FFXIV is in a Prime Position to Make Some Drastic Changes

[Klamor]

The problem with giving the relic weapons a unique trait is that it would be difficult for the dev team to balance it with the raid weapons, especially if they maintain the two at the same item level. They've already mentioned that they will be having the raid drop weapons be a higher item level similar to how it was done in 2.0 where Binding Coil weapons were i95, and the relic at the time could be as high as i90. They continued that trend through Second and Final coil with weapons at item levels 115 and 135 respectively, while the relics were at 110 and 130 respectively, until the Zeta stage came around late into 2.55 and allowed relics to be equal to raid weapons at i135. Secondary stats aside...

I'm sure there are plenty of ways that the devs could work through the issue of weapon balance and maintaining raid weapons as still being desirable. Unfortunately, I have not the creative mind to come up with solutions to this issue. I see what has worked in the past, and what has worked in other games. Specifically, the weapons in WoW comes to mind. The legendary weapons (orange names) that were obtainable by different jobs (Thunderfury, for Warriors; and that staff for Druids/Shaman) were much more desirable than most raid weapons, but the quest chains associated with them required raid drops to even complete the weapon. That solidified to me that the intent was not for the "casual" crowd to obtain, and their normal Dungeon weapons, which were parts of a set with their tier gear on occasions, satisfied them well enough.

The issue still remains with the fact that the "casual" crowd still demand having a weapon of the same or similar item level to those clearing the most difficult raids, even though they are certainly capable of doing everything they could hope to do with a base-level tomestone weapon. Personally, I haven't bothered with savage except for a few early week clears of A1S and some practice on A2S. I still blaze through dungeons and the other content perfectly fine with an i200 weapon. I'm not so audacious to demand I have the same weapon of those who have cleared A4S. I also haven't been so blind to notice the significant lack of Gordian weapons being carried around. I'm sure SE isn't that blind either.

Nexus stage made Relic equal to SCOB Raid weapons as well, and we'll likely see that continue once they give Raid weapons the 5 item level boost again--but as usual, the last stage will usually be acquired perhaps a month before the end of the ~6 month period that constitutes a raid tier.

Good catch, Alahra. I failed to mention that one as well.

Don't know if you are aware or forgot to mention, but the weapons from Twintania were originally i90 on the same level as the Relic+1/Zenith but they were bumped up to i95 in a later patch. But that just begs the question why they didn't just do the same thing with the Gordian weapons, but I digress.

Thank you for this, as well.

[Alahra]

They continued that trend through Second and Final coil with weapons at item levels 115 and 135 respectively, while the relics were at 110 and 130 respectively, until the Zeta stage came around late into 2.55 and allowed relics to be equal to raid weapons at i135. Secondary stats aside...

Nexus stage made Relic equal to SCOB Raid weapons as well, and we'll likely see that continue once they give Raid weapons the 5 item level boost again--but as usual, the last stage will usually be acquired perhaps a month before the end of the ~6 month period that constitutes a raid tier.

[DragonSlayer45]

They've already mentioned that they will be having the raid drop weapons be a higher item level similar to how it was done in 2.0 where Binding Coil weapons were i95, and the relic at the time could be as high as i90.

Don't know if you are aware or forgot to mention, but the weapons from Twintania were originally i90 on the same level as the Relic+1/Zenith but they were bumped up to i95 in a later patch. But that just begs the question why they didn't just do the same thing with the Gordian weapons, but I digress.

[UBERHAXED]

The problem with giving the relic weapons a unique trait is that it would be difficult for the dev team to balance it with the raid weapons, especially if they maintain the two at the same item level. They've already mentioned that they will be having the raid drop weapons be a higher item level similar to how it was done in 2.0 where Binding Coil weapons were i95, and the relic at the time could be as high as i90. They continued that trend through Second and Final coil with weapons at item levels 115 and 135 respectively, while the relics were at 110 and 130 respectively, until the Zeta stage came around late into 2.55 and allowed relics to be equal to raid weapons at i135. Secondary stats aside...

I'm sure there are plenty of ways that the devs could work through the issue of weapon balance and maintaining raid weapons as still being desirable. Unfortunately, I have not the creative mind to come up with solutions to this issue. I see what has worked in the past, and what has worked in other games. Specifically, the weapons in WoW comes to mind. The legendary weapons (orange names) that were obtainable by different jobs (Thunderfury, for Warriors; and that staff for Druids/Shaman) were much more desirable than most raid weapons, but the quest chains associated with them required raid drops to even complete the weapon. That solidified to me that the intent was not for the "casual" crowd to obtain, and their normal Dungeon weapons, which were parts of a set with their tier gear on occasions, satisfied them well enough.

The issue still remains with the fact that the "casual" crowd still demand having a weapon of the same or similar item level to those clearing the most difficult raids, even though they are certainly capable of doing everything they could hope to do with a base-level tomestone weapon. Personally, I haven't bothered with savage except for a few early week clears of A1S and some practice on A2S. I still blaze through dungeons and the other content perfectly fine with an i200 weapon. I'm not so audacious to demand I have the same weapon of those who have cleared A4S. I also haven't been so blind to notice the significant lack of Gordian weapons being carried around. I'm sure SE isn't that blind either.



Good catch, Alahra. I failed to mention that one as well.

Not sure you were playing in 2.0 (you mentioned some incorrect information) but it might be worth mentioning that in 2.0 raid weapons were ilvl90, along side relic. Because people could obtain tome gear including weapon at max ilvl, people felt there was no need to do raiding since it offered no rewards that you could get buy just capping tomes by running AK and WP. It was in 2.1 that they mentioned this in a live letter and bumped the ilvl of allagan weapons to 95. They's stuck with this for the next 2 tiers to avoid the same issue. I supposed they tried to not do that again in 3.0 so they kept it the same way they had it with launch. But at the time of the most recent live letter people had already acquired anima weapon so I guess they realized that they either have to keep the disparity like in the 2.1+ patches where the raid weapon is higher than anything else, or simply release the new tier of relic so late in the patch cycle that it wouldn't affect the raid scene. They already published what choice they made, but that is the reasoning.

Also they pointed out in the live letter (to the misconception of players) that the relic (anima) weapons were not for casual players. They were for players with time (i.e. not casual) but not the skill for doing raids. Players may make it seem like it's an insane grind that will take months or something to get the anima weapon, but there are already plenty of player from (I'm guessing) every server who already have them. My server is pretty small and I know of at least 50 players who already have their anima weapons. The problem now is that these players will now not bother completing savage since there's nothing left to get from there.

[Klamor]

snip

If you have question with my play history, feel free to do the research and look my character up. I'm on a Legacy server, with the tattoo, and played a lot during all stages of the Beta. That said, I spent a lot of time at sea during 2.xx so I may or may not have the best recollection of how or when the events occurred; specifically if I was deployed when the major changes occurred. However, I do my best to provide the most accurate information I can with regards to the facts. My opinions are clearly marked as such, and viewer discretion is advised.

I will, however, go back and edit my original post with the quotes from individuals who have already caught and informed me of the information I was lacking.