Element system needs changes?

[Gunspec]

Elemental stats are more of a horizontal progression type of idea, and FFXIV isn't doing that, so they might as well remove the stats from the game. Elemental materia is just junk used for challenge log bonuses and triggering faster spiritbonding, and the elemental stats on the character page are a waste of precious character data.

While I like the idea of elemental systems in my Final Fantasy, it doesn't mesh well with an mmo where every class needs to be viable in every encounter. Players who have spent their esoterics on gear for classes that are less effective on a boss would be benched.

The alternative is introducing elemental themed item sets for EACH elemental raid encounter, which would open the door for horizontal progression. But for a game like FFXIV that has such frequent new content being pushed out, forcing players to farm an elemental set just to require an entirely different set 4 months later would be overdoing it. You can use ilevel 110 gear to begin challenging ilevel 130 content, but you can't use fire element gear to begin challenging water element enemies.

I think in general they need to start trimming out the overly complicated systems that eat data. Elemental resistance, 5 grades of glamour prisms per craft, 2.X quests that unlocked basic new features which are now hidden in a sea of subquests that new players cannot navigate, etc.

Edit: The reason elemental stuff existed in RPGs was to give some depth to otherwise straight forward 8-bit turn based battles. It was the difference between making a boss fight where the strategy was just "hit with sword, heal when necessary", to "experiment with different moves to find a weakness". A boss might be impossible to handle without overleveling, unless you realize that lightning attacks hit for double damage, or equipping fire armor on your characters reduces damage by 50%.

FFXIV already HAS battle systems with depth. Nearly every raid boss, and most dungeon bosses as well, have some form of mechanics beyond "hit and heal". In comparison to how complicated many fights are, the idea of "hit ice enemy with fire" is TOO simplistic.

Now sure, there is something cathartic about hitting an enemy with a super effective hit. I've been playing FF:Record Keeper, and exploiting elemental weaknesses of FFXIV bosses was both strange and fun. But the core reason WHY elemental statuses exist, to spice up otherwise straightforward fights, is already being handled well in FFXIV through mechanics that simply weren't possible in turn based 8-bit combat.