In precisely 7 days (CST) it will be International Inventor's Day. With all this talk of new items and armor (Artifact Armor). I got to thinking...what if we (the players) had the opportunity to create something like that. Now before you say this is impossible hear me out, as it could possibly work out. And yes, I know, the game is getting a lot of fixes right now, and that is great, but we are still getting events because there is a separate team designed for that kind of content.

Okay all that aside let's get to the juicy details. Of course this event would fall around this time (I feel that the summer event should honestly be pushed earlier in the Summer as its already getting cool in some parts of the US, but that is my own opinion), the time of the International Inventor's Day (Sept 29th). Basically the premise of the event would be that we (the players) get to submit designs for a single piece of gear (you would be able to get as creative as you would like but only get one submission and the idea would have to be clearly represented). Also as part of the submission you would have to give a detailed biography on where this piece of gear was created using the lore/regions in the game to inspire your creation!

Since it takes up to 6 months for them to create an item set (I believe that is what they said) It would be the perfect time to start the event and have the winner's item created for the following year (If the event was to happen this year 2011, the winner's item would be put into the game during the Sept 29, 2012 event) giving ample time for the development team to create the item to their best abilities based around the image provided.

The contest would be a combination of both Final Fantasy XIV Official Forums and the client game Final Fantasy XIV itself. The submission process would require an active account that has been active for 30+ days. The winners could be picked by the Square-Enix development staff or in a way similar to the FFXI screen-caption contest (with the most 'likes').

In the game event would revolve around the Deity Thaliak, god of knowledge. The event's story could easily be that a renown Alchemist's supply of Death Defying Drink has been commandeered by XXXXX enemy/gang/rivals/beast-tribe, and the adventurer's need to try and get the item back due how powerful the item is if used improperly (enough to make the enemy impervious to pain!). Upon successful return of the said items the NPC, unable to give you the Potion to make you invincible, afraid that it might cause chaos, NPC decides to give you an item (contest winning item) from the second best inventor/crafter in all of Eorzea (the contest winner).

The item would obviously have a small snippet of dialogue with the character name in the description, just let the developers create the statistical values for the piece of equipment. Make the event good for both new comers to the game (a lv1 version) and a mid level version (lv20-25).

Okay I know this post is getting long having reviewed it a couple times and I'm almost finished. Like I mentioned at the start of the post I know there are bigger fish to fry at the moment with the game but I feel that having an event that is somewhat powered by the players can only strengthen the game's community, plus who wouldn't want the bragging rights of having an item they created go into the game? Of course once submitted SE would own all rights to said item, and all that legal stuff.

Alright, now I'm finished, what do you think?