[dev1072]Gear-based systems are bad

[MeowyWowie]

I guess I would agree with you to an extent, Lienn. But look at the bright side.

Currently, 99% of the gear in FFXIV is ridiculously easy to obtain, and the few pieces that take a little extra work are only marginally better, if that. I don't see this trend changing much, as Yoshi P said something along the lines of crafted gear being more or less on par with rare/ex gear.

A very bad example of how to handle gear stats and such is RIFT's tiered system. From what I understand, (I had a few RL friends who played, but did not play myself) You needed a full set of tier one gear to even hope to survive a tier 2 dungeon, which then you needed a full set from there to attempt the T3 raids and so on. Just be glad this is not the case in FFXIV. (I may be wrong, I have no interest in RIFT whatsoever and this is just word of mouth from my friends that played.)

[Kraggy]

A very bad example of how to handle gear stats and such is RIFT's tiered system. From what I understand, (I had a few RL friends who played, but did not play myself) You needed a full set of tier one gear to even hope to survive a tier 2 dungeon

They're idiots, you can enter T2 perfectly viably with crafted gear and never having run a single T1. T3 can be done in T1, though some T2 is obviously useful.

I've done T2 as a noob 50 on one class, and while I haven't done T3 non-T2 decked-out guildies certainly have.

[MeowyWowie]

They're idiots, you can enter T2 perfectly viably with crafted gear and never having run a single T1. T3 can be done in T1, though some T2 is obviously useful.

I've done T2 as a noob 50 on one class, and while I haven't done T3 non-T2 decked-out guildies certainly have.

You're missing the point.. Each tier of gear shows a significant improvement over the previous tier, while player skill takes a back seat.

What about PvP? When they were still playing, someone in full T1 vs someone in full T6 will get 2-shoted without ever having a chance of winning. Gear was (and still is?) king in RIFT, period.

[Yeldir]

I still play Rift. The gear system, PvE wise, is actually quite good. You can pull a full set of tier 2 out of your butt in about two weeks with no guild involvement simply by mashing the dungeon finder button; and bam, you're ready to raid. It doesn't get nasty hard until Hammerknell (Tier 4 raid), but they've got it horrendously overtuned - even the elitists can't clear it right now.

I doubt my guild (and by natural extension, myself) will play it much longer, though. We joined for the a PVP system that is falling apart due to neglect.

But back to the original topic of discussion - pretty soon here we're going to all have complete access to every class and spec with no restrictions. Without tiers of gear, or at least a variety of gear types and qualities available to max level characters, what's going to distinguish one character from the next?