford to.

Having stuffs on the level of leaping boots and emp pin from FFXI that was more relevant and ridiculously camped more than other gears 60 levels later is just not what Yoshi and us as players should shoot for. However, now that lvl1-50, story mode, and a lot of endgame progression is established, they have more room to work in unique items/gear set effect come expansion.

The expansion will also feature more dangerous zones that so many old school MMO-ers were clamoring for (confirmed in interview). I won't say that we shouldn't be impatient and not critique the quality of the current gameplay but just know that a lot of good ideas that most of us want in game have been heard and will most likely be implemented by expansion. Oh and let's not forget that 2.45/2.5 will feature a lot more social friendly side-games with the introduction of the gold saucer. So let's at least look forward to it a little longer?

they also said they would be making this game for casual gamers, with endgame content for hardcore players, they also said they will be adding in FC alliance, so you can team up with another fc so small fcs wouldnt be required to merge. yoshi also said housing would be affordable. there are many other things they said will happen.
still havent see some of these things and until it happens, i dont think we should pressume anything SE staff says is true until its implemented

[whoopeeragon]

they also said they would be making this game for casual gamers, with endgame content for hardcore players, they also said they will be adding in FC alliance, so you can team up with another fc so small fcs wouldnt be required to merge. yoshi also said housing would be affordable. there are many other things they said will happen.
still havent see some of these things and until it happens, i dont think we should pressume anything SE staff says is true until its implemented

I don't know how you go about seeing ANYTHING positive in life with this kind of outlook...It's always just black, no white, no grey with the type of person you are.

[Ryel]

By dungeon gear I was referring to the fixed stat gear acquired from dungeons, raids, and purchased with currency such at Tomestones/Wolfmarks.

Consider the stats of a HQ pentamelded i110 crafted piece now compare it to the stats of the 3 other i110 pieces available for that slot. The HQ pentamelded crafted piece is obviously superior considering it has 2 capped Secondaries and a third at 2/3 cap. If i130 crafted gear had been introduced in 2.4 there would be very little mechanical reason to go after the Augmented Ironworks or Dreadwyrm gear.

And this is an issue in itself, It shouldn't be the case that the gear with the highest stats / ilvl in the game comes from quite literally ONE location each patch cycle. I have already said earlier in this thread that we need a variety of content to offer up that sort of gear, not just one type of content at a time, whether it be multiple types of raids or even a raid that works in tandem with crafting, a system like this one would work quite well.

This isn't a solution that needs to be one or the other, there are tons of ways to make various methods of high level gear acquisition desirable without sticking the best of the bunch in one raid for 6 months and calling it at that.

[Akiza]

SE should replace the Class System with an Ability Sphere Grid where players can gain ability points which they can spend on a Job specialization or a combination of different abilities in areas such as Melee, Ranger, Caster, Pet, Healing and Tank.

[Magis]

they also said they would be making this game for casual gamers, with endgame content for hardcore players, they also said they will be adding in FC alliance, so you can team up with another fc so small fcs wouldnt be required to merge. yoshi also said housing would be affordable. there are many other things they said will happen.
still havent see some of these things and until it happens, i dont think we should pressume anything SE staff says is true until its implemented

Roaming primals as well.

[MageBlack]

SE should replace the Class System with an Ability Sphere Grid where players can gain ability points which they can spend on a Job specialization or a combination of different abilities in areas such as Melee, Ranger, Caster, Pet, Healing and Tank.

I'm sorry, but a Sphere Grid would be the WORST decision this team could ever make. I despise it in every game that has it. I would rather the skill system from FFT:WotL, that would suit this game much better!

[Dyvid]

Fine, so what do you want to grind? Levels? Gear?

[Delily]

And this is an issue in itself, It shouldn't be the case that the gear with the highest stats / ilvl in the game comes from quite literally ONE location each patch cycle. I have already said earlier in this thread that we need a variety of content to offer up that sort of gear, not just one type of content at a time, whether it be multiple types of raids or even a raid that works in tandem with crafting, a system like this one would work quite well.

This isn't a solution that needs to be one or the other, there are tons of ways to make various methods of high level gear acquisition desirable without sticking the best of the bunch in one raid for 6 months and calling it at that.

First, I think several design decisions were made to get the game out the door as cheaply as possible. Implement simpler systems that are known to work, laying a stable foundation for adding complexity later on.

I tend to think using gear as an end is a crutch, so I love the idea of multiple sources of gear. Imagine a system where players can craft gear, farm it from dungeons, or gain it from treasure maps. I also love the idea of interesting customizations, like set bonuses, body armor providing primary stats and accessories providing secondary. It all sounds great!

Until you do it.

First, as has been mentioned, changing itemization is hard. +Crit and +Haste on rings is a good example. You someone have to normalize it so that a player with +10 Crit and a player with +10 haste can do roughly the same damage in a given period of time, the caveat being the +crit player does bigger hits, whereas the +haste player will do more hits. Why?

Because FFXIV is not a game, it's a graphical spreadsheet. The vast majority of players, from hardcore to casual, are achievers. There's a reason WoW got rid of the skill point system and simplified itemization. It's easier to balance, but the truth is the vast majority of players will simply wait until the numbers are run, the optimal setup is determined, and then just use that. WoW, being the 800 lb elephant, has a enchantments and gems, right? But look at J Random Warlock. He's probably destruction and gemmed/enchanted for haste. That's until he gets the gear for the haste breakpoint and then switches over to crit. It's not just the raiders, though, it's everyone. Spell crafting in DAoC was the ultimate form of "build your own gear" and yet, everyone just had the same setup. Even now, people are running a few templates.

Multiple sources of gear are great, but people are lazy and will just go for the easiest path to the highest ilvl. Why farm a random dungeon repeatedly if you can just buy the gear? Wasted content.

While FFXIV is probably the best story driven MMO currently, the focus is on achievers, because that's where you get the most subscriptions from.