Poll: Gear progression, horizontal or vertical?

[Yzuna]

Horizontal or Hybrid. Vertical is boring.

[Xatsh]

You need a mixed.

Horizontal focus with a very slow phase out of gear.

The problem is the core design of ffxiv forces you to only have a strait vertical progression.

At this point the problem is too far gone for SE to fix. They would have to revamp the whole battle system (stat wise) and redo almost all the gear in the game. We are destined to live with a pure vertical progression model. Where every peice of gear is 100% the same as the peice before it except for looks.

There is no difference between an Ilvl 200 and a Ilvl 70 peice in FFXIV. They just scale up how hard the boss hits and how much hp it has to make you have a higher Ilvl. But honestly every single peice of gear if the same. Welcome to Boring gear, welcome to vertical progression. XI had the best gear model in the genre by a large shot, yea classes were not balanced at all but that is a different issue. Even the gear even in FFXIV 1.0 was a hell of a lot better designed stat wise then it is now.

[Gilthas]

XI had the best gear model in the genre by a large shot, yea classes were not balanced at all but that is a different issue.

Only if you loved carrying a crap load of gear with you and getting upgrades once a year if you're lucky.

Whatever interesting stats the gear in FFXI had did not make up for all the problems that it caused.

No, I agree that there isn't a best set because it depends on your skill, familiarity and style.

That doesn't meant that there isn't a best set, it just means that you're not skilled enough to use the best set at its full potential.

[Sylkis]

That doesn't meant that there isn't a best set, it just means that you're not skilled enough to use the best set at its full potential.

If 99% of the population can't and whenever someone gets flamed for dying in that gear, BiS loses its meaning no?

It's like having triple weakness, healers are gonna hate you

[Gilthas]

If 99% of the population can't and whenever someone gets flamed for dying in that gear, BiS loses its meaning no?

It's like having triple weakness, healers are gonna hate you

Not really, no. It just means that only 1% of the population is good enough to use the best gear.

[Sylkis]

Not really, no. It just means that only 1% of the population is good enough to use the best gear.

So if 99% of the population don't have a BiS, isn't that what horizontal wants to achieve?

[SDaemon]

If 99% of the population can't and whenever someone gets flamed for dying in that gear, BiS loses its meaning no?

99% of the population can't what?

BiS doesn't lose its meaning. It is BiS for a reason, whether you make use of it or not is up to your individual skill level. In this "horizontal" definition they are using BiS will be based, not on your optimal stats universally, but rather the optimal stats/bonuses/procs different pieces of gear provide for individual fights.

[SuzakuCMX]

There's going to be a BiS either way. I'd like vertical to cap and then horizontal from there on, but it's sort of hard to imagine what horizontal progression would be like in this game.

I'd prefer horizontal though because I can customize my play better since I'm not really about optimal play as much as having fun.

[Dhex]

The problem with the current gear progression is this; it changes nothing about the game meta for current content, invalidates old content, and causes "dead" zones that they have to shoehorn new incentives/requirements into post-release to keep players going back.

Every Job plays exactly the same as the instant you dinged 50 - regardless of item level. There is no "play-style", no significant change, and no growth beyond "more of the same" even as you progress through the item levels and that is pretty boring in my opinion.

FFXIV isn't just Vertical growth it's Verticle Linear growth and changes nothing about the game's meta.

The current "treadmill" is shortsighted. What happens to older "endgame" once the majority of players have moved on and the content no longer has incentives for them? It becomes a dead space - wasted data.

I worry about how quickly content has atrophied - this is a problem that will continue to effect the game for it's entire life cycle. Depth is important.

What we're talking about here isn't just "Do we want X method of gear?" it's a fundamental problem with the core model of the game. Character progression needs a lot more depth. Content needs to remain relevant longer. Materia, Gear, and Stats need to be a lot more dynamic than they are currently or the game will (and does) get stale.

FFXIV is a Roleplaying game - it needs to evolve and add some depth and meat to it's core systems.

Suggestions:

FFXI - Direct Character Growth & Customization Merit Point System

WoW - Gear Growth & Magical Enhancement Enchants

TL2 - Gems (Materia System +1) Socketables


Peh "horizontal" or "vertical" how about we talk about the systems lack of overall depth instead?

Meaningful character growth please.

[Sapphic]

The current "treadmill" is shortsighted. What happens to older "endgame" once the majority of players have moved on and the content no longer has incentives for them? It becomes a dead space - wasted data.

Which is exactly what happens in horizontal progression too. You farm the content until you have your "horizontal" upgrade (hint if its an upgrade, as in makes you stronger/more effective its vertical). Then it's ignored content.

True Horizontel progression does not make you, in anyway stronger or more effective, otherwise it is vertical. Or at least diagonal.Diagonal is, in a way a misnomer also as anything which makes you stronger, faster, or more effective is a vertical increase.