PVP Gear & Materia... Should it be removed?

[Februs]

TL;DR: Why have pvp gear and materia if there's no benefit to having it?

In short, because there is a benefit to having them. Materia is an exception, because SE shot themselves in the foot with that one, but the actual PvP gear is specifically tuned for PvP.

At cap, the PvP gear will put you at the highest possible skill caps to retain advantage in a PvP environment. The ilvl 180 PvP gear set (even at level sync) actually out-preformed the ilvl 190 PvE set on most jobs, because it prioritizes dmg stats over useless things such as accuracy and parry. At the moment, the PvP set is basically on par with the PvE sets, because the average item level has gone up to 200-210. Even sets with un-optimized stat options will put you at cap, so (as long as your PvE gear is above 190) it makes no difference if you are wearing the PvP or PvE sets. However, when the PvP gear is current, it is often the BiS for PvP (though not always).

The real question is: are the benefits of PvP specific secondary stats worth the grind to Rank 50? The short answer is, sadly: "no." If morale was applied, then it would be a different story. If we could use the PvP materia, it would be a different story, but we can't. SE's blunder with the Secure/Slaughter game modes, and the subsequent complaints from the mindless mass of casual PvP'ers about "unfair advantages," killed the true benefit to the climb to rank 50. That said, the gear is still made for PvP. So, it's not outright useless.

Wouldn't it make more sense just have it as a crafted glamour piece if that's the worth of it?

Please, for the love of all things holy, no. SE already gives FAR too much power to the crafting community. They own the market. It's the only real way to make money, and SE has a long history of locking content behind crafting requirements (two relic weapons and counting), in which players are forced to shell out HUGE sums of gil to satiate the greedy crafters. DO NOT, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, ENCOURAGE SE TO GIVE MORE THINGS TO CRAFTERS. Some of us like to actually play the game for rewards. Even if PvP gear was purely cosmetic, I would rather play the actual game mode then spend hours crafting/gathering to make enough money to simply buy the gear.

I'm probably more biased on this topic than most people (and likely coming off a little strong here), but if we're talking about what's "worth it" and what is not "worth it," then there is no contest. Playing a game mode that I enjoy for rewards is worth it. Grinding incredibly boring content endlessly is not. PvP rewards should be for PvP, not crafting.

[Urthdigger]

I'm a little torn on this. On the one hand, I know there should be a use for the PVP stats. At the same time though, I remember getting into Wolves Den late and having my armor and weapons functionally useless compared to the people that already had morale gear. It's a definite possibility that making morale gear useful would necessitate losing literally every single match on your way to rank 50 for new players, which while possible is hardly fun. Separating the two playstyles into a version that uses morale and one that does not is not really an option however, given the already low PVP playerbase... not to mention that nobody would queue up for the morale version save for people that already have the highest level morale gear, and when EVERYONE has the same morale stat it may as well not be doing anything.

[Februs]

Snip

I know where you're coming from. Honestly, my first and overwhelmingly strong instinct is that Morale should effect gear. The PvP'ers who worked their butts off to get to rank 50 earned it. Further, any player who is willing to customize that gear with appropriate materia advantages should be rewarded for their dedication, not told that their dedication is worthless. However, matches can get really unfair when a full set of rank 50 players meet up with PuGS, especially in the early life of a patch. PvP and PvE gear don't tend to balance out until the END of a patch life cycle (as in right now, when the average PvE gear level had reached 210 and is easily accessible to all players), so I can understand why some players found it so unfair.

That said, I wonder if the upcoming Ranked game modes could be the solution. Soon we'll have our GC PvP Rank as well as a Seasonal Ranking. Seasonal Rankings will be handed out via victories in Ranked Game Modes only, but (I'm assuming, since SE has not said anything about it) Players should still get PvP experience from all game modes. If that's the case, then the casual version of Feast (un-ranked 8v8) could work as planned (lvl sync'd with no morale and no materia), whereas Ranked modes could work with morale and materia. It would give dedicated players who worked for that gear a place to actually use it, and the casual players would still have a place where they didn't have to worry about getting stomped by morale players.

Of course, the foreseeable problem is causal players complaining that the ranked modes are too exclusive to hardcore PvP'ers (which is a fair complaint), but the thing is that if a player is interested enough to go for seasonal rankings they will, eventually, hit rank 50 and want to up their game. Further, it's not like players without morale gear could not queue up. They'd just have to go in knowing that they're queuing at a slight disadvantage, one that can be worked around if they are also in a pre-made. I think it could work if the players just gave it a chance instead of complaining before they've even attempted to rank up.

[Stormrider]

I don't get why put slots on anything any more. PvP materia is dead take them away. Morale is mostly dead (ilvl150 I am looking at you) remove it.

They either need a road map that says X will be next season and next tier of frontlines. Or just make PvP gear the glamour it is and remove the other stuff off it. Or since it syncs down to 150 put the most optimal stat set per class so maybe all SCH gear had crit and det. Would still give a bonus for completing a set but still make it fair. Also the Grand Company set bonus is in the game so we know it works a bonus for having more of a certain set. All seems reasonable to me and not game breaking. Since the cap is 150 anyways most people can mix and match the half a dozen sets to get stats they want anyways.